POV: Frank
The entirety of Fermicia shook heavily, as it always does around 8 o'clock in the morning. Rhythmic quakes, steadily growing in intensity. In some worlds, this may have been a cause for great concern. In Fermicia, it was simply part of our routine. Were the quakes inconvenient? Perhaps, but their origin was very good at convincing people like us.
The horizon changed, going from a pleasant, orange, morning glow, to entirely transparent. The sun itself vanished as well. But in its place came something a lot greater: the smiling face of our goddess. She was far more radiant than any sun could ever be... at least in my opinion. From beyond the dynamic-glass wall, I saw her fiddle with something in her ear. A few seconds later, her divine voice echoed across the continent.
The voice of our goddess, Indiana.
"Good morning little ones. I hope everyone had a pleasant night? Just wanted to pop in real quick to let you know I won't be home this evening. As such, any shift switches should occur at the present moment... Wouldn't want anyone stuck who wishes to be home by nightfall.~"
Hearing the goddess' voice was always a strange experience. It came from everywhere at once, but at the same time it didn't truly seem to come from the goddess herself. The reason was quite simple: It didn't. The voice we heard came from gigantic speaker systems that were built into the continent itself. The goddess was simply too enormous for her voice to be anything but loud rumblings across the sky.
Speaking of the sky, it slowly vanished. The glass covering slid open, allowing direct access between our world and the one our goddess lived in. Across the sky, dozens of specialised vehicles flew towards the goddess' divine face, and a handful flew the opposite direction. As an act of kindness, she had moved herself even closer, practically leaning against the walls of our world so that her face was directly above the opening. In that position, she waited for a solid 5 minutes. Her breathing was slow and controlled, lest she disrupt the flight paths. Or worse: bring down great storms towards the land itself.
When those 5 minutes passed, the sky closed up again, sealing us within our protective environment. A small minority called it a cage, others a vivarium. Me? I simply called it home. My thoughts were silenced as the divine voice rang out once again.
"Of course, I would never just leave you entirely alone. Alex has agreed to check in on you. Well... more or less agreed. So any concerns you have, you should discuss with her. Though you may wanna bunker down... just in case..."
Ah, Alex, the Great Alexandra. If our goddess Indiana was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen, Alexandra was the most powerful... and the second most beautiful. From what we could tell, our two goddesses were lovers, young on their scale, ancient on ours. But whereas we got to see Indiana on a daily basis, Alex was a much rarer sight. If we were lucky, she appeared once a week. If we weren't, we sometimes wouldn't see her for an entire month. That always causes great distress to the people living in her belongings. Most of all those living within the strongholds of the aptly-named Mount Alexandria. To us, the largest mountain within our world, one that had unceremoniously crushed the pre-existing mountain range that had occupied that spot. To them, as Indiana had once described: “one of Alexandra's old gym shoes, which Alex dropped too harshly before I could tell her to be gentle.".. I've been there once, on holiday. Even so many years later, her scent still lingers for miles around. But it especially prevails in the mountain's deepest depths... Never knew the depths of a mountain could be so... swamplike...
Why did Indiana suggest for us to bunker down? Well, the other goddess never means any more harm than Indiana does, we all know this. But as history has taught us... she is simply way less proficient at controlling the power that comes with her size. Not just on our scale, Alexandra makes Indiana seem small by comparison. Our beloved blonde goddess, the one who gave us everything.. only comes up to the brunette goddess' chest.. But I digress. Basically, whereas Indiana manages both her breathing and the volume of her voice, Alexandra does neither. Not out of malice, she simply never realises what she causes. Though unlike Indiana... I don't think she particularly cares beyond a level of "oh, whoops..". It's clear to most that she never wanted to own a civilization, yet conceded to Indiana's wishes. At least she seems to be getting better with every passing year.. mostly because she clearly enjoys her own enormity.
Most people don't blame either of our goddesses when accidents occur. They are so ridiculously huge, it's unavoidable unless they permanently seal us off from their world. Do you get angry at a storm, or a flood? Or any other force of nature? Of course not! And that's just what those two are to us... forces of nature. If anything these two deserve our praise for causing as few as they do.... Okay maybe Alexandra doesn't but that's not the point! The point is: we're lucky to be living under their protection. We've heard stories from newcomers, about what the outside world is like. It's dangerous, literally everything could kill us. And apparently not every divine being is like Indiana or Alexandra! Some are cruel, keeping entire civilizations are playthings, or just destroying us at sight! If they even notice us at all.. Our goddesses admit that they don't know how many of our kind they have unknowingly destroyed... and that they rather not think about it. A few years ago, a loud minority kept insisting for answers.. Until they eventually made Indiana tear up. Then, it promptly stopped... though my suspicion is that Alexandra's subsequent glare had something to do with that as well... Pretty sure everyone still remembers that glare... even if most of us wish they didn't….
I got shaken out of my inner musings by another quake. Apparently, our goddess had been silently admiring our civilisation (honestly, it was her civilisation), but suddenly remembered she had to get moving.
”Oop, I have to get going now. Have a nice day my little sweethearts!~”
With a wave and a genuine smile, Indiana disappeared from sight, the glass once again showing a “normal” horizon and sky. The quakes would slowly but surely dissipate, leaving our world entirely alone, in the spare bedroom of some unfathomably enormous house….
POV: Indiana
I woke up around 7am, in an empty bed. Alex was long gone, as usual. It would be nice to get some morning cuddles, for once. Oh well, I know she gets incredibly bored when waiting for me to wake up. At least her huge frame keeps the bed warm, even an hour after she's left. It's absolutely wonderful during the colder months... but the hot ones can be a pain, especially with how prone I am to sweating.. Whoever invented AC should get a medal.
Groggily, I wipe the sleep out of my eyes and reach for my nightstand. I quickly find my socks, which I had left there last night. I... really dislike the feeling of going barefoot on anything other than a bed, pillows, etc.. Ya know, soft stuff!
Once all that's done, I finally get out of bed, and head straight towards the kitchen. On the way, I grab my bathrobe, to make sure I don't get cold now that I've left my bed's warm embrace. First stop: the kitchen. I need my morning coffee... and I mean I need it. I have a ton of energy, like a ridiculous amount. But I need the coffee to jump-start it, or I end up being tired and unproductive all day long. Alex thinks I drink too much caffeine... I know she's just worried... but I'm fine! Besides, we know people who actually can't drink too much caffeine or they'll.. uhm... nevermind.
I lean against the kitchen counter, happily enjoying my warm, soothing coffee on this cold winter day. In the distance, I hear the opening and closing of the back door, followed by heavy footsteps that I know all too well.
"Finally up, are you?", Alex teases as she walks into the kitchen. My response is appropriately mature: I stick my tongue out, which causes my love to chuckle softly. Before I can react, she crosses the distance between us with those long legs of hers. She comes in for an embrace...
"Alex, mind the coffee!", I yelp, hoping that she’ll react fast enough to stop her approach. To her credit, she does, albeit not without sighing deeply. One of her huge hands reaches for the cup, firmly yanking it out of my grip and placing it on the counter, a foot or two to the right. I’ve long since learned to just let go whenever Alex reaches for something I’m holding. I can’t beat her strength anyway, and I know she doesn’t mean to be rude…. Besides, what comes next is way better than any coffee could ever be..
With the coffee set back on the counter, I watch as Alex reaches out for her second attempt. I feel her hands grab both sides of my waist. It’s a little uncomfortable, but I know this is the easiest method. For a second, I feel weightless, as Alex lifts me from the ground and places me onto our kitchen counter. Like a lot of furniture in our house, our counter is a little higher up than usual. It comes up right to the bottom of my chest. It’s hardly more uncomfortable for me, and otherwise it would only come up to Alex’s thighs, which would be ridiculous.
I like sitting up on our kitchen counter, it’s the perfect height! Why? Because this is one of few ways that I can actually see eye-to-eye with the love of my life! I know she loves it too, I can see it in her brown eyes. Then again, she also loves looking down towards me… I think she just loves looking at me.~
I open up my legs and wrap them around her waist, so she can get as close as possible. Our foreheads touch first, a tender motion, symbolising how we truly care for one another. This is no superficial relationship! Then, our lips meet, a wonderful feeling I’ll never get used to. Like so much of my near-amazonian lover, her lips easily dominate mine, enveloping them in their soft, plush embrace. But also like my lover, she waits patiently for my response, never wanting to force me into anything, even if she is very eager.
My response is quite simple: my tongue slowly enters her mouth, trying to look for its bigger, stronger mate. And as soon as they touch, the larger “beast” springs to life, instantly forcing mine back into my mouth as it “invades”. Our tongues dance with each other for a few seconds. Or as Alex calls it, they “wrestle” for a while. But all good things come to an end… and I can’t hold my breath as long as she can. Our kiss ends, and like usual, I’m the first to speak.
“Good morning, Alex.~”
My towering girlfriend allows herself a small, soft smile. She’ll never admit it, but she is absolutely gorgeous whenever she allows herself to smile.Then again, she’s always gorgeous. Anyway, Alex chuckles softly, and responds appropriately.
“Good morning, Indy.~”
There’s a moment of silence between us. Not an awkward one, but one where both of us are admiring what’s in front of our faces. Neither of us can believe we’re so lucky to have the other one as their partner. So, sometimes we simply cannot help but stare in awe for a short while. I hate being a spoilsport, but I'm always the one to end the silence…
“So, Alex… You remember how I have to go to that lecture on smart city infrastructure at 8?", I begin, hoping she'll go along with my idea.
"Mmhmm", is the only response I get. Alex doesn't really have too much affinity with my line of work. But she supports me all the way. I think part of her feels upset I make a good bit more cash, like she's slacking.
"Well, it's Saturday... And you know what I do on Saturday evenings with the nanos... So I was wondering if you could, maybe, uh, take my spot this week?", I say softly, trying my best to sound as sweet as possible. Alex can be incredibly stubborn sometimes, but I know how to get past her defences.
Alex sighs deeply, so much so that I feel her warm breath blow against my face. It's surprisingly pleasant, though these are exactly the kinds of motions that make her the "rougher goddess", as the nanos call it.
"Indy, you know how I feel about interacting with the nanos. Sure it's cool to feel so absurdly huge... But I always feel like such a giant oaf. There's always something that goes wrong... and you worked so hard to make them prosper.."
I frown, knowing that she needs further convincing. But at the same time, I can't help but smile. Alex has progressed so much! When I met her, she barely cared if nanos were an actual thing or not. Now she's just worried about being too harmful. If our heights were reversed, I'd have been so happy I would have scooped her up and given her the greatest kiss of her life. Instead, I simply respond in a way that I hope will change her mind.
"Alex... I've told you countless times not to worry about that! Is it a shame whenever we cause damage to them? Of course it is! But they're so, so small... They're pretty much sentient, humanoid bacteria! Our mere existence will always be a threat to them. Do you feel like an oaf around your microbiome?"
"I guess not. But-"
"Exactly! Alex, we both know I love and admire nanos more than anyone else know. They're so clever and resourceful, and adapt perfectly to whatever new element we introduce into their habitat. Which is my next point: we gave them a habitat! There are trillions upon trillions of nanos in the world, and most have to scavenge and scoure. But here, in our home, we have a habitat which houses nearly a billion of them. Entire generations live and prosper because we protect them."
"But whenever we interact with them, hundreds if not thousands of them perish...."
"We try our best, Alex, that's what matters. Nanos live such short lives, barely a century. We're seemingly immortal goddesses to them. Think about it: from their perspective, we've owned them for 2 entire generations. They accepted a long time ago that accidents occur, yet they hold no grudges. Nanos are so much more forgiving and humble than humans are. So.... Alex, will you please go instead of me this evening?"
"Fine, fine!", she responds, backing off so I can hop down from the kitchen counter, "But don't come complaining if I did something wrong! If I'm supposed to be the god on active duty, my will is law."
I jump off the counter and give Alex a big hug. Or at least... it's supposed to be. Can be quite difficult to manage when my face presses right against her lower chest.
"Thanks Alex, you're the best!", I say before pulling away and heading for the bathroom. She doesn't respond, but a little smirk is all I need to know: she knows she is.
In the bathroom, my first stop is the mirror. I'm not a vain person, but I can appreciate my own good looks. I rub the corners of my eyes, getting the last bits of sleep out of them, before remembering what I was gonna do.
Staring into the mirror has a second purpose: it's a nice way to wordlessy address the nanos that are busy at work: scavenging my face and scalp for any resources they might require. They're so small and have advanced technology that my body creates its own makeshift gravity. So unless I do something drastic, they can't fall off.
Earlier I mentioned that our nanos don't have to scavenge... And that's still true! They don't have to scavenge.. but their instincts make it a natural urge for a certain percentage of their population. And what better to scavenge than the head of the woman they see as their goddess? They can collect all sorts of little resources from my body, it's really cool! For example, they use the keratin from my hair to add as a supportive component in their building materials!
I give them a little wave and a wink. I'd like to think these nanos consider themselves quite lucky. Not only do they get to spend time on my country-sized body. But they get to see things they otherwise never would . Imagine what my encounter with Alex looked like from their perspective, let alone our kiss! And, well, I need to get dressed for the day.. Will they view it from their perspective, or look into the mirror, so far away, to see the whole thing? I have no idea!
When I finish up in the bathroom, I decide it's finally time to go check on my nanos.~