Passageway (M/f, Giant)
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This story isn’t going to be as stompy as my other work.
Chapter 1
The road was deserted except for Ian’s car. Tangled clusters of trees appeared briefly and then disappeared back into the darkness as he drove along the winding stretch of highway, his eyes on the road but his mind elsewhere. He replayed the night’s events, the speech at the university and the uncomfortable party that followed. As usual, everyone has been so eager to meet the famous Dr. Ian Kwan, one of the physicists who had discovered interdimensional travel. They had seen his face everywhere: on television, the internet, and all over academic journals. He had stood there, trying his best to conjure up a smile as strangers asked him the inevitable question: “How did you do it?”
Ian couldn’t answer because he didn’t know, either.
None of the math worked out, and worse, the entire team couldn’t remember anything out of the ordinary in the moments leading up to the accident. Ian had been chatting with Cate and Sajan in the lab, his mind on the upcoming weekend rather than theoretical physics, and then there had only been that light, blinding and otherworldly. He had been convinced that this was the end, that he would be vaporized in the burst of light. And then the light had faded away and only the tear had remained. It was like a gash in reality, a permanent portal that linked the two worlds.
The passageway.
Since then, the interdimensional wormhole had gained other names; Ian thought that the Beanstalk was the best of them. He had spent countless hours studying the passageway, marveling at it. It should have been his greatest achievement, but he could only feel a deep, gnawing frustration. A lucky accident, that’s all that it was.
Ian’s grip on the steering wheel tightened as he brooded. There were three more speeches scheduled for the next week, and already he was dreading them. To distract himself, he reached over and turned on the radio, searching through the stations until he settled on an NPR show. The announcers were discussing the world on the other side of the Beanstalk. It was similar to Earth but so much larger; the first explorers who had journeyed through the passageway had been shocked to see a land of giants. Ian had never been there although he had seen photos, all of them astonishing. Massive plants, colossal animals, and most amazing of all, immense people.
The first diplomatic visit by one of the giants had been even more amazing; Ian remembered watching the broadcast with bated breath as the colossus had stood near the United Nations building, as big as Godzilla. Since then, humanity had developed a cautious relationship with the gigantic ambassadors and attaches.
On the radio, a guest sociologist was discussing the similarities and differences between the giants’ culture and various Earth cultures. Ian listened to the discussion until his phone rang, drowning out the guest’s words. He moved to answer the call, his eyes swiveling down for a split second.
He didn’t see that the road ended abruptly.
The car heaved suddenly and violently and then sailed through the air. He only had time to gasp before the Camry crashed down, bouncing him around in his seat. Pain filled his mouth as he bit down on his tongue; a moment later, he tasted the coppery tang of blood. Dazed, he glanced toward the windshield; through a spiderweb of cracks he saw the smoke rising up from the engine. Gradually his gaze shifted to his surroundings and he realized that he was in some sort of depression. A sinkhole? Whatever it was, it had wrecked his car. His relatively new, only-had-three-payments-left-on-it car. Ian laughed bitterly. The bad ending to a terrible night, he thought.
He tried to open the door, realized how close the ragged wall of the sinkhole was. And even if he could have opened the door completely, the walls of the sinkhole were tall, far too tall for him to climb safely. Exposed pipes and fractured asphalt lined the perimeter of the pit, and water trickled down the debris in small rivers. His head swam, a possible sign of concussion, as he fumbled around for his phone to call for help. Ian felt a discarded pen and an old roll of Life Savers on the car carpet, but there was no sign of the phone. Cursing, he started to rummage beneath the seat.
Low thunder rumbled in the distance and Ian frowned, confused. There weren’t supposed to be thunderstorms this time of year; then again, there weren’t supposed to be sinkholes in this area, either. Ian jumped at the second clap of thunder, shocked at how near it sounded. The car rocked and swayed, bumping up against the wall of the sinkhole with a shrill screech of metal. For a minute, he felt like a mouse in a cage, unable to free himself as his captor came closer and closer.
It’s not a sinkhole at all, he realized as the tremors intensified. It’s a trap.
His head snapped up. Overhead the sky was black and starless, and it became even darker as something monstrously titanic passed over the hole. Panic paralyzed his limbs; the only thing that seemed to move in his body was his frantic heart. One of the car’s headlights had been shattered, but the other light was still working and in its pale glow he saw a pair of eyes, impossibly huge. Those eyes examined him from a great distance and his panic increased a thousandfold.
The phone! His terrified mind screamed at him. Find the phone! Call for help!
Before Ian could force his arms to work again, before he could do more than blink helplessly, his car was snatched up into the sky.
^^^^^
Cate tried not to ask too many questions as they drove through the city, although she snuck quick glances at the government agents surrounding her. They had appeared outside of her apartment that morning, and she had stared in confusion as one of the men explained the situation in a brisk, detached manner. Everyone else on the research team was missing, she had to come with them immediately. Cate had been too overwhelmed to do much besides peer at their badges and then follow them into a black SUV.
As they had driven into the city, she had caught a glimpse of the Beanstalk, which was hundreds of feet across and shimmering with that same unnatural light that Cate had witnessed during the accident. It never failed to astonish her, that vast tear in the fabric of reality, something that she had unwittingly helped to create. Her eyes hadn’t left the portal until the SUV had rounded a corner and it had vanished from sight.
Now, as they moved through the city, Cate wondered about her colleagues’ disappearances. She hadn’t heard from Ian and the others in a few years, not since they had become quasi-celebrities and gone their separate ways. The fact that they had disappeared without warning filled her with dread, and it didn’t help that the agents weren’t providing many details. It was obvious that she was at risk; why else had they dragged her away?
Cate was still contemplating her situation when the SUV stopped at an intersection. Along with the traffic light there was a tall metal pole with a flashing red orb on it. Before she could guess what the pole was supposed to be, an immense foot crashed down from far above. The shockwave jostled the SUV and the fillings in Cate’s teeth. She stared at the foot, which was planted in the intersection, her mind unable to process something so large and yet so human-like. It was even wearing a herringbone high heel that was similar to one of her own shoes, except tremendously scaled up. Cate could barely fathom the idea of a shoe the size of the SUV, but she knew that her eyes weren’t lying.
“You get used to it,” the driver said, looking into the rear view mirror at Cate. “There are a few giants around here.”
“I see,” she managed to mumble.
The foot lifted from the pavement with a rush of air, sailing away gracefully; a second later, the other swung by overhead. When the orb (or the giant signal, she supposed) stopped flashing, the SUV turned left. Their destination was at the end of the street, a nondescript government building that blended in with the rest of the skyscrapers. The agents escorted her through the glass doors, into a cavernous lobby.
“Do you think they’re okay?” She asked as they reached the elevators.
The man closest to her pressed the button for the twentieth floor. “Desmond may have more information.”
Cate didn’t know who Desmond was, although she found out when they entered the office on the top floor. He was seated behind an impressively huge desk that was cluttered with a laptop and towering stacks of folders. A black and bronze nameplate on the righthand side of the desk read “Desmond Henley, Director, Federal Interdimensional Affairs.” From what she knew, the FIA was a newer agency, designed to keep track of the Beanstalk and the visitors from the other world.
“I’m sorry that we had to meet under such stressful circumstances, Ms. Fasano,” Desmond said. He certainly didn’t look like the director of a government agency; with his tweed sweater and horn-rimmed glasses, he reminded Cate of a literature professor or a librarian. Smiling affably, he gestured for her to sit down in one of the chairs across from the desk. She did, although the agents stayed near the door, arms crossed.
“Can you tell me what’s going on?” Cate asked. “They told me that Dr. Kwan and the others have disappeared.”
Desmond removed his glasses and inspected a tiny smudge on one of the lens. His eyes were a deep brown, nearly black, and she saw the concern buried within them. “We don’t have much information, unfortunately. The FBI is still investigating, although the fact that they were all members of your research team is troubling. This may be tied to the passageway somehow.”
“So am I at risk?” Cate realized that she was tightly clenching the arms of the chair and relaxed her grip.
The director returned his glasses to his face. “We believe that there’s a credible threat.”
Cate’s stomach sank at this news. He must have noticed the way that the color drained from her cheeks because he gave her another reassuring smile.
“Our goal —my goal — is to keep you safe, Ms. Fasano. That’s why we brought you here. Until we determine what’s going on, you’ll be provided with security,” Desmond told her. Cate dug her fingers into the chair arms again.
“So a bodyguard?”
The director nodded, and Cate glanced over her shoulder at the agents positioned near the door. “One of them?”
“No,” Desmond replied, leaning back in his chair and steepling his thin fingers together. “We have reason to believe that more security is necessary than that.”
Cate opened her mouth to ask for clarification, but before she could say anything, the room shook hard enough to knock over the folders on Desmond’s desk. She shot out of her chair, startled. Floor to ceiling windows filled the wall across from her, and as she tried to regain her composure, the windows darkened unexpectedly, as if someone had drawn a curtain over the sun. But it wasn’t a curtain; it was a face, wider than a billboard. Everyone in the room was reflected in the opaque mirrors of gigantic sunglasses. The reflection moved as the giant rotated his head to look at them, and she understood how a cockroach must feel when the owner of the kitchen spotted it. She couldn’t see much else of the massive face, just the bridge of his nose and the dark arches of his eyebrows.
“Oh my god,” She stammered.
“This is Lhyr,” Desmond said, pointing toward the windows and the giant silently staring into the room. “He’ll be your bodyguard.”
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@Nyx If I know humans, someone’s collaborating with the giants. I mean, it’s what I’d do.
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@Olo said in Passageway (M/f, Giant):
@Nyx If I know humans, someone’s collaborating with the giants. I mean, it’s what I’d do.
A villain?! In one of my stories?! Perish the thought
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@Nyx he do a protec
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I realized that I haven’t updated this story here in forever so time to post several chapters
Chapter 2
Cate didn’t believe that she’d be able to tear her gaze away from the windows and the massive sunglasses, but somehow, she did. If Desmond noticed Cate’s discomfort, he didn’t acknowledge it. He continued talking as if they were having a discussion about something mundane, like tax law.
“Communication between the giants and ourselves proved to be difficult at first,” he said, reaching into his desk drawer and taking out what appeared to be an odd ear piece. Desmond fiddled with it until a green light flashed; then he placed it on his desk. “They can’t really hear us well, and with vocal cords that size, it’s difficult for us to understand them. So we have communication equipment like this to help us. I can show you how to use it.”
She only gave the ear piece a cursory glance before her eyes darted back to Desmond.
“You can’t be serious,” Cate managed to say at last.
Desmond tried a warm smile. “I know that this is a lot to process all at once.”
“That’s an understatement! How can you expect me to be okay with this?” She chanced another glance out the window. The giant was still watching her intently, his dark eyebrows drawn slightly together. Instinctual terror tightened her chest, made it hard to breathe. Some primal part of her brain recognized that she was in the presence of a monstrously huge and threatening being, and it was panicking.
“No one told me that you were going to assign me a bodyguard like him,” Cate continued, her voice strained. “How do you know that he’s not dangerous? What if he eats me?”
“They don’t eat people, Ms. Fasano, and I can assure you that he’s not dangerous,” Desmond explained patiently.
“I’m not going near that thing,” she choked out, and the director tapped the strange device on his desk.
“This is on,” he whispered.
“What?”
Desmond leaned closer, still talking softly. “He can hear you.”
“Oh. Oh! Oh, Jesus,” Cate stuttered, looking at the sprawling face staring through the windows. “I’m so sorry!”
A booming rumble like a freight train assaulted her ears; an instant later, the little device on Desmond’s desk translated the giant’s voice into something recognizable: “No apologies needed, ma’am.”
She couldn’t see enough of his face to read his expression, and she had no idea if her words had bothered him. Under the giant’s enigmatic gaze, Cate felt her cheeks burn unbearably hot. She purposely looked away and focused on Desmond instead.
“How long will this be for?” She asked, hoping that his answer would indicate that it’d only be a few days.
“It depends on the investigation,” Desmond said. “Believe me, you’re in good hands. Literally.”
Cate didn’t grin at the joke.
The director handed the ear piece to her. “Here, put this on. We’ll go outside and meet your new bodyguard.”
^^^^^
“His resume is quite impressive,” Desmond said as they strode across the lobby toward the doors, flanked by more men in black. “Ex-military, their version of special ops. He’s a language expert and trained in several martial arts, including some Earth-based ones.”
Cate wondered how martial arts skills would benefit a two hundred foot tall colossus. Who would he even be fighting? The Empire State Building? But she didn’t mention any of this to the director, just followed him through the doors.
She had been expecting more of a crowd outside, gawkers who wanted to catch a glimpse of the giant, but the agents had most likely shooed away onlookers. There was only Lhyr, and it was fortunate that there weren’t more people around because he was taking up most of the street. One column-like leg stretched up near the entrance to the federal building; the other leg was halfway down the block. Cate looked up and up, trying to see more of the giant.
And then he knelt down.
For a heart-pounding second, Cate was convinced that he was falling over and that he was going to land on top of them. She made a small, frightened cry, but Desmond and the agents didn’t react. It took awhile for the adrenaline to leave her system, and as Cate drew a few breaths, she studied the titan kneeling before her.
He certainly looked professional: crisply-pressed white shirt, dark suit, a bright blue tie. Now that Cate could actually see his entire face, she spotted the freckles dotting his cheeks and the fullness of his lips. He would have been good-looking if he wasn’t so damn big. On his right ear he wore a device that matched Cate’s, except his ear piece was the size of a mini-fridge.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” Lhyr said, his voice reverberating through her entire body. She got the impression that he was trying to be quiet, but he still sounded like a fireworks show. Cate was attempting to adjust to this when he moved his hand toward her. Gasping, she backed up toward the doors, not prepared for a colossal hand grasping for her.
“I think he just wants to shake your hand,” Desmond explained.
“Um, okay. Sure. Okay.” Cate approached the hand cautiously. The fingers were the circumference of telephone poles and curled inward toward the giant’s palm; only his index finger was extended. Did he want her to shake that? Trembling, Cate grabbed onto the fingertip with both hands, amazed at how warm and alive it was.
I’m actually touching a giant, she thought, astonished.
He was exceedingly gentle as he wiggled the finger, but nevertheless, he nearly lifted him from the ground. There was a lot of raw power in those hands, and Cate swallowed hard.
“See, he’s not going to eat you,” Desmond said, and Cate’s face flushed redder. “The plan is to move you to a safer location. Lhyr will take you to your apartment and you can get your things.”
The gargantuan hand moved again, this time lowering down to the ground.
“Wait, is he going to carry me?” Cate stared at the hand, then the director.
“It’s a lot faster and safer than traveling by car,” Desmond replied.
“Has…has he ever held a person before?”
“It’s part of his training, yes.”
Cate didn’t want to step into the outstretched hand, but she was beginning to accept the fact that her life was careening out of control. Gazing upwards, she looked into the enormous sunglasses, the eyes hidden behind them. This is a bad idea, Cate thought before she clambered onto the hand. It was more difficult than she would have thought, and her sneakers sank down into the yielding flesh.
The fingers wrapped around her, firmly but carefully. Cate was marveling at the feeling when he stood, picking her up in one fluid motion.
She almost passed out.
Desmond had probably been telling the truth, that the giant had some training in handling people her size. But despite Lhyr’s best efforts, her innards turned to water and the world spun. Recovering, Cate looked around and saw that she was high above the city, high enough that she could spot tiny people and cars. A flock of pigeons soared past the giant’s waist, seemingly unaware that they were flying so close to such a titanic being.
Cate wasn’t afraid of heights, but fear seized her violently.
“Don’t drop me! Don’t drop me!” She shrieked, and the giant brought her closer to his face.
“Are you alright, ma’am?” He looked concerned. Unable to think of anything other than colliding against the sidewalk far below, Cate screamed again. The hand holding her swung around, her ponytail whipping wildly in the wind, and she came even closer to fainting. Then Lhyr deposited her into his breast pocket. Cate found herself wedged between thick cloth and a wall of flesh; behind the wall, she heard the steady thunder of the giant’s heart.
“Is this any better, ma’am?” Lhyr asked, and she clung onto the edge of the pocket, gripping it with sweaty palms.
“I-I guess,” Cate squeaked, trying not to look down again.
^^^^^
The other residents at her apartment building were shocked when the giant showed up. As he lowered Cate down so that she could go inside, her neighbors peeked through their windows and took photos and videos. To his credit, Lhyr didn’t seem particularly concerned about the people staring at him; he seemed more interested in surveying the area for potential trouble.
As soon as she was back inside of her apartment, Cate collapsed onto the couch and buried her face into her hands. What an unbelievable morning it had been. She took a moment to regain her composure. She would have taken longer, but the apartment shook once or twice, the photos on her wall rattling and almost crashing to the floor. Lhyr was moving around outside, no doubt. Through the living room window, she only saw cloudless sky; then massive, dark pillars appeared as the giant walked by the building.
Reluctantly, Cate got up and began to pack. She had been wondering how she’d transport everything that she wanted; she wasn’t worried about that anymore. The giant could probably fit most of her furniture into a single pocket. When she had packed as much as she could, she dragged her suitcases out into the hallway. One of the doors opened, and her neighbor Marshall poked his head out.
“Holy shit, there’s a giant out there!” He exclaimed, and Cate nodded wearily.
“Yeah, I know. He’s with me.” She lugged the suitcases toward the exit.
Outside, a crowd had gathered, although everyone was keeping a respectful distance from the giant. Which was wise, considering that his feet were vehicle-sized, and any sort of accident would most likely be fatal for the normal-sized person. Lhyr had crouched down, one hand already resting on the ground. Cate felt weirdly exposed as the crowd parted to let her through, her suitcases clattering over the pavement.
“Ready to go?” The giant asked, and even though she wasn’t, she stepped into his waiting hand.
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Chapter 3
Cate awoke in an unfamiliar bed and it took a moment for her to remember where she was: a small cottage in a small town, the perfect place for a safe house. She already missed her bedroom, cluttered but filled with her photos and paintings and personal belongings. This room looked like it had been decorated by a bureaucrat. Everything was generic and soulless, all grays and blacks and sterile whites.
And her living situation was the least of her worries. Someone had kidnapped the other members of her research team, and they were most likely after her as well.
Feeling exhausted even though she had slept for several hours, Cate rose from the bed and went into the bathroom. She took an extra long shower, allowing the hot water to wash away the stale fear-sweat from her body, and then dressed in an old sweatshirt and jeans. Fancy clothes and makeup had never been her thing; she preferred comfortable clothing and shoes and she didn’t have the time or skill to apply anything more than Chapstick.
Cate wandered to the kitchen, where she found a coffee maker. She made a cup of coffee and held it in her hands, waiting for it to cool down enough to drink. As the warmth from the cup traveled through her fingers, she wondered who was after her. She hadn’t even been an important member of the team, just some grad student who had been assisting Dr. Kwan. No one knew exactly how they had created the passageway, least of all her. After the accident, Cate had spent countless hours redoing the calculations, sifting through the notes, and had found nothing.
The coffee was no longer scalding, so she took a small sip. Still lost in thought, Cate glanced through the kitchen window, expecting to see the golden sky of dawn.
Instead, she saw a massive moss-green eye, the pupil as large as a softball and focused entirely on her.
Startled, Cate uttered a strangled noise and dropped the cup. It crashed to the tiled floor, splashing coffee across her feet. A rumbling sound, as loud and oppressive as jet engines, blasted her ears, and she clapped both hands over her head. The huge eye peering in on her blinked, the simple motion rendered awe-inspiring because of the scale, and then the noise abruptly stopped. Ears ringing, Cate lowered her hands. Lhyr. It was just Lhyr. But even though she recognized the giant staring at her through the window, she realized that she couldn’t deal with this. Not right now, not in this unfamiliar place. She quickly retreated to the bathroom, where there weren’t any windows, and slammed the door.
Cate stayed in the bathroom for quite some time, huddled near the bathtub.
Her heart stopped its painful thundering at last, and she slowly headed back into the kitchen. The green eye hadn’t moved from the window, and she thought that she saw concern in it, although that may have been her imagination. Cate found one of the translation devices — Desmond had given her several — and slipped it onto her ear.
“I’m very sorry that I frightened you, ma’am,” the giant apologized, his earthshaking voice comprehensible now that she had the ear piece.
Cate dragged up every scrap of courage that she possessed. “Look, you can’t just stare into windows like that. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
The titanic eye slid away from the window, revealing the early morning sky. “I was just making sure that you were okay. But I won’t do it again, ma’am.”
She sighed and retrieved some paper towels to clean up the puddle of coffee. Once Cate had taken care of the mess and made herself another cup of coffee, she went outside. The location really was picturesque; the cottage was by a pond with dark water as smooth as glass, and the closest houses were just tiny shapes in the distance. If she had been here on vacation, she probably would have appreciated the place a lot more.
Lhyr was sitting by the cottage, and the building looked like a dollhouse in comparison to him. He had removed the sunglasses, which would have made him look less intimidating if it wasn’t for the fact that a skyscraper-sized man always looked intimidating. Cate gripped the coffee cup tightly, trying not to appear afraid and probably failing. She walked toward the giant, stopping far enough away that he couldn’t have snatched her up easily.
“I’d offer you some coffee, but I don’t think there’s enough,” Cate said lamely, and she realized that there probably wasn’t enough coffee in this whole town for the giant. How many cups would it even take to satisfy someone so immense? She imagined a water truck held in Lhyr’s colossal hand, the tanker filled with thousands of gallons of Starbucks.
The giant almost smiled. “That’s alright. I’m getting used to everything being small here.”
“Like Gulliver in Lilliput,” Cate commented.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a story about a man who travels to various lands. One of those lands has tiny people,” she explained, and the giant considered this.
“Oh. How do they treat him?”
Cate took a swig of coffee. “Not very well, unfortunately.”
“While I was learning English, I saw some of the media from Earth,” Lhyr said. “There seems to be a deep distrust of giants. I suppose it makes sense…such a difference in size makes relationships difficult. But for what it’s worth, you don’t have to distrust me, ma’am.”
That was easier said than done, but Cate decided to at least make an effort. “ ‘Ma’am’ isn’t necessary. You can call me Cate.”
^^^^^
“It’s an important assignment,” they had told Lhyr, but he remained skeptical. Since he had left the military, he had had several stints as a bodyguard, but he hadn’t been prepared at all for this particular job. He had met with a member of the ambassador’s staff, a no-nonsense woman who had explained the details of the assignment, and he had listened in disbelief. The client was a member of the team that had discovered the passageway, which meant that she was from Earth.
And that she was the size of his thumb.
Lhyr hadn’t found most of the training to be challenging; he had a knack for languages and an interest in other cultures. But learning how to interact with the inhabitants of Earth had proven to be exceedingly difficult. When it had come time to handle a tiny person, Lhyr had been nervous. He had held small animals before, but the idea of holding a sentient being in his hand had been nerve-wracking. The tiny man had been calm as Lhyr had picked him up, and if he had noticed the thin film of sweat coating Lhyr’s skin, he hadn’t mentioned it.
It had been an amazing sensation, feeling the minute heartbeat beneath his fingers, the insignificant weight of the little body. The tiny man hadn’t seemed upset as Lhyr had gently shifted him from hand to hand, practicing the handling techniques that would prevent injury. As the instructor had talked about applying proper amounts of pressure, Lhyr had barely heard him, too astonished by the living doll creature. He didn’t believe that he could experience anything more incredible than that.
Then Lhyr had traveled through the passageway, and he had realized how wrong he had been.
The world on the other side was shrunken; at least, it seemed like that initially. Buildings, trees, people — everything was so miniscule. And so delicate, as if it was made from spun glass rather than concrete and steel. Somehow, Lhyr had managed to keep his composure and not gawk at the little things scurrying near his feet. Gradually, it had occurred to him that this world wasn’t shrunken. He was simply huge, a colossus that towered over everything. He had been to be careful whenever he moved; this world was so very breakable. If he tripped and fell into one of the buildings, it’d crumble beneath him like a sand castle. If he sneezed, it’d most likely shatter windows.
Worst of all was the constant activity at his feet. There were tiny vehicles and tiny people, and Lhyr had to be aware of what was underfoot at all times. One careless step, and he could destroy someone’s car, or end their life. He had been relieved when he had found out that they were moving the client to a safer location, one that wasn’t crammed with so many small people.
Now that they were in a more isolated area, Lhyr’s biggest problem was trying to gain the client’s — Cate’s — trust. The tiny people that he had handled previously had been calm and relaxed; Cate was absolutely terrified of him. He had felt the way that she had quaked, the shivers running from head to toe, as he had held her between his fingers. Not that Lhyr blamed her. He was capable of causing her great harm, even though he would never do that.
How do you know that he’s not dangerous? What if he eats me?
At first, it had sounded laughable, the idea of Lhyr eating Cate. But as he contemplated it more, he understood where the fear originated. He was a lot of things to her — a behemoth, a brute, a predatory beast — and she didn’t exactly see him as a person. He was the monster at the other end of the Beanstalk. Lhyr hadn’t heard of Gulliver’s Travels, but he had heard of Jack and the Beanstalk, and he could see how the people on this world imagined giants to be.
Well, he would prove that he was just as human as they were.
^^^^^
Cate continued to be wary of him. She mostly stayed in the cottage during the first week, communicating with him only when necessary. Lhyr kept his promise and didn’t check in on her through the windows. And then perhaps due to boredom or curiosity, she began to come out and talk to him awkwardly.
Lhyr was getting ready to eat lunch, which was a MRE similar to what he had received in the military, when he sensed someone watching him. He glanced down and spotted the tiny woman, who was standing at a distance. She never came close to him, probably intimidated by his size.
Cate was saying something, although Lhyr didn’t have his ear piece on and it sounded like high-pitched squeaks. As soon as he retrieved the device from his pocket and put it on his ear, her words became clear.
“So, um, I saw that you were having lunch and I figured that you might like some company,” she said, holding up a miniature plate with a speck on it. A sandwich? A salad? Lhyr couldn’t really see what it was.
“Of course, ma’am, I mean, Cate,” Lhyr replied, and she sat down where she had been standing, which was an arm’s distance away from him. He opened the MRE and started to eat what passed as beef. His stopped chewing when he saw her staring intensely at him. Cate’s expression was almost comical, her mouth hanging open, dark eyes wide. He swallowed the mouthful of food and cleared his throat.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be staring,” Cate said quickly. “It’s just…I didn’t think someone could eat so much.”
Then, realizing that what she had said had only made the situation worse, her face turned a deep scarlet and she focused on her plate, picking at whatever her lunch was. With her eyes turned away, Lhyr was able to continue eating, although he was suddenly conscious of every bite. He probably would have reacted the same way if he had seen someone shoveling tons of food into their mouth.
They finished their lunches and sat in silence until Cate spoke up.
“So what’s your world like?” She asked, looking up at him.
“Similar to this one, but it’s my size,” Lhyr told her.
“That sounds terrifying.”
“Not for me.” But he realized that Cate was right; being surrounded by immense bugs and cats and people did sound terrifying. Everything would be a threat, a danger that one would have to navigate. Both worlds were hostile to those who were different sizes, Lhyr realized. This world wouldn’t hesitate to blow him up if he acted inappropriately, and his world would be filled with all sorts of horrors for Cate.
She decided to change the subject. “So how long do you think this will last? I mean, you and me being together like this?”
“I honestly don’t know,” he admitted, and Cate nodded, absorbed in her own thoughts. Eventually she picked up her plate and started to head back toward the cottage.
“Do you want to, uh, have dinner together?” She asked, not meeting his eyes. He agreed and she disappeared into the little house, leaving him alone outside.
Well, it seemed that he had made some progress in gaining her trust.
Hopefully.
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I may or may not have giggled in excitement at these updates.
(I definitely did)
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@miss-lillipants Oh gosh, you’re making me blush. I’m always happy to hear that
I’m still newish to gentle giant fiction, but it’s been fun writing this. -
“He’s with me.”
Humblebrag of the Century.
I can’t tell you how gratified I am that you’re giving us Lhyr’s perspective. The Passageway must have caused some disruption in his dimension, too.
I’m not even going to speculate on the plot. Just hungry for more.
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@Olo said in Passageway (M/f, Giant):
“He’s with me.”
Humblebrag of the Century.
She’s pretty restrained…if it were me, I’d say it constantly and I’d probably end up being banned from everywhere for being annoying.
@Olo said in Passageway (M/f, Giant):
I can’t tell you how gratified I am that you’re giving us Lhyr’s perspective.
One of the goals of this story was to create a giant character who wasn’t a bloodthirsty monster and who had to navigate a very small and very fragile world without wrecking it. It’s been a challenge because I have to remind myself that not everyone would push over skyscrapers for fun.
Thank you for reading and commenting, by the way. Your feedback is always very much appreciated
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@Nyx You did such a good job of capturing the overwhelming power he has while still making him gentle.
And I don’t know, I feel like giants can get away with knocking over a skyscraper or two and still be good…y’know? As a treat
SillyLilBug
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@SillyLilBug Thank you!
Even in gentle scenarios, I still love overwhelming size and power. The giant person can choose to use that power for good or bad purposes, and I really like exploring that tension.Also, accidents happen…tiny people tend to make such fragile little things. Like skyscrapers
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I don’t know if I’ve commented on AO3 already but I just wanted to pop in and say I’m LOVING this story so far Nyx! You’re knocking it out of the park.
http:/sizekink.com
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@Kisupure Considering that you’re one of my favorite writers, I’m extremely happy that you’ve been enjoying it
