Male Giant - Tumblr Posts

Slave to the Light Pt5

A Baldur's gate Fanfiction

Lorelai groaned, wiping the sweat off her face the best she could. Her head was throbbing, and her throat felt like it was coated with sand. She laid back down and covered her eyes. She was too exhausted to get up yet, her whole body felt warn out and beaten. What had she done yesterday to feel so awful-

She sat up, shaking her head. What had she been doing? it took a moment, but soon images flashed within her mind. Running, almost eaten by the vampire, captured by the big folk, their towering figures over her, then- then... she couldn't remember.

Blinking to rid her still blurry vision, the space around her slowly came into focus. She was inside, or at least undercover. In front of her was a large cushioned spaced with towering fabric walls making it resemble a circus tent. The floor around her was what looked to be a blue rug placed on top of a dirt floor, the brown hues poking out along the perimeter. Lorelai's eyes widened as she surveyed the contents of the room, there were lot of books, books several times larger than herself stacked into piles that looked more like towers. There was also a small number of pillows and a bedroll tucked into the opposite corner, a bedroll that could hold over fifty of her.

This place was made for a big folk. This place almost certainly belonged to a big folk. Somehow, she had gotten ended up in a tent belonging to a big folk. How in the nine Hells did she end up in a big folk's tent?!

Suddenly, she heard something, something outside. She went rigid, her eyes darting around the space as if expecting whatever was making that noise to jump out at any second.

The noise got closer, and Lorelai could make out what it was, footsteps. Footsteps that she began to feel beneath her. Someone was coming.

Lorelai didn't have much time to hide or even think before an opening in the tent appeared as a large red hand pushed open the flaps. In stepped an immense yet familiar face, the Tiefling.

Now in daylight, Lorelai could see how this Tiefling looked like a behemoth compared to even other big folk, her twisted horns (one being broken in half) nearly poking through the top of the tent and her muscular form blocking out any sort of view of the outside. The Tiefling surveyed the tent, searching the floor before her eyes landed on Lorelai.

A toothy grin appeared on her face, "You're up. That's a relief, didn't really want to have to wake you myself." The Tiefling chuckled before falling to a crouch, shaking Lorelai's entire body. She noticed for the first time that the Tiefling was holding something, "Thought I'd bring you some breakfast."

Lorelai tensed as the bulking woman leaned down towards her, setting down a large plate in front of her. She eyed the Tiefling suspiciously before letting her gaze fall onto the plate. Upon it was a bread roll twice her size, a whole sausage, and a pile of grapes.

She looked from the food to the Tiefling who smiled at her expectantly, "Dig in."

Lorelai didn't budge, narrowing her eyes at the food before her. What are they playing at? Do they really think I'm that stupid? It had to be laced with something, whether that be poison or something to knock her back out.

The smile fell from the Tiefling's face, "Aren't you hungry?" Lorelai glared up at her, scooting away from the plate of food. "You have to be at least a little hungry" she nudged the plate closer, " Go on, have some."

"You first" her stomach murmured back at her as if annoyed.

The Tiefling furrowed her brow, before shrugging, "Ok, sure." Lorelai watched with bated breath as she plucked a grape off the plate and tossed it into her mouth. She watched, waiting for the Tiefling to spit it out or something, but was surprised when she simply swallowed.

She waited a few more seconds, looking for any signs of the Tiefling feeling woozy or sickly, but no, she did nothing except stare back down at her expectantly.

Was she trying to lure her closer? even though she could probably grab her from here? What was her goal?

Lorelai's attention flitted to her stomach which felt like it was eating itself. She narrowed her eyes back up at the Tiefling, who didn't show any obvious signs of moving.

Never taking her eyes off the Tiefling, she slowly rose to her feet. When seeing the Tiefling had not moved, she began to inch towards the plate, preparing herself to turn around instantly if needed. One of the grapes lay right in front of her, teasing her. She grabbed it. With one last look back up at the Tiefling, who still hadn't moved, she sunk her teeth into it, the juice wetting her lips and cheeks.

She wasn't sure if it was just because she was so hungry, but it tasted like the best thing she'd ever had. Instantly, she went in for another bite, and then another, and another.

When she'd polished off the grape, she turned to the bread and ripped out a sizeable chunk. She sniffed it before tearing into that as well. It tasted just as good if not better.

"Fuck" chuckled the Tiefling, "Knew you must be hungry. Let me help you with that" Lorelai backed away, clutching her piece of bread as the Tiefling's hand approached and went to grab the sausage. The moment her fingers laid upon it, it began to sizzle. Lorelai stared with an expression somewhere between awe and horror as the sausage began to burn before her eyes.

"Shit" the Tiefling pulled her hand away. Lorelai responded by backing away, looking from the sausage to the Tiefling who was wearing an almost embarrassed expression, "Uh, sorry bout that."

What in the- Lorelai's mind was reeling, having just watched someone nearly incinerate a piece of meat just by touching it for a couple seconds. What kind of creature could do that?! A horrifying thought came to mind, what would become of her if this Tiefling or whatever she was, ever got a hold of her?

She stared up at the Tiefling who noticed the worried look on her face, "Guess I might of shock you there huh?"

"What- how did you do that?"

The Tiefling banged against her chest, sounding more like someone had banged against a metal wall, "Infernal engine."

"A what?"

"Barely understand it myself except that it makes me burn hotter than the Hells." The Tiefling's gaze faltered as she glanced down at her glowing chest with a reproachful look before snapping it back onto Lorelai. "But enough about me," the Tiefling grinned and leaned in closer, "I want to hear about you!"

Lorelai stared; eyes narrowed. She wants to know about me? why? what did she want? what would she do with the information? she focused back on the childish grin plastered across the huge face.

"Why?" she stated simply.

The Tiefling looked at her as if the answer was obvious, "Well, I've never seen anything like you before. What are you exactly?"

She bristled at the comment, her blood beginning to run hot. What exactly was she?! Was it not obvious?! Forgetting her worries about giving information, she blurted out, "I'm a damn pixie!"

The Tiefling's face brightened with childlike wonder, "Really?!" Lorelai flinched as the Tiefling got even closer, causing her to actually feel the heat emanating from her, "But I thought pixies had wings?"

Lorelai felt like her words had physically attacked her. She turned away, glaring at the ground.

The Tiefling, seeing her reaction, pulled back, "I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?" Lorelai glanced up at her face, her anger faltering when seeing the confused and guilt-ridden look she was given. She dropped her glare, gazing at the Tiefling curiously. Something about her face, her expressions, seemed so genuine.

"Who exactly are you?"

"The name's Karlach" Lorelai backed away as the Tiefling extended her hand, before she gave an awkward chuckle and withdrew it. Karlach, that's right, that's what she had been called last night. The Tiefling- Karlach was looking at her expectantly, "This is usually when the other person says their name."

She hesitated, "Lorelai." Karlach grinned at her response, "Now, can you tell me where I am?"

"Oh, you're in Gale's tent."

"Gale?"

"You met him last night, human, purple ropes, ringing a bell?"

It did in fact ring a bell. She remembered the human man who had captured her. This reminded her of what she really wanted to know, "What do you or this Gale want with me?"

Karlach once again looked at her as if the answer was obvious, "You were injured and looked like you were about to keel over and snuff it. And we couldn't just let you leave, not with Fangs looking like he was waiting for us to do that exact thing." Karlach gave a sheepish grin, "And I was pretty interested in what exactly you were, along with everyone else."

Lorelai crossed her arms to suppress the shiver running through her at the mention of the vampire, "Well, I'm feeling fine now and I'm assuming you killed that awful creature, so can I-"

"Karlach!" Lorelai jumped as Karlach shot to her feet, looking apprehensively at the tent opening. A few shakes of the ground later, the head of another big folk appeared. It was the human man, the one Karlach had called Gale.

His eyes looked from Karlach to Lorelai. He sighed, "I thought I told you to leave our guest alone so she could rest."

"You did, but I thought I'd bring her some breakfast."

"And you couldn't have done that without waking her?"

Karlach groaned, gesturing to Lorelai down below who was finding it a bit unnerving seeing two big folks from this angle towering over her, "She was already awake when I came in."

Gale sighed once again before turning to Lorelai, "I'm sorry about my companion" She stared back, narrowing her eyes up at the man that had tried to subdue her. He must have noticed her accusing gaze because he winced slightly and rubbed the back of his neck, "I also uh... apologize about earlier with the sleep spell and all that. I can assure you I had your best interests in mind."

Yeah right. Lorelai continued to stare him down, her hand twitching as if to grab her knife that was long gone.

"What do you want?"

Here you go, part 1 of a story I have yet to name that I came up with after reading your post. (Open to title suggestions).

She felt quite conflicted about this whole thing, not really sure what emotion to listen to. There was that uneasiness, maybe even annoyance still at her co-workers for putting her in this situation. They had practically forced her to create an account after months of: you should really get out there and test the waters, aren’t you tired of being single? You can’t stay alone forever. Actually, that had sort of been her plan. What was so wrong with wanting to not necessarily stay alone forever but stick to what she had? She already had a few friends, a few acquaintances, and someone that could even classify as a best friend, why change that? She had laid down her roots and didn’t see any reason to add a new plant to the garden. 

Then, there was that part of her that felt the opposite. A small yet loud part of her that was excited, curious to see what could happen. It might have been biological, wasn’t that what much of love was? The biological need for a partner? She didn’t have much personal experience to go off of, so she wasn’t sure. For whatever reason it may be, there was a small sense of elation when her work friend Maggie had told her that she and the other gals had put her information into a dating app, and they had already found someone for her to chat with. 

To be frank, Cecilia had been a bit annoyed. Why did they feel the need to tamper with her personal life? It had no impact on them outside of the cafe. Though she still humored them and showed her the app, the profile they had made for her, and a guy they had hit up. 

“Seems like you could use a guy like him” one of them had joked. Cecilia had forced a laugh of uneasiness after seeing his profile. She couldn’t lie and say her heart didn’t feel warmer when looking at his picture. He had a head that was rather square, topped with brown hair that stuck up in odd places, and a rather large nose. He had a confident and elated look on his face that did intimidate her slightly. 

Garret was his name, and he described himself as a free spirit, open minded person with a good eye for good food. She had realized what her friend had meant, because if Cecilia were to describe herself, free spirited would not be a term that’d come to mind, and she wasn’t sure she really needed that in her life. Her friends had clearly bought into the idea that opposites attract, which logically made no sense at all when humans are genetically more drawn to those who are similar to them, but whatever.  

After some peer pressure, she sent him a message (the girls had already started messaging him and telling him that they had made this account for their friend). She had introduced herself and so did he. Days went by and she continued to chat with him. At first, she wasn’t all that determined or interested, even though her co-workers kept nagging her about it. She didn’t want to upset them, so she motivated herself by creating a mental catalog about this guy for her to fill out. This prompted her to chat by asking questions to fill in those blanks. She learned he worked in construction and had apparently sought out that job to lose weight and get in better shape which she could respect, money and health, killing two birds with one stone. Like he had said in his profile, he was quite the foodie. When she’d asked for his favorite food he couldn’t decide but offered a few answers and was also able to recall which restaurants prepared it best, most of which Cecilia had never heard of or been to.  

The more she learned about him, the more interested in him she actually became. So much so that when he suggested they finally meet in person after about a month of chatting, she agreed. 

Now here she was, watching the minutes tick by as she finished her shift. Everyone else had left and all there was really left to do was to close up the cafe. Garret had agreed to meet her outside after 8 and then they would decide on a place to go and pick up some food.  

Cecilia found herself cleaning the same spot on the counter several times as her mind became distracted by all sorts of thoughts and worries. She had never really been on an actual date, there was one time she’d gotten donuts with a guy in middle school, but that hardly counted at that age. How was she supposed to act? They already knew each other so maybe she should just act like this isn’t the first time they’ve met, or would that be rude? Honestly, why had she thought it a good idea to have to show up in her work uniform? That can’t be normal for a first- 

Every thought in her mind came to a halt when the ground beneath her feet quivered. Cecilia froze, listening. She gasped when it came again, only harsher, as if whatever was causing it was getting closer. 

She shook her head, stop getting so worked up, it’s not like it’s coming over- 

There was a rumbling thud as the ground continued to rhythmically shake, harsh enough to cause items on the shelves and countertops to bounce. Cecilia whimpered, ducking down behind the counter. She winced and pressed herself up against the cabinets as the floor continued to tremble and she could hear the booming footfalls. 

Her heart pounded loudly in her ear as she fumbled for her phone. Had Rebecca said there was a giant customer coming to pick up an order and she had just forgotten? Surely she would have stayed behind longer if that were the case. Rebecca was one of the few of her co-workers that tended to there…. Larger guests. That woman had nerves of steel, Cecilia couldn’t help but look up to her sometimes. She couldn’t believe how calm and collected she was around them. She had told her once that there was nothing to be afraid of, that they were harmless. Bullshit. What wasn’t there to be afraid of? Massive, loud, and unpredictable. One of those things alone could set Cecilia off, but all three together?! And not to mention how destructive they could be?! There was plenty to be afraid of. 

She let out a shriek as the footfalls became so violent, they were making her vibrate with the ground. Opening up her contacts, she dialed Rebecca and held the phone up to her ear praying she’d answer.  

Suddenly, all became still. The only sound remaining was the humming of her phone. Cecilia gulped before ever so slowly rising from her seat to peek over the counter. Her eyes widened. Planted right outside the front doors was a pair of enormous shoes. In an instance she ducked back down behind the counter, her heart racing. It’s right outside, oh God. What if it breaks down the door? What if it rips off the roof?! What if- 

“Hello? Cece?” A brief wave of relief washed over her as she heard Rebecca’s voice.  

“H-hey uh-” 

“Are you alright? You sound a bit shaken” 

“I’m uh, I was wondering if you might have forgotten to tell me if one of… your customers was picking up an order?” 

There was a pause on the other end, “I don’t remember there being any orders scheduled for after 5. Why do you ask? Did you get a call from someone?” 

Cecilia forced out a weak laugh, “Ah no, but uh-” before she could finish, her phone beeped indicating someone else was calling her. She looked down and saw it was Garret. Oh no. “I’ll call you back Becky” she hung up on her co-worker and answered the other line. 

“Hey Cecilia!” Garret’s deep and cheerful voice met her ears.

“Uh hi” she mumbled, her mind reeling on what to say. 

“I was just calling to see where you are, you still working?” 

“I uh- kind of” she answered lamely, her eyes shifting towards the door. 

“Oh okay, Well I’ll be right where you said to meet waiting” 

“Alright that sounds-” Cecilia froze, replaying his words in her head, “Wait, you’re where?” 

There was a chuckle from the other line, “I’m right where we agreed to meet.” 

 Was he standing out there with that giant? Waiting for her to come out? “You’re… outside the cafe?”  

“Yeah, I’m right outside that human cafe.”  

Her blood ran cold. Why did he phrase it that way? Her eyes shifted towards the door before quickly snapping back to the floor, no no, it’s nothing, “Why don’t you come in and wait inside while I finish up?” 

Another laugh, “Good one.” 

She gulped, “What do you mean?” 

“Oh, did you want me to head into the cafe across the street? Sorry, I thought you were making a joke.” 

Cecilia shook her head, there’s no way, it just couldn’t be, “No I meant the Cafe closest to you”  

Her heart dropped as Garret laughed again, “Okay, now I know you’re joking. Like I’d fit in there.” Cecilia’s mouth dropped, the hand holding her phone shook, “Hey, everything okay? You sound a little worried.”  

She stared wide-eyed across the room. There must have been some kind of mistake, this couldn’t be happening! 

*steps on soapbox*

More g/t stories with dating apps and awkward first dates please! I want mixed societies with humans and giants living together. I want the main characters to match on an app and think “ooh, you’re my person and perfect in every way”, only for them to meet in real life and realize “oh shoot there’s a huge height difference”. I want awkward to the max — The giant trying so hard to be gentle and not scary but the tiny is very taken aback and has no clue what to do. I want the giant to be so smitten, and so is the tiny but they just need a bit more time to adjust to everything. I want slow burn and trust building and all the tender steps as they fall in love with each other. I want the tiny finally allowing the giant to hold them for the first time. I want the first time they cuddle together. I want the first time they kiss. Hell, give me all the firsts!

Tell me this isn’t the sweetest, fluffiest trope you can imagine. Ugh, need more of this

A Match Beyond Measure Pt 1

(Name may be subject to change)

She felt quite conflicted about this whole thing, not really sure what emotion to listen to. There was that uneasiness, maybe even annoyance still at her co-workers for putting her in this situation. They had practically forced her into this after months of: you should really get out there and test the waters, aren’t you tired of being single? You can’t stay alone forever. Actually, that had sort of been her plan. What was so wrong with wanting to not necessarily stay alone forever but stick to what she had? She already had a few friends, a few acquaintances, and someone that could even classify as a best friend; why change that? She had laid down her roots and didn’t see any reason to add a new plant to the garden. 

Then, there was that part of her that felt the opposite. A small yet loud part of her that was excited, curious to see what could happen. It might have been biological, wasn’t that what much of love was? The biological need for a partner? She didn’t have much personal experience to go off of so she wasn’t sure. For whatever reason it may be, there was a small sense of elation when her work friend Maggie had told her that she and the other gals had put her information into a dating app and they had already found someone for her to chat with. 

To be frank, Cecilia had been a bit annoyed. Why did they feel the need to tamper with her personal life? It had no impact on them outside of the cafe. Though she still humored them and showed her the app, the profile they had made for her, and a guy they had hit up. 

“Seems like you could use a guy like him” one of them had joked. Cecilia had forced a laugh of uneasiness after seeing his profile. She couldn’t lie and say her heart didn’t feel warmer when looking at his picture. His head was rather square, topped with black hair that stuck up in odd places, with a large nose. He had a confident and elated look on his face that did intimidate her slightly. 

Garret was his name, and he described himself as a free-spirited, open-minded person with a good eye for good food. She had realized what her friend had meant, because if Cecilia were to describe herself, free spirited would not be a term that’d come to mind, and she wasn’t sure she really needed that in her life. Her friends had clearly bought into the idea that opposites attract, which logically made no sense at all when humans are genetically more drawn to those who are similar to them, but whatever.  

After some peer pressure, she sent him a message (the girls had already started messaging him and telling him that they had made this account for their friend). She had introduced herself and so did he. Days went by and she continued to chat with him. At first, she wasn’t all that determined or interested, even though her co-workers kept nagging her about it. She didn’t want to upset them, so she motivated herself by creating a mental catalog about this guy for her to fill out. This prompted her to chat by asking questions to fill in those blanks. She learned he worked in construction and had apparently sought out that job to lose weight and get in better shape which she could respect, money and health, killing two birds with one stone. Like he had said in his profile, he was quite the foodie. When she’d asked for his favorite food, he couldn’t decide but offered a few answers and was also able to recall which restaurants prepared it best, most of which Cecilia had never heard of or been to.  

The more she learned about him, the more interested in him she actually became. So much so that when he suggested they finally meet in person after about a month of chatting, she agreed. 

Now here she was, watching the minutes tick by as she finished her shift. Everyone else had left and all there was really left to do was to close up the cafe. Garret had agreed to meet her outside after 8 and then they would decide on a place to go and pick up some food.  

Cecilia found herself cleaning the same spot on the counter several times as her mind became distracted by all sorts of thoughts and worries. She had never really been on an actual date, there was one time she’d gotten donuts with a guy in middle school, but that hardly counted at that age. How was she supposed to act? They already knew each other so maybe she should just act like this isn’t the first time they’ve met, or would that be rude? Honestly, why had she thought it a good idea to have to show up in her work uniform? That can’t be normal for a first- 

Every thought in her mind came to a halt when the ground beneath her feet quivered. Cecilia froze, listening. She gasped when it came again, only harsher, as if whatever was causing it was getting closer. 

She shook her head, stop getting so worked up, it’s not like it’s coming over- 

There was a rumbling thud as the ground continued to rhythmically shake, harsh enough to cause items on the shelves and countertops to bounce. Cecilia whimpered, ducking down behind the counter. She winced and pressed herself up against the cabinets as the floor continued to tremble and she could hear the booming footfalls. 

Her heart pounded loudly in her ear as she fumbled for her phone. Had Rebecca said there was a giant customer coming to pick up an order and she had just forgotten? Surely, she would have stayed behind longer if that were the case. Rebecca was one of the few of her co-workers that tended to their…. Larger guests. That woman had nerves of steel; Cecilia couldn’t help but look up to her sometimes. She couldn’t believe how calm and collected she was around them. She had told her once that there was nothing to be afraid of, that they were harmless. Bullshit. What wasn’t there to be afraid of? Massive, loud, and unpredictable. One of those things alone could set Cecilia off, but all three together?! And not to mention how destructive they could be?! There was plenty to be afraid of. 

She let out a shriek as the footfalls became so violent, they were making her vibrate with the ground. Opening up her contacts, she dialed Rebecca and held the phone up to her ear praying she’d answer.  

Suddenly, all became still. The only sound remaining was the humming of her phone. Cecilia gulped before ever so slowly rising from her seat to peek over the counter. Her eyes widened. Planted right outside the front doors was a pair of enormous shoes. In an instance she ducked back down behind the counter, her heart racing. It’s right outside, oh God. What if it breaks down the door? What if it rips off the roof?! What if- 

“Hello? Cece?” A brief wave of relief washed over her as she heard Rebecca’s voice.  

“H-hey uh-” 

“Are you alright? You sound a bit shaken” 

“I’m uh, I was wondering if you might have forgotten to tell me if one of… your customers was picking up an order?” 

There was a pause on the other end, “I don’t remember there being any orders scheduled for after 5. Why do you ask? Did you get a call from someone?” 

Cecilia forced out a weak laugh, “Ah no, but uh-” before she could finish, her phone beeped indicating someone else was calling her. She looked down and saw it was Garret. Oh no. “I’ll call you back Becky” she hung up on her co-worker and answered the other line. 

“Hey Cecilia!” Garret’s deep and cheerful voice met her ears.

“Uh hi” she mumbled, her mind reeling on what to say. 

“I was just calling to see where you are, you still working?” 

“I uh- kind of” she answered lamely, her eyes shifting towards the door. 

“Oh okay, Well I’ll be right where you said to meet waiting” 

“Alright that sounds-” Cecilia froze, replaying his words in her head, “Wait, you’re where?” 

There was a chuckle from the other line, “I’m right where we agreed to meet.” 

 Was he standing out there with that giant? Waiting for her to come out? “You’re… outside the cafe?”  

“Yeah, I’m right outside that human cafe.”  

Her blood ran cold. Why did he phrase it that way? Her eyes shifted towards the door before quickly snapping back to the floor, no no, it’s nothing, “Why don’t you come in and wait inside while I finish up?” 

Another laugh, “Good one.” 

She gulped, “What do you mean?” 

“Oh, did you want me to head into the cafe across the street? Sorry, I thought you were making a joke.” 

Cecilia shook her head, there’s no way, it just couldn’t be, “No I meant the Cafe closest to you”  

Her heart dropped as Garret laughed again, “Okay, now I know you’re joking. Like I’d fit in there.” Cecilia’s mouth dropped, the hand holding her phone shook, “Hey, everything okay? You sound a little worried.”  

She stared wide-eyed across the room. There must have been some kind of mistake, this couldn’t be happening! 

Slave to the Light Pt 6

A Baldur's Gate fanfiction

Gale blinked, shook his head, and then look back down at Lorelai with a nervous laugh, "I'm not quite sure what you mean by that."

"What do you want?" Lorelai repeated slowly.

He looked to Karlach who looked down at Lorelai with a pleading look, "I already told you, all we wanted was to make sure you were okay."

Lorelai shook her head, not falling for any of this bullshit, "Well, as you can see, I'm fine. So may I go now?"

The two towering figures shared a worried look with one another, "You uh.... don't look completely fine." Gale weakly gestured to her flimsy once white dress that was now completely torn in the back as well as many of places and was stained with dirt and her own blood.

Lorelai raised a brow, not wanting to reveal that his comment had made her wonder, would she be able to survive the elements of this plane in this piece of garbage? and what if other predatory creatures could still smell the dried-up blood?

"I'd offer you some extra clothes but sometime tells me they wouldn't fit you" he gave a weak chuckle, Lorelai glared back at him with instantly shut him up.

"Well, since you're so keen on helping me, why don't you get me some fabric?" she sneered, expecting them to finally show their true colors and fess up whatever it is they wanted. Though to her surprise, Gale nodded, turned, and walked out of the tent, his footsteps sending tremors beneath her feet.

She stared for a moment, before shaking her head. Was he actually-

"You want any more to eat?" her attention focused back onto the Tiefling who was nudging the plate of food closer.

Lorelai stared for a moment, before pulling herself up onto the plate itself. She ripped off a chunk of the slightly burned sausage and began tearing into it.

"Hope that still tastes okay" Karlach gave her a sheepish smile, Lorelai responding by raising a brow.

"I could also use a needle, or at least something sharp."

Karlach beamed, "Oh I'll go find you one!" Lorelai gasped as the ground quaked with the Tiefling's hurried retreating footsteps. Throwing out her arms, she steadied herself.

It didn't make sense, but for some reason, these big folk acted as if they wanted to help her. Now she was almost sure that it was just that, an act. Though when it came to the Tiefling.... she was either an extremely good actor or she wasn't let in on whatever plan that Gale and whoever else had going on.

However, why not play into this plan of theirs? act as if she didn't know that they wanted something in return for their good deeds? See how far they'll go? She might even be able to give them whatever it is they wanted, maybe they were stupid enough to believe that lie of pixies granting wishes to those that help them?

And if you can't give them what they want? or at the very least fool them?

Well, there is always the option to run.

Lorelai felt the ground beneath her tremble erratically and a second later, the massive form of Karlach poked her horned head into the tent. "I got one!" she held up her hand, show her the needle that was beginning to glow orange in the Tiefling's burning grip.

Right, infernal engine, whatever in the Hells that is. She would have to keep that in mind, case the Tiefling ever tried to get too close.

Karlach made her way into the tent, followed by Gale who was holding an old looking nightshirt, "Karlach, why don't you um.... leave the fetching stuff to me?" he gave her an awkward smile, the sort a mother gives a child who is unsuccessfully trying to help.

"If you say so, here" Karlach haphazardly deposited the needle into Gale's hand before making her way back over to Lorelai. He let out a yelp and promptly dropped the burning metal on the floor, though Karlach didn't seem to take any notice, "So Lorelai, you from around here?"

She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, "No".

"Well, where are you from?"

Lorelai glanced up at her before looking away with a wince, "Do you mind... not standing?"

Karlach gave her a confused look before she dropped into a kneel, nearly throwing Lorelai off her feet, "So, where are you from? Why were you covered in blood when we-"

"Karlach please, let's not bombard her with questions" Gale approached, setting down a sea of black folded up fabric with a spool of thread on top.

Lorelai waited for him to back off before approaching the pile of cloth that was nearly as tall as her. She ran a hand across it, flinching when Gale once again approached. He kneeled down and held out the needle to her.

"Will this do?" he vaguely gestured to the given supplies. She said nothing, quickly snatching away the spear-sized needle and backing away.

He promptly left afterwards, attempting to take Karlach with him but she simply wouldn't budge. Lorelai kept an eye on her looming form as she began to rip off bits of fabric, using the needle to split them into more precise pieces.

The thread was hard to work with. Though considerably easier to pull it through the needle eye, actually using it was quite difficult on her arms. She felt annoyed that she had an audience to her struggle but was grateful that she had so far stayed silent.

She had begun to sew together the front and back of the shirt she had cut out when Karlach decided now was a good time to start asking questions again.

"You've sewn before?"

"Yes."

"Figures. Never learned myself, found it boring."

Lorelai simply nodded, only sparing the Tiefling a glance.

"You ever been to Baldur's gate?"

She paused, glaring down at the fabric before shaking her head, "Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Oh well that's where I grew up, though I've never seen any of your kind there. What were you doing there?"

Lorelai rounded on the Tiefling, her fists clenched around the needle like it really was a spear, "that is none of your business."

Karlach held up her hands, "Okay" her mouth then quirked into a smile as she looked down at her.

"What?"

"Just a bit funny seeing you all fired up."

Her eyes widened and she froze. Handings tightening around the needle, she screwed up her face and glared back at the Tiefling, "You find me amusing huh?" she spat out, fuming, "Think it's funny?"

Karlach smile fell, now looking dumbfounded. She shrunk away from her, her eyes trying to look anywhere else other than down at Lorelai, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

Lorelai stared at the Tiefling, taking in her expression of confused guilt and her eyes softened. She sighed, her body relaxing. She couldn't blame a big folk for finding her... well interesting. It was seemingly in their nature.

"It's.... it's fine. You didn't really do anything wrong." She looked away, not sure what else to say, "Just a bit... you know at the moment."

The Tiefling met her eyes and smiled, "Can I help you with that at all?" she nodded at the half sewn together shirt.

Lorelai almost felt like laughing, "No, but thank you."

"Guess I wouldn't be all that much help anyway." Karlach let out a forced sounding laugh.

"You've help me enough. I never thanked you for getting rid of that horrid creature."

"Horrid creature?"

She repressed a shiver, "That vampire."

Karlach's eyes widened, "Oh uh.... no problem. Though I think you're still owed an apology."

"Already told you, you did nothing wrong,"

"No not from me."

Lorelai paused, her mouth quirking into a smirk, "What? from the vampire? that's funny. I think you'd be hard met to even try."

"Well why don't we?"

She raised a brow, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Suddenly, Karlach stood, "Wait right here. I'll be right back." she hurried out of the tent, leaving Lorelai fumbling to keep her balance.

What in the Hells? what was she on about?

She was about to resume her project when she heard a commotion outside. Two voices that she couldn't make out were arguing and maybe even getting physical. It became louder as it seemingly got closer. She was able to make out Karlach's voice.

"Come on, it will only take a second."

Karlach suddenly popped her head back in, turned it to look outside, and beckoned eagerly.

"Just get over here."

Lorelai narrowed her eyes in confusion, what was she doing? who was she talking-

Her blood ran cold. Karlach had stepped aside to let someone in. Two black leather boots stepped in. Lorelai began to slowly look up, connecting the boots to legs, a body and then to a face, a familiar face. The face she thought would be the last thing she'd ever see.

Two red eyes fell upon her, seemingly pinning her to where she stood. She was trembling, her legs felt like they'd fail her at any moment. Her heart was fluttering within her chest like a frantic caged bird.

"Lorelai, Astarion. Astarion, Lorelai." Those red eyes shifted away for only a moment to glare over at Karlach.

Run, now!

She took the fraction of a second to make a run for it. pivoting on her heels and running as fast as she could in the other direction. She didn't care that it was a dead end, it was further away, and that's all she cared about.

"Hey! where are you going?" Karlach called out.

Lorelai darted behind one of the piles of books, peeking out and pointing up at the vampire with her needle, "What is that thing still doing alive!?"

The vampire raised a brow, narrowing its red eyes.

Karlach stepped forward between the two of them, "He" she shot a look at the vampire, "Is here to apologize."

Lorelai felt a shiver run through her as the vampire scoffed.

"Are you crazy?!" she inched further behind the books.

"Exactly what I thought." the vampire grumbled.

"What is going on?" Lorelai took her eyes off the vampire for a moment to see Gale entering the tent. His eyes widened at the sight. He looked from the vampire to Karlach, "What is he doing in here?"

"He is here to apologize."

"She dragged me in here" grumbled the vampire.

Gale looked around the room, "Where's Lorelai?"

"Over there" Karlach pointed, Lorelai ducked behind the pile, "Ran the moment we came in."

"I'm not surprised, " Gale murmured. He pushed past the two and kneeled down, meeting Lorelai's gaze, "Are you alright? I'm sorry about all of this."

She glared up at him, still holding up her needle, "Why haven't you killed that- that thing yet!?"

Gale glanced over at the vampire, "Well, he is.... apart of our little group here."

What?!

"Believe me, under other circumstances, I wouldn't be one to keep his kind of company."

"The feelings mutual" Gale glared over his shoulder.

"But... he has promised us not to prey upon any thinking creatures. Though he seems to have an odd understanding of what that means. Nevertheless, I promise, he has learned his lesson and will not harm you."

A Match Beyond Measure Pt 2

(Name may be subject to change)

“Y-you… You’re the only one outside?” 

“Far as I can tell, yeah.”  

“Outside the Grounds and Sounds cafe?” 

She waited with bated breath for his answer, that last damning piece of evidence, “Yeah, looks like it. Are you sure you’re alright?”  

No, no she was not alright. She was anything but alright! The person outside was Garret, the giant outside was Garret! This whole time she had been talking with a giant! The giant outside was waiting for her! 

Her heartbeat echoed in her ears as she sat there curled up on the floor. What was she supposed to do? Out of all the things that could have gone wrong! 

“Uh hey, you still there?” 

She jumped at the sound of his voice, this time knowing the owner was looming right outside the door. Did he know? Did he know she was human? He couldn’t have. He sure acted like he was expecting someone… someone more like him. 

What should she say? Did she really want to let him know? What would happen then? She shivered as hundreds of scenarios entered her mind all at once, all of which horrified her. But she had to say something! If she didn’t he’d remain standing out there and get more and more suspicious. 

“Garret” she muttered, “I’m a…. The cafe you're standing in front of, that’s the cafe I work at.” 

Silence on the other end.  

“Wait what?” Cecilia couldn’t think of anything else to say, she was… she was-

Suddenly, the ground jerked so violently it catapulted Cecilia from her seat with a yelp. She caught herself before she could smack her head on the floor, releasing a shaky breath as everything went still. Her phone had been knocked out of her hand and was now lying on the floor, cracked.  She grabbed it before rolling over and backpedaling back to her spot pressed up against the cabinets. After a few seconds of more silence, she slowly straightened her legs and pushed herself up, turning around as she did so.  

Her heart nearly stopped. Outside, practically taking up the entire glass wall, was a face. A face turned sideways trying to peer in with two blue eyes the size of dinner plates. A massive hand was holding something that looked like a phone the size of a car against the side of his face. Garret’s face.  

His eyes widened when they fell upon her. Cecilia watched his mouth fall open in shock, revealing massive teeth that she couldn’t help but imagine morphing into sharp fangs.  

Just as soon as she had stood, she fell back to the ground, trembling, “Wait!” the shout reverberated through the walls. She snapped her eyes shut, clasping her hands over her ears. Just go away, her fingers clawing into her head and grabbing bits of her curly red hair, “Wait come back!” 

She winced, squeezing her eyes even more shut. Just go away! She pleaded. 

“Cecilia?”  

Everything seemed to freeze once again. Her name rang in her ears. Garret’s voice rang in her ears, only not the thunderous one she’d heard moments ago, but the one she had gotten to know. Slowly, she let her hands slide off her face and into her lap, still shaking. 

That had reminded her that this… this was Garret. 

What difference does that make?! One side of her screamed, get out of here now! 

She glanced to the door leading to the back and the back exit. If she was quick about it, she could slip out and run for it. But…. she looked at her phone, laying on the floor next to her. She couldn’t just do that, giant or not, he at least deserved an explanation. 

But what if he got angry? She felt herself cringe at the thought of those huge features twisting into a visage of rage.  

She hit herself, shaking her head. Stop it! Stop thinking like that! If you are anything close to a decent human being you will say something! 

Her phone felt ten times as heavy as she picked it up and lifted it up to her ear. 

“G-Garret?” she managed to mumble. 

“Hey” his voice responded sheepishly, “Didn’t mean to scare you there, heh. This is just a little unexpected”  

Cecilia let out a mumble of agreement. 

“But uh hey, I could stop blocking the door and you can come on out and-” 

“No!” 

Cecilia slapped a hand over her mouth, looking down horrified.  

There was an audible pause on the other end, “Is something wrong?”

How is he being so cool about all of this?! 

“I uh….” she racked her brains for what to say, “It’s uh…” 

“It’s not what?” 

“It’s not your fault.” she blurted out. 

Garret fell silent. Please don’t be mad, please don’t be mad. 

“What’s not my fault?” 

“That I’m… that I’m-” 

“I’m going to stop you right there” Cecilia went still, “I know this isn’t what you were expecting or what we had planned, but hey, I haven’t much experience being around humans but have always sort of wanted to”  

Can’t say I feel the same way. 

“There’s a restaurant a couple miles from here that’s got some of the best burgers I’ve ever had. If you want we could go and hit it up.” 

She cringed, clearly he had no idea what she had meant before, and now she felt like she had dug herself into a deeper hole. Her lips were dry as she tried to come up with the right words, “T-the thing is, I’m…. not really….” She knew what she wanted to say, but she couldn’t. What if he got offended? That was the last thing she wanted to do, for more selfish reasons if she was being honest. 

“I don’t mean to be rude or anything, I just…. Your…. Your-” Just spit it out dammit! “Your kind make me feel uneasy”  

Uneasy seemed like the most harmless word to use, but it didn’t at all really describe how she felt at all. She didn’t really even want to think of the words to properly describe it in case it just made those feelings worse. 

“Uneasy?” Garret still sounded confused. Sheesh, he really hadn’t spent much time around humans. Uneasiness was said to be quite common in many folks when first interacting with the other kind, though they seemed to always get over it quite fast. Not Cecilia though, for some stupid ass reason that she didn’t know. 

“I-I haven’t much experience around…. your kind either.”  

“Well like I said, neither have I. It would be a fun first for both of us.” 

Fun?!   

She wasn’t sure what to say without the possibility of offending him. None of her words had really landed and he still seemed to have no idea what she was getting at. The hallway leading to the back and by extension, the backdoor was starting to look really appealing. 

If she was careful… if she was quiet…. Her bike was chained up to a pipe right out back. If she could make it out there without being seen, she’d be out of this mess. She’d be able to ride back to her apartment, explain herself to him over text instead of…. Instead of… right now and…. Right here. 

Pocketing her phone, which was still on the line, she unfolded her legs and began to crawl towards the back. A couple of cups and bottles of flavoring had fallen and shattered to the floor, she maneuvered past them so as not to get sliced in the knee and cry out. When she made it to the back hallway, she pressed herself against the wall. She stiffened when she felt her phone vibrate and the vague sound of Garret’s voice. Ignoring it, she continued to crawl the length of the hallway, the backdoor always in front of her, teasing her.   

After what felt like an eternity of slinking along the tiled floor, her nose was inches away from the door. She looked over her shoulder before standing up and fumbling with the door knob. The creaky old door seemed louder than ever as it hinges squealed. She cringed, pushing it all the way open and stepping out. Her bike was on the left, chipped blue paint looking more beautiful than ever before.  

She scrambled over to it, grabbing the bike lock and frantically clicked in the code. The lock snapped open and she didn’t hesitate to pull it away from the building and mount it. She began to pedal, her eyes fixated on the thin alley across the street that she had always used as a shortcut to her complex. 

Suddenly, she heard movement. The rustle of fabric and a low grunt right before a growing shadow appeared feet in front of her. She had but a millisecond to turn her bike harshly to the left before something bigger than a decent sized car crashed down in front of her, the impact throwing her off her bike and sending her skidding across the pavement. The ground rocked once more before everything stilled. 

Cecilia groaned, her elbows and calves burning from being dragged across the ground. 

“Shit!” she froze as that same deep voice rumbled from far above her. She didn’t want to look up, but her body at that moment seemed to be on autopilot as her neck strained to look upwards.  

Her eyes widened, a mountain of mass stood before her, reaching at least forty meters in height. Her mouth went completely dry when her eyes met with two familiar blue eyes, staring down at her.  

She quickly looked back down, only to be met with the sight of those massive shoes only about two feet away from her.  

“You alright?” Cecilia flinched at the voice, “That looked pretty rough.” 

“I….I…” her lips quivered. 

“Why’d you come out this door? I could have moved out of-'' he paused, Cecilia tentatively looked back up to see the eyes of the giant before her narrow. “You cold or somethin’? You’re uh…” he chuckled, “You’re shaking.”  

To her horror, the enormous body before her started to get closer, bending down and taking up more of her vision if that was even possible. Her arms shot out in front of her, instinctively shielding herself. The movement around her stopped. She looked up to see Garret straighten back up, his eyes wide before something seemed to click in his brain. 

“Is it me?” 

Slave to the Light Pt 7

A Baldur's Gate fanfiction

Lorelai stared up at Gale, shocked and confused, "What do you mean under different circumstances? what possible circumstances are there that would make you travel with a fucking vampire!?"

The vampire, or Astarion as the others seemed to call him, merely scrunched up his nose at her remarks. Gale's eyes fell away from her, clearly pondering something.

"Well, you see" he started, "All of us here happen to be dealing with the same problem that we are all in dire need of rectifying".

She raised a brow, "What kind of problem?"

Gale pursed his lips, as if debating whether he should continue, "All of us.... currently are hosts to illithid parasites".

Lorelai's eyes widened, "What?"

"We basically have these worm-like fuckers swimming around in our brains" chimed in Karlach.

"No- I know what an illithid parasite is, but...." she looked the man before her up and down, "Shouldn't you have.... transformed?"

"Now that, is something we are all wondering about" said Gale, "None of us have shown any real signs of... well, turning into tentacled monsters. So, since we have seemingly been blessed with spare time, we're looking for a cure. Hence the give of us being together."

Lorelai stiffened, "there's more of you?"

"Yes, but you'll meet them later, that is... if you decide to stay." over Gale's shoulder, she saw Karlach grinning down at her.

"You're offering to let me stay? Why?"

Gale chuckled, "Well you're clearly in need of some assistance, and I dare say your presence wouldn't cause much of a hassle" he leaned in closer, lowing his voice, "And to be honest, I don't completely trust Astarion to not.... forget himself."

"I can hear you; you know." grumbled Astarion.

Lorelai looked down. Being with these group seemed to be presenting more risks by the second. First, a vampire, and now illithid parasites. But what about the number of risks if she went it alone? and as dangerous as these big folk might be, they could be of use to her.

She met Gale's eyes again, "Alright, I will take you up on your offer" her gaze hardened, "But if I see any of you begin to sprout tentacles I'm out of here. And if your..... companion tries anything-"

"We'll make sure he doesn't."

"Well, if he does, I won't hesitate to teach him a much harsher lesson than I did last night, perhaps with something much sharper."

Astarion let out a snort of laughter that made her blood boil, "That's cute."

Lorelai's fingers tighten around the needle, wishing she could shove it right through one of those awful red eyes.

Gale straightened, clapping his hands together, "Right, now that's sorted, how abouts we give you some alone time?" the moment he had finished his sentenced, Astarion turned on his heel and quickly made his way out of the tent, shooting Lorelai one last glare.

"That means you too Karlach. I think you may have overstayed your welcome" Gale held the tent flap open and gestured for the Tiefling to follow suit.

"Can't I stay? I know it's your tent and all... but come on" she looked down at Lorelai, "I can stay right?"

Lorelai thought for a moment. She had been deeply looking forward to not being surrounded by towering figures and was about to ask her to leave, but once again Karlach was giving her that hopeful grin.

She sighed, "Yeah sure, you can stay. But just be quiet, alright?"

Karlach beamed at her before smirking at Gale who rolled his eyes before leaving.

To her surprise, the Tiefling was able to stay quiet. She had simply sat herself down and watched Lorelai eagerly as she continued to work. It began to feel a little weird though after twenty minutes went by and Karlach was still staring. Lorelai kept looking up from her work only to be met with the same intense gaze.

After the tenth time of looking over her shoulder to see if there was any change in the Tiefling's behavior, she resigned herself to fully focusing on making something wearable.

Hard to say how much time had gone by when she had finally locked the final stitch and held up her handiwork: A rather small top and a pair of short and baggy pants, both an obnoxious shade of purple.

"Hey, not bad." said Karlach.

Lorelai sighed, "Do you mind staring at something else for a moment?"

"Oh fuck, yeah sorry."

The ground shifted as Karlach spun herself around, so her back was to her.

Lorelai threw the articles of clothing on the ground before going to remove the sorry excuse for a dress she was currently wearing. She had managed to pull it up over her legs before she gasped out, being hit with a stinging pain the moment she tried to pull it up over her back.

"You alright?"

"Fine" she grunted, gritting her teeth. The fabric must have fused itself to her wounds. She groaned before taking hold of her dress again and quickly tossed it over her head. Her back stung with pain that slowly subsided once she had ripped the fabric away from it. Tossing it aside, she reached down and pulled on her newly made shirt and pants.

She poked her head around the pile before stepping out. Karlach peeked over her shoulder before turning back around. She looked Lorelai up and down before an amused smile appeared on her face. The Tiefling let out a snort of laughter, looking away and covering her mouth.

"What?"

"Nothing" she lied; her eyes still upturned, "Just looks a little big on you."

Lorelai rolled her eyes, walking over and heaving herself up onto the plate to snatch up another grape, glaring at it as if it had been the one to make the remark.

She leapt down, tossing the half-eaten fruit aside and began heading for the exit.

"Where are you headed?"

"Outside."

"What for?"

Lorelai groaned, "Does it matter?"

"Can I come with?"

"I don't care."

She continued forward, stepping out into the open. She couldn't help but tense slightly at the sight before her. Four other massive tents were set up in the distance, all of them different colors and had an assortment of items outside their entrances. They all surrounded a campfire that at the moment was nothing but burnt wood and charcoal. But that wasn't what had bothered her, what bothered her was the towering figures meandering around the tents. She could feel through the ground the slight quiver from their steps from here, all of them, lumbering around like big oafs the lot of them.

Lorelai shook her head, focusing back on the task at hand: arming herself. It only took her a moment of looking around before she spotted a patch of trees to the east. She began to make her way over there, her eyes fliting around to look back at the big folk and know where each one of them was at the given moment. She kept an especially close eye out for that vampire, even though he shouldn't have been able to be out in the sun. Being apparently apart of this little team, he was almost certainly still lurking around somewhere.

She had noticed Karlach had left the tent, though she had reframed from following her and had instead gone over to what Lorelai assumed was her own tent. There didn't seem to be too much of a reason to keep an eye on that one, she seemed docile enough.

The grass began to reach up past her waist as she trudged into the beginnings of a forest. The sun was shining down through the many leaves of the trees, illuminating their shape and color, which was exactly what Lorelai had been hoping for.

Her pace slowed as she scrutinized each tree she passed, looking from its leaves to its branches to its trunk. There was a good deal of oak and dogwood, both much too knotty to work with. There was also some hickory, too fragile to moisture, and some elm, too likely to crack. Then she spotted just what she had been looking for, a yew tree.

She hurried over to it, looking over it once more. Yes, it would do very nicely. Looking up, she pinpointed the lowest branch that was the right thickness before she dug her fingers beneath the crevices of the bark. Her muscles strained but ached with an almost pleasant and familiar burn as she scaled up the trunk.

When she was perpendicular to the branch she wanted, she began to shimmy closer over. Securing her feet in the groves of bark, she reached out and took hold of one of the smaller branches. With some effort, she managed to snap it off the main branch, almost losing her balance as she did so. her hands scrambled to grab back onto the bark, stick in hand that she surveyed with a nod.

The trek down was much easier, only made tad harder, having to tow down a stick nearly as long as she was tall down with her.

She jumped the rest of the way back to the ground. Holding the stick now like a great misshapen staff, she looked along the forest floor. Now... all she needed was- that might do.

She bent down and picked up a jagged rock, turning it over in her hand. It would have to suffice. Heading back over to the yew tree, she sat herself down with both rock and stick in hand. Placing the stick on her lap, she turned it over a few times before finding the sharpest side of the rock and getting right to work.

A Match Beyond Measure Pt 3

“Is it me?” 

Cecilia inched further away, still keeping her eyes on Garret.  

“Are… are you afraid? Of me?” 

Her eyes slid to look at her feet before she nodded. She felt awful, his tone alone was making her feel sick to her stomach with guilt.  

“I’m…. sorry, I didn’t know. Here uh… let me..” she shivered as the ground shifted beneath her as the giant began to move. Once again, she couldn’t help but flinch back, only to glance up and see that he had done the exact opposite of what she had thought he’d do. He was now standing further away, peering down at her. Even now that he was not practically on top of her, he still towered over her, making her feel like an insect just waiting to be squished.  

“That any better?” 

She nodded. 

Garret shoved his hands into his jean pockets, “Like I said, haven’t spent a lot of time around you little guys” he chuckled, raising an arm to rub the back of his neck, “Didn’t realize that this here might be a bit intimidating” he gestured to himself. 

Cecilia felt like she had to say something. He clearly didn’t seem mad, so then why was she so scared? 

“L-like I said, i-it’s not really your fault. M-most of us aren’t r-really like this, It’s…. It's a me problem”.  

Garret tilted his head, eyeing her curiously, “Is there anything else I can do to make you…. Not feel afraid?” 

She somehow managed a weak smile, “T-that’s nice of you to offer. I-I’m sorry for-” 

“How about this?” Suddenly, Cecilia gasped, being thrown off the ground as the massive form before her crashed down… or sat down from his perspective. When she fell back to the ground, she was violently trembling, “Woah, didn’t know that would happen. Sorry”  

He means well, he means well, he means no harm she told herself over and over.  

“It’s uh, nice to finally meet you in person. Even if it wasn’t really what I was expecting” 

Cecilia didn’t know what to do other than nod.  

He smiled, “The offers still open if you want to grab a bite to eat.”  

Her stomach did a somersault, what was he even saying?! He still wanted to take her out for dinner?! Hadn’t he finally realized what she had been trying to explain? 

She began inching away again, her eyes darting around as she tried to think of how to respond, “I uh….. I uh… uh…”    

“It would be my treat”  

“Uh.. w-wouldn’t you uh…. W-why would you still want that?” 

“Well, I came here to meet and hang out with you, so…..”    

How was this even happening?! How did she land herself in this situation?! And how come she couldn’t seem to get herself out?!  

Just say no, just say no. She opened her mouth to say just that, but then she saw his face. It wasn't monstrous or unfamiliar, it was a face she had grown to know, and maybe even like. The way he was staring down at her, although unnerving, didn’t come off as malicious or… or anything else other than hopeful really.   

“I-I… I don’t know”  

His smile faltered, “Am I really that scary?” 

Yes! Yes you are! 

“I-I like I s-said, y-your kind just… just…”  

“Is it really that bad?”  

She cringed at his words, before nodding.  

Garret’s smile completely disappeared, leaving nothing but a crestfallen look on his face. Cecilia felt her insides churn. Please don’t do that, don’t look at me like that. 

“Well uh… I guess…” she looked away when he stood, her fingers clutching at the road to keep her on the ground, “It was… nice meeting you I guess.”  

What is wrong with you?! She screamed at herself, guilt eating away at her insides like acid. He had come all this way, taken the time out of his day to see you! And you’re just going to just send him off?! What kind of person are you?! A bitch! That’s what you are!

“W-wait!” she yelled right as he turned to leave. He looked over his broad shoulder at her, “W-where’s this restaurant you were talking about?” 

He raised a brow, “Just a block or two away.”   

 No wait! What are you doing?! One side of her brain screamed, while the other ebbed her to continue, “H-how about I meet you there. You could… get us a table and uh… I’ll ride over there” she nodded over to her bike, still lying abandoned on the ground.  

Garret stared at her for a moment, before grinning, “Ok yeah, sure. That sounds good. The place is called Beefy Bites, you can’t miss it” he began to walk away with a bit more pep in his step, making the earthquakes he left in his wake more short and sudden, “I’ll meet you there then!” he called over his shoulder.  

Cecilia got to her feet, watching him go. What had she gotten herself into?   

What Garret must have meant when he said two blocks, were two giant sized blocks, because she just now, thirty minutes later, had arrived. She dismounted her bike, panting as she looked up, and up at the gargantuan building. It had to be at the very least a mile tall, probably more! And she could just barely see the neon sign with letters bigger than her reading Beefy Bites. Just looking at the building made her feel light headed. Sure she had lived in the city for a few years now, but she had mainly stuck to areas most frequented by humans and never really explored anywhere else. She just looked from a distance at the offices, restaurants, and apartments that stretched up into the sky seemingly forever.   

Now here she was, standing outside on the pavement, her much larger than expected date waiting for her inside. Was this even a date anymore? Garret couldn’t possibly see it that way,  how could he? And how could she? Yes his pictures made her heart murmur when she first saw them and she had felt a bit giddy whenever she had seen he had messaged her back, but what about now? Now it just couldn't be that way. 

Then why was she here?  

Well, she was here now, and she had said she would come, so now…. What choice did she really have? 

It took her a moment to find the human entrance, it looked nearly invisible compared to its much bigger counterpart. She paused, her hand on the door, breathed, and pushed it open. 

To say it was overwhelming would be an understatement. Even though she had seen the size of the building on the outside, it was hard to believe that the room before her was this big. She currently stood on a platform that was at the very least fifty feet off the ground that led to a hostess stand the size of a small apartment complex. The room was dimly lit, which made the rest of the restaurant blur the further back she tried to look, giving the illusion that it was even bigger. 

Cecilia couldn’t even hear herself think. Outside she had been able to hear the muffled commotion inside. Now it was like an orchestra of talking, tableware clattering, and heavy footfalls was being performed before her, and she was in the front row.  

She had to move, had to move towards the stand. Slowly, her eyes constantly flicking in all directions, she came forward. The hostess, a giant, appeared from the back after she’d made it halfway there. 

“Good evening” she boomed over the chorus of loud voices, “Table for one?”  

Cecilia’s hands began to fidget with the bottom of her shirt. She opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a dry murmur. 

“Table for one?” the hostess repeated. 

“Hey! Over here!”  

Both her and the hostess turned to see Garret, standing up in his booth, waving her over. From over here, he looked almost… normal. 

“She’s with me.”  

The hostess looked from Garret to Cecilia who shrunk back when she saw the confused look on her face. Almost as soon as it had appeared, it disappeared and was replaced with that classic customer service smile. She bent town and grabbed a menu, a menu Cecilia could have mistaken for a billboard, and gestured forward.  

Cecilia followed along on the platforms that apparently went all throughout the restaurant and were more like elevated paths, leading to all the booths and the restrooms in the back. She found it quite hard to keep up, having to awkwardly jog to the booth where Garret sat there waiting, his eyes following her the whole way which only made her feel like she had to get over there faster, something half of her was saying to do the opposite.  

Finally, she had made it to the table after covering the perimeter of the restaurant and stumbled down a set of wood stairs onto the table. The sticky residue from the previous patrons stuck to the bottom of her shoes as she made her way over to a table, a normal sized table, that had been placed on top of the one she was currently standing on. 

She sat down, her movements stiff as a board and her eyes looking anywhere but forward. The waitress placed the huge menu between the two of them, “Someone will be with you two shortly” with that, she turned and walked off. 

Cecilia stared down at the table, hyper fixating on her fork. Her eyes flitted over to the other side of the table where a fork three times her size lay, Garret’s massive fist laying beside it. She tensed, her body unable to let her forget about the mountain of a person in front of her, watching her.  

“Glad you made it. Might of underestimated the distance for someone like yourself.”  

Say something you idiot! “T-that’s fine” she murmured.  

Everything around her grew darker, Garret’s shadow falling over her as he leaned in closer, “What was that?” 

Cecilia grabbed onto the bottom of her chair, holding herself down while muscles all throughout her body were poised to make her get up. She slowly turned her head up to face him, the first she had done since arriving at the table. His face filled her vision entirely. Every one of his features, she could make out. The individual hairs that made up his dark eyebrows, his very faint stubble, blemishes in his skin, Everything.  

He was looking down at her, his smile faltering as he waited for her to respond.  

“I uh… said that’s fine.” she looked away from the head hanging over her, “Do…do you mind not-” 

“Oh shit, my bad.”  

Cecilia released a breath she didn’t know she was holding when he pulled away. 

“Like I said, not really used to being around your kind.”   

She breathed, and forced herself to look him in the eye, and smiled, “Neither am I.”  Garret smirked back at her before reaching over and grabbing the menu. Cecilia reframed from flinching when his hand had approached. Come on, it’s ok, he’s ok, he's fine, you’re fine. 

A Match Beyond Measure Pt 4

“So…. Do you recommend anything?” she glanced awkwardly down at her personal table that was currently menu-less. 

“Oh, definitely the Giga Bite, gotta be the best damn burger I’ve ever had.” His face slightly faltered as he looked down the menu, “Huh, but it doesn’t look like they make it for humans, that sucks.” 

“How about just a regular cheese burger?”  

Garret’s eyes skimmed the menu before he nodded, “Yeah looks like they do that, but aw man,” he peeked down at her, “I really wish you could try it.” 

Cecilia forced out a weak chuckle. If she was being honest, she wouldn’t have been very interested in trying it. Why do people feel the need to try or order new foods if they have something they know for sure if they like? Nothing can go wrong with that.  

“Hi there, how are you folks doing?” she jumped at the loud voice and the sudden appearance of their waiter. A glass filled with what had to be gallons of water was placed down in front  of Garret, and quite slowly and gracefully. Cecilia barely felt the impact. The waiter’s hand approached her, fingers trembling as they delicately pinched around a glass her size. She leaned away as the water was placed down in front of her, but gave the waiter a weak smile that went unnoticed.  

“Can I get you anything besides water? Maybe even get some food going for you?”    

“Yeah can I get a coke and… I think we’re about ready to order” Garret turned to Cecilia, “Unless we need a little more time?”  

She just shook her head. 

“Alrighty, what can I get started for you two?”  

“I’ll have the Giga bite and a side of fries.”  

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end when both the waitress and Garret turned to look at her. 

“I uh… I’ll have just a plain cheeseburger.” 

Their waitress nodded before whisking the menu off the table, sending the slightest breeze Cecilia’s way, “Sounds good, I’ll go grab that coke and your food should be out shortly.”  

She turned on her heel and walked briskly away, leaving the two of them… alone…. With each other. 

Cecilia shifted her eyes to look up at Garret who had his head resting against his hand, attention solely focused on her. She sunk slightly in her seat, her fingers drumming against her kneecaps. She knew she should say something, but nothing came to mind, and her dry throat wasn’t too keen on letting her produce any words.  

“So, you eat out often?”  

She shrugged, “N-no, not really.”   

“More of an at-home chief?”  

“No, I just… have it delivered.” she paused, “Well, I bake sometimes… so…. I guess that sort of counts.”  

He shrugged, “I’d say so. Never been much use in the kitchen myself, but I make a good taste tester” Cecilia forced out a hum of laughter. As he watched her, the smile on his face faltered slightly, “Have you lived here long? I mean in a city with folks like me?”  

“N-not long. Just a year or so.” No matter where she seemed to look other than down, he was there, surrounding her, like there was no way out, “Y-you?” 

“Been here my whole life.” 

Cecilia didn’t say anything, she just nodded. In a room this size, she should have been feeling anything but claustrophobic. Yet it still felt like her surroundings were closing in on her.  

“Uh hey, you feeling alright? You’re uh… looking a little peaky again.”  

She shook her head, grabbing her water and taking a quick sip, grounding her. 

“Sorry, just uh…” her eyes darted around, like they would find what she should say carved into the table.  

“Is it me again?”   

Cecilia immediately straightened, plastering on a fake smile, “No! No. I just… zoned out.”   

Garret narrowed his eyes, “You sure?” 

She nodded.   

Right in the nick of time, Their waitress approached them. “There’s that coke for you sir. And your food should be out shortly.”  

Garret gave her a nod of thanks before taking a long sip of his drink. Cecilia couldn’t help up ogle as gallons of soda was drained from the cup. The moment he noticed her staring however, he abruptly slammed his drink back onto the table. Cecilia yelped as everything around her shook.  

“Sorry! Sorry bout that.” 

She pulled herself up right, only to shrink back when she was met with the sight of Garret’s massive body leaned in closer. His arms were raised and his fingers were splayed out towards her, fingers thicker than tree trunks and looked like they could snap her body in two if they so pleased.  

His face fell as he looked down at her, on the look on her face. He slowly retreated back, glancing down at himself once or twice.   

Cecilia breathed, keep it together! It was an accident, you’re fine, you are fine.  

She forced another weak smile, “I-it’s fine.”  

“So uh… you’ve lived here your whole life, ever…. traveled around much?”   

Garret jumped on the opportunity to change subjects, “Not really, though wish I did” he shrugged, “can’t though” 

“Why’s that?”  

She suppressed the urge to flinch when he raised his arm to rub the back of his neck, “Well I haven’t really the time to head anywhere out of state, and there isn’t really anything nearby that’s all that interesting.” 

“Have you ever thought of traveling by plane?”  he gave her a perplexed look, and only then did she realize, “Oh! S-sorry, I forgot about… well that it wouldn’t really be…” she averted her eyes, wanting to slap herself for making such a stupid comment. 

To her relief though, he chuckled, “s'alright, though I have always wondered what it’s like. To travel by plane I mean.” 

She shrugged, “Oh uh… I guess you’re not really missing much. I mean, I’ve never been a fan of it.” 

He leaned in closer, “Why’s that?” 

“Well, being seated less than a few inches from a total stranger for hours is not ideal. And I just get flight anxiety, I don’t love the idea of being so high up.”  

“I’ve got a bit of an idea of what that feels like.” he flashed her a grin. She stared for a moment, before letting out a short laugh. “But seriously, what’s it like, being able to travel places without walking?” 

Cecilia paused, and thought for a moment. Guessed she had always sort of taken things like cars, planes, bikes and what not for granted. It was hard to imagine a functional society without those things.  

“I guess it’s…nice” she stated lamely. 

“Yeah but what does it feel like, to just be sitting down while everything moves around you?”  

“It…. can sometimes be a bit disorienting if you pay attention to it, but most don’t really.” 

Garret’s eyes widened, “How can you not? And how does it even feel? To be moving but not moving?” 

“Uh….” she really didn’t know what to say to that. All she could respond with was another shrug.  

“So… you’re just used to it?” 

“I guess.”  

He smiled while he shook his head and chuckled, “I’m just… a bit interested in what it's like for you little guys.” 

Cecilia wasn’t sure how to feel about the term ‘little guys’, Though if she did have a problem with it, there was no way in hell she’d say anything. It sounded similar to how someone would refer to a rodent or even a bug. A shiver ran down her spine. Is that what she looked like to him? Just a little bug perched atop his table? A bug he could easily squish with the simplest of- 

No no! Stop that! 

Their food arrived about ten minutes later. Their waitress very slowly set down Cecilia’s in front of her, barely avoiding knocking down her water before straightening up with a pleased look on her face and turning to hand over Garret’s food.  

Cecilia tensed when her eyes landed on his plate. A burger the size of a minivan and taller than two humans standing on top of one another seemed to cast a shadow over her. Fries that looked like they could have been used to build a log cabin were piled on the other side of the plate along with two dipping sauces. The tsunami of fragrances that fit her all at once made her feel what could only be described as lightheaded.  

“Looks great, doesn’t it?” Garret was looking from his meal to her, looking delighted. She nodded, darting her eyes down to look at her own plate, which looked meager by comparison.  

Garret reached over to his right, grabbing a bottle of ketchup before squirting a large puddle of it on whatever space was open on his plate. Cecilia looked across the surface of her table, but saw no ketchup, or anything for that matter other than what the waitress had brought her. 

“Something wrong?” 

Cecilia shook her head, “I uh… just forgot to ask the waitress for some ketchup. It’s fine.”  

“Oh, here” to her horror, Garret’s arm, the one clutching the massive condiment bottle, came hurdling towards her before stopping mere feet away. 

She scooted her chair away, holding up her hands and frantically waving him off, “No! No, it’s alright. I don’t need any.” 

“Oh come on, no burger is complete without it.” he flashed her a grin before his eyes narrowed to focus on the very tip of the bottle. He slowly lowered it down, angled the tip towards her plate, and squeezed. 

Within an instant, a giant glob of ketchup was squeezed out of the tip and fell not only covering her entire plate, but covered the entire table to the point that some was dripping off the ends. Cecilia stared at the mess, tensing when she felt a large dollop of sauce drip down into her lap.  

“Oh…. oh shit.” Garret stood stock still, his eyes darting from the table, to the bottle, to Cecilia. He suddenly pulled his hand away, dropping the ketchup bottle. “Sorry.” His face had turned as red as the ketchup, “I… Here let me….” he grabbed a fistful of napkins and leaned back over before attempting to wipe down the table, only it seemed he had forgotten that there had still been a plate of food on the table and was only reminded of the fact when it had already been swiped off the table and had shattered on the ground. “Ah shit!” he dropped the napkins and straightened, looking around aimlessly.

Cecilia gulped, her limbs trembling as she slowly slid off her chair. She tore off a large piece of the napkin and kneeled down, collecting up the red coated porcelain shards, “I-i’ve got it, i’ve got it.” She continued to tear off more pieces and wipe down the table and floor.   

Garret shifted in his seat, “I’ll uh, uh hey!” Cecilia flinched, wanting desperately to cover her ears as Garret tried to get their waitresses attention, “Hey! Can we get some help over here!” 

Their waitress hurried over, rocking Cecilia slightly with her footsteps. She backed away while large manicured fingers wiped down her table and the floor surrounding it, giving it a squirt or two of a strong smelling cleaning agent. 

“Can I get you another burger?” she asked. 

Cecilia shook her head, “T-that’s alright. I think I’ll just get some d-dessert if that’s ok?”  

A Match Beyond Measure Pt 5

“Can I get you another burger?” she asked. 

Cecilia shook her head, “T-that’s alright. I think I’ll just get some d-dessert if that’s ok?”   

Their waitress nodded, “Sure, what’ll you have?” 

“Oh uh… I’m sorry, I didn’t get a good look at the menu” more like she hadn’t been given one at all that she could read. 

“Oh, I’d recommend their cookies and cream pie, it's amazing” chimed in Garret.   

That sounded a lot more filling than what she had planned on, but how rude would it be for her to not take his suggestion, “Uh sure, I’ll have that.”  

“Great, all get that out for you in just a little bit.” flashing both of them a charming smile, she turned on her heel and pranced back on over to the back. Now it was just the two of them…. Alone…. With each other….again.  

After several long minutes of silence, Garret finally cleared his throat “Hey uh…. I’m real sorry about that whole ketchup ordeal, and for ruining your meal.” 

“Oh, it’s alright” she smiled up at him, fidgeting with the end of her skirt which still smelled and had a rather large stain, “You’re fine.” 

Garret nodded halfheartedly, looking from her to his plate of food, “Would you be ok if I go ahead and start? I’m cool with holding off if you want to wait until your food comes out.” 

Cecilia waved him off, “Oh no, go ahead.”  

He grinned down at her before turning all his attention to his plate. She flinched ever so slightly when his hand came forward and wrapped itself around the massive burger and lifted it off the plate with ease, only bringing up his second to stop the toppings from slipping out. She watched as he dipped it into the puddle of ketchup and smiled to herself, seems like she wasn’t the only weirdo who liked to dip their burgers.  

Then, he raised it up and opened his mouth, and all the color drained from Cecilia’s face. For a moment, she got a clear view of the cavernous maw, lined with pearly white teeth bigger than her own head. Before she got the chance to look away, she watched as those massive teeth came crashing down, sinking into the pounds of bread, meat, and vegetables before ripping off a chunk twice her size.   

Cecilia quickly looked away before she had to watch it disappear past his lips, though that was of little use because a second later, she began to hear him begin to chew. A shiver ran down her spine, being able to hear nothing else other than the amplified sound of all that food being pulverized into mush. It was so loud, it felt as if she was right next to his- 

No! No, don’t go there. Everything is fine, you’re fine. She had no choice but to continue to listen, her stomach churning more and more violently. Her hands gripped the edge of her table so hard her knuckles began to turn white. As she squeezed her eyes shut, her imagination got the best of her and started bombarding her with images: the burger being replaced with her, his teeth morphing into fangs, the sounds of chewing being accompanied by the sound of bones being- 

Stop! Stop it! But it wouldn’t stop, even when the chewing ceased, the images kept coming, and with it the feeling that something was wrong. Like she was a rabbit, being cornered by a wolf. Like she was in danger. Like she had to get out of here! 

She abruptly stood up, clasping her hands over her ears. Garret glanced over at her, making her tense, “Everything alright?” his voice seemed louder than ever. 

Without a second thought, she ran. Ran towards the stairs leading up to the platforms.  

“Hey wait!” but she kept on running, turning right and booking it along the perimeter of the restaurant. She set her sights on the back and a minute later, she was stumbling down the stairs that ended right in front of the human bathrooms.  

She burst through the door to the womens, quickly slamming her back against the door and holding it shut as if to stop someone from breaking it down. Her chest was heaving, breathes coming out in short and shallow bursts, her heart pounding from both running and her nerves.  

Screwing her eyes shut, she gasped for ear, forcing herself to take it in and let it out slowly. She began sliding down to the floor, landing in a disheveled heap, her hands coming up to cradle her head. 

Why had she agreed to this? Why had she gone in knowing this might happen?! Why did this have to happen?! Why did she have to act like this?! Why?! Why?! Why?! 

Cecilia let out a disgruntled gasp when she felt the door behind her budge and bump into her. 

“Ah, what the hell? Hello?” called an annoyed voice. Cecilia quickly crawled away from the door before it swung open, revealing a human woman, dressed in a waitress’s uniform. She started when her eyes fell upon the mess of a girl on the floor, “Oh, shit. Uh, is everything alright ms?”  

Cecilia couldn’t manage anything other than a shake of the head. 

“Is there uh…. Anything I can do to help?” 

Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. She quickly got to her feet and began to dig in her pocket, pulling out her wallet. 

“How much is your guy’s cheeseburger and cookies and cream pie?” 

The waitress looked startled and confused, “Uh….. together I think about forty bucks?” 

She pulled out six ten-dollar bills and held it out to the woman, “There is a table with a….. Larger gentlemen that ordered those, could you please give this to his waitress? You two can split the change.” 

The waitress stared at her for a moment before tentatively taking the money from her, “Sure” she replied slowly, “Is everything alright? Did something-” 

“Is there another exit?” 

“Uh yeah, just take a right when leaving the bathrooms and it should be right there, but seriously, do I need to call someone?” 

Cecilia quickly shook her head, “No no, it’s fine. Thank you. Thank you so much.” She began making her way over to the door, thanking the waitress over and over until she slipped out. 

Spotting the exit the woman had mentioned, she turned and began to scurry towards it. The door opened up into an alleyway. Cecilia hurried her way back over to the front of the building and after a few minutes of awkwardly jogging, she was unchaining and mounting her bike.  

With one final look at the restaurant, she sighed and pedaled off. 

A Match Beyond Measure Pt 6

The high pitch beeping rang in Cecilia’s ears. She groaned and rolled over in bed, glaring over at her phone which was admitting the loud alarm. Damn it, forgot to turn that off. Scooping up the device, she quickly turned the alarm off before tossing it to the end of her bed and collapsing back down into her pillowy nest. 

She was content to stay there the rest of the day, if it weren’t for her stomach, which churned in hunger. The night before, she had gone straight to bed and she hadn’t eaten anything since lunch that same day.  

Moaning with the weight of her limbs, she heaved herself up and slid out of the covers. She slowly waddled away from her bed and blindly made her way to the kitchen. Her apartment was small, even for big city apartment standards. It had three rooms, her bedroom, the mainroom which housed a tiny kitchenette along with a poor excuse for a living space, and a singular bathroom with a shower that barely knew how to be a shower. 

Shuffling onto the tiled floor, Cecilia gazed around for something to eat that she could just grab and not have to prepare. Her eyes landed on the far corner of the counter where a plate lay, on it were about half a dozen cookies. Guess they’ll have to do, she walked over and picked one up that she had decorated to look like a duck, one of the leftovers from that batch she made for Maggie for her birthday. Glancing down at her icing job, she understood slightly what her friends meant when they said they felt bad about eating her creations, but that was what they were for. 

She leaned herself up against the counter, taking a bite of the cookie and slowly chewing it. It was stupid of her to have not eaten anything last night, though she had made a lot of stupid decisions that night. She had already asked herself a million times the question: what was she thinking? Agreeing to the da- dinner, right dinner, with a giant. There was also the question of if she was even going to tell her friends. She didn’t want to make them feel guilty for putting her in this situation, but they were most definitely going to ask her about it. Though all of those were mere whispers in her head, while one voice shouted above the others: what’s wrong with you?! 

It had been a miracle she had been able to sleep at all. From the moment she had arrived home last night, her stomach had begun twisting itself into knots and her heart ached with what she had just done. She had just left him there, alone. Leaving without giving any sort of explanation or even a single word. Why had she done it?! Well, the answer was obvious, she was…. She was scared. But that was no reasonable excuse! That wasn’t his fault! He made it clear he didn’t want to scare her, he had even asked if there was anything he could do to help her! No, this was all entirely her fault. 

She hung her head, continuing to berate herself. Now thanks to her, Garret was probably feeling horrible and guilty even though she was the only one who should be feeling that way. He was a nice guy! Human or not and shouldn’t have to go through that. Why couldn’t she have just sucked it up? Kept her cool? Not flown into a panic from just watching him eat?! Seriously, what was wrong with her? 

What am I supposed to do now? She wanted to do something, but what the hell could she do? She had thought about maybe texting him to explain herself, but no words she came up with seemed to suffice, and that just seemed so shallow. 

Finishing off her cookie, she reached over to grab another one when she stopped. An idea had popped into her head. She stared at the plate of cookies for a second more before she rounded on the fridge and yanked it open. 

“Damn it” she muttered, seeing only one egg left in the carton and also that there was hardly any butter left. For a moment, she felt like throwing the whole idea out the window until she slapped a hand to her forehead, just go to the store stupid!  

She straightened up and hurried back to her bedroom to get dressed. 

An hour later, she was pushing a cart through the dairy section of the grocery store. Usually she picked out one of the smaller carts, but this time she had opted for the full size one which was currently filled with flour, sugar, vanilla extract and a whole array of other items. She had also grabbed some extra food coloring in case she was running low and had found some new piping tips that she just couldn’t resist. 

Now all she needed was some eggs. She stopped in front of the many different brands and began looking for the carton with the newest date. When she had finally found one that was brought in yesterday, she paused to think. Would twelve eggs be enough? I mean it only took two eggs for one batch, but then again there was also the matter of the icing…… She ended up grabbing a second carton, just to be safe. 

Okay, that’s everything. She sighed before turning her cart around and heading for the checkout, though before she made it halfway, she suddenly remembered something. Box, I need a box. For a moment, she looked around aimlessly until her eyes landed upon the in-store bakery, where  an employee was just  finishing boxing up a cake for a middle aged woman. She quickly hurried over. 

“Excuse me” she called over to the employee moments away from leaving for the back. The young woman, dressed in an apron with her hair pulled back, instantly stopped and turned to greet her. 

“Good morning.” 

“Uh hi yes, good morning. I was wondering if I could possibly have one of your biggest cake boxes?” 

The woman raised a brow, “Do you want a cake or anything?” 

Cecilia went slightly red, “Uh no, but could I possibly just purchase a box? The same box that you would use for something like a sheet cake.” 

She waited anxiously as the woman thought for a moment before nodding, “Yeah sure, I think I can do that for you”  she glanced over at her cart, “And seeing as you’re already buying a good deal of items, I can just give it to you if you want.” 

“Really? Oh thank you so much.”  

“No problem. Let me go and grab you one.”   

Using her foot, Cecilia pushed open her apartment door with two overflowing grocery bags. Setting the two bags down on the countertop, she quickly began to unload them while also grabbing whisks and bowls out of her cupboards. 

“Alright” she breathed, looking over her countertop which was now covered in ingredients and cooking utensils. Pulling out and setting her phone down, she turned on some Frank Sinatra and nodded to herself. Let’s get to work.  

Adding the last dot of icing, Cecilia stepped back, sighing with relief. It had been a bit difficult, but she had managed it. She stepped back to look at her handiwork. Before her was a single cookie, a cookie the size of a car tire that was taking up much of her counterspace. Cutting out the shape had been harder than usual since she couldn’t use a cookie cutter, but she had managed to cut a decent circle with just her knife and some patience. The hardest part really had been the icing. She had ended up pulling out her stool so she could have a more overhead view and kept having to refill her piping bags as she meticulously iced the top of the cookie. For a base, she had used a very light blue and all around the edge she had done one continuous line of white loops with yellow dots peppered around it. In the center of the cookie, she had used  white icing to write in cursive the words I’m Sorry.  

She looked up at the clock on the microwave, two thirty. Okay she told herself. Picking up her phone, she logged into the dating app she and Garret had met on and pulled up a conversation from not too long ago. 

“Yeah, currently doing some demolition work just across the street from the human mall. Should be off by 3 though, boss has us starting work at 6 in the morning. I tell you, he is crazy”. Cecilia nodded, pocketing her phone and turning to the massive cookie.  

The Saturday traffic was awful, even on bike. Cecilia found herself several times swerving to miss cars and opting for alleyway detours. The whole time she was trying to ride as smoothly as possible, hoping to keep the huge cake box strapped to the back of her bike from falling off or the contents being damaged in any way.   

After a long ride, she stopped on the sidewalk in front of the mall’s east entrance. She pulled out her phone, it read three o two. She tensed, quickly dismounting her bike and wheeled it over to one of the bike racks to chain it up. Having to use both her hands, she picked up the box and hurried over to the crosswalk to cross the street. 

Sure enough, in front of her was a massive tarped barrier with several cones that looked more like stretched out pyramids scattered around it. She tensed as she walked past one of these cones, its orange tinted shadow casting over her. Focus, stay calm, but that was getting harder and harder since as she approached, she could feel the ground vibrating beneath her feet. 

 After a bit of a walk, an opening in the barrier could be seen. Cecilia, slightly trembling, saw a lone human stone bench up against the street. She hurried over to it and sat down, setting the box down in her lap.  

Her leg bounced as she sat there, waiting. Periodically, she checked her phone, watching the minutes tick by. Maybe she had missed him? Maybe he had already left? She didn’t want to admit it, but there was a small sense of relief that came with that thought. That would give her more time to possibly prepare herself, come up with what to say, piece together a better-  

She let out a small yelp when her ears were assaulted with several voices admitting the loudest laughs she had ever heard. The trembling of the ground had remained constant ever since she had approached, but now it began to become more violent. Clutching onto the box like a lifeline, Cecilia whipped her head around only for her stomach to drop. 

A group of half a dozen giants, all men and all dressed in construction worker attire, had appeared. They all continued to laugh loudly, so loud that even a couple humans across the street shot glances up at them. 

Cecilia closed her eyes, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. You’re okay, everything is fine.   

The group began to walk off, all their combined footsteps literally causing Cecilia to bounce off her seat. She just held onto the box tighter, continuing to breathe. Okay, where’s Garret? Is he with them?  

As if to answer her question, one of the giants turned and shouted, “Hey! you coming?” Cecilia tensed as she saw (and felt) a somewhat familiar massive form step out from behind the barrier, confirming his identity when he removed his hard hat and ran a hand through his messy black hair. Garret.

“Nah, you guys go without me. Imma grab a bite to eat.”   

Cecilia up to this point managed to do nothing but stare, but suddenly was snapped back to reality by the massive quakes caused by Garret’s footsteps as he turned to leave. 

Say something! Now! 

Standing up on wobbly legs, she took a big deep breath and shouted as loudly as she could, “Hey!”  no reaction, “H-hey Garret!” 

A Match Beyond Measure Pt 7

He froze mid step. Cecilia waited with bated breath as he turned and peered around before he finally looked down. 

His eyes narrowed in confusion, before they widened with realization, “Cecilia?” he stared at her, as if waiting for a response, but all she could offer was a weak nod. She tensed as he moved closer, her hands gripping the edge of the box tighter. “What…. What are you doing here?” 

 Cecilia strained her neck to look up at his face. He was practically on top of her now, his massive shoes planting themselves mere meters away. The impact had been enough to throw her off balance.  

“I uh-” her fingers drummed against the box, “I…. I came to apologize.” 

From this angle, she could just barely see Garret quirk his brow, “Apologize?” 

“For…. for last night and…. How I treated you.”   

His face fell and he glanced away, “For leaving me?” 

Cecilia’s gut churned, “I’m… I’m so sorry. It was stupid and awful of me, and I regret doing it and you really didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t deserve to be treated that way and…. I’m really sorry.”  

She hung her head in shame, glancing up a few seconds later to see Garret staring down at her. His eyes softened and he cracked a smile. 

“Well, I did do a few things wrong. Should have listened to you about the ketchup” his smile faded, “But…. why did you leave? Is it something else I did?” 

For a split second, she thought of telling him, but instead shook her head, “No! no, it was in no way your fault. It’s…. It’s just me.” He tilted his head and before he could say something, Cecilia thrusted the box up at him, “T-this is for you.” 

There was a moment of silence between them. Then, Garret’s towering form bent down, his hand outstretched and his face getting larger and closer. Everything grew darker as his shadow fell upon her, her hair being blown back by the breeze of his movements. Cecilia’s arms trembled as his thick fingers approached, holding her breath as his thumb and middle finger took the box from her.   

Another gust of wind hit her as he straightened, his eyes looking from her to the small box in his hand. Screwing up his face, he raised his other hand and pried open the lid. His eyes widened. 

“Did you make this?” He withdrew his hand, holding up the cookie which now looked much smaller and honestly sort of pathetic.  

“Uh, yes” I should have made more! What kind of person gives someone a single cookie!? “Sorry that-”  

“This is amazing!” he boomed, smiling down at her. 

“W-what?”   

“I mean-” he gestured at the cookie, “It looks so good. How did you even manage to write so neatly?” 

Cecilia went pink, “W-well uh….. Like I said, I like to bake.” 

“Yeah but this is like… professional shit. It almost looks too good to eat” he flashed her a smirk before raising the cookie to his mouth and taking a bite, “Just almost though” he said while still chewing.  For a brief moment, Cecilia felt that same fear she had felt last night. However, it was soon replaced by a warm, comical feeling at the childish grin on Garret’s face, his lips and teeth stained blue from the icing.

“Mmmmm. You know, usually food like this that looks good doesn’t taste good, but this is delicious.” 

Cecilia’s face was slowly turning a deeper shade of red, “I-I’m glad you like it. It’s actually quite easy to make.” she mumbled slightly. Garret was talking so loudly, she was surprised no one had been as startled by it as she was. “So, like I said, I’m so sorry about-” but Garret waved her off. 

“No worries. First date nerves, I get it. And also, not being used to all of this” he gestured to himself. Cecilia’s brain screeched to a halt. Date? Did he just say date? He- he saw that as a date? No no, that would be ridiculous. He must have just been joking. There’s no way he actually saw that as a date. Hell, he would never want to go on a date with her, I mean, why would he? That would be- 

“Say, I was just about to grab some coffee. Would you be interested in tagging along?” 

She froze, slowly turning to look up at him, her eyes as round as saucers. “What?” 

Garret rubbed the back of his neck, “Do you want to get some coffee with me?”  

He- he wants to get coffee?! Wasn’t he still upset with her? Well, he didn’t really seem upset, but still! They had just had a disastrous dinner with each other the night before and now he wants to spend more time with her?! Why? Seriously, why? He….. he couldn’t possibly….. 

“Maybe retry this whole first date thing?” 

He said it. He said it again! He, a giant, asking to go on a date with a human! How was that possible? How was this happening?! Did….. did he like her? Even after last night? Why would he like her? Did she like him? Wait, why is she even entertaining that idea? He’s a giant! But he sure seemed to be entertaining the idea, or else he wouldn’t have asked her. Did she want to go? I mean he was a nice guy, a really nice guy, and not bad looking at all….. But she’s….. He’s…… 

She looked back up at him, at the look in his eyes as he stared down at her. Much like when they had first met, she found her heart melting at the sight. He….. he really wasn’t joking. 

“I….. I don’t really like coffee” she offered lamely. Garret’s smile disappeared, “But….. I could go for a croissant or something.” 

Almost instantly, the sinking frown on Garret’s face turned into a grin. “Sweet!” Suddenly and without warning, his massive body was getting closer as he bent down and Cecilia had the horrifying image of all that slamming down on top of her. Keep it together, keep it together! He stopped, crouched down and swayed slightly overhead. His arm then raised, his hand heading right for her, fingers outstretched.  

She couldn’t do this! Letting out a shriek, her hands flew up to cover her head and ducking down, trembling. After a moment of silence, she heard movement overhead. “Sorry I uh- uh I’ve never done this before. This is just how I've seen other people do it, would it be better if I-” he trailed off, falling completely silent. Cecilia lowered her arms, gazing up and meeting his eyes, fixed upon her. They were narrowed as if he was studying her, her and her expression and posture. 

Garret’s face fell, “You’re still…… you’re still afraid of me, aren’t you.” Cecilia tensed, his words hitting her right in the chest, “Is that why you left last night? Because I…..” he glanced down at his hand, like he had done the night before. 

“I….. I really don’t want to be, and I have no real reason to be” said Cecilia, “But…. yes. I’m sorry.” 

He perked up, “You don’t want to be?”  

She nodded, “Like i said, I really have no real reason to be, it’s just….. I’m not sure how. But I really don’t mean to be, I swear.”  

Garret tilted his head in thought, before he looked down at his hand again and began to slowly raise it. Cecilia felt her heartbeat quicken. Taking a deep breath, she stood her ground as his hand got closer and closer. He laid it down palm up just a few feet away. 

“Maybe I could help? Get you used to people like me? I know I’m probably not the best person for that but I can still try.” He cracked a smile, Cecilia felt her heart flutter slightly. Her eyes flitted over to his awaiting hand and she stepped back slightly, rubbing her forearms to stop herself from shaking. 

“That’s…. Really generous of you. I’m sorry I’m like this in the first place.”   

Garret frowned, “Is this too much? I just thought you know, it would be much quicker if I carried you.” Cecilia stood there, her mind fighting with itself as she stared at the massive hand in front of her, awaiting her. She closed her eyes, breathed, and then took a step forward. Then another, and another. She forced her feet up and off the ground, getting closer and closer until she stopped right in front of the edge of his palm. You can do this, just a little further.  Ever so slowly, she leaned forward and laid her shaking hands down upon his skin. His hand twitched and Cecilia wretched her hands away. “Sorry” he muttered. She breathed, You’re okay, you are okay. Once again, only a bit more quickly, she placed her hands down. His skin was warm to the touch, yet the feeling sent a shiver up her spine. Raising her legs, she slowly began to crawl forward. Her hands and knees sunk slightly into his flesh with every move she made. 

After what felt like a blurred eternity, she sat herself down in the very center of his palm and marveled at the fact that there was still plenty of room to spare. She was almost certain if she laid down, her body wouldn’t even cover the width of his hand. Beneath her, she could make out practically every line, every pore, every stitching together of his skin. 

“This feels weird,” Garret muttered.  

Cecilia tensed, “L-l-like w-what?” 

“Tickles a bit, if I’m being honest. But in an oddly nice way.” 

“S-so you’ve…. R-really never done this b-before?”  

Garret chuckled, “Yeah, always seen my boss being carried around like this, though he’s never let me before, says I’m too much of a klutz.” Cecilia froze and slowly looked up at him. “Which is…. Probably not the best thing to be telling you right now. I promise, I won’t drop you.”  

She slowly looked down, eyes wide with fear. God help me. 

A Match Beyond Measure Pt 8

“You ready?” though her brain screamed no, she slowly nodded, “Okay, here we go.” 

Suddenly, Cecilia was being slammed down against Garret’s palm as it began to move upwards. He was moving at such an alarming speed, her stomach seemingly had been abandoned on the ground. She couldn’t move, sheer G force from his movements keeping her down. Her fingers frantically dug into the flesh beneath her for something, anything to hold onto. She squeezed her eyes shut to avoid watching as the sky grew closer and closer.  

Then, as soon as it had started, it had stopped. Cecilia’s heart pounded against her ribcage as she laid there, eyes still scrunched shut. 

“You okay?” she flinched at Garret’s voice, louder than ever. Slowly, she blinked open her eyes, immediately being met with his massive face looking down at her. Unable to speak, she forcibly nodded her head, “you sure?” 

“T-t-t-too….. Too f-fast” was all she could manage.   

Garret gave her a guilty look, “Slower, got it.” His eyes darted away for a second, as if he was pondering something or maybe to give her whatever space he could to process.

Cecilia, still splayed out on his palm, was still reeling from practically being launched over a hundred feet up. Trembling from head to toe, she heaved herself up until she was sitting upright. She closed her eyes, forcing her breathing to slow. It's okay, it’s okay, you’re fine. 

Opening her eyes, she turned back to look to see Garret’s attention was back solely on her, “Do you mind if….. This is gonna sound weird, but can I move closer? I…. I kinda want to see you… you know, up close.”   

Closer? Closer to his face? Cecilia couldn’t help but feel….touched by this. It had never occurred to her that he had never really been able to see much of her in person when from her view, it was quite the opposite problem. She seemed to be unable to look at anything but him whenever he was nearby whether she liked it or not. He just seemed to block out everything around her.  

She nodded and was instantly thrown forward as Garret’s hand moved. Regaining her balance, she looked up, only to freeze. Her entire vision was consumed by his face, only being held a few feet away from it. Her hair was blown back by the warm breeze that emitted from his large nose with every breath he took. She could make out almost every single strand of black hair atop his head and see all the specks and smudges of dirt from his day at work. His eyes, his bright blue eyes seemed to pin her in place with how intently they were looking at her. She couldn’t help but stare back into them, all the rippling details becoming so clear and her own reflected face staring back at her.  

A small smile appeared on Garret’s face. Cecilia tried to smile back but suddenly she felt like she was falling, air whipping past her and her stomach plummeted as the hand beneath her lowered away. Terrified, she frantically threw herself forward, grabbing onto and wrapping her arms around the closest thing. She let out a small whimper as she closed her eyes.  

She let out a small gasp of relief when everything around her stopped moving, “Oh, sorry, I forgot, slower” boomed Garret. Cecilia opened her eyes, all the color draining from her face at what she saw. Below her was the ground, at the very least fifty miles away. Her grip quickly tightened around whatever it was she had been holding on- wait. What was she holding onto?  

Turning her head, she looked and went red. Her arms were currently wrapped around Garret’s thumb, having been clinging to it for dear life a second ago. She instantly let go, throwing herself back and away from the large digit. Above her, she heard a thunderous chuckle.  

“Scared of heights?” she looked up and nodded, more like scared of falling. “Would it make you feel any better if I used both hands?” 

Cecilia felt a pang of guilt. Was she being a nuisance? She shook her head, “Y-you d-don’t have t-to do th-that.”  

“You sure?” 

“I-I d-don’t w-want to be a h-h-handful.” 

Again, Garret chuckled, “You’re definitely not that. Not even half” he smirked down at her, laughing at his own joke, “Well, if you’re sure. You okay if we get going?” Cecilia stared out at the city before her, before bracing herself and nodding, “Alright. Feel free to hold on.”  

This time, when his hand moved, she was prepared. What she was not prepared for was the rest of him beginning to move. As his hand moved up against his chest, Cecilia started as he began to walk, swaying with his gate and feeling his every step. Glancing at the edge of his palm, she whimpered and began scooting further away from the edge. She tensed when she backpedaled right up against Garret’s chest, but found she’d rather be up against it than any closer to where she could see how high up she was.  

Her heart had not stopped running like a freight train, beating profusely throughout this whole ordeal. She tried to slow it down, breathing in and out like she had been taught, but her body continued to tremble. Trying to relax, she allowed her head to fall back upon the massive wall of flesh behind her. Picking up the muffled booming of Garret’s heartbeat and his breathing, she focused on it. It reminded her of the ocean, the roar of his lungs very similar to the roar of waves crashing against the beach. She closed her eyes, picturing it. Picturing herself there, on the seashore. She imagined the warm soft surface beneath her was sand, and the wind blowing around her smelling like saltwater. 

“Everything alright?” 

She was jolted out of her daydream by Garret’s voice reverberating through his chest, loud and deep like approaching thunder. Looking up, she saw him smiling down at her. Her heart began to beat faster once more.  

“Y-yes.” She lied.   

“Okay good. We’re almost there.” 

That was fast. She strained her neck to peek over the tops of his fingers. This part of town seemed familiar, though that seemed odd since she’d never seen it from this vantage before. Her fear was outweighed by her curiosity and she continued to survey the scene below. 

Though on the giant designated side of the road, they seemed to be in a primarily human area. What with all the human businesses and all the traffic that luckily wasn’t underfoot. One stop in particular caught her attention, Best Bud’s Florals. She’d seen that shop before, passing it every commute to work. Wait a second. 

“W-what cafe a-are we headed to?”  

Garret glanced down at her, “Oh, well I’m not sure the place I usually go to serves humans, So I thought we’d head to one I know serves both.” 

“W-which is?” 

“That one you work at. What’s it called? Grounds and…… I don’t know.” 

A Match Beyond Measure Pt 10

Sean opened the door and stuck his head out. A second or two later, he pulled it back in. Slowly, he turned to stare at Cecilia, gaping. 

“W-what….. Who….. that can’t be-” 

“Oh for fuck’s sakes, you’re being ridiculous” Maddie got up from behind the counter and marched over to the front door just as Sean had done. She peered through the glass door, “Holy shit” she exclaimed, turning and joined the other two staring at Cecilia, “That looks just like Garret. That’s fucking Garret!” 

Cecilia felt like a cornered animal, all three pairs of eyes bearing into her, waiting for her to speak. When she said nothing, Rebecca stepped forward, “Dear god Cecilia, tell us what is going on.” 

“I-” 

“Did you know about this? Is that why you wouldn’t tell us anything about last night?” 

“I-”  

“Because you never went on a date after you found out?” 

“I-”  

“Then what the hell is he doing here?”  

Cecilia hung her head, nowhere to run now. She couldn’t talk her way out of this, “That is Garret” she stated slowly, “I found out last night. When he came to meet up” she looked up at Rebecca, “That’s…. Why I called you.”

Sean and Maddie both looked at Rebecca, “She called you about this?” 

“All she said was that there was a giant outside the cafe. I thought it was just a late pickup or something, I don’t know. But then she hung up.”

“So you really had no idea until last night?” asked Sean. 

Cecilia nodded. 

“What did you do after you hung up? How’d you get out of there? And why is he here now?!” Rebecca gestured outside.

“I uh…. Well….. I uh sort of worked things out with him and-” 

“Didn’t know you were capable of that” said Maddie, “chatting with a giant. Almost every time one came to the cafe, I remember you always quickly making your way into the back. But why is he here? Was he mad after finding out?” 

“N-no, he wasn’t mad. He was…. Surprisingly cool about it.” 

“Then why is he here?” 

Cecilia fidgeted with her hands, “He….. after he found out, he still wanted to get dinner.” 

Everyone once again gaped at her, Rebecca looking the most shocked and even a bit angry, “Why the hell would he want to do that? And so what, he’s salty because you said no?” 

Cecilia averted her gaze, “I uh…… I didn't say no.” 

The whole cafe fell silent. Maddie’s and Sean’s eyes were so wide, they looked ready to pop out of their skulls. Rebecca stared for a moment, before she clenched her jaw and fists, eyes narrowing. 

“You’re telling me, he forced you into agreeing?!”  

“What? No! I-” 

But Rebecca no longer seemed to be listening, “That son of a bitch, piece of shit.” she quickly turned, and began marching towards the front door. As her hand reached to push open the door, Cecilia realized what she was planning to do. 

“Wait! Stop!” she bolted over to her, just as Rebecca had stepped outside. 

“Hey you!” she bellowed. Cecilia burst through the front doors. She tensed at the sight of Garret’s column-like legs standing in the very center of the parking lot, but her gaze soon flicked over to the comparatively laughably smaller Rebecca. She strained her neck upwards just as Garret looked down at the approaching human. 

“Hey, is my order done al-”  

“Listen here, asshole!” Yelled Rebecca. Cecilia’s insides squirmed when Garret recoiled, his eyebrows raised, “I don’t know what your deal is, but I swear, if you-” 

“Rebecca stop!” Cecilia had finally got up to her. She stepped out in front of her, holding out her arms and shaking her hands frantically, “Just listen to me.”  Rebecca looked at her, raising an eyebrow and still looking murderous, “He didn’t force me into anything.” 

“What’s uh…. What’s going on?” Cecilia looked up at Garret, cringing at the perplexed look on his face. 

“I-I’m sorry Garret. Uh…. This is my friend Rebecca. She works here as well and …..” she turned to Rebecca, “This is Garret.”  

Her friend looked at her like she had lobsters crawling out of her ears. She looked up at Garret, who suddenly bent down. Cecilia couldn’t stop herself from flinching as his hand approached the two of them, “It’s….. Nice to meet you.”  

Rebecca looked from his hand to his face, eyes narrowed, “Cecilia,” she jerked her head back towards the cafe. 

“Uh, G-Garret, would you give us a minute?” Before he could answer, Rebecca had grabbed her shoulder and was hastily leading her back to the cafe. 

As they approached, Cecilia could see both Maddie and Sean pressed up against the glass, staring at them. They retreated as the two girls walked through the front door.  Rebecca grabbed both her shoulders and flipped her around to face her. 

“What the fuck is going on,” she said it much less as a question, but as a statement. “I must be dreaming, because there is no way you, you of all people, would agree to spend time with a giant.”  

“So you actually did willingly agree to dinner?” asked Sean. Cecilia nodded, “Wow uh….. How did it go? And actually tell us this time.” 

She shrugged, “It was…. Interesting. Like I said, he took me to a burger-” 

“Is no one going to talk about how a giant, a fucking giant, asked her out?” cried Rebecca. 

“Wait wait” said Maddie, “it wasn’t just dinner? It was meant to be a date?!”   

Cecilia glanced down at the ground, “I-I guess so.” 

“What do you mean you guess so?” said Maddie. She pressed a hand to her forehead, “I’m still trying to wrap my head around this.” 

“I sort of am too.” 

“Is he nice?” piped up Sean. 

“Yeah, I guess so. He’s-” 

Rebecca rounded on Sean, “How are you being so calm about this?” 

“Would you quit interrupting her, and I’m not calm, I’m just trying to actually listen. Besides, none of you acted like this when I began dating Jeffery,” 

“Yeah well we all saw that coming,” replied Maddie, “This however, is not only crazy, but completely out of left field.” 

“Thank you” exclaimed Rebecca before she turned to Cecilia, “Don’t you find it a little suspicious? That he asked you out? And this is nothing against you. Just…. Why would a giant ask out a human?” 

Cecilia sighed, “You think I haven’t already been asking that question myself?” she turned, and sat down at one of the tables against the window, “I barely have any idea of what’s going on. I mean, this is crazy, right?” 

All of them fell silent. 

“Yes I guess it is” said Sean, “But…. I think that’s just because it’s never really been heard of. A giant and a human.” he sat himself down at the other end of the table, “I mean, none of you have ever heard of such a thing, right?” 

“Yeah never,” said Maddie, “How would that even work?” 

“I- I really haven’t thought that far ahead at all” said Cecilia. She could hardly even picture such a thing.

“I mean really. How would that work? You know when it comes to-”  

Sean quickly held up his hand to stop her, “Do you…. Mind if we meet him?”   

Cecilia looked up at him, “What?” 

“Well, I get Becky’s concerns. I also am a bit suspicious of his true intentions… you know, since I’ve never heard of anything like this before. But, I’d rather meet the guy first before I jump to conclusions.”  

She looked from Sean, to Rebecca. She was glaring out the window, eyes trained on the truck sized sneakers. Cecilia looked down  “I….. I don’t know. It seems weird to suddenly introduce all of you. I don’t want to seem overbearing or- or anything.”   

Sean frowned, turning to Rebecca, “I heard you outside, you sort of met him. What do you think?” 

Rebecca turned away from the window to look at the two of them, her eyes softened as she did, “Look, I’m just worried about you being forced into a situation that clearly makes you uncomfortable. I also don’t want anyone taking advantage of you because you’re….. You.”  

Cecilia felt that oh so familiar pang of guilt drop into her stomach, “It’s not your job to worry about me and stepping out of your comfort zone once and a while is said to be a good thing.”

“I guess, but not if you're doing it just because someone else wants you to.” 

She thought for a moment. Garret hadn’t ever within her short time knowing him used the ‘It would make me happy if you did’ trick. He also so far had given her the chance to back out of it, but for some reason, there was a strange part of her that didn’t want to. That was…… curious. 

“I think I’m….. I’m honestly sort of interested in….. Whatever this is. I mean, I was interested enough to meet him in person in the first place.”  

Rebecca glanced out the window, “You sure? Because we’d all understand if-” 

The entire building shook. Cecilia yelped, grabbing onto the table along with Sean while Maddie and Rebecca failed their arms out for balance. The light room darkened as the light from the windows was seemingly blocked out. When everything settled, they all simultaneously looked outside. 

Garret’s face filled the front entrance windows, looking in on them. Cecilia put her head in her hands, mortified. What is he doing?! She peeked through her fingers. Everyone else had begun to recover from the shock. Rebecca shot a look that read what the hell? 

“Sorry, I was just wondering if my drink was finished yet,” he was loud enough that they could hear him from indoors, his booming voice only slightly muffled. 

Rebecca crossed her arms, huffing, “Impatient much?”  

“He did order at least ten minutes ago,” Sean noted. Rebecca glared at him.

Cecilia went scarlet, quickly getting up from her seat, “I’ll uh- I can help you make it.” 

“But it’s your day off,” said Rebecca, but Cecilia was already heading for the back, quickly gesturing to Garret that she’d be right back.  

So this base on Pinterest and instantly so the g/t potential.

Not a Cave

This is a fanfiction including and about one of @verefex 's characters. I really admire their art and their characters. Might write more, depending on whether people enjoy this. Huge shoutout to @verefex, y'all should really check out their art, it's epic, and also for inventing this character.

She ran. She ran faster than she ever had before. Every bush and bramble she passed seemed to hook onto her skirt and rip it, slowly her down. Her throat burned and her eyes prickled with tears whenever she heard a snarl or bark.   

What had she been thinking?! Going alone to save money had at first sounded fine, even smart. So what if she was new around these parts? She had a map and some directions given to her by the customer. There didn’t seem to be a need for an escort. She wasn’t even supposed to be in the woods, she had only gone in to save some time, under the assumption that during the day it would remain friendly to her.  

Her mistake was made crystal clear as she looked over her shoulder and saw the glint of several pairs of yellow eyes. She whipped her head back around and pounded forward. Her arms ached from the weight of the basket clutched in her arms. Why she hadn’t discarded it she had no idea. Did she really value completing the order over her life?   

She shrieked as one of the wolves bounded forward, launching itself towards her and just barely missing her ankles. It wouldn’t be much longer until they wore her down and she’d be done for. 

Opal whipped her head around, causing her to stumble over herself as she looked for a possible escape. All the trees around her were far too tall or devoid of low-hanging branches, there were no hollowed-out logs, and there didn’t seem to be anywhere she could go.  

Then, she spotted it. Her oasis in the desert. Up ahead was an expanse of dark rock and along it, a large, particularly round opening. 

With a renewed vigor, she sprinted towards it. As she neared, she was pleased to see not only was the opening plenty big enough but also was elevated a bit off the ground. Luckily enough, a couple oddly shaped formations surrounding it that she could climb up. 

She ran right up to it and jumped, dropping the basket of pastries as she did. Her fingers burned as they latched onto the dark rocks and pulled herself up. With a quick look behind her, spotting the approaching pack of wolves, she scurried up the remaining way and finally heaved herself into the cave.  

Rolling over onto her back, she gasped for air. Her arms and legs burned, not only from exhaustion but from the many scratches she had procured. She sat up and anxiously looked down at the ground below. The wolves had come to a stop, the whole lot of them glaring up at her as they paced along the rock face. A part of her had worried that they would try and climb up after her, but none of them did anything to suggest that they were planning to do so. They also didn’t look like they were planning to be leaving anytime soon.  

Groaning, she fell against the cave wall. Peering back down at the ground, she spotted her basket, lying atop one of the rocks. A couple of croissants and danishes had fallen out but other than that, everything seemed intact.   

Okay. She thought, I’ll just have to wait them out. They’re sure to get bored of me sooner or later. If they don’t try and go after the pastries, I just might still be able to get to Mrs. Pakerton’s place and hopefully, she’ll be gracious enough to let me spend the night.  

That plan seemed good enough. She nodded to herself, settling against the wall and staring off into the depths of the cave. She was no miner but the shape did strike her as a bit odd. The roundness of the opening seemed to continue down into the depths, the high ceilings ever so slightly moving in a downward slant. The walls all looked and felt incredibly smooth and slightly… warm? Strange.  

Opal began to wonder, was this some sort of carved-out mine entrance? If it was, it was quite a large one, with the ceiling reaching a good fifteen to twenty feet high. Also if it were a mine, it had to have been relatively fresh, due to the lack of any offshoot tunnels, or at least as far as she could see.   

Her curiosity continued to rise as she peered down the tunnel. Maybe there were more tunnels, Maybe there was some equipment left over that she could use, maybe there was another way out! It couldn’t hurt for her to go and see.   

She turned and pulled open her satchel. Digging around in it, she quickly found what she was looking for and pulled out her flint and steel along with a tiny torch she had made herself. With a few strikes, the tip caught fire. Storing everything back into her bag, she stood up, torch in hand.  It did little to illuminate the tunnel, but at least she would be able to stop herself from running into anything.   

With one last look over her shoulder at the wolves still patrolling outside, she began making her way deeper into the cave.   

The first few steps, nothing. There continued to be no other tunnels or anything for that matter. There was something eerie about it. Something unnatural. Opal was about to turn around when something glinted in the darkness. She whipped around and hurried forward, holding her light out towards the wall where she had seen the sparkle.  

Her eyes widened. Laced within the stone was one of the largest rubies she had ever seen. It had to be at least as large as her head, maybe bigger! She gaped at it, staring at her own reflection against the gem’s surface.    

She looked up and shined the torch down the tunnel once more. Her mouth dropped as she spotted several other glimmers in the darkness. She hurried over to each of them and was ecstatic to see that every one of them was another ruby, just as big and beautiful as the next one.   

She practically grinned from excitement. I… I can’t believe it! One of those would be enough to keep the bakery open for the next few seasons! Maybe more! If that were the case, there would be less stress to constantly be making deliveries, leaving her little brother home alone. She could probably hire someone else to make the deliveries, and then she would be free to simply bake and watch over Oliver.   

Another plan began to form in her mind. As soon as she was able to leave, she’d still make her way over to Mrs. Pakerton’s home. When she was there (hopefully not empty-handed), she would ask to borrow a pickaxe or something of the sort from her. If she refused, Opal could come up with some sort of deal to give her, maybe one or two free baskets of pastries in return? Yes, that would work. She’d hurry back here as soon as she could and mine up as many of these rubies as she could before heading back home. There was a man she knew who had a stall set up in the market where he sold all sorts of jewelry, he would most definitely pay her a good deal of gold to get his hands on just one of these.   

She looked back into the depths. How many more were there? With a cheerful pep in her step, she ventured deeper.   

The tunnel had continued to grow smaller, though never enough that it was claustrophobic. It also strangely didn’t seem to be sloping downwards, but upwards. So much so that Opal stumbled when it all of a sudden began to go back down. She uneasily ran down the slope only to come to a stop when she came face to face with a wall of stone. 

This was it? Did the tunnel really just end here? She peered around, looking for another opening. Just as before, it seemed it was just this tunnel. She narrowed her eyes at the wall in front of her. It was a different shade of gray than all the stone around it, it was lighter and looked less dense. She placed her hand upon it, running it along the wall’s surface.   

Suddenly, a loud and low rumble rang out, vibrating the entire cave. She froze, pulling her hand away and silently looking around her. What was that? The noise was so unfamiliar to her. She had never heard something that loud yet sound so nonchalant at the same time. Was there a storm brewing? No… that wouldn’t make the cave rattle, would it?    

Just as her heart began to settle, the ground beneath her began to move. She shrieked as it slid out beneath her and was sent rolling along the walls which seemed to be… spinning? The walls and the cave around her felt like they were rotating.  

As suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Opal slid down the stone walls and into a disheveled heap. Swatting the sandy brown locks of hair out of her face, she stared tentatively at the space she was in. Her heart pounded in her ears as she waited for something else to happen. However, She could never have been prepared for what happened next.  

“I know someone’s in there.”  

Opal’s blood ran cold as a deep masculine voice thundered in her ears. She whipped her head around, expecting to see someone right behind her, but the tunnel was empty.  

“Who are you?”  

She couldn’t pinpoint where that thunderous voice was coming from. It sounded as if from every which way, all around her. It was so loud that the cave floor beneath her rumbled along with it. How could something- someone by the sounds of it be so loud?   

“W-w-who… wh-who a-are you?” she stuttered out.  

“I asked first, you answer me first. Who are you?”    

“N-nobody, j-just someone p-p-p-passing through th-these parts. W-where are you? S-s-show yourself!”   

A chill ran down her spine as a deep chuckle vibrated within her ears, “Trying to be brave I see… or perhaps you’re just stupid. Has to be one of the two, or you wouldn’t be in there.”  

Opal narrowed her eyes, “H-how do you know w-where I am?!”  

“I can hear you, stupid.”   

Her fear was now fighting with a growing anger at this mysterious voice, “W-well… C-come down and t-talk to me face to face!”   

The voice chuckled again, “You want to speak face to face, huh?”   

Before she could answer, the entire cave began to move once more. This time, however, the ground was slowly going vertical. Opal scrambled to find something, anything to hang onto, but she was already starting to slide down. She clawed at one of the nearby walls and managed to hook her fingers onto one of the rubies, bringing her to a sudden stop.   

Her heart hammered as she looked down at her dangling feet, spotting that the entrance to the cave was now below her. She struggled to hold on, her arms starting to ache and her fingers starting to slip. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to hang on. 

“Come on now. You’re only making it harder for yourself,”  

The entire cave gave a great shudder as if something from outside had collided with it. Her fingers gave way, leaving her sliding back down the cave floor. She screamed, approaching the cave’s mouth and towards what looked like even more rock.   

The wind was violently knocked out of her, finally hitting solid ground. Opal clutched at her chest, gasping for breath. Her body ached from the harsh impact against the rock, causing her to groan as she heaved herself up. 

She shook her head, holding a hand to her forehead as she looked around. As she had thought, she had fallen onto some more rock, and by the looks of it, the same kind of rock as the cave. But where did this rock come from? And why did it look so… unnatural.   

As her eyes scrutinized this new landscape, they fell upon something familiar, her basket. Somewhat relieved to see it still intact, she hurried over and scooped it up along with any pastries that had fallen out.   

Suddenly, the ground beneath her began to lurch forward, sending Opal and her basket down. She clutched the basket tightly as the ground continued to move. What the-  The ground came to a stop and she looked up.  

She froze. Every blood vessel within her froze. She was looking at a face. A face so large it blocked out the sun and consumed her entire field of vision. A face with deep red eyes, and irises bigger than she was. Hair with strands thick as rope, the color of magma, and bulky and flowy like lava. Bits of large ruby were peppered around this thing’s cheeks and chin as if it were stubble or a beard.       

For one blissful moment, she could have told herself that what stood before her was just a statue, that nothing that big could ever actually be alive. But then that face grinned down at her, revealing enormous, pearly white teeth. Now there was no doubt about it, this thing, this walking mountain, was alive.   

“What’s with the face? Isn’t this what you wanted? To talk face to face.”   

Opal’s hands flew up and clamped over her ears. This creature’s voice was like a crash of thunder. Her entire body begged her to run, to get away from this thing, but she couldn’t. She was frozen there with her heart beating against her ribcage.   

“So, are you gonna tell me what you were doing in my ear, little one?”    

Her eyes were in danger of tumbling out her skull. The cave, the unnatural shape, the strange movements, the rubies… it had never been a cave at all. Before, she hadn’t run into a cave, but this thing’s ear. And now… now she was sitting in this thing's hand.  

She gulped down the bile building up in her throat. Was it mad? What did it want from her? What would it do to her?   

“I-I..I-I-I…” she closed her eyes, “I-I’m s-s-sorry.”    

The being raised a brow, “Did you say something? Now that you’re not up in there, I can’t hear you if you mumble.”   

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know!” she screamed, closing her eyes and clutching her basket.  

The being didn’t respond. Slowly, she cracked open her eyes. She shrieked and backpedaled away. The being had leaned down and seemed to be trying to get a better look at her, its eyes becoming the only thing she could see.   

“What’s that you got there?”    

Opal’s eyes flicked down to the basket in her arms. Her mouth had gone entirely dry, but she was terrified what this thing would do if she didn’t give some sort of response so she pulled back the checkered- cloth and held up one of the cheese danishes with a trembling hand.  

The being’s eyes widened before it let out a thunderous laugh, “Haha! Must be my lucky day,” the being leaned away while bringing its hand, and by extension Opal closer, “I don’t suppose you would be willing to part with those?”  

She looked down at the basket. What could a being so large possibly want with a couple dozen pastries? You know what? What did it matter, if that was what would increase her chances of surviving this then to hell with the delivery. 

Her hands felt like lead as she held the basket up and towards the being, clearly in offering… or surrender. The being smiled but didn’t move to take it. Instead, one of his turret-sized fingers beckoned her forward.   

She stood up, her legs like jelly, and cautiously made her way towards the fingers. Now that she knew she wasn’t on just any old rock, she noticed the intricate grooves below her. In an effort to keep her head, she kept her eyes focused on these lines and not the being they belonged to.   

As she stepped onto its middle finger, her stomach dropped as it leaned forward and its jaws parted, revealing an orange-tinted mouth that emitted steam. She gasped and closed her eyes, trembling from head to foot. When nothing happened, she peeked one eye open. The cavernous mouth stood wide open before her, but the creature didn’t budge. It simply held its hand up to its mouth, as if expecting… 

Opal paled, realizing what it wanted her to do. She gulped, staring up and down the finger before ever so slowly taking a step closer, and then another, and then another. With every step she took, she braced herself to be ready to run in the opposite direction, shimming along sideways with the basket clutched to her chest.   

The creature's humid breath blew in her face, blowing her hair and skirt back. She glanced behind her, only to have a moment where she wasn’t staring into this thing’s gullet which she was just nearly inside of.    

She came up to its fingernail, about three times as long as she was tall. The being’s mouth surrounded her, the pulsating walls and tongue starting to stir with impatience. Screwing up her face into a determined visage, Opal pulled out one of the pastries and chucked it into the giant maw. It landed on the being’s tongue who hummed happily in response, somehow able to taste what was comparatively a single crumb.   

She threw in another one, and another, and another. She kept going until she held in her hand one last croissant. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and threw it as hard as he could, spun around, and sprinted as fast as she could away from the being’s open mouth.  

Collapsing in the being's palm, she heard the being snap its jaws shut and swallow. It hummed happily. 

“Mmm, been a while since I’ve had human cooking. Never fails to delight me.”  

Opal let out a low whimper as the being moved its hand away. She turned to see it smirking down at her.   

“Now, I think you’ve at least earned an introduction.” The being’s other hand appeared and Opal shrieked as it speedily approached, raising her arms in front of her and bracing herself, “D’aw, aren’t you a skittish little thing.” 

She lowered her arms and looked up. A massive finger hovered a foot away from her. 

“Raoul, but just Ra works too,” She… she wasn’t sure how to respond to that, not until this thing- Ra, gave his finger a slight wiggle. Tentatively, she reached out and placed her hand onto it, though she kept the rest of her as far away as possible, “What do you call yourself?”  

“O-Opal”  

Ra chuckled, the magnitude of it making her bones vibrate, “Gonna have to speak up.”  

“Opal!” she shouted.     

“Opal, Opal…” he smirked to himself, “Well Opal. I’ve decided to let you go.” Her eyes widened, “Under one condition. You come back tomorrow with more of those pastries." She went white as a sheet. Come back? Willingly? “Do we have a deal?”   

She frantically nodded.  

Ra grinned. Opal’s stomach plummeted as the hand beneath her began to lower. She watched in awe and terror as the massive being began to crouch down. The wind rushed past her as she soared downwards and was thrown off her feet when his hand began to move forward and onto the ground.    

His hand landed on the ground with a loud crash as several trees were crushed beneath it. “Go on then.” Opal didn’t need to be told twice, she hurried over to the tip of his pinky and slid down to the ground, her ankles and knees buckling beneath her from the fall, “I’ll be at Deadman’s lake, don’t keep me waiting.”   

She nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground. The ground trembled violently, and loud crashes rang through the air as Ra took his leave, leveling a good deal of the forest in his wake. 

Made this fanart for Big Corp inc. it's a great fic made by the lovely @voraciousvore you can find it on Wattpad. I fell in love of her characters hehe

Loved how this doodle came out hehe. Me giving my oc a smooch ( after writing him with severe trauma)

Finnally cocvored the entire milky way but there is so much more to devour

mmm hehe my nipple getting hard could be the end of the entire mily way hehe

Horny growth

Fuck I just wanna grow huge, I wanna see you little fucks run away as I sit my massive ass onto you’re city, I wanna see you run away as the musk of my balls fills the streets, the stroking of my cock alone will send earthquakes into the ground bellow as drops of Precum swipe away entire blocks of the city.

You’re little futile attacks will only make me hornier and bigger as I grow and grow, and in the end I’ll outgrow everything in existence. Fear me little mortals. You’re god is cumming ;)