We walked into my dining room, where the rest of the group was seated. On the table there was a massive pig that had been roasted to perfection, with several different vegetable dishes surrounding it, a few serving tureens of gravy, and several different breads.

“Freyr? How did you do this? I didn’t think my stove could even hold this much,” I said, shocked.

“Ah, well… I cheated a little. Called my Elves in to do some work on your behalf, and they were too happy to do it. The boar, though? That is all me,” He said with a grin.

I took my seat at the head of the table, Gruldia sitting to my right, and Freyr to my left. I gazed around at my new friends with a delirious smile. All eyes were on me.

I lifted my glass, and with a smile I said “To new friends, old friends, and good company! Let’s dig in!”

Freyr beat on the table for a moment, gathering attention to Him. “For you, my Son, I wish nothing but prosperity in your new role. For the rest of you, I hope you support him in his endeavors here, as I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will support any of you in yours. Hail to new beginnings!”

A chorus of “Hail!” sounded around the table, as we all drank to the toast. Six hungry people reached in and started grabbing food, passing dishes down to others, and chattering happily with each other.

I smiled, chiming in on occasion, enjoying the meal. I composed a message in my head while I chatted comfortably.

Gruldia,

Please don’t think me rude for asking, because I’m not trying to be, but is this how you dress when you’re not doing your Cleric stuff?

I have reasons for asking ;)

I sent it while I was talking with Bel’Chazz about his home and his family.

“I tell ya, kid. My wife would absolutely love your jambalaya. I think five of our kids would, too,” he said as he stuffed another roll in his mouth.

“Five? That’s quite a few children, man. I never got to have any kids on Earth. Nobody ever seemed quite that interested in me,” I said as I took a sip of my drink.

I got a ping as I took a bite of the delicious roast. I opened it, and nearly choked on my bite.

Ivor,

This is actually a little dressed up. I don’t normally wear a bra, because they hurt too much. Why do you ask? Is there a problem? :’(

I coughed a bit, and focused on my food for a moment as I composed a reply.

Gruldia,

No problem at all. I think you look extremely attractive. I would probably have difficulties keeping my hands to myself if you hadn’t worn that bra. Let me show you something.

I attached several pictures of Cyberpunk fashion and sexy Goblin drawings from my internet.

I find the clothes you are wearing to align strongly with my chosen, desired aesthetic, and physically, you tick all my boxes. I want to know the woman in that head of yours. Your fears, your dreams, your likes and dislikes. Everything that makes you who you are. Will you allow me to learn more about you, Gruldia?

I sent the message, and looked over at Freyr, who was grinning at me. “What did you put in this, Sir? This tastes amazing,” I said, trying not to drool on my plate.

“Oh yeah? Well, It’s just a standard pig, and the seasonings are pretty simple, too. Half a pound each of rosemary, cilantro, fennel and oregano. Generously salted and peppered, of course. And as much garlic powder as I could get on the sucker. Roast it right, and you’ll never want another meal,” He said, shoving a chunk of bread in His mouth.

I nodded as I got a reply, and as I read it, my heart sank.

Ivor,

I find it difficult to believe that I tick all your boxes. I’m old. I’m ancient. You’re still young. You should find a younger woman who will spoil you and pamper you the way you deserve. You’re too good of a man to stick around an old crone like me. I’m practically middle aged, and you look young enough to date my great-great-great-great granddaughter. I can introduce you, if you wish?

I quickly composed a reply, trying hard to hide my hurt.

Gruldia,

I’m middle-aged for a human. Between you and Doc, I’m sure we can find a way to extend my natural span.

And no. I’m interested in you, Gruldia. Not a younger person. You tickle my fancy and I’d like to see where this goes. I think you may well be surprised at what you find here.

I chatted amiably with Mil’Grash about her homeland and their food, and as I took a drink, I heard a soft whisper come from my right. Soft enough that I doubt anyone that wasn’t a god could hear it.

“Are you sure?”

I nodded and smiled as I set down my drink and picked up my fork. “Yep.” I murmured and took a bite of mashed potatoes.

I caught a fluttering of Gruldia’s ears out of the corner of my eye, and resumed my conversations with my table of friends.

We ate and talked long into what I thought was evening, eventually moving back into the living room with our drinks. Gruldia finally opened her wine, and Bel’Chazz sat on the couch sipping his beer. After some time, chatting happily, I noticed that everyone besides Freyr was getting sleepy or drunk. Gruldia was asleep next to me on the couch, resting her head on my chest.

“I have several rooms down the hall to the left. You all can pick one and stay the night if you’d like,” I said tiredly.

Nods and murmurs of approval were heard all around.

“Y’know what, kid? You ain’t half bad. Most Council members only have a single, small room. You’ve made a giant home. Places for yer friends ta sleep. Not bad, kid,” Bel’Chazz said.

“He’s right, Ivor. Most of the time, they just stay in a small room with no amenities. You’ve made a home as big as your heart, I think,” Mil’Grash commented.

“Well, I just wanted to make sure that my friends could have a place to go. Whenever they needed it. I’m not really able to give that back on Earth, so I figured I’d have it here, at least,” I said with a yawn.

“Well, we appreciate it, Ivor. All of us. Starene, for sure. She has quite a ways to go to get back home,” Mil’Grash said.

“Yeah. I’m not up for that much flight right now. I honestly don’t need much room. I mean, look at me. You’re five times my size, Ivor,” she said with a drunken giggle.

“In that case, everyone pick a room down the hallway to the left. There are more than enough for everyone. Starene, you can sleep anywhere you please. Use one of the rooms, if you wish. They all have their own facilities,” I said with a smile.

I watched as everyone headed to their rooms. It felt good to finally be able to host my friends. I thought back to all the times I’d had people over to my little one bedroom home. No matter how late people stayed, nobody was really able to sleep over, unless they took the couch. I never dreamed that I’d make friends and be able to have them stay.

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“You’ve done well, Son. Only been here a day, and you’re making friends, both within the Council and out. And you might just have you a girlfriend right there,” He said with a wicked grin.

“I’m just being me, Sir. People tend to at least have a positive attitude towards me. And yes, I might have a girlfriend. I don’t know, yet. She certainly seems like a good woman. I just hope I can treat her the way she deserves,” I said softly, looking down at the sleeping Goblin.

“I don’t think that’s a worry you should have, Son. You’ve done right so far. Head to bed. I’ll be back to see you sometime tomorrow, so stay put,” Freyr said as he got up, motioning for me to stay where I was.

After Freyr left, I was alone with the sleeping Goblin. I looked down at my charge, who was snoring softly, her fingers twitching every so often.

“Gruldia? Gruldia, you need to get up for a bit,” I said softly, gently shaking the green woman.

Gruldia awoke with a start, looking around in a panic. “What? What happened? Where am I? Where is everyone? What’s going on?” she rapid-fired.

“Shh. Calm down, darlin’. Everything is okay. You had about a glass of wine, and fell asleep on me. It’s pretty late, and everyone has gone to a room to sleep,” I explained gently.

“You mean everyone went to bed? I’ve kept you awake out here? I’m so sorry, Ivor,” she said, tears forming in her eyes.

“You stop that. You’ve done nothing wrong, and I’m not upset. The only things I am right now are a little tired and a little…needy, but I can deal with the second bit tomorrow. For now, all we need to do is get you comfy, and in a bed of your choosing,” I said softly.

“You’re not mad at me?” she asked fearfully. When I shook my head, she smiled through her tears. “Okay. A bed of my choosing, huh? How about yours?” she asked, laughing.

“Okay. I can do that,” I said and scooped the little Goblin up in my arms.

“Wait! What are you… I was kidding. I didn’t mean that,” she said in a rush, her arms locked around my neck.

I looked down at her, and held her close to my face, gazing deep into her violet eyes. “So you didn’t want to sleep with me?” I asked.

“No, I do, I just… uh…um…” she trailed off, biting her lower lip.

“You what, Gruldia?” I whispered softly. “Tell me.”

“I…I…kiss me, Ivor. Please?” she whispered, her pupils dilating.

I leaned in and kissed her plump lips softly, feeling her melt in my arms, moaning softly as she returned the kiss with an equal amount of desire.

I separated from her, watching her reaction. “Is that what you thought it would be?” I asked in a low tone as I headed to my room.

“Yeah. It was. It felt real. Genuine. I’ve not been kissed like that since I was your age,” she said in a soft, small voice. She was grinning and blushing like she had just gotten her very first kiss from her high school crush.

As the door opened, the light came on in my room, and I set her down. “Make yourself at home, Gruldia. My home will always be open to you. You need only ask,” I said, sitting on the soft bed.

“Make myself at home, huh? Always open to me?” she asked, walking over to me.

She placed her hands on my knees and leaned forward. “And what if ‘making myself at home’ involved me being naked all the time? What would you do, then?” she asked in a smoky voice.

“I’d try to behave myself, for starters, Gruldia. I’ve seen you nude, or nearly so, and I had to really work at behaving. It wasn’t easy,” I said with a lopsided grin.

“No, you didn’t, big boy. There is more to me that you’ve not seen. More that you don’t know. You only saw part of me,” she said, her voice husky, her eyes nearly all black.

I leaned forward and placed a finger under her chin, tilting her face up to mine. “Show me.” I commanded.

The next couple of hours were rather interesting, indeed.

After we had finished, sweaty, slightly sticky and both of us very full; I rolled onto my side, my hand idly caressing her tummy.

“I don’t want this to be the extent of it, Gruldia,” I said.

“What do you mean, Ivor?” she asked, rolling over to meet my eyes.

My hand slid around, cupping her ass, and pulling her close to me. “This. The sex. I don’t want it to be just this. There’s a woman in my bed that I want to learn, that I want to know. A woman who deserves to be treated well. Loved and cared for. The sex was out of this world, but I bet that woman is even more intense,” I said.

She bit her lip as I grabbed her and pulled her towards me, but her face dropped with every word I said. “I don’t know, Ivor. I’ve not allowed that for nearly three hundred years. He hurt me pretty badly. I doubt I’m even able to open up like that again,” she said with a derisive snort.

“Well, I serve the Council for life. However long that winds up being. I have that long, at least. And” -I kissed her plump lips softly- “I don’t give up unless I’m told No,” I said.

“What do you mean?” she asked, confused.

“If you tell me right here and now that you never want anything more to do with me, I’ll let you have the room for the night, and go sleep on the couch. If you tell me in the middle of sex that you’re uncomfortable and want to stop, I stop. No questions, no anger. You tell me ‘no’ or ‘stop’ and everything ends. Immediately. Not after I’ve had my fun, not after begging and pleading, just an immediate end to whatever I’m doing.” I explained.

“I’ll never have you go sleep on the couch in your home, Ivor. That’s silly! Besides, if I didn’t want it, I’d never approach you. I still don’t quite get the concept, though.” she responded, aghast.

“It’s called consent. And you can revoke it at any time. Just because we’ve had sex once, doesn’t mean I get to do it again whenever I want. Do you seriously not know that?” I asked, concerned.

“We don’t have that in Goblin society. Men get whatever they want whenever they want it. As long as she isn’t kin, he can have whomever, whenever, without any concern. It’s how I was raised.” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Are you living there?” I asked. At her confused look, I said, “On your homeworld. In Goblin society.”

“Well… No. I guess not.” she said in a soft, small voice.

“Then you don’t have to live that way anymore,” I said simply.

“You mean I can tell you ‘no’ when I have a headache?” At my nod, she continued, “I can refuse you when I’m having cramps, or when I’m hurting?” Another nod. “For any reason or no reason at all?” she asked.

“Absolutely. Look” -I took her small hand in mine, interlacing our fingers- “I honestly want to treat you with the dignity that I think you deserve. It may be difficult for you to accept, but I find you ravishingly attractive, and I want to know the mind as well as the body. You’re your own person, and I want you to believe that as strongly as I do,” I said.

“So, if I were to do this” -she pushed me gently onto my back and climbed on top of me, sitting just above my hardening member- “and start fucking you again, like this” -she slipped my thickening cock into her greedy pussy and began grinding- “Oh gods, yes.” She rode me for a couple of minutes, and I held onto her plush hips. “And suddenly stop” -she halted atop me- “and say I didn’t want to anymore, you’d let me?”

I panted softly, nodding. “Yeah… I’d let you. I’d also ask what was wrong, and what I could do to make it better. Gods, but you feel amazing.”

She giggled and bounced atop me. “Thank you. You’re not half bad, yourself. Mmf…”

“If you want to stop, just say so. I’ll be more than happy to just hold you,” I said, squeezing her ample hips.

She halted then, and gazed into my eyes. Leaning forward, resting her heavy breasts on my chest, and nearly slipping me free, she said, “You’d hold me? Like, be naked with me and not fuck my brains out, and just hold me while we sleep?”

I laughed gently. “Of course! One of the best parts of sex isn’t just the sex itself and the mind-numbing orgasm. Not to me, anyway. It’s what comes after. Laying there in a glorious tangle of limbs while we bask in the afterglow and cool off, then wrapping up in each other while we sleep,” I explained.

“That’s so different than anything I’ve ever known,” she said, sitting back, sliding my cock deeper inside her. “I think I’ll have to try it after this round,” she said, picking up the pace.

A half hour later, and we were laid out, panting on my bed. I dialed the room’s temperature down significantly, hoping we would both cool off relatively quickly.

“So how does this work? Do I just lie here and hope you don’t impale me again on that rod of yours?” she asked.

“Oh there’ll be no more impaling tonight. Seven is my limit. Hel, before this, two was as far as I’d gotten. No, it depends on what is most comfortable for us both. Do you want to be held? Want to hold me? I mean, I’d be more than happy to lie here and pass out sucking on you,” I said, eyeing her up and down.

“You’d drown. I make it as fast as you can drink it. It’s what helps make me a good breeder,” she said matter-of-factly.

“A glorious way to die, I think. How about you roll over, and I’ll hold you,” I suggested.

“You’ve already had about a quart of me, big man,” she said as she rolled over. “Like this?” she asked.

I reached around her, and pulled her smaller body next to my chest. She stiffened when I moved her, and began panting softly. I adjusted my arm, winding up cupping her nipple and areola in my hand, and she moaned softly.

“Is this a problem for my good girl?” I asked in a low tone.

She gasped softly, her breath coming quickly. “No, Sir. No problems here.”

“Good. You only have to say the word if there is,” I said and kissed the back of her neck.

“Move your hand, Sir.”

I dutifully moved my hand quickly to her hip. “Sorry. I got carried away.”

But Gruldia hadn’t heard a word. She had her fingers buried inside her, working herself up to yet another orgasm. I shrugged and began milking her again, helping her get relief once more before we both passed out, completely spent.