Kindred Spirits (Chapter 4) (Patreon)

Again the two women shared the same dizzyingly-high sightline, and both delighted in this solidarity. For an instant, Megan felt as though none of this insanity had transpired, and she was simply meeting the gaze of a coworker in the quiet laboratory. Then her peripherals of the doll-scale surroundings, along the beach from the lighthouse to her tiny cottage and beyond, reminded her that none of this was ordinary, and she was marooned in a dinky seaside village with no way to be of use. The one silver lining, however, was this larger-than-life redhead with a spunky spirit and self-deprecating sense of humor who’d arrived out of the blue, at first appearing like a security risk and an unfortunate problem to be solved by entrapping her betwixt Megan’s feet, but who quickly had shown herself to be a like-minded peer. A kindred spirit.

“This might sound strange, but… it’s just been so long since I’ve even spoken to anyone, except to buy groceries…” Megan laughed with lingering disbelief. “Could I give-”

As if reading her mind, Natasha stepped forward and put her arms around her new companion in a warm hug, which the dark-haired giant instantly returned. The pair of fifteen-story-tall women embraced for a whole minute, rocking back and forth using strength that could’ve crumbled steel architecture, but instead merely offered comfort to two people who’d found themselves in barren and unfamiliar surroundings, and were now drawn toward one another like oases in a desert.

This supportive human contact was fulfilling like little else Megan could remember, an even greater source of succor than her euphoric growth on the beach this morning, though ironically that illegal stature-swell had led to her meeting and revealing herself to Natasha, which made her all the more grateful she’d given in to the temptation. As the two women hugged, they automatically grew by another hundred feet without even realizing it at first, so great was their collective satisfaction at finding one another.

Then, just as Megan was feeling the most at ease in Natasha’s arms, perhaps more comfortable with her than she’d been with anyone in a long time, she withdrew just far enough to speak to the giantess face-to-face again in thanks, but without wanting to end the embrace either. Natasha seemed to do the same simultaneously, and as the two towering ladies brushed cheeks and turned their faces to form words, the language caught in their throats when their soft pink lips slid past one another. They interlocked for a strange but not altogether unpleasant moment. The briefest reactionary bit of wetness and suction was shared, making it officially a kiss regardless of the pair’s intention, before Megan retracted, but not violently, finding unexpected delight in having some kind of intimate contact after so long away from the world she knew. Natasha followed suit.

“S-Sorry about that,” Megan stammered, feigning laughter and catching herself licking the corner of her moistened lip.

“You’re going to have to give me some lessons now, you know,” Natasha said at length. She also seemed to be trying to break the tension, though despite the awkwardness of the accidental lip-lock, neither woman seemed ashamed, with Megan showing only a hint of rosy blush and a goofy smirk.

Their hug ended at last and the pair of two-hundred-fifty-foot leviathans took seats next to one another on the beach with their toes squirming comfortably in the cool surf, as though even more comfortable in close proximity after that unusual social ice-breaker.

“What, you mean how to grow and shrink better?” Megan asked, while partly wondering if Natasha meant kissing lessons instead. “You look like you’ve got it down already! You shot up so fast, I almost fainted. I’m serious. Do you really think you need extra lessons?”

“Well, actually, yes, I would love you to give me some pointers there too, because to tell you the truth I’m a little afraid of heights, and even more afraid of what’s going to happen when they finally ask me to fight a giant lizard,” Natasha jovially replied, then shook her head. “But no, what I actually meant was, I need you to teach me how to be happy living in this place. No offense to the citizens, but I’m a big city girl, and that job in the research lab was only supposed to last a year. I am not cut out for surviving in a podunk land with a population of thirty people.”

“Oh, there’s more people than that!” Megan laughed. “But sure, I’ll do my best. I think the most important thing, though, will be our new little two-person social club. Us big girls have got to stick together, you know.”

“Believe me, I do! You won’t be able to get rid of me now,” Natasha said, gently poking her friend in the shoulder.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Megan said. Taking another deep breath, she put on a graver expression just long enough to lay out some truth. Her voice tremored slightly as she admitted her heartfelt apprehensions. “I know what you mean, though. About whatever “job” they give us, just because we were both unlucky enough to get caught in accidents that made us into giants. I’m scared, too. I fought that thing and won before, but that was mostly adrenaline, and Dracus was half the size of some of the monsters that have crawled out of the ocean in the last few years. I’m not exactly a superhero, no matter how tall I am.”

“Hey, it does spook me a little to think about, but I’m not going to lose sleep over it,” Natasha said, wrapping an arm over her new friend’s shoulders again, which indeed soothed Megan for the time being. “Yes, it’s all overwhelming, and yes, it’ll be a… new experience, to say the least, when we finally have to face off against something as big as the Empire State Building. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll feel a million times better about our chances if we can do it side-by-side. You know, tag-team it. What do you say, want to form a superhero duo?”

Megan regarded Natasha. Of course she knew the woman was being facetious by calling them “superheroes,” but she could tell also that the giant redhead was sincere in her desire to stick together and face all challenges that came before them. And the longer she maintained her companion’s emerald-eyed focus, the more possible it seemed. After all, they could apparently grow to whatever size they wanted; Megan had never attempted to find a ceiling on her height. Who was to say even the biggest kaiju that might dare threaten Earth could be reduced to a wily kitten if she and Natasha, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, ascended to the stature of mile-high goddesses? For the first time since she gained her abilities, Megan felt truly empowered, and leaned against her new friend, just as she’d suggested, glad to know someone had her back for whatever lay ahead, be it astronomic reptiles or ultra-boring super-secret small town life.

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THE END (for now)