#vireth

Verith was an orc and had lived in a closed orc stronghold community just outside of Willowridge for her entire life. The stronghold, called Willowshield, did a lot of things the old way, as in they made a lot of their own things themselves. You’d been there a few times with Verith to visit her family and was amazed by the weird mix of modern and medieval. They did have some modern things, like wifi and cell phones, but they had their own grocery, farmer’s market, butcher, home goods store, and even had a real blacksmith, cobbler, and glassblower. But they didn’t have a cafe or a crafts store or a gym, so many of the orcs took jobs in town to enjoy a few outside luxuries that Willowshield didn’t yet have.

Verith worked at the local gym as a personal trainer, and you were immediately attracted to her. However, knowing she lived in Willowshield made you feel hesitant to ask her out, fearing that perhaps she just wasn’t interested in humans. Even still, you took extra classes with her to the point where she suspected you were addicted to exercise, but in reality, you just wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, too chicken-shit to ask her out.

It wasn’t until she got annoyed with you following her like a wounded puppy that you were forced to admit your feelings for her. She was surprised, but open to the idea. It only took one date for you to fall in love with her, and she wasn’t far behind. In fact, it had been her idea to move in together.

You’d expected that she’d want you to live in Willowshield, as some non-orc mates had done, but she actually left the community and moved into your small apartment. She said she wanted to understand more about the human world, having been cut off from it most of her life. She’d lived with you for almost three months by this point, but she still struggled to understand human customs and cultures. The newest struggle was Halloween, which was just three days away.

“So people dress up, eat candy, get drunk, and act like assholes? That’s the premise you’re trying to get me to go along with?”

“Please, I’ve been to orc weddings,” You told her, throwing a decorative pillow at her. “I seem to remember a certain hot personal trainer who got drunk at her brother’s wedding and ended up wearing the ceremonial communal wine chalice on her head.”

“Hey, that is a well-respected tradition, I’ll have you know,” She protested.

“Sure, it is,” You said skeptically.

“Okay, well, explain it to me,” She said as she shook out the quilt. “It’s a holiday about being scared? That’s so unnatural to an orc. Orcs aren’t supposed to get scared; we see fear as weakness. Hell, we growl and make terrifying faces at our children when they’re infants to teach them not to fear anything that looks or sounds frightening. We certainly wouldn’t dedicate a holiday to being afraid.”

“That’s not exactly the point of it,” You told her. “See, it originated back with the celts. The Irish practiced Samhain, which literally means “summer’s end,” and they would have a three day revel to celebrate a successful harvest. It was all about the change of the season and prosperity.”

“So, what the hell happened? How did it turn into a glorification of fear?”

“Because Samhain was seen as the death of the year, as in winter, when things die. People are scared of death, so people began associating it with fear. They also saw it as the day when the veil between the living and the dead thinned and the dead walked the earth to haunt and terrorize the living. There was only two ways to prevent the dead from coming after you and playing tricks on you: one, you could leave gives of food or treats on your doorstep, or two, you disguised yourself as a ghost so they wouldn’t know you were part of the living.”

“I guess that makes sense. So why are there little kids running around dressed like Captain America and Disney princesses begging for sweets? Where did that come from?”

“Well, when the Christians tried to purge pagan holidays by appropriating them, they changed it to ‘All Soul’s Day,’ where children would go from door to door, singing songs or performing for the people inside, and would get small cakes, called souls, as a reward. That’s how trick or treating started. Although, nowadays, All Soul’s Day is observed on November 1st, and people just go to church.”

“How do you know all this?” She asked, flopping down on the newly-made bed, ruffling it a bit. “Do all humans know this?”

“No, no, I dated a witch in college. She was so obsessed with the history of Halloween that she often forgot to enjoy it. She saw it as a holy day and used it for remembrance and contemplation. I just wanted to hand out candy and wear cute costumes.”

She frowned and leaned against the headboard. You snuggled up against her very hard, muscled body and sighed.

“It’s fun, I swear. You get to watch scary movies, dress up, carve jack-o-lanterns, go to parties, give kids candy, go to haunted houses and ghost tours. Ooh! We should totally go to New Orleans one year. They’re ghost tours are second to none. Well, besides Georgia’s plantation ghost tours, I guess.”

“A lot of what you just said made no sense to me,” She grumbled, wrapping her arm around your shoulder.

You kissed her cheek. “Don’t worry. By the time Halloween rolls around, you’ll love it just as much as I do.”

“Promises, promises,” She said in a snarky voice.

The next afternoon, the two of you were at the store, trying to shop for a costume. Verith was being rather pessimistic.

“A lot of these are speciest, you realize that.”

“I’m not going to buy one of those, Vee,” You said, looking through the racks. “What about a slutty nurse?”

“But you are a nurse,” She protested. “Why not just wear your scrubs?”

“Because I don’t wear corsets to work, babe. Don’t you want to see me in a corset?” You asked her cheekily.

She snorted, but didn’t disagree.

“What about you? You need a costume, too.”

“Why?”

“Because, my love, it’s a costume party. That’s what one does.” You take two from the rack, examining them judiciously. “I’ll need two, actually.”

“Why?”

“For the trick or treaters! I’m not going to wear my sexy costume for a bunch of kids, that’s gross.” You held up a costume to her body, and she looked down at you quizzically. “No, that won’t fit,” You grumbled to myself.

“Honey, I highly doubt any of these will fit me,” She replied. “I’m 7’5” and built like a brick shithouse.”

“You need to stop listening to slang at the gym,” You said wryly. “Anyway, I think you may be right. We’ll just have to make something. Ooh! What if you wore your running clothes and we pin a number to your back and you go as a marathon runner.”

“But I am a marathon runner,” She growled.

“Fuckin’… I know that, babe… could you just… work with me here, okay? For fuck’s sake?” You groaned in exasperation, clutching her arms. She sighed and shook her head at you.

You ended up buying the sexy nurse costume for the party and a more demure scary Victorian ghost outfit for the trick or treaters. You figured you’d cobble something together for Verith when you got home.

The next day, you went out to a pumpkin patch to pick out a few so that the two of you could make some jack-o-lanterns.

“So what’s this all about?”

“What?”

“Carving faces into vegetables.”

“Oh, that,” You said, picking up a largish one. “It’s another tradition that originated in Ireland, but they didn’t use pumpkins, because they didn’t have pumpkins in Ireland back then.”

“So what did they use?”

“Turnips and gourds and things.”

“Wha…” Verith’s face pinched in confusion. “Ancient humans were so fucking weird.”

You chuckled. “You’re telling me a pregnant woman eating an entire raw horse’s liver in front of her entire extended family is supposed to be normal?”

“There is absolutely nothing weird about that. Pregnant women need the iron.”

You shook your head. “There are several versions of the story about jack-o-lanterns, mostly about warding of spirits and fairies, but a lot of them are about Stingy Jack.”

“Who?”

“Stingy Jack. He was a miserable old drunk who liked playing tricks on people. One day, he tricked the devil into climbing up an apple tree and then placed crosses around the trunk of the tree so that the devil couldn’t get down. Jack made the devil promise him not to take his soul when he died. The devil agreed, and Jack let him go.

“When Jack died, he went to Heaven and was told that because he was mean and cruel, and had led a miserable, worthless life on earth, he wasn’t allowed in, so he was sent to Hell. The devil kept his promise and wouldn’t allow him in, which meant Jack had nowhere to go and would have to wander Earth forever.

“Jack asked the devil how he could get out of Hell, as there was no light. The devil tossed him an ember and Jack hollowed out a turnip, which was the only thing he had with him and placed the ember in it to light his way. When the Irish immigrated to America, they discovered pumpkins were bigger and easier to hollow out than turnips, so they used them instead. Now it’s all anyone uses.”

“And we’re supposed to carve scary faces in these to ward off bad spirits?”

“Essentially.”

“I doubt spirits would find vegetables very scary.”

“And why is that?

She picked one up and put between her thighs, crushing it as if it were made of light cardboard. Pumpkin guts and juice ran down her bare legs and into her shoes.

You took a very deep breath and said, in as even a tone you could, “I see your point, but as hot as that was, and as much as I enjoyed it, we do have to pay for those.”

“Hmm,” Verith said, her lips pursed. “Can we buy some extra ones so I can crush them with my biceps at home?”

After a contemplative moment, you replied, “I think that would be… yes, please, let’s do that. But only if you do it shirtless.”

“Deal.”

That evening, you had a messy carving lesson that led to a pumpkin pie, toasted pumpkin seeds, a small fight of flung pumpkin guts, and kissing on the couch with a scary movie on T.V. and the snacks you’d made that night.

On Halloween afternoon, you had the genius idea of putting Verith in a slapdash scarecrow outfit to scare the trick or treaters. After she jumped up and roared at the first crop of kids and they ran off screaming, she laughed and admitted, “Okay, that was fun.”

She did it a few more times, but couldn’t bring herself to do it to the family with three small half-rabbit girls, hardly more than toddlers adorably dressed as the three little pigs, and she simply sat on the stoop with you, handing out candy to the kids. The father, a tall rabbit man dressed smartly in a white shirt and black slacks, handed us a treat bag full of cookies cleverly decorated like Day of the Dead sugar skulls before they left, their human mother winking as they walked away.

At about eight o’clock, when the trick or treaters began to dwindle, you left the candy bucket on the front step for anyone who came to help themselves, and they two of you went to get dressed for the party.

You ended up doing the marathon runner for Verith, insisting she wear the sports top with her midriff showing, and she huffed that she didn’t understand why she needed one at all as she laced you into the corset of the nurses outfit. You told her to stop griping and led her out of the house and down the street to the party at your friend’s place.

You were ashamed to know that there were “human only” parties going on in town, one of which your own sister was throwing, but the one you and Verith were going to was an open to all kinds party. Anyone who wanted to have a good time was welcome, regardless of tentacles, teeth, or temperament.

The party was huge, and you immediately sought out your best friend since highschool, Rachel, who owned the house with her girlfriend. She was also an orc, but she hadn’t lived in a community like Verith had; she had grown up on a cattle ranch that her family owned on the edge of town.

Her brother and all four of her sisters were at the party, too: dancing, drinking, and having the time of their lives with their various significant others. These orcs, at least, knew how to celebrate Halloween.

Rachel’s brother, Varik, was back in town visiting his family for the holidays, wearing a doctor’s coat. He had moved to the city a few years ago with his fiance and was the first orc in history to be accepted into an accredited medical university. You had worked with him in the hospital before; he was a really nice guy, and his fiance, Elena, who was currently dressed as a renaissance-era bar wench, was incredibly confident and capable, despite her disabilities. They were a really good fit for each other.

“Hey, you got Verith to come!” Rachel said as she came. “Awesome! Let’s turn this party into a huntcraic.”

“A what now?” You asked.

“It’s an ancient custom of throwing a week-long party after a particularly good hunting season,” Verith explained in an undertone. “We rarely have them anymore.”

“Girl, let’s show these tiny humans how orcs party,” Rachel said, grabbing Verith’s arm, who grabbed you in turn, and dragged her through the horde.

“Varik! Elena!” Rachel called, and the pair turned. “Look who’s here!”

“Hey!” Varik said, swooping down on you for a big hug. He was three sheets to the wind and in a great mood, and Elena looked at him with an exasperated smirk. After handing him off to Verith, you went to give her a hug.

“Hey, girl, good to see you,” You said.

“You, too,” She replied, squeezing your back with her forearms. “Got yourself an orc, too, huh? Aren’t they the best?”

“Definitely,” I replied, watching the three orcs talk to each other. Verith seemed to be more at ease since she arrived now that she was with familiar faces. “Is that his real doctor’s coat?”

She scoffed disgustedly. “He never takes it off. I swear, he’d wear it during sex if I let him.”

The two of you giggled.

“I haven’t met your girlfriend yet,” Elena said.

“Oh, that’s right. Verith!” You called, and her head came up. You beckoned her over. “This is Elena, Varik’s fiance. They’re getting married in the spring next year. Elena, this is Verith, my girlfriend. We’ve been dating for about half a year. She was my personal trainer.”

Elena held out her hand, covered by the long bell sleeve of her gown. Verith took Elena’s hand, and you saw a moment of confusion cross her face, but she said nothing and shook Elena’s hand gently.

“So, Varik likes the city?” You asked Elena.

“He does now, but it took some getting used to,” Elena replied. “He lived in the country for most of his life, so it was a bit of a culture shock for him. He eased into it after a while, and now it’s like he was born there.”

Verith’s face was thoughtful, but she didn’t say anything.

Another familiar face caught your eye: the librarian from your college, Holly, although she hadn’t worked there since last year. She’d also been in your creative writing elective several years ago. She was there in a ghost bride costume with another orc dressed like a mechanic you hadn’t met before. They were both looking a little anxious and out of place.

“Holly!” You called, excusing yourself from Elena and making your way toward Holly.

She looked up and saw you, relieved to see a face she recognized. She grabbed her orc by the arm and led hem over.

“Oh, hey, good to see you again,” Holly said, giving me a side hug.

“Yeah, you too. You sort of disappeared for a while, there,” You told her.

“Getting my life sorted out, is all,” She said, smiling. She gestured at her companion. “This is my boyfriend, Ravadhi.”

You shook his hand. “Haven’t seen you around.”

He shrugged. “I keep to myself, really. Or I did. Holly insists that we’re too isolated. That’s why we’re here, actually. She thinks we need to get out more.”

“I agree. It can help you get out of a rut, for sure.” You pointed at his outfit. “Nice costume.”

He laughed a little self-deprecatingly. “Actually, it’s my uniform from my last job. I just couldn’t find a costume that fit me.”

“Oh, yeah,” You laughed, pointing at Verith in her marathon outfit, who was laughing with Rachel, Varik, and Elena. “We had the same problem.”

“She’s community, right?” Ravadhi asked. “How did you get her to agree to celebrate Halloween? Communities turn their noses up at stuff like this.”

“Believe me, it was like pulling teeth,” You said. “How’s your sis?”

“She’s great,” Holly said brightly. “She’s going trick or treating for the first time in her life, and then spending the night with some friends. Now that she’s allowed to have friends.”

You smiled sadly. It was an open secret how Holly’s father treated her. You were glad that secret was out and over now.

“Well, good for her. And good for you guys, trying to get out more. It’s a chore getting Verith out anywhere besides the gym.”

“Talking about me, are you?” Verith said as she wrapped an arm around you, an open container of vodka in her hand.

“M-hm,” You said, pulling her down for a kiss. “Just talking about what a hermit you are.” You turned back to Holly and Ravadhi, who were grinning. “She loves to tell me the only reason to leave the house is for the gym and Chinese food.”

“And I stand by that,” Verith said, taking a swig from her bottle. Ravadhi nodded and chuckled and Holly shot him a dry look.

“Oh, my gosh!” Rachel called over the noise. “Tuck is about to tie a bottle rocket to one of his tusks, just to see what happens. I’m not going to miss this.” And she dashed outside.

Tuck was a troll married to Rachel’s sister, Keter. You didn’t know him well, but from what you did know, this was not out of character for him.

“That’s another Halloween tradition,” I said wryly as people began flooding out to the backyard. “People doing really stupid shit just for laughs.”

“Now that’s a tradition I can get behind,” Verith said, kneeling down so you could piggyback and carrying you through the crowd.

The party was as epic as you expected it to be, and you and Verith made your way home, only slightly tipsy, at around midnight.

When you got in the door, she grabbed you by your arms and held your back against her front, growling in your ear.

“Someone had a good time,” You smirked, reaching up to snake your arms around her neck.

“Despite myself, yeah,” She mumbled, kissing your neck. You bit your lip and moaned.

“So, did you enjoy your first Halloween?” You asked her as her hands traveled up the sides of your corset and over your breasts in the bodice.

“Don’t know,” She said seductively. “It’s not over yet.”

You turned and jumped up, wrapping your legs around her waist. She held you up and kissed you hard, kicking her way past every obstacle and taking you to the bedroom, where she laid you down on the bed.

You reached back to undo the laces, but she stopped you.

“No,” she said in a low growl. “Leave the corset on.” She bent down to take off your high heels, then kissed up your calves, using her tusks to split the pantyhose upward. You felt a shiver in your back as the cold, dry, sharp bone scraped up your legs. When she reached the apex of your thighs, she ripped off your hose with little effort and snapped your underwear off as well. The muscles of her arms barely twitched.

She flipped up your skirt while kissing your inner thighs and massaging the skin. Her tongue flicked out to press itself to your bud, and you moaned. She licked a long strip from bottom to top and teased you with her nose. You whimpered and wiggled, and she grabbed your hips to keep you still.

She put her whole mouth over your slit and sucked, gently at first but gaining intensity as she continued. You gasped and your legs shook, and you tangled your hair in the long mohawk style cut of her hair that she usually let fall over her left shoulder. She reached up and pulled the cups of the corset down and kneaded your breasts, pinching and rolling your nipples between her fingers.

One hand continued its massaging while the other came back down and stuck two fingers inside you, crooking them and rubbing that delicious place only she had ever been able to find.

You were almost crying over how good it felt. No one you’d ever been with was as good as Verith at finding all your sweet spots. She could have you cumming in less than two minutes, if she really wanted. But she was drawing it out, working up to the bigger event.

She pulled away from you and reared up, pulling off her pants and underwear and throwing one of your legs up across her torso, positioning herself so that her lower lips were touching your own. She began to rock against you slowly, sweetly.

You reached up under the sports top to grip her breasts and she moaned as the place where the two of you were joined got hotter and slicker. Looking down at it, it almost looked ask if they were kissing down there.

“Oh, fuck,” You moaned. “Faster, baby.”

She was more than happy to obey, grinding her clit into yours vigorously. You could feel the orgasm coming up hard and the wall of pleasure crashed into you that you nearly blacked out. He own pace slowed as she also came, shouting and grunting and biting your ankle gently.

As you were trying to catch your breath, she grabbed you and easily flipped you onto your stomach.

“Don’t you get cozy yet,” She said. “I’m not done with you.”

You grinned and looked up, watching her pull her favorite strap-on for your “special” drawer. She took off the rest of her clothes and climbed over you, kissing your shoulders and back, carefully scraping her tusks across your skin, enough to give you chills but not enough to harm.

She pulled your rear up forcefully and positioned herself against your entrance, and then leaned back down on her hands so that she could kiss your mouth as she entered you. You gasped and laughed. She’d chosen the big one.

Without warning, she sat back up and started ramming into you with enough force for it to hurt slightly, but god, it felt so good. You pressed your face into the pillows and screamed as she thrust hard and fast. You could hear the faint buzzing of the rabbit vibrator built into the strap on and knew she was ready to get hers, and all you could do at this point was ride her wave.

“Oh, fuck, yes,” you cried.

She grabbed your hair and yanked you up. “Couldn’t hear you, baby,” She said. “Does it feel good?”

“Fuck, yes,” you whimpered.

“You look so fucking sexy in that tiny little corset. I just want to rip it off with me teeth.”

“Fucking do it,” You snarled at her. You felt her bend over you and grip the corset in her teeth. You heard ripping, and the rather sturdy fabric of the corset was yanked away from your body as if it were made of paper.

You came. You came hard. You came screaming and swearing. You fell to the bed, and she pulled you back up by your hair. Her speed quickened even further until she finally came too, grunting and growling. She collapsed on top of you, and you collapsed back onto the bed, her body pushing you into the mattress.

But she still wasn’t done. With one hand she hooked an arm under your waist and used the other to cover your mouth, thrusting slowly, and then quickly, with the both of you laying flat against the bed. You cries were muffled against her palm, and her heavy breath blew across your shoulder. She bit down in the same place she always did, her mark, the one she’d left on you the first time you made love, and you came together, panting and growling and cursing. Finally, with the strap-on still planted firmly inside you, she became still and quiet.

You both lay there, gasping for breath. After a few moments, she got up and you felt the toy pull out of your body. You lay there on your stomach with your eyes closed and heard her busy herself with something, but you were so exhausted, you didn’t look to see what.

Not until she lifted you into her arms and took you to the bathroom, putting you in the giant tub she had insisted you install and got in after you, arranging you so that your back was against her stomach and your head was leaning against her chest.

“To answer your question,” She said as she stroked the midline of your abdomen up and down. “I had a great Halloween. Thanks to you.”

“See?” You said. “It’s really a fun holiday. I knew you’d like it once you warmed up to it a bit.”

“Yeah,” She said. “Going to the party helped, honestly. When I left Willowshield, I felt really isolated. There aren’t very many orcs in Willowridge, so I felt kind of alone. Seeing the other orcs not participating made me feel less… out of place.”

You turned to look at her with concern. “Is that what all this has been about? Honey, you should have told me that’s what’s been bugging you. What did we have that conversation about communication for if not for situations like this?”

“It’s different for orcs, babe,” She said. “Admitting you’re worried or nervous is the same as admitting that you’re scared, and to orcs, being scared is just about the worst thing you can be.”

“But I don’t think that way. It’s okay to be anxious about new things, Vee, that’s completely normal. Especially if you’ve always done things differently.” You straddled her lap and pulled her face down for a kiss. “Look, I get that you’re supposed to be this big, bad orc paragon to your people, but you don’t have to be that with me. If you’re worried or nervous about something, tell me and I’ll help you. That’s what I’m here for.”

She smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, I know. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Vee.” You took the loofah from the shelf and poured soap onto it. “Now hold still, you’re literally covered in glitter. Did Dinae hug you? She was dressed as the biggest, sparkliest unicorn I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Verith belly laughed, nearly dislodging you from her lap, and let you scrub her down.

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