How Stone Giants Copulate

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[Inspired short story I wrote for the G+ Writer's Discussion Group monthly competition.]

It is to the best of my knowledge, that the avid and infamous giant researcher - and hobbyist poet, Mikkel M. Handsome had noted down, in a chapter about the mating practices of Giants in general, this peculiarity of Stone Giants.

I do not have the original text with me, so I shall paraphrase in my own words, and through the vagueness of my own memory...

A hardy local population...

The Female Stone Giant will select a suitable place, where trees would not tend to forest, maybe in an elevation high enough - as trees are known to dislike the cold, and there she will stand. She will stand for as long as it takes, for a Male Stone Giant to incidentally, and without prior knowledge or intuition, ram his parts into... well... her parts.

End of misquotation.

As you can see, it is not a rumor beyond reason, that people say the Stone Giants have no libido, per se. It does not seem as if the Female is attractive to the Male, when viewed from our point of view. No ceremony of wooing seems to take place, but rather a metaphorical gamble.

This was my opinion in the matter as well, at least until I saw The Crevice of Zuperia, in New Russia, earlier this year. Oh, and what a crevice it was! Attached is a photograph.

Eingenberg Zumik, Doctor In Organic Gemology, Neptune Regional Academy.

Anything But The Dzed

In a dark corner, beneath the edge of a mountain, lie a little Dzed. The alien, whose ancestors had arrived on Earth only a century ago, was hunting. He was hunting in the dark, as all his kind do. His vicious arachnid form, extremely suitable for trapping and the silencing of his prey, hung from the top branch of an oak tree.

The man, a native of the land, dark skinned and rough natured, walked over the trap, without hesitation. He was not aware of the trap being there, yet he was not afraid of such a possibility. He was a hunter, and for him, it meant that danger was a casual thing.

Giant alien spiders are our friends.
That's the narrative, anyhow.

Just as the Dzed activated his trap, contracting the wires of his immense weave, the man jumped. As the man fell out of its' way, and rolled back on to his feet, a roar filled the night, behind him. Inside the Dzed's web, a large cat with pointed ears was wrestling with the arachnid's device. Needless to say, it was a futile attempt.

The man looked up the tree, where the trap connected to higher branches. A shadow loomed against the star-filled sky. The man knew it to be a Dzed. Shaming the hunter, the Dzed did not even consider him worthy prey. Real prey, for the mighty arachnoid, had to pose a real challenge.

Jerny At Ways, Part One

The Crossroads at the Eagle Nest

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Maghir's father died, shortly after the boy had reached his seventh birthday. The grief tore at his mother, who decided she would travel alone and see the world, so that healing would come faster. She left Maghir and his younger sister Pae to their aunt and uncle; her elder sister's family.

Turning and twisting in his sleep, Maghir dreamed of the morning his father died. He and his younger sister were playing with the lambs; those who had already grown enough wool to be fluffy to the touch. Two rams were wrestling under a big oak tree. His father did not appreciate having his rams injured or dead from fighting, so he moved in to kick one of the giant heavily-horned rams.

This was not an unusual day. Life at Maghir's family farm was a quiet and simple one. Mostly pleasant, and sometimes harsh. Just as life should be, or so Maghir imagined. Suddenly, he heard his father yell followed by a loud crunch. Pae turned to look and so did he. They both stared to see their father lying broken on the ground. One of the giant rams sniffed at the man curiously.

"Dad? Is he dead?" Pae asked without looking away. Maghir had the words dad and dead confused in his mind.

"Yes," he said sharply. "Of course he's dead, Pae. Just look at him." Their father was not twitching or moaning. The two children had seen many people and animals this way, before. A broken body, so badly twisted that it was a surprise to not see blood oozing from the corpse. "Stay here and make sure nothing comes to... eat him," he turned to look at Pae, his eyes worried and his lips pursed.

As he turned and walked back towards their wooden hut, beneath the trees further inside the forest, he was not surprised to see his sister only staring in disbelief, or was it shock, at the twisted corpse of their now ever-restful father...

End of Part One. Listen to part Two.