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May '25 Bonus Story: Stephy's Hole
🕑 Added 2025-06-11 01:15:21 +0000 UTCOh man, you guys, did I ever have fun with this one. As a reminder, the prompt for this story was for the Teaching Her A Lesson universe. If you have not read it, it's free to read here, with art and expansion material in its own collection.
specifically that Mr. Canon crashes for a weekend at Isa and Candy's house, with other characters popping in for shenanigans. If there's a regret I have about that series, other than math jokes, it would for sure be that I didn't spend enough time playing around with Isa and Candy. It's a sort of medium dark tale, with happy chatty Cassie on one end, manipulative sociopath Taylor Stern on the darker end, and what she did to Isa and Candy defining the farthest reaches of that darkness.
So this story centers Isa as our protagonist, and... boy howdy. It's got fun, it's got degradation kinks for days, it's got squabbles, heart, all of it. I honestly picked the title because I thought it would be the name that would piss her off and thus turn her on the most.
It is also (wait for it) a Maybe Part One! No spoilers (I guess apart from that), but as I was nearing 20k words with a LOT more to say and do and June quickly passing me by, I remembered... oh yeah, we get to do this every month! So, if you come to the end and feel like you want to see it keep going, don't worry -- I'll be putting "Stephy's Hole Part 2" on the July nomination list myself. Because I already have the story going and an outline in place, I won't take any more specific nominations than that for it (though feel free to theorycraft), but I felt like this was enough for a good start and a satisfying installment.
Also note that [tomorrow once I've rested] since this is a significant piece set in the THAL universe, this will be added to the Ice Bear Library and the Teaching Her A Lesson collections, too.
If the voters will it... more to come.
Comments
WDB
I *also* appreciated this entire, sprawling epic. It's very THaL to have what starts as ridiculous sex nonsense balloon into something character-driven and insightful. (Also, still completely ridiculous.) (complimentary) The tension at the heart of THaL -- beyond how much of our brains should be devoted to envisioning hot girls in tiny shorts -- is how we allow ourselves to enjoy our kinks, rather than castigating ourselves and each other for them. Where something like 27 looked to the future as a place with enjoyment, if not joy, this story allows Isa's worldview to taint the proceedings with vitriol and resentment. Good if that's your kink, maybe not so good if you are a person in the world who has to be around that 24/7. I like that, how this sexy story of orgasm denial and humiliation telescopes out into a very real unhappy marriage. It's not a story that skimps on how delightful it is to watch Isa succumb to her compulsions, but it nicely peels back Candy's role in things until we realize that we just read a story where a wife tried to help her spouse find some balance and safety in her own desires, while that same spouse viewed everything as cruelty and capitulation. It's this sweetly sad story of trying to own your desires, told by someone who relentlessly will not own her desires. That tension just, like... breaks in the end, and it feels wholly earned as a heartbreaking conclusion. Or, *not* that? As with all things THaL, this world is too big for a mere 38 pages to tell the whole story, and I feel optimistic that fans will ask for this one to get wrapped up in a later month. It's just that good! *Mostly because Tabitha was in Italy!!!*
WDB
I am glad to see that my prompt's unspoken request of Maybe Tabitha Can Be In Italy was somehow both communicated and adhered to! Much appreciated!
