Medusa Story 2

    When we heard about monsters coming out portals into our world, my friends and I thought that this was the end. Surprisingly, they weren't here for war, the “monsters” were hardly monsters, women - dare I say VERY beautiful women, had used magic to come to our world. This first group, were very forward with the knowledge of their people, offered to teach magic, their biology, anything we wanted, in return for a new home. Of course, humanity agreed quickly.
    Wave two showed up a short hour later, with a tide of hunger and lust. I was lying low, inspired by others on the internet to pursue my hobbies. I was in no rush to find myself a wife. There were still plenty of women on the prowl for men with compatible “spirit energy” as they called it. A sort of lifeforce of us human. When humans learned of why they were so hungry for men through demonstration, and then by teaching from these monster girl scholars, we understood why they came here. Their supply of human men ran dangerously low in their realm, so they came here.
    After that two week time of everything on earth being shut down because “HOLY CRAP MONSTERS AND MAGIC ARE REAL!” The monster girls had integrated into society and things returned to semi normality. As did my life. After finishing my backlog of homework, hobbies and games, I finished college, dodging hellhound rape, yeti hugs and cheshire tricks for my final few terms. I got a full time job in IT, and started renting an apartment. The job was nice, paid well and I’m pretty sure I only got it because the tanuki boss wants my dick. The apartment was a cozy one room.
    “Want me to set you up with a date yet?” The neighbor manticore, Alison, asked me. “I know a lotta girls trying to find a man like you.” Luckily she was already married, I don’t think I could fight her off; unlike that kobold who lives a floor down.
    “Not yet. I want to figure out if I want to stay in this job and if it is gonna be stable to support-”
    “Oh come on, Anon. You’re just scared.” She teased.
    I grunted and walked past her smug look and entered my apartment. I flipped the lights on and got to work preparing a dinner for one. I quickly realised that I would need to venture out to buy more food. I groaned, going out meant fending off more girls. It was tiring trying to hang onto my virginity with a death grip. But, a man's gotta eat.
          The drive to the grocery store was easy enough, no one jumped in front of my car to stop me, thankfully. It was a smaller, local store, the meat and produce was all very high quality so I chose to shop here, despite the slightly higher price. I wandered inside and got to shopping. I mostly got the usual mundane things like chicken and bread. I meandered through produce past the new monster cultivated fruits that I didn't recognize. I ignored it, I didn't think I need to put demon energy into my body right now. I started picking through apples, looking for the ripest fruit. A woman walked up next to me and started looking at the citrus.
          “Excuse me, can you tell if this is still good? I don’t work with limes often,” she asked, turning to me.
          I took the limes from her, my previous experience in service industry kicking in. “They’re too yellow and hard, you want the light green, soft ones.” I looked up at her. The first thing I noticed was her hair, or should I say her snakes. About eight of them, two dangling in the front, by her face, staring right at me. Their white bodies shining from the overhead lights. The woman wore sunglasses so I couldn’t see her eyes, and a blue casual dress. Her lower body turned into that of a snake, also white. A medusa. I turned back to the limes and grabbed a few ripe ones for her, trying not to be overcome by her beauty. “These are what you want,” I tried to hand her the limes back.
          “You are not afraid of me?” confusion showed across her face. All of her snake hair turned to face me, coming over her head and around it, as if curious to see me.
          “Should I be? I don’t usually fear beautiful women.” My filter had completely shut off for just a moment, enough for me to flirt. I screamed internally.
          Her face turned beet red. The snakes were really interested now and the tip of her tail wagged. She crossed her arms and turned away from me. “Well, I-I- you- should, uh, should be.” She took the limes from me. We both got even redder as she accidentally touched my my hand in her haste. She slithered away quickly. I finished my shopping quickly and headed to check out. I got into line and waited for my turn. Who should get in line behind me, but that medusa.
          Everytime I glanced in her direction, she would quickly turn away, her snakes however were uncooperative and kept looking at me. Her face was still kind of red. It was really cute. It came to my turn, so i pulled out my card. The medusa was close to me now. I looked around and I noted that people nearby were uneasy. Luckily for them, I was holding all of her attention. My aching heart told me to talk to her, but my brain and memories told me not to.
          I listened to my brain.
          Taking my groceries, I turned back to her. She didn’t look away. I gave her a smile and left.

          I sat at home, at my small table, still embarrassed about my encounter at the store. “A woman that gorgeous has to be married,” I told myself, “Hopefully her husband doesn’t find me...” I put in my headphones as the volume of my neighbor’s lovemaking increased. Sounded like Alison next door gave her husband a triple dose. I think she gave some spines to the holstaurus two doors down some as well. I was glad that I lived on the edge of this block of apartments. I went to bed with an aching heart.

          I came home late that friday, had a server go down because of some dumbass in accounting. Still not sure how he had access to those files that should only be open to those in IT. As the manager, it was on me to get it fixed the day of. Even though it was 20 till five. Luckily that gremlin and another one of my underlings were nice enough to stick around and help me. I paid them both with pizza. It was 7:30 when I got home, and I was ready to sleep. I trudged up the stairs to my level. I was stopped by the holstaurus, Haley, “Here, Anon,” she handed me a bottle of her milk. “Thought you might want it since you’ve got that new girlfriend and all.” She gave me a big smile and headed back inside before I could ask who she was talking about. Haley held the extra key to my apartment and I held hers, just in case either of us ever lost a key.
          Alison’s husband, Brent, was fiddling with the lock to his apartment, looking like he was heading somewhere. “Think you and Alison could keep it down a little tonight? I haven't been sleeping well recently,” I joked.
          “You know that I can’t control that woman. But I’ll tell her you asked,” Brent replied with a smile. “Mistress says we should go on  a triple date sometime, us, Haley and Jim and you and this new girl.”
          I looked at him blankly. “What girl? I don’t have a girlfriend.”
          Brent scratched underneath his marriage collar. “Mistress told me a woman came by looking for you. We assumed she was your girlfriend.”
          I thought for a few seconds, “Musta been a delivery girl, I’m expecting a package soon. I’ll talk to you later,” Brent waved as he left. I unlocked the front door and walked in. My room looked a lot cleaner than when I had left this morning. Probably just going crazy, I thought. I took a sip of the milk and put it in the fridge. I was surprised by how good it was, seemed like the legends were true about the taste, unsure about how it would effect my ‘spirit energy’ or whatever. I ate a few crackers and went to room to sleep. I opened the door and scooted in.
          “You are late,” a familiar voice said softly. I looked up to see the medusa, wearing one of my shirts, lying on my bed. She hugged my large stuffed shark closely. “I was starting to think you would never come.”
          I sat at my computer chair across from her and started taking my shoes and socks off. “What do you want from me?”
          “I want you.”
          I looked up at her. Although the room was dark, I could see her emerald eyes staring at me, “I don’t know why you’d want someone like me. You can do way better than-”
          I was cut short by her tail quickly wrapping around me and pulling me to the bed. I was on my back, with her over me. I avoided her gaze. “The way you looked at me, Anon, I felt like a girl, instead of a monster,” her hand gently pushed my chin, forcing me to face her, “Why would I not want a man like that?” She kissed my chin, then my lips. “Why so, hesitant, dear? Let me give you my love,” I turned away from her again, desperate to escape. She looked like she had a realization in that moment, “Who hurt you?”
           “Women I fell for in the past.”
           She tightened her grip on me a little bit, hugging my body with her cool, smooth being. “That holaustarus said she suspected that much. Here,” her grip loosened and released me. “Change out of those uncomfortable clothes and come lie down.”
           I sighed. There was no getting rid of her. “Haley gave you the key to get in, I assume.”
          “Yes. She seemed to worry about you, a very nice girl.”
          “Yeah, she’s sweet. Gave me a bottle of her milk today because of you.”
          “The manticore next door gave me some of her spines as well. I will not use them on you unless you ask.”
          “How did you find where I live?”
          “I saw your license at the store. I apologize, but I could not go on without seeing you again,” I finished changing and lied down on the bed next to her. “Now, please, let me mend your broken heart and make you feel loved. Do you enjoy lying in my coils?”
          “Yeah it was nice...” I whispered sheepishly.
          She leaned into my ear as her snake body wrapped around me, leaving my arms free this time. “Good,” she smiled. “You will keep me warm and I will keep you feeling loved,” she rested her head on my chest and wrapped her arms around me. Her snakes rested on my body as well, stealing my warmth, “Sleep well.”
          “You too,” I whispered, pulling a blanket over us.
          Despite my neighbors, it was the best sleep I ever had.

          I woke up without the warmth of a partner in bed with me. Once I had come to my senses, I smelled food. I found the medusa in the kitchen, still wearing my shirt and a small skirt. A stack of pancakes on a plate nearby. “Right on time, dear, good morning,” she turned to me with a big smile as she put the last of the pancakes on the plate. She had already set up the table for us, I was waved over to eat.
          “Good morning. I just realised I don’t even know your name, lady,” I sat down across from her.
          “Selene.”
         “Well, good morning, Selene,” we ate quietly, making small talk and lame jokes. Her tail was wrapped around my leg the entire time, as if severing that would mean I was gone forever. “What are we doing today?” I asked I after finished eating.
          “Back to bed, dear?” She mused. I didn’t have time to respond before she planted a big kiss on my lips. Her long tongue attempted to invade my mouth. She pulled away and pouted. “Still resisting my love? Maybe I should use the spines on you. Or turn your limbs to stone. Or just the old fashioned hold you down with my tail.” I didn’t like the way she and her snakes looked at me.
         “Please, Selene. I can’t move as quickly as you in a relationship.”
          “But why not? You energy is screaming at me that we are completely compatible, like I was made for you and you for I.”
         I moved to the couch, she followed quickly, allowing me a small amount of space. I sighed. “I want to love, to be loved. But I’ve been hurt so many times that I don’t think I can love again. I don’t think I deserve love, either. I’m just-”
            “Stop,” Selene looked like she was about to cry. “Please; I cannot bear to hear you talk like that,” She pulled me into a big hug. “You deserve every bit of love that I give you. I will spend everyday reminding you until you believe it!” I pulled away from her and looked into her eyes. I didn’t have words for her. I placed my head on her lap, looking up at her. She placed a hand on my head and one on my chest. “Lie here as long as you wish, darling,” She whispered. I simply nodded in response and closed my eyes.
    Selene ran her fingers gently through my hair while we rested in silence. Everytime I opened my eyes, she was smiling at me. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Here I am, falling for a woman who broke into my home just for the chance to see me again. Let her sleep in my bed with me and feed me breakfast.”
    She laughed in response. “I hope you can forgive me for entering like that. I was hoping to surprise you in some way.”
    “Well you certainly did.” I checked my phone. 8:40. We had gone to sleep early, so I wasn’t too surprised.
    “Can you explain more of your realm’s technology to me?” Selene asked.
    “What do you mean? My phone?” I asked, trying to sit up.
    She wrapped her tail around my waist, forcing me back down. “All of it. In my home lands we have nothing like phones or ‘tee vees.’ I wish to know more.”
    “Ah, well, this is a smartphone,” I handed her my aging Android device. “I can call, text, browse the internet or use apps on it.”
    I looked up at her. She looked overwhelmed. “Explain further, please.”
    I spent an hour detailing how each of these things works, as simply as I could. I found it more difficult that usual, using terms that anyone could understand. Selene was obviously smart, but she had no frame of reference for electronics. The only thing I could think of was magic, but I had no idea how monster magic worked, I knew she had innate magic in turning people to stone, but she didn’t seem to know other magics. I had no frame of reference for her to tell me about magic either. I was familiar with Dungeons and Dragons magic, but this was REAL magic. That was weird to think about.
    “Magic being... real now is so weird for me,” I told her.
    “Why is that? Are you not happy about it?” She crooked her head in confusion.
    “I guess I should be? Though knowing me, I won’t be until I’m throwing lightning bolts at bandits.” I joked.
    “Combat magic is one of the most difficult types to learn, if you really wish to learn we could try to see if you have the gift of magic. Starting with illusions or summoning elements is a good idea.” She sounded completely serious.
    I had to think about it, ”I think I’ll pass. I doubt I’m special enough to be good at magic.”
          She moved a hand to caress my face. “You speak so low of yourself, why is that?”
         “Depression with a combo of low self esteem that has been a problem for me for a long time,” I reached up and touched her face, “I’ll try to stop being so negative towards myself. For you.”
          “Thank you, dear. Now, show me more of your technology,” she finally let me sit up.

    I spent the rest of the day teaching her about the TV, phones and video games. She got sucked into playing the first Zelda game for hours. I checked my phone: it read 9:35. “Do you want me to take you home at some point?” I asked.
    Selene pausd the game and looked at me. She hesitated, “Do you desire for me to go?” It was obvious that she didn’t want to leave.
    “N-no... I was just wondering if you wanted to go home at some point.”
    “The feeling I get here, when I spend time with you... This is the closest I have ever felt to truly being ‘home’ ever since I came through the portal. I only have had a place where I live before now.”  She looked so guilty, as if she had done something wrong.
    “Where do you live now?” I placed my hand on her shoulder.
    She moved my hand to her face and closed her eyes. Her snake hair all fought to touch my skin as well. “As a medusa, I am very solitary and my eyes do not adjust well to bright light. I live with five other girls in a small house. The only way I can get some peace is locking myself in a closet. Sadly, because of my size, I cannot fit into most closets.” Her head moved to my shoulder as she smiled. “But here... I feel peace. No more oni drinking contests, no jinko sparring, no shouting harpy. Just me and you, my perfect, quiet, man.”
    I wrapped my arm around her. “Well, I guess we had better go collect your things tomorrow then, huh?”
    “Truely? Do you mean it?”
    “Yeah, I can’t have my woman in a place like that.” I hardly had time to finish before being constricted, the air in my lungs being squeezed out.
    “Thank you, Anon.” With a kiss on the cheek, she hugged me very tightly. I struggled a bit, trying to catch my breath, “Oh, sorry dear,” She let up a bit so I could breath.

    I awoke in the morning, the room was dark with the only light coming into the room was from a little bit of sunlight coming over the window. I watched the ceiling for a few moments, shifting under Selene’s weight.  My gaze shifted down to my guest. Selene’s white scales glinted in the low light, her pale skin seemed to glow as well. I ran a hand over her cool, soft scales. I had handled small snakes a handful of times, my friend had had one years back, it felt exactly the same; the slickness almost felt slimy, but I knew better than to think it was. The only difference being the size of the scales. Each one was at least the size of a silver dollar, and the cracks between were incredibly small. I took another look at her face, perfect and smooth, I could stare at it forever.
One of her serpents was awake, it stared at me. I reached my hand out to it, offering a sniff of my flesh. Its tongue flicked out, touching my skin; like a cat, it began to rub its face against me. I scratched underneath its chin with one hand and pat the top of it with the other. I had no idea what snakes liked. Slowly, the other serpents rose, each of them trying to take the first snakes spot. I changed my petting tactic to rubbing the top of the head with my thumbs, and my index and middle finger under the chin. I gave each one about a minute of petting each before moving on to another snake. They started getting antsy and jealous of each other before long. As soon as they started getting aggressive with one another, Selene woke up and they calmed down. I breathed a sigh of relief while she yawned and stretched her arms before wrapping them around my neck. “Good morning,” she said with a smile.
“Mornin’ beautiful,” I smiled back and without thinking, I started scratching her chin while patting her head.
“Darling, what are you doing?” She laughed.
“Sorry, I was petting your uh... hair... snakes like that. They seemed to like it,” I started to pull my hands away.
“I call them my girls. And keep petting me, your queen demands it,” she smiled as I started petting her again.
    I laughed, “My queen?”
    “Just let me have my fun.”
    “Fine. But you have to do something for me.”
    “What is it, dear?”
    “A kiss.”
    “Why of course, sir!” she said in a mockingly regal tone. Selene climbed onto me so that we were face to face, she gazed into my eyes for a few moments before placing a smooch on my lips and returning to her position resting her head on my chest. “Can I ask you something?”
    “Yeah, of course,” I said, patting her head reassuringly.
    “Why are you not afraid? You look me dead in the eyes and even smile. Most people will not give me the time of day because of what I am,” she squeezed me tight with her tail and arms. “You make me feel like a real person and not a monster.”
    I thought for a few moments. “I don’t know, to be honest. I don’t understand why people would be nervous around you to begin with.”
    Selene gave me a blank look, “Are you being serious?”
    I looked her in the eyes, “Yeah.”
    “Look at me anon!” Her serpents suddenly hissed in anger and her eyes began to glow. “I have snakes for hair and the lower body of a snake for crying out loud!” I could feel my legs and arms becoming heavy. “I can turn people to stone!” The heaviness and cold kept creeping to my legs and arms. “The only friends I have are monsters who expect me to turn boys to stone for them for easy sex,” My body froze.
    “Selene-” I tried to call out to her but got interrupted.
    “I should just be left alone in a cave somewhere and-”
    “Selene!” I shouted. The cold stopped at my neck. Her serpents stopped hissing and the glowing stopped.  I couldn’t move at all. She looked down at me in horror at what she had done. My body had turned to stone. Tears rolled down her face and for the first time since we had met, none of the serpents looked at me.
    “I am so sorry!” She cried. She massaged my body, and slowly my skin returned to its normal state.
    I wanted to say something to her. Anything. I wanted to make her feel better but I didn’t know what to do. “Selene-”
    She cut me off again. “I should go. I will just hurt you if I stay, Anon.” She got off of me and started towards the door.
    “You’ll hurt me more if you leave. Don’t make me go back to being alone. You’re not a monster.”
She stopped, hand on the door knob. She smiled a little bit. “You really are a fool, Anon,” she wandered back over to the bed. “Do you really want me to stay?”
“Yes. More than anything.”
She sighed and slithered back into bed, lying next to me, face down in the stuffed shark. “Why are you so nice to me?”
    “Because you’re the first person to make me feel like I should keep existing.”
She coiled her tail and arms around me again and buried her face in my chest. “That makes two of us, I suppose.”
I stroked her head and kissed her scalp, “Wanna go take a hot shower together?”
    Selene didn’t speak for a few minutes. “Yes...” She looked up at me and smiled, “I would like that.”

    The hot water ran over our nude bodies. Most of Selene’s body was outside of the shower, it was tough to fit both of us in. She ran her hands over my body, slathering me in soap. “I wanted to apologize for my outburst earlier,” she said to me.
    “You don’t need to apologize. I was being dumb and provoked you,” I replied.
    “But I nearly turned you completely to stone!”
    “Eh, its not like it hurt me.”
“Stop brushing it off, please. This is something very serious to me.”
“Okay, okay. I accept your apology,” I turned around to her and kissed her on the lips. I took soap in my hands and spread it around her body. She gave me a warm smile as she sniffled a little bit. “You really are shook up bout this, huh?”
She nodded. “I prided myself on the fact that I had never turned anyone to stone. The first person I used my power on is the man I’m in love with.”
I gave her a hug in an attempt to make her feel better. “I love you too.”
Another smile from her beautiful face. “How about you help me wash my tail darling, it will go a lot faster with the two of us!”

    I got dressed in the bathroom because Selene didn’t want me to watch her change. I didn’t understand since we had gone groin to groin and we had just showered together. I got finished and stood outside my room patiently waiting for her. She came out after a little while wearing a cute blue dress with a white coat over it. She smiled at me, a few of her serpents were looking at me finally, “You look cute,” I told her.
    “Thank you, dear. Are we headed to gather my things today, dear?” Selene asked after giving me a kiss and putting thick sunglasses on.
    “Sure, anything else you want to do?”
    “Just spend more time with you before having to go back to work on monday.”
    “What do you do for work?” I asked as we headed out the door.
    “I am a teacher at the middle school up the road. I teach literature and history of the realm that I and other monsters girls come from.”
    “Ah, alright. You’ll have to teach me about that stuff some time. I’m not too familiar with either topic,” We got to my car and I stopped, wondering how this would work, “So, you could either sit in the front with me, and put your longer body in the back seat or sit in the back and I can put a seat down so you can put it in the trunk.”
    She looked at me blankly, “I’ve never been in a machine like this before, so I would like to be up front with you.”
    “Alright, cool,” We struggled for 15 minutes trying to find a way for this to work. First she sat up front and we tried to pull it all into the backseat but it wasn’t really working. Then we tried her getting into the back first and climbing up front while I tried to load the rest of her into the back seat. Selene was about twelve feet long, not the longest snake body in the world but not the shortest.
    “Comfortable, Selene?” I asked after I had finished loading her in.
    “Comfortable enough, I suppose,” She squirmed in her seat, “Do I really need to wear this binding rope?”
    “Yes, you do. I don’t want to have to pay for a ticket today. It’s been nearly ten years with no violations so I’m not starting today.”
    “Alright, I will wear it for you,” She huffed.
    “Thank you,” I got in and gave her a swift kiss. I turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. The color drained in Selene’s face as she gripped my arm, “Are you ok?”
    “Is it supposed to sound like that?” Her grip tightened.
    “Yeah it sounds like that normally. Grab that handle up there if you need to steady yourself,” I pointed to the handle on the roof of the cab. She grabbed it quickly, her other hand still gripping my arm tightly, “So, where are we going?”
    “O-oh, um... I will direct you there. Its not too far,”I nodded and drove out of the parking lot. I had to drive one handed since Selene had my other in a death grip. Thankfully, we didn’t miss any turns despite how nervous she was. She was so thankful when we pulled up to the place and she could get out. It was only ten minutes but she must have thought it was about an hour. Selene slithered up to the door and produced a key from her purse. Her hands still shaky from the ride, she struggled to unlock it. I stepped in and inserted the key for her, and helped her turn the lock as well.
I grasped her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile, “You excited to be moving out?”
“Yes. I’m ready for my life to really-” Selene was interrupted by the front door being slammed open. We both jumped.
“Ah, so you’re the one,” Standing in the doorway was a jinko. Her green eyes glared at me, “Thought you could kidnap my friend and just drop her off an be in the clear?” She cracked her clawed hands loudly.
“Stripes, this is my boyfriend, Anon,” Selene stopped her, wrapping her arm around me.
“Oh!” Stripes laughed, “My bad. I’m a little disappointed though, I was looking forward to making him cry for mercy.”
“Not that you would have shown him any,” Standing behind us was a harpy, “You should have seen what she did to those two men that made the mistake of breaking in last month. Perfectly good men, and Stripes here tore them in half,” She pushed past me and Selene and stood on the porch.
“That is Gepepi,” Selene told me, “This is Anon,” She introduced us quickly.
“Do you have any brothers you could introduce me to, Anon?” Gepepi asked.
“Only an older brother, he’s married though,” I replied. Gepepi groaned and went inside.
“Why is it so loud out here? Mine head hurts something fierce,” A large horned woman poked her head outside.
“Selene’s back, and she brought a man home,” Stripes explained.
“Good for her, let them in Stripes! You’re just letting the hot air in,” The oni pulled the jinko inside and waved at us to enter, “Dee,” She put out her hand.
“Anon,” I shook it.
“Selene you should have told us sooner!” Dee turned to her and scolded her jokingly.
    “It all happened quickly, Dee. I did it how Molly said to,” Selene laughed.
    A fourth girl, some sort of mouse girl, appeared, “What about me?” She looked over from Selene to me, “You actually broke into his house? Nice!”
    “His neighbors were more than happy to give me the key to his house,” Selene explained, “The holstaurus and manticore even gave us gifts to commemorate their favorite neighbor getting a girlfriend.”
Dee and Molly laughed, “I hope we get as lucky as you someday,” Molly commented.
“Maybe we could set you all up with a date or two. I am sure Anon has single friends,” Selene looked at me.
“Well, yeah I do. But-”
I was cut off by Gepepi flying into the room, “Tell me about them! Where do they live? What kind of dates would they like? Should I just break in like Selene did or...” This went on for the entire time we were packing up and moving Selene’s things.
The house wasn’t very big. A three room house with a small kitchen, dining room and living room. The group had turned the dining room and living room into living quarters. Selene lived in one of the two smaller rooms. She had a small mattress, some blankets and pillows and a closet half-full of clothes. We loaded the clothes and blankets into two boxes. Stripes and Dee were kind enough to carry them out to my car for us. We left the mattress behind.
“Gepepi, stop pestering Anon. You’ll meet his friends eventually,” Stripes berated the harpy.
“We all want to meet single men, but pestering Anon won’t get you any favor with them,” Molly told her.
Gepepi pouted, “Fine. But I get first pick when we meet them.”
“Sure, whatever, just stop being so loud!” Dee complained, she had taped two frozen bags of peas to her head.
“You two are gonna stay for lunch, right?” Molly asked.
“Sadly, no. We have plans,” Selene explained.
“You two come back to visit soon. Or have us over,” Stripes called as she went back inside.
“Send your friends by sometime, Anon,” Dee joked.
Selene and I waved goodbye and got in the car. Both of us were frazzled by the encounter, “See what I mean about them being loud?” Selene asked as we drove off.
“Yeah. I understand why you couldn’t stand it there,” I answered, trying to shake the harpy’s shrill voice from my head, “What did you want to do for lunch?”
“Anything. I just want you and a dark room afterwards,” Selene was relatively calm this drive. I nodded. I could go for the same thing.

We had sandwiches for lunch. We were both quiet, sitting across from each other looking over lit candles into eachothers eyes. She would smile at me when I looked up from the food into her eyes. When she looked up at me I would make a goofy face. She laughed every time. Thank goodness she didn’t choke. After lunch we cuddled on the couch, her cold, slick scales sapping the heat from my body. Selene wanted to play Zelda again so I just relaxed, lying wrapped in her coils, my head on her lap. Everytime she fought a snake enemy, she would pass me the controller and cover her eyes, then retake the controller and continue playing.
“Why is it called the triforce when there are eight pieces to it?” Selene asked me when she entered dungeon seven.
“I dunno, because its a triangle I guess. In later games there’s three parts of it,” I explained. I never really understood it myself.
“There are more of these games!?” Selene got really excited and squeezed me tighter.
“Yeah, there's another on this Nintendo and the best one is on the Super Nintendo.”
“I will start one of those once I beat this one”,” Excitement renewed, Selene gripped the rectangular controller, she was determined to defeat Ganon.
    “You’re adorable,” I whispered.
    Selene used her tail to lift me up to her face without having to stop playing and gave me a kiss on the lips, “You are mine forever,” as if to prove a point, she gave me a tight squeeze with her tail.
    “Can I ask you something, Selene?” I looked up at her, hoping to get something that had been bothering me.
    “Of course! What do you want to know?”
    “I don’t want to kill your mood or anything, but why are you so against turning people to stone?”
    Selene paused the game, “I do not want anyone to have to fear just looking at me. Strangers, friends and even my husband, you, should not need to feel threatened just looking me in the eye. Before you speak, I know you do not. You are strange and are not afraid and I thank you for that, but others do and that is why. I just want to be a normal person who can have normal interactions.”
    She grabbed my hand with hers and held it up to her face. I stroked her cheek and looked up into her beautiful eyes, “Thank you, dear.”
    “Anything for you, my love.”

    The next day at work was torturous. I had been with Selene all of one weekend and I already couldn’t stand to be apart from her. All the monster girls at work could smell Selene on me and teased me constantly, asking who the lucky lady is. I declined to answer, because I was sure they would want to come meet her. On lunch I went out and bought her a phone so that we could call each other on lunch. I also thought about getting her a laptop so she could start using the internet but I decided to not overwhelm her. The phone was an older model, one I could activate parental controls on to slowly give her access to features so she wouldn’t have too much to learn.
    I picked her up from the school she taught at after I got off work a little early. She must have been watching me through a window because she came out as she could as soon as I pulled up. She got into the car in the way we had figured out before, where she got in through the back and climbed up front. I put it in park and helped her put the rest of her body in again. She put her seat belt on and looked at me, “I have never felt a bigger pain than being apart from you for that length of time.”
    I told hold of her hand, “Same here. It was excruciating.”
    “I hope you are ready to snuggle when we get home~” She said with a big grin. As we drove away she gripped my hand tighter. I gave her a reassuring smile in response, “How was work?” She asked.
    “Other than painful because I was away from you? Fine. How about you?”
    “The kids were a little uppity today as were my girls. I think they might have missed you more than I did.”
    “I’ll just have to give them lots of pats today, huh?”
    Her serpent hair pushed towards me, trying to get closer to me, “Not while he is driving, girls,” Sadly, the obeyed Selene and returned to a resting position on her head.

    Selene and I were stopped on the way to our apartment by the duo of Haley and Alison, “You gonna introduce your girl, Anon?” Alison asked.
    “This is Selene, we-” I was interrupted by the two of them pushing past me to get closer to Selene.
    “I love the way the sun glints off your scales, Selene!” Haley complemented.
    “Are you or your snakes venomous? Do you use it on Anon?” Alison asked.
    “Uhm, thank you. I am not venomous, but I can turn people to stone of course,” Selene nervously replied.
    “Anon, we’re stealing your wife for girls’ night,” Alison told me.
“That’s a great idea, Alli! We can do her nails and her hair- I mean, her makeup!” Haley said as they dragged Selene into one of their apartments.
“You three have fun!” I called before slipping into my own apartment. I was behind on chores since Selene had shown up unannounced. If I had known I would have cleaned up a bit more. Having Selene around had upped my energy, I made it through work days without feeling like I was going to fall asleep or even yawning. Looks like she cured my insomnia somehow. I got changed into something comfortable and put on some music while I cleaned up. Loaded in the laundry, picked up the games and blankets in the main room, did the dishes and prepared the sheets to be washed as soon as the clothes were done being washed. I sat on the couch and messed with the phone I got for Selene for a while before dozing off on the couch.

    I was woken up by Selene coiling her body around me. She looked exhausted, “You alright?” I asked drowsily.
    Selene nodded, “Hold me tight, please,” I did as she asked, sitting up and letting her sit as much of her body as she could on my lap. She sat with her back to me, my arms wrapped around her stomach and my head resting on her shoulder. The serpents strained to get close to me and feel my warmth. Selene used her tail to turn on the TV, the NES and bring the controller to herself.
    “Really? I thought you were exhausted.”
    “I just need one more dungeon to finish the triforce, then I win, right?”
    “No, you have to go slap Ganon dead.”
    “Right. Then I win.”
    “Here, I picked this up for you today, I thought the case matched you perfectly,” I handed her the phone in a white case.
    “A phone? For me?” She paused the game and gently took the phone from me. I couldn’t see her face, but she started sniffling as she turned the phone on, “T-thank you, Anon,” She turned around to face me, tears rolling down her face.
    I dried the tears with the sleeve of my sweatshirt, “Are you alright?” It was white, of course.
    She nodded, and nuzzled her face into my neck, “I love it, thank you, dear,” her tail nearly shattered my spine from how tightly she squeezed me.
    “Ack!” I cried as she squeezed the air out of me.
    “Sorry,” She blushed, “I have never received anything as kind as this.”
    “Are you sure? It’s just a phone.”
    “I grew up very poor, Anon, poverty even. It may be mundane for you but this is the most expensive thing I have ever owned,” Another squeeze, “I need to do something for you now, hm?” She set the phone aside and slithered off my lap and onto the floor in front of me.
“You don’t need to, Selene. Being with me is gift enough,” I ran my hand over her scalp, the snakes were more than happy to return the love.
 “Oh, you’re so humble. I’m going to do something for you,” She pushed my shirt up and started slowly untying the strings of my sweats. The bedroom eyes she gave me got me hard already. She kissed my stomach and slowly pulled my pants down, “Already hard for me, hm?” She slowly ran her long, nicely painted nails down my chest. When they reached my underwear, she slowly began to pull them off.

There was a loud knocking on the door.

“Who is interrupting my man time?” Selene stormed towards the door.
“Man time?” I asked, pulling my pants up.
Selene threw the door open, “What?”
I heard a familiar voice, “I-Is Anon here?”
“What do you want with my man?”
“Selene let him in!” I called, “He’s a friend.”
“Mph, fine,” She pouted letting the man past.
“Hey, Anon. Got yourself a wife, huh?”
“Yeah, Josh. You doing okay?”
“No,” Josh sat next to me on the couch, Selene’s angry expression turned slightly sympathetic. “I keep getting harassed by those crazy fags on campus, shit about human extinction and monsters being evil. I’m so sick of this shit, dude. I had to get out of the housing where they spam their shit,” He picked up a pillow and screamed into it.
“Are there no monster girls on campus?” Selene asked, “I am sure they would not take any of that.”
Josh and I shook our heads, “I graduated from there. I moved down here to get away from that cancerous trash.”
“He was lucky, graduating only a few weeks after those portals opened, I started late and this is what I get. AND you’ve got a pretty wife,” Josh pouted.
“You looking to crash here tonight?” I asked.
“I hope that’s ok with you two, I just really needed to get out of there after almost getting assaulted for not leaning far enough their way,” He explained sheepishly.
“You’re welcome to stay a night or two,” Selene sighed, “Just please don’t interrupt our quiet time together.”
“You won’t hear a peep out of me at night ma’am, though I don’t know how you sleep with Anon, on account of him snoring louder than a jet plane,” Josh chuckled.
Selene smiled, “I have my ways of dealing with it,” Selene joined us on the couch, forcing me into the middle. She wrapped her arms and tail around me and pulled me into her, “So what kind of girl are you looking for, dear?” Selene asked despite Josh not saying anything related to girls.
“Oh I dunno. There’s so many different body types and personality types to go along with them... uh, I don’t think I caught your name.”
“Selene. It is true that there are many different types of girls who would love to get their hands on you, and I personally know a few. Go ahead and name off some traits.”
“What are you doing, Selene?” I asked.
“Looking out for your friend as well as mine, dear. Now hush.”
“Well... This is embarrassing... I’ve always had a thing for taller girls,” Josh said, his face red as a tomato.
“There is no judgement here, keep going, I know at least five tall girls,” Selene ran her fingers absentmindedly through my hair.
“S-sassy, strong, protective, needs to like to cuddle.”
“I know just the girl!” Selene exclaimed and whipped out her phone.
“Dee?” I guessed.
“Heavens no. For an oni, she's not very strong. Not sassy at all either,” Selene got off the couch and slithered into the bedroom excitedly.
We could hear her talking on the phone, but it was too quiet to make out the details, “I’m nervous, dude,” Josh whispered, “Have you met her friends?”
“A few just yesterday, yeah. I don’t remember any of them really fitting the bill though,” I mumbled.
Selene returned after just a few minutes, a sly smile on her face, “She should be here soon.”
“Its like eight, who would want to walk her this late?” I asked.
“Someone desperate enough to do it.”

We waited in anticipation for fifteen minutes maybe. There was a loud pounding on the door as they tried the knob. Selene gracefully got up and opened the door for them. Stripes stormed into the room, panting, “Where is he?”
I was surprised, I didn’t see stripes as the kind of girl who would want to cuddle with anyone. Josh got up and approached her, “H-hi,” He whimpered, awestruck by her rippling physique.
Stripes was a good foot taller than him, she seemed for mean to me than sassy, “You Josh?” She panted, most likely she ran over here.
He nodded, “I-I like wha-what you’ve done with y-your hair,” Josh stammered out.
Stripes bellowed a boisterous laugh and ran her large clawed hand through her messy hair, “You. I like you. Compliment me more.”
“Oh uh, I,” Josh grasped her hand with both of his, “I think you’re really pretty.”
Stripes face got really red. She stammered a bit, trying to decide what to say, “You’re not too bad looking yourself, idiot,” She finally said.
“You two are adorable together!” Selene exclaimed, squeezing me once more in excitement. Stripes pulled her hand away and crossed her arms, she was trying to look tough but her face gave away her embarrassment.
“You wanna get out of here?” Josh asked her.
“Yeah, let’s blow this joint,” Stripes agreed she threw her arm around him. They walked out the door and were gone.
“That was really fast,” I commented.
“Mhm, another successful match,” Selene stretched and picked the controller back up with her tail.
“What do you mean, another match?” I laid out on the couch, head in her lap.
“I had to pay my own way through school, Anon. I was a matchmaker. It paid well and I just had to be able to figure people and monsters out.”
“Huh. Why did you want to go to school bad enough to pay your own way through?”
    She ran her fingers through my hair again, “I did not want to be like my parents. My mother was a very cold woman. I have no idea what she saw in my father. She could have done so much better, married an upstanding man and had a wonderful family.”
    “What was wrong with the family she had?”
    “No amount of mamano mana could change my father. He was a very standoffish, stubborn person. Despite what everyone thinks of monster families, it was not perfect. A lot of them fighting. I got old enough and I left for the closest monster friendly city.”
    “Sounds rough.”
    “I wanted to get educated so I could find a nice city man and have a wonderful family with him and not live in a cave. Then the portals opened and I got here as fast as I could, itching to find a husband. My friends and I got a house together and I was saving up to... do something to get myself a husband. But you found me, did you not?”
    “Yeah, I guess I did. I tried to run away from you too.”
    “You did not get away for long~” Selene’s tail wrapped around me, holding me close.
    “You pulled some stalker-like maneuver! What was I supposed to do about that?” I threw my hands in the air.
    She gave me a quick kiss and got back to playing her game, “Thank you for being in my life, Anon. I could not ask for a better husband.”
    “Thanks for being in mine, I feel a lot happier with you around.”
    “I am going to snuggle you to death when we go to bed, dear,” Selene giggled.

Friday rolled around, I had the day off because of required vacation time. I hadn’t told Selene I had the day off because I knew she would try to skip out on work to spend the day with me. I dropped Selene off at work with a kiss goodbye she gave me a sad wave. I got back home and relaxed on the couch. I finally had a moment to myself, time to play some video games, I decided. I got up to get some chips and noticed that Selene left the lunch I made her at home. I thought for a few moments. This was the perfect time to visit her at work and embarrass her in front of her students.
I cleaned myself up and got dressed. I packed myself another lunch as well because I might as well have lunch with her. I got a text from Selene between classes. It was just a bunch of heart emojis. I sent some back. In less than an hour I was heading out. The middle school was just four blocks away, so I really didn’t need to drive, but that didn’t stop me from driving there.
I stopped at a convenience store and picked up some sprite for the two of us. I parked along the side of the building and strided to the front. I pressed the button to be let in and heard the lock click open. I opened the door and went to the front desk. There was a moth woman at the front deck who smiled at me, “How can I-” She took a closer look at me, “Anon McAnon?”
“Uh, yeah that’s me,” I was shocked that she knew me.
“Kelsey, we went to school here together, remember? Well, I used to be human so I understand if you don’t.”
“Oh yeah! I remember,” I was lying.
“Well, when Selene talked about you I didn’t think she meant that Anon. She talks about you a lot, even started using your last name recently. Here to see her?”
    “Yeah, I am. She left her lunch at home and I wanted to surprise her.”
“That’s sweet of you,” Kelsey handed me a badge with my name on it, “Maybe I’ll find a sweet man some day...”
“You’ll find someone. Everyone will,” I took the badge and stuck it to my shirt.
“She’s in room 112, head that way and left at the T-junction.”
“Thanks, Kelsey, see you around,” I waved as I walked off. I wasn’t surprised at all that she had monsterized, I could recall her talking about not being happy with her body even in middle school, and the little bit I talked to her later on it was still apparent. Glad she hopefully found a way to be happy.
As I walked to Selene’s class room, I hear humming. It was Selene for sure, she was humming the Zelda overworld theme. I peeked around the corner to see the last bit of her tail disappear around the corner. I had no idea where she was going, but she was out of the classroom. Perfect. I probably would have combat rolled across the floor to make her laugh if she was here. I moved quickly to her classroom and threw the door open. All conversation in the classroom stopped as a room full of children stared at me with their big eyes, “Hi, class. Uh, I’m Mr. McAnon and-”
“Are you Mrs. McAnons husband?” A wurm who dominated the backroom asked.
“Are you stupid, Wendy? Of course he is,” A succubus retorted.
“Are you gonna teach us now?” A boy asked.
“Yes. Who wants to know how the internet works?” I got a resounding yes from the class so I started drawing diagrams on the whiteboard. I don’t know if they were expecting something exciting from this lecture, but it was one of the most boring things I could talk about. I used as many small non-jargon words as I could. Explaining those I couldn’t avoid. “...So, here is your computer, connected to this server, which houses the websites you want and its connected to-”
The door was opened by Selene who was going through some papers in her hands, “Okay class, I have the tests here. Wendy, can-” She looked up at me and her serpents shot straight up in the air in surprise, “W-What are you doing here?” She moved towards me slowly and gave me a quick hug.
“Teaching your class about the internet. So, as I was saying, the server is connected to other servers or nodes that...” Selene sat at her desk while I finished the short lecture.

“... and that's pretty much it, any questions?” The class looked at me with blank expressions, “Alright cool, I’ll pass back over to Mrs. McAnon now.”
“Alright I have the test for you all here. Darling can you help me pass this out? It should not take you very long, take your time and let me know if you have any questions.”

The bell rang and her class filed out for lunch. Selene pulled me into her office and closed the door. Before I could speak, she pushed me up against the wall, nearly knocking the wind out of me, “I am glad you came Anon,” She kissed me deeply on the lips, her tongue entering my mouth, touching mine, “I missed you very much,” Her hands held my head still while she kissed me up and down my face. She suddenly stopped, with a sigh she straightened out her clothed and wiped off my face, “I... am sorry. I need to restrain myself more. I just find you so intoxicating,” She rested her head on my shoulder as she wrapped her arms around me.
“Maybe we can go to bed a little early tonight, if ya know what I mean. You’ve been coming to bed late between grading and video games leaving almost no time for quality time together,” I gave her a swift kiss on the cheek before sitting down and handing her the lunch and a soda.
“But I have to save the princess!” Selene was completely invested in the game.
“I know, I know. Do whatever makes you happy, dear.”
“But what about what makes you happy, darling?” She grabbed my shoulders.
“You make me happy, not c’mon lets eat before lunch ends.”
Selene gave me another kiss, “Alright. But when we get home, you are all mine~” She licked her lips and gave me ‘the look’ as I’ve come to call it. The bedroom eyes combined with the biting of her bottom lip. It made me sweat bullets.

Selene came home to a wonderfully clean apartment and a candle lit dinner. She had stayed at the school late to finish grading tests. I had prepared chicken and pasta for the two of us, laid out a tablecloth and lit candles at the small table, “What is the occasion for all this?” She asked.
“You plan on making me your husband through traditional mamano means, right?”
“Only if you’re ok with it, Anon. I don’t want to push you into it.”
“I want it more than anything, Selene. In fact,” I got down on one knee in front of her. Her eyes went wide and her serpents stood on end again, “I wanted to make you my wife in the traditional human way,” I produced a small box and opened for her, revealing a ring, “Would you make me the happiest man alive, Selene?”
“Oh my god, Anon! Yes!” I was wrapped up in her arms and tail as she relentlessly started kissing me.
“Honey the foods gonna get cold!” I laughed as she tried to drag me to the bedroom.
“I forgot about the food!” She laughed back at me, “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” I told her as I put the diamond ring on her finger, “Now let's eat, please, I worked really hard on this.”
“Yes, lets,” Selene took a seat, refusing to let go of my hand. Her look of lust had been replaced with a big adorable smile. She wiped tears out of her eyes, “Maybe we should wait.”
“Wait for what?” I asked, about to put a big bite of food in my mouth.
“To consummate our marriage. The day we get married we can do that as well. Imagine the love and passion! You in a most handsome suit and me in a beautiful gown!”
I smiled back at her. “I think you’d look amazing in a gown. If you want to wait, we will wait.”
“I love you, darling husband of mine.”
“I love you too, wonderful wife of mine.”