Refined Starlight in a Broken Vessel

by the-pieman

Chapter 61

Not sure what to do with my free time this afternoon. Town is relaxed as usual, so nothing really sticks out enough to grab my attention. It feels kinda warm out, though. That’s pretty odd for Autumn. Then again, I suppose when weather is whatever the ponies want it to be, an occasional bright sunny day out-of-season likely doesn’t hurt anything.

The more woodsy end of town is just beginning to change color, the leaves starting to get speckles of yellow here and there, looks really neat. Even with the green slowly receding, this area looks kinda familiar. I wonder why... Is that a log? There’s no other felled trees around and it’s really green- oh yeah, this is the spot Myrna hangs out. Though usually she’s in the branches, wonder why she’s on the ground...

I follow along her tail until I get to her human... half? Third? There’s a lot more snake tail than mammal parts, I can’t really tell what percentage of her isn’t reptilian. She’s definitely sleeping though, barely moving. You know, it’s not a bad idea, really. I could use a bit more sun on the parts of me I usually keep covered, I’m worried about getting an obvious farmer’s tan. Probably should remember to fix that next time it’s this warm out.

Not sure how long she’ll be sleeping for, but I don’t have much else to do today. I could wait for her. I pick a nearby tree to sit against and get as comfortable as I can.

“-eed something?”

“Eh?” Did I zone out again?

“I asked if you needed something.” Myrna says, looking at me from her spot laying on the ground. “I mean, I figured you did.”

I shake my head a bit. “Oh, uh, not really.”

“Guess that's a good enough reason to sit and stare at someone sleeping.” she replies dryly.

“Hey, you can sleep for entire days, how was I to know how long I had to wait?”

She smirks. “Good to know you think I’m worth that kind of wait, then.”

“Well, you know, Pinkie Pie’s not off work until seven today.” I say, rolling my shoulders.

“So what you’re saying is, I should make you wait longer if I want to compete?”

I raise an eyebrow. “What the heck kind of attention span do you think I have, woman?” I scoot over and lay down next to her. “There, now I’m not staring at you. Happy?”

“Goofball.” She chuckles.

“Hey, I resemble that remark.” I stick my tongue out at her, and she does the same in return.

“That’s why I said it.” She sighs in a relaxed manner. “So, what did you really come by for?”

“Eh, just wandering boredom. Gotta ask though, why the ground? Usually you hang out in the branches.”

“It was surprisingly sunny out today. Ground was warmer.” She sighs again. “Though a little too warm now.” She leans forward and takes off her hoodie. Her arms are a lot thicker than I thought. Just wearing a tank top, she looks much bigger. She catches my gaze again. “What?”

“Oh, nothing, I just never saw you take that off is all.” I say.

“Like what you see?” She taunts lightheartedly. “Oh, right, you think my chest is gross.”

“Well, there’s more to look at than them.” I say. “So, whatcha wanna do?”

She shrugs as she lays back down, spreading her arms out in the grass. “Honestly, I’d like to just stay here.”

“We could talk about stuff.” I offer. “Music?”

She thinks for a moment. “Nah.”

“The weather?”

“Kinda already did that.” She says, lolling her head to the side.

“The sociopolitical statuses of pre-calamitous human civilizations?” I offer jokingly.

“Ah... thanks but no thanks.”

“Well, we could talk about...” I ponder for a bit. “Wanna share personal and potentially bizarre sexual and romantic preferences?”

She turns her head to give me a look and I shut my eyes. “Oh, come on. I wasn’t gonna petrify you.”

“Not taking chances.” I state firmly.

I hear her settle back down and I open my eyes again. “As for discussing kinks... sure.”

“Wait, really?” That suggestion was a joke!

“Sure.” She says, actually sounding serious, then her tone turns playful as the snakes on her head coil and stretch. “But you gotta go first, and make it interesting.”

I chuckle and lay down fully, watching the clouds. “Okay, okay. Uh...”

“And no making stuff up!”

“I know, I wasn’t gonna, I was thinking about what to start with. I’m a very particular man, I’ll have you know. There are many intricacies to my-”

“Quit stalling, Mr. Picky.” She says with a giggle.

“Fine! Fine. My biggest kink is when people truthfully care about my feelings and what I have to say."

It’s silent for a few moments but she finally responds. “Oh, come on, really? That doesn’t count!”

“Of course it does. Some people are into being psychologically abused by romantic partners! If that’s a legitimate fetish, then the opposite should be as well!”

“That’s cheating, it’s still your turn.” She announces with exaggerated stringentness.

“Green eyes.” I say. “For real. Green eyes and red hair.”

She sighs. “Okay, I guess that sorta counts. I like strong guys. I always wished I could find a guy who could lift me and hold me.”

“Lift you?” I ask incredulously. “You’re a giantess! You must weigh a couple tons.”

“I used to be really short, you know!” Myrna says quickly. "That wasn’t an impossible ask at all! Then I show up here and I get this massive snake body.”

“A snake body on a woman who already looks like she could be a pro wrestler.” I point out.

“That changed too! I just said I was short. I mean really short. I was around five-foot-nothing at twenty-four!”

“Twenty four? So how old are you now?” I ask.

“You’re asking a woman her age? Wow, real chivalrous.” I feel one of her snakes bap me a little on the shoulder.

“Pffft, chivalric code is mostly combat rules. Only one part of it is about women, and age isn't relevant to it at all. Besides, human society is down the shitter what with the majority of us dead; I figure that most societal norms or restrictions no longer apply and gender equality is actually possible now. So come on, what are you, twenty five?”

She sighs. “I’m still twenty four. Until I wound up here, I felt like I was just a few inches ahead of being a little person, and my front was flat as a board!”

I raise my eyebrows, but I don’t look away from the clouds. “Mmmmm, delicious flat chest.” and Myrna makes an exaggerated offended noise.

“Ugh, perv!”

I chuckle. “Hey, we’re being honest here, aren’t we? Alright, your turn.”

“Nuh-uh, I already knew you didn’t like big boobs.”

“But I never specified that it was because I like small ones.” I point out. “Your turn.”

“That’s basically the same thing, no splitting hairs.” She asserts.

“Okay, okay, okay.” I think of something else. “Well since we brought up size, larger women. Not pudgy but muscular.”

“You want her to have a large body, but you don’t like big breasts? How does that work?” Myrna asks confusedly.

“Like I said, I’m picky. Not like I need a woman to fit my every desire to be a good candidate. But that was a real one, so now it’s back to you.”

“Fair’s fair, I suppose.” She says, though I can tell she’s at least moderately enthused. “Well you like redheads huh? I like brown hair.”

I nod but pause. Wait a sec... “So, uh, on that note...”

“Heh, darker than yours. Also, yours could be straighter and it’s just a little too short.” She notes.

“I like it short, it’s out of the way and I don’t shed at all. Heck, I like it shorter than this.”

“Your turn.” she reminds.

I nod. “Hmmmm... I like... Well, I’ve never actually kissed anyone but I’ve always wanted to try it.”

“If you have the right person, it feels so nice..” She says a bit dreamily. “I... don’t have much practice, but it’s really nice. Also, that counts as mine.”

“Agreements count, now?”

She nudges me with her arm. “You never said it didn’t.”

One comes to mind but I’m not sure if she’d think it’s dumb... “I like cuddling.”

“Oh, that’s nice, cuddling is a good thing to like as a guy.” I can hear the smile in her voice and I’m glad she approves, considering... “Wait. You’ve never kissed anyone, but you’ve cuddled? Not that that’s bad or anything, just a bit odd. Why’d you backtrack halfway to first base?”

I grin. “Well, it’s not a very long story, but she didn’t seem that interested in me yet.”

She leans up and scrunches her face up. “Okay, I’m confused... you’re talking in past tense but you said ‘yet’. Is she... still around? I thought... we were the only people who uh, made it.”

I decide not to tell her that there are plenty of others, but I answer her question by leaning up to return her look, and then I give her a smirk. “Well, I’m not gonna make a move until you give me a sign that I should.”

It’s silent for a moment and then she blushes and places a hand on my chest, gently pushing me down onto my back again before following herself. “Right... Okay, I admit I kinda forgot we spent an entire afternoon in a tree...”

“I sure didn’t.” I say, smiling as I look back up to the clouds. “The coils were comfy.”

“Oh... uhm... thanks.”

“Your turn.” I say, snapping her back.

“Right! Uh... I like partner size difference.”

“What, like one person is larger than the other, or one’s notably skinnier?” I ask for clarification.

“Yeah.”

“Well, you already said you liked guys bigger than you, so it’s still your turn.” I smirk. I hear her open her mouth but I interrupt. “If two versions of ‘breast size’ count as a duplicate, that does as well.”

I can practically hear her pout. “I like... Oh, I know. I haven’t brought up breast size. And I like them big.”

I shrug. “Fair enough. How big, though?”

“Not massive, I know what it’s like having tits like this now and... I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to deal with these, or worse.” She says, and my peripheral sees her squish herself in example. “But yeah, breasts are nice.”

“If you say so.” I reply, hoping my lack of enthusiasm is palatable.

“I do, in fact, say so.” She says insistently.

“Alrighty then. Uh... okay, I’ll be honest I have a few more ‘subtle’ ones, the rest are more, uh... explicit.”

“We don’t have to play this for that long. Just whatever you’re comfortable with.” Myrna assures me and I reflexively sigh in relief. Was worried I may have to bring up my weird stuff. “Now come on, if you still have some stuff that’s PG-13...”

“Okay, uh... I like smart girls. They should be at least as smart or at least as nerdy as I am.”

“Oh, absolutely!” Myrna agrees. “If I can’t geek out with them, then I’ve got almost nothing to really talk about!”

I grin. “Well, that’s a good sign. So, what’s your flavor of nerd?”

She rubs her arm a bit. “I liked tabletop games with figurines and stuff.”

I sit up, a bit more excited than I probably should have been. “Dungeons and Dragons?!”

She winces and blushes slightly. “Yeah, that kind of thing, I really liked making terrain and such. Not Dungeons and Dragons as much as Warhammer though.”

I calm down a bit and lean back to the ground. “That’s great. I was afraid we’d run out of things to talk about besides random bedroom desires.” She giggles. “Warhammer, huh? Fantasy, or Forty-Kay?”

“Ugh, I still can’t decide!” She says, holding her arms up towards the sky in mild frustration.

“I’m a 40,000 guy. I mean, the fantasy version was totally fine but... by the time I discovered it, D&D already filled that niche for me. Shame we don’t have any books, I’d love to roll some dice.”

“Yeah... but at least we can make figures and maps and stuff without the books.”

“And now you can make them out of actual hard stone with your bare hands. That’d be sweet as hell.” I point out and she nods from her position.

“Yeah, it would be...”

“Anyways, it’s your turn again.”

“Huh?”

I laugh. “I said my thing was ‘Talk Nerdy to me, baby’ and all you did was jump on board. Agreements don’t count, remember?”

“Alright, uh... glasses. I like guys and gals in glasses. And that’s not the same thing as agreeing with wanting a smart partner, so I’m not copying.” Looks like she forgot that she insisted earlier that agreements did count. Maybe I’m getting to her.

I nod. “Yeah, I getcha, I’d say that’s different too. Okay, uh... Well, I wouldn’t count this among my major ones, but I know it’s a bit of a dealbreaker for plenty of folks. Scalie.”

She sits up fully in order to give me a clear view of the confused look on her face. “What’s... scalie?”

“You familiar with furries? Not like the IRL fur suit deal but just the anthro thing?”

She nods. “I’m not really familiar with them, but I get it. I’m cool with it, just not my thing. But then what’s scalie?”

I blink at her and she just blinks back, not quite getting it yet. “Okay, well it’s pretty simple. So you know furries are called what they are because of the fur thing?” She gives a brief ‘Mm-hm’ of understanding and I lightly tap her on the waist where her snake scales start. She takes a moment and then her eyes go super wide. I reflexively shut my eyes out of caution, but I sense her just lay back down slowly.

“...oh. I uh... I see...” She murmurs a bit more but I catch a small ‘That’s good...’

“There, I got a real embarrassing one out there, especially given my current company. You gonna call?” I say, a little proud of myself, and also relieved she isn’t turned off at all.

“Okay, fine, you want embarrassing?” I nod. “I’ve never done it, but I’ve always been interested in bondage.” She continues really fast. “Only the light stuff, like being tied up with rope. Idunno, it always seemed like... something I’d like to try. Not tied up super tight or dom stuff, but...”

“Hey, no worry, I get what you mean.” I say. “It’s cool. I mean, we all got that thing we’re a bit curious about. Though... not sure if it’d really be possible since... I mean not only are you forty meters long or whatever and really thick around the middle, but that part of you is already a bigass rope.”

She sighs. “Yeah... though a bit of pretend can fix a lot of problems.” She suggests. “I’m uh... I don’t wanna get any kinkier, if that’s okay. You don’t need to take your turn.”

I grin. “Nah, it’s cool, I got one more and then we can be done.” She gives me an okay and my grin widens. “You ready for this one?”

“Well now I’m not sure...”

I grin and hook my elbow to hers. “My greatest desire... is someone I can tell just about anything to and they’ll hear me. Someone who makes me feel comfortable and never makes me feel like I have to hide anything. Especially when I’m scared, angry or completely out of my mind.” I close my eyes. “Someone who won’t leave me, even though I’m so fucked up and anxious. That’s something... I need in my life more than anything.”

I feel her hesitate in responding and I feel a massive pit of worry deep inside me. Was that not okay? Was that too demanding? Did I just- “Well, you’ve laid some heavy stuff on me before and it was fine. I don’t think I’ve personally seen you at your worst, from what I’ve heard about you... but I don’t know for sure if your worst really is too much. Having said that...” Just as the pit was shrinking, now it’s twisting up and starting to hurt. I feel her cinch her elbow to mine. Is that good? Is that- “It takes a strong person to admit how weak they can be. It’s good that you can be sensitive. I like serious guys... and that doesn’t just mean they aren’t foolheads, but... guys who can be honest with me and aren’t afraid to be ‘real’ with me.”

I feel the pit in my chest untwist and move up, really fast, into my throat. I swallow my entire digestive system and shift my head over to lean it against her large shoulder. “You haven’t seen me at my worst or lowest. That’s for sure. I also know that you probably will eventually, and I’m scared of what might happen then. I just... I’m just glad that you’re willing to wait to see it before... making a decision.”

I feel her smile, and a few of her snakes curl up around my head in an odd facsimile of a hug, I suppose. “So... we’ve been here for an hour, staring at the sky and talking about ourselves and getting to know each other. Does this make ‘us’ a thing?”

“Uh...” I have no idea what to say... Does it? C’mon, I gotta answer her! What the fuck do I say?! Say something! “Well, I... I don’t want to make any sort of commitment that hasn’t been mutually agreed upon.” Holy fuck, man. That was the dumbest thing you could have possibly said! What is wrong with you?!

“That works for me.” I hear her say and it’s like a massive weight off of my chest... and then a different weight shows up. I see that some of her snakes have moved down to rest on my upper body. “Oh, crap, sorry. They uh... They sorta have a mind of their own. No, if you aren’t ready it’s fine. I’m not a hundred percent sure if I’m ready either. I was just teasing is all.” She unhooks her elbow from mine and scoops her snakes off of me and onto herself. “Didn’t mean to kill the mood.”

“Hey, it’s fine... I just... like I said, not really used to this sort of thing. Crushes, sure I’ve had those. But I mean... never gotten much farther.”

“So halfway to first base is your record, then?” She half-smiles at me.

“Okay, maybe that’s not fully true. Though uh, I wouldn’t call it real.” I say, quietly.

“Whatcha mean by that? Are you okay with talking about it?”

“Thanks for asking first, but... no, it’s fine. I just. Well, all my kisses so far were... the situations surrounding them... I wasn’t er, ‘asked permission’.”

“Oh gosh...” Myrna gives me a sad look. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know...”

I shake my head. “I was bamboozled out of the first, psycho bitch using mind magic, I wasn’t even emoting the way I should. Times after that, at least it was someone who honestly does love me, the feeling just isn’t mutual. She’s stopped pushing that kind of stuff on me as of late and we’ve come to an understanding about it, but I know Pinkie still carries a torch for me.”

Myrna’s quiet for a bit. “I... wow, that’s rough. Nothing like that’s ever happened to me. So, when I heard ponies say that Pinkie Pie loves you...”

“Oh yeah a hundred percent real, and as long as it’s just her crushing on me, that’s fine. We’ve already got an understanding. She’s just got difficulties containing herself at times and I know that she can only help herself to a certain extent when she’s whipped up. Though the first one... that one’s a nightmare.”

Myrna squeezes my hand with hers. “You don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to, Anthony.”

I squeeze her hand in return. “I’ve told it before... Not much else to say. She was using some kind of magic that altered my perception, on top of her being a natural shapeshifter. She was trying to keep me complacent.”

“She’s been dealt with, though? Right?” Myrna asks, worried. “I mean, you told whatever proper authorities-”

I shake my head vigorously. “No. I... I broke out of it and... I made sure she wasn’t going to be a problem anymore. Chrysalis is dead. But she still ruined so much for me. Also made it kind of difficult to deal with Twilight.”

“The librarian you live with? Why? Was she involved?”

“Chrysalis was a shapeshifter. Picked someone my subconscious trusted enough for exploitation or something. Or she used Twilight for some other reason.”

“...So that’s why you don’t get along with Twilight very well.” Myrna says morosely. “That’s awful.”

“I mean, I have other problems with Twilight, I don’t consciously dislike her because of that, but I’m sure that could be part of it.” I realize I never stopped squeezing Myrna’s hand, so I loosen my grip.

“Well... I don’t... I don’t really know what to say. I’d like to help but I don’t really know if I could.” She’s quiet enough to hear the light breeze over her voice.

“You don’t have to try.” I assure her. “Not a ball that’s in your court.”

“I still wanna cheer you up if I can, though.” She insists. “Maybe I could treat you somehow. Uh... You like ice cream?”

I chuckle. “Seems you haven’t learned everything the ponies know about me.”

“Are you allergic? Sorry, I was just-”

“Nah, I meant that if you’d been told, you’d already know my one major weakness. I love ice cream.”

“Okay.” She pauses. “Don’t love it enough to put it on your kinks list, though?”

I stand up and realize her sitting up comes up to about my chest even though I’m standing fully upright. Wow, she’s big. “Of my various fetishes, foodplay is not one of them. So messy.”

“Are we getting ice cream anyways, though?” She asks.

“Sure. But you don’t have to treat me. I have a job now. No more bumming off my friends for everything I put in my face.” She ‘stands up’ by shifting which part of her tail she’s sitting on and settles at a head taller than me as usual. “But I wouldn’t mind the company.”

She looks off to the horizon and I follow her gaze to see the sun is beginning to set. Were we really here that long? “Sure, but speaking of jobs, I got some construction work early tomorrow so I can only hang out for a few more hours.”

I nod as I hook my elbow to hers again, though it’s not as easy as when we were laying down. “Very well, then I shall enjoy my fine lady’s company until she must bid me farewell.”

She chuckles. “You’re so cheesy...”

“Damn right.” I reply. “Come on, I know a place.”

Comments

[the-pieman]

10355777
Yeah, I posted a meta chapter sort of explaining it, but I took it down, I believe. Maybe put it back up if I did, just in case it's a shock. My upload schedule is not as fluid as this looks.

[AZUR3]

Damn it now I'm all caught up this sucks can't wait for the next chapter though