Ethan felt his body go limp in Claraføster’s giant hand. The fingers that wrapped around his torso were thicker than his arms, and held him gently but firmly. There was no getting away from her, he suddenly realized. There was no escape. She was too big, too quick, and too smart to allow that. And he had just watched her swallow an entire live man whole without thinking twice…and she didn’t even seem to realize or care what effect this violent act would have on him. 

He felt himself go limp in surrender. He had to humor the giant girl’s whims. He had to carry on the conversation with her. What other choice did he have? In his mind, he was already preparing himself for death. Maybe it didn’t hurt so much — or maybe it only hurt for a few seconds…his mind descended into the darkness as he bowed his head in her grasp. 

“Eeeethannnn,” Claraføster whispered down at him, stirring him from his thoughts, “you didn’t answer meeee!” He looked up to see her giant face quite close to his smiling flirtatiously. 

“Wh-whaaa—?” said Ethan indistinctly, finding it quite hard to continue their chat. “W-what was the question?” 

“Your favorite food, Ethan,” said Claraføster softly, smiling down on him. 

“Oh…oh—uh….” stammered Ethan, feeling sick to his stomach again. “I don’t — I d-don’t really know….”

“Oh come on!” said Claraføster brightly, giving her hand a little shake, and causing his entire body to bounce and jerk up and down. “You’ve gotta have a favorite food, Ethan! I’ve seen how you humans love to eat — c’mon, tell me, tell me!” With each “tell me” she gave Ethan another shake. He couldn’t believe how effortlessly she could shake his entire body with a simple movement of her hand. She was incredibly strong, and Ethan was not pleased to realize that she could easily squeeze him into a mushy pulp if she so wished. He needed to give her some kind of answer. 

“Uh, uhh…” Images of food flashed through his mind…watermelon, peanuts, chicken wings…but his mind kept coming back to the image of that poor man’s legs kicking in the air as they stuck out of her mouth…she had smiled and winked at him…this was all so crazy…but food, food! He had to think of something…steak—he liked steak.

“S-steak,” he managed to say. The word sounded odd and flat in the air, and grotesquely wrong. He couldn’t believe that he was having a conversation about food after what he had just seen. 

“Steak,” said Claraføster, creasing her brow, obviously very intrigued. “Steak. Hmmmm, now what is “steak,” Ethan?”

He was about to say “meat from a cow,” but she cut him off. “No! No! Wait!! Don’t tell me! I wanna guess.” Her mischievous eyes creased playfully at the corners as she began thinking out loud: “Hmmmm…steak, steak, steak…it’s little Ethan’s favorite food…hmmmmmm…” And she began looking over Ethan’s naked body in her hand, as if it somehow held some clues that would enable her to find out what “steak” was. She took a long finger and gently prodded his ribs. Ethan flinched. 

“Mmmhmmm,” she said through smiling, pursed lips. She brought her finger and thumb up to Ethan’s head, gathered up a large tuft of his short brown hair, and rubbed it through her fingers, moving them back and forth in opposite directions. It was a simple, benign motion for her — she was barely moving her fingers…and yet from Ethan’s perspective it felt like she was about to pull his hair out by the roots. He sharply drew in his breath. 

“Mmmhmmm,” said Claraføster again, as if feeling his hair was giving her more clues. Suddenly she released his hair and brought him up close to her face. Her head was so huge that it was all he could see now; her nose was right in front of his mouth. He began breathing rapidly in a panic, and as he released his breath he saw that her nostrils were dilating open, widening in tandem with each exhale. He suddenly realized that she was smelling his breath. Her mouth broke into a smile somewhere around his thighs. 

“Just breathe normally, Ethan. I’m liking this game!” He tried to obey her and closed his eyes as he attempted to take deep, measured breaths. 

*sniff* *sniff* *sniff* He could hear her nose inhaling his breath close to his face. Although he didn’t know why, the sound of her sniffing him caused a strange stirring somewhere deep in his groin, and his cock started to get hard again. What on earth was the matter with him? 

After another minute or so of sniffing his breath, Claraføster brought him away from her face and held him out in front of her like she had been doing before. 

“Ok Ethan,” she said excitedly. “I have a guess now.” In spite of himself, Ethan suddenly became quite curious what she would say. This giant girl was undoubtedly crazy, he thought, but there was no denying that she was just…gorgeous…and there was something about her…maybe it was her playfulness, her cheery attitude…that drew him in. 

“Uhh…ok. W-what do you th-think it is?” he asked. Taking a deep breath in through her nose, she shifted in her sitting position a bit as she speared the right side of her cheek with her tongue, making it bulge outward. She was clearly impressed with herself. 

“Wellll,” she began, “let’s make this even more fun. I’ll tell you the steps I took to get to my answer, and you can tell me if I was going in the right direction or not — does that sound fun, Ethan?” 

He nodded his head mechanically, and as he did he realized something suddenly: this giantess had no idea how terrified he was. She wasn’t toying with him sadistically — she actually thought that they were playing a fun little game together. Ethan had no idea where she came from, or how she had come to grow so big, but it seemed clear that she was unfamiliar with human culture and the norms around human feelings. He looked up at her, with her shining eyes dancing upon him in the low light of the nighttime alley, and felt something warm wash over him…something like…attraction to this man-eating giantess. The freakish setting of their bizarre conversation was compelling him to give up all his control. He had no idea if she would eat him or if they would keep talking until the sun came up or…anything else. He just knew he had to keep her talking. 

“So!” said Claraføster, her hand tightening briefly around Ethan’s body as she gave him a gentle and excited squeeze, “I think it’s pretty safe to say that if something is your favorite food, then you eat it quite often. Is that right?” 

“Y-yes,” said Ethan, who was suddenly wondering how often she ate people. Claraføster nodded smartly and continued. 

“So…I poked your ribs, right?” 

“R-right…”

“Aaannnddd, well…you eat meat, don’t you, Ethan?” 

Her mention of “eating meat” brought back the reality that this woman had just consumed an entire man, and Ethan had to keep his mouth closed to avoid dry heaving. He nodded his head up and down.

Claraføster waited for a moment. “But!” she said suddenly, a touch of playful impatience in her voice, “Don’t you want to know how I know that, Ethan?”

“Ohh! Yes!! Yes!!” stammered Ethan quickly.

“It was your ribs, Ethan,” she said smiling as she nodded her head up and down. “I could tell by feeling in between these little ribs here — ” and she gave them another light prod with her finger, causing Ethan to squirm “—that you frequently eat animals.” She cocked her head as she gave him a crooked smile. “Animal meat goes to the ribs in such a different way, you know.” As if to prove her point, she indicated with her free hand down to her own ribs. Since she was fleshy and voluptuous, Ethan couldn’t see them. Suddenly, though, Claraføster gave a great intake of breath, and her ribcage became immediately visible through her ample flesh. 

Ethan gawked, still fixated on the idea of a dead man being slowly digested in the stomach he was staring at. He was getting better at multi-tasking, however, and he was able to simply marvel at the size of Claraføster’s ribcage. It was as tall as he was, almost six feet, and each curved rib looked to be at least three feet long. 

“You see, Ethan?” said Claraføster, pointing with a long finger to her ribs, caressing them a bit with her finger pad, “these are not the ribs of an herbivore.” She cracked a smile at him as she took her finger from her ribs and danced it through the air back to his ribs, giving them another token stroke. “And neither are these!” She laughed beautifully and softly into the night air. “See, Ethan? You may be tiny compared to me, but we’re not as different as you might think, right?”

“R-right,” said Ethan. He was about to ask her how she knew he ate meat just from touching his ribs, but she seemed satisfied with where the conversation was going and kept talking. 

“And thennn,” she continued, turning Ethan’s body around in her hand as she relished in this step-by-step narrative, “I thought: so, little Ethan eats meat — his favorite food’s gotta be some kind of meat.” She turned him back around to face her. “Know how I know that?” 

“N-no,” said Ethan. “Please, uh…p-please tell me.” 

Claraføster’s face brightened even more as she beamed at him. “Oh my god…sooooo cute,” she cooed. Then she rallied and continued. “I know because I see how much you humans love to eat it! I’ve seen your fields where you keep all those horned rongyäbeasts, and those awful mills where you keep the feathered quisgails.” Ethan didn’t know how, but he immediately knew that she was talking about cows and chickens. She paused a moment and gave him a sudden stern look. “You humans treat your food very badly, you know.” She shook her head sadly. “The poor little things, all cooped up inside…that’s something you need to work on.” 

“Y-yes, yes I know!” said Ethan, “we, uh…we’re trying to make things more humane for animals.”

Claraføster arched her eyebrow. “Humane?” Her rich voice wrapped around the word. “What is “humane,” Ethan?” 

“It—it just means, ah…it means we’re trying to be nicer and, uh…kinder.” 

Claraføster laughed. “Oh, you silly little humans. Coming up with words like that…naming kindness after yourselves.” She brought him up to her face again and gave him a playful little nuzzle. “You little things are quite full of yourselves, aren’t you?” 

“Uhh…y-yeah we are,” Ethan agreed, not feeling comfortable with how close he was to her huge mouth. He had a flashing thought: humans were full of themselves, and this giant girl was full of humans. His stomach turned and he would have retched is he hadn’t kept his mouth shut. 

“So anyway — gosh I get off track when I’m having fun,” said Claraføster, rallying herself, “then I felt your hair, remember?” Ethan did remember how she nearly pulled all his hair out without even realizing. He nodded. 

“It was very fine hair, and very thick and full.” She took a finger and passed it lovingly through his hair. “It’s lovely hair, Ethan,” she said. Despite everything, Ethan couldn’t help but feel a bit of warm pleasure at the compliment and the touch from someone…or something…so beautiful. 

“And,” she continued, “it told me that whatever you eat, you get plenty of iron.” 

Ethan was confused. “Y-you know about iron?” he blurted out. 

Claraføster looked down at him with a scandalized expression. “Do I now about iron?? What kind of question is that, Ethan?!?” Her brow furrowed as her hand tightened around his body. “The Hyrrokkin have known about iron for thousands of years!! What else were we going to make weapons out of to defend ourselves from the Giants of Bellamusa?? Or the wicked mages of Casterlock??”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!!” said Ethan desperately, “I—I didn’t know, I didn’t know!” Through his fear he was vaguely aware of the word “Hyrrokkin” that she had spoken. Were there…more of her?? 

Claraføster could have kept going, but she suddenly looked down on him sympathetically and loosened her grip on his body. “That’s ok, Ethan,” she said. “We’re both learning about each other here, aren’t we?” She breathed a little, and was momentarily confused. 

“Uhh…uhh…iron?” ventured Ethan helpfully in a small voice. 

“Yes!! Thank you, Ethan!” she said brightly. “So because of your full head of healthy, lovely hair, I knew that you get plenty of iron. I’m still good so far?”

“Yes,” said Ethan, who had no idea how much iron he got or didn’t get. 

“And finally…I smelled your breath,” said Claraføster triumphantly. “That was the part that really gave you away.” 

“H-how, uh. How?”

Claraføster pointed knowingly to her nose, dilating and un-dilating her nostrils in a kind of display. “We Hyrrokkin,” she said slowly and impressively, “have an incredible sense of smell, particularly when it comes to other animals.” She squinted at him in affection. “That’s how I found you tonight, Ethan!”

“Y-you did?” he stuttered, not enjoying the thought of being smelled out like prey. 

“Yes!” she said, smiling. “I smelled you way before I saw you or heard you…and you were making a lot of noise too, weren’t you?” She laughed softly as Ethan faintly remembered drunkenly singing as he stumbled into the alley. Although it could not have been longer than half an hour ago, it seemed like something far off in the past, from another lifetime. 

Claraføster gave a great sniff, her eyebrows going up and down in pleasure as Ethan looked at her, not knowing what to think. 

“I smelled it on your breath, Ethan. You’ve been eating your favorite food tonight.”

“I—I have?” Ethan couldn’t help but feel awkward about disagreeing with her. He had not, in fact, eaten a steak tonight. But he had eaten a burger….was she smelling that, maybe? 

“Well, close enough to it, anyway,” she said, waving her free hand nonchalantly and creating a gust of wind that blew Ethan’s hair all around. “It’s the same animal. Isn’t that right, Ethan?”

He nodded. 

Claraføster nodded her head enthusiastically with him. “And the meat comes from those rongyäbeasts, doesn’t it?” She was almost panting in excitement. 

“Do you mean…do you mean cows?” asked Ethan, and then continued awkwardly as Claraføster gave him a blank look; he hadn’t had to explain what a “cow” was before. “The, uh…the, uh animals with f-four legs and h-hoofs, and they, uh…eat grass and hay and uh…graze in fields — a-and, some of them h-have horns and the, uh, the ones who don’t have —”

“Jügers!” cried Claraføster triumphantly as she grabbed her own breast, and too loudly because she caught herself and clasped her hand over her mouth, giving Ethan a guilty look with her big dark eyes. “I’m sorry!” she whispered, embarrassed through her hand, as she quickly checked the alleyway entrance. Her eyes lingered there for a few moments, and Ethan was reminded of the seriousness and precision at the heart of this giantess’s personality. It could be easy to forget when she was laughing and playing games…but then she had brought her eyes back to him. 

“Sorry!” she said again; Ethan didn’t know why she was apologizing to him, but he took it as a good sign. “I just got really excited there — you just proved that I was right! What do you humans call the rongyäbeasts?”

“Uh…cows,” he said, feeling that his word sounded rather lame next to hers. 

“Cows,” she repeated, and Ethan couldn’t help but feel that the word sounded better in her accent. “Cows, cows, cows…oh Ethan, I love your little human words!” She was scrunching up her face again at him. “They’re tiny and cute, just like you.” There was a slight pause in the conversation, as Ethan didn’t know what to say in response and Claraføster was briefly mesmerized, her eyes lost in his little body. 

She blinked a few times, took a short breath, and continued. “So, your favorite food is…cow, Ethan, huh?” He nodded. “And,” she continued, looking down on him with her eyebrow arched again in knowing playfulness, “I’m guessing that “steak” is a certain way you humans prepare the cow. Is that right?” 

“Y-yes,” said Ethan. This giant girl was astute, that was for sure. He was beginning to worry what would happen after this game was over. 

“And,” she said, sitting up tall and straight, clearly proud of herself, “a “steak” is probably just a slab of…cow meat for roasting. There, did I get it right?” 

“Y-yeah,” said Ethan, impressed despite himself. “H-how did you know how it was p-prepared?” 

Claraføster gave him a knowing smile, cocking her head as she looked down on him. “Your word is very close to an old word from our tribe, steik. It means the same thing, Ethan. Our ancient tribe spoke something very like what you humans call “Old Norse,” or something like that…and in Old Norse, steik means exactly what “steak” is to you!”

Ethan was impressed at her knowledge, but more than anything he was stuck on one detail. “Your…tribe? There’s…there’s more of you?” 

“Of course there are, silly little Ethan! I’m not just alone in the world — I belong to the Hyrrokkin tribe.” 

“Are they—are they, uh…all as…”

“As big as me?” she finished for him, winking. “No, I’m pretty big, even for my tribe. Most of the others are only around 20 feet.”

“Only…o-only 20 feet tall?” Ethan felt his mouth go dry. 

“Mhmmm,” Claraføster nodded her head. 

“A-and do they…do they all…eat…”

“Humans? Yes — that’s all we eat.” 

Suddenly, Claraføster sniffed at the air and directed her eyes upward to the horizon. Ethan’s eyes followed hers. Past the innumerable skyscrapers of the city, he could see the horizon in the distance. At the very spot where the earth met the sky, the slightest bit of a pink glow had developed, heralding morning. 

Claraføster looked back to Ethan. She was studying him hard. He didn’t know what to think or say and simply hung there in her hand, waiting for her to make up her mind. ‘This is it,’ he thought. ‘She’s gonna eat me now.’ He felt strangely calm, a far cry from how he had been feeling much of the time recently. 

She blinked her eyes slowly at him, and as her big eyelids moved a tender smile spread across her face. 

“Ethan,” she breathed at him slowly, “I was going to stay in the city for a few more days, but I’ve decided to do something else.” 

“W-what’s that?” asked Ethan. 

“I’m going to bring you back to my tribe,” she said, smiling. 

“Y-you’re wh-wha….n-no, y-you can’t!” he said, starting to panic. “Y-you all w-will j-just, just eat me, a-and —”

But Claraføster had gently moved the tip of her finger over his mouth, silencing his protests as her fingers wrapped securely around him. 

“Shhhhhh, little Ethan, shhhhhhhh,” she breathed down on him. After a minute or so he had stopped squirming and attempting to cry out through her finger. 

“I’m not going to eat you, Ethan,” she said down to him softly. “And I won’t let any of my tribe eat you either. You’re too cute.” Her fingers tightened a bit on his body as she stood up, as the pink streak on the horizon became more pronounced. She suddenly brought his body up to her face and gave him a hearty lick all down his midsection, causing his cock to stir in the early morning air. It felt cool on his body, now that he was moist with her saliva. 

“But,” said Claraføster determinedly, holding his body three feet from her face and staring deep into his eyes. “You belong to me now, Ethan. You’re gonna be my pet!”