It’s been a little while since we met Jérôme, but he’s apparently been busy! In fact, this is a little peek back in time to that same tropical vacation our Forest friends took. Kaila had rallied the troops to spend an evening at a local party bar, and she managed to drag Ms. Afolabi along with the group (Kaila’s very persuasive!). While there, they happened to run into our new moosey friend! Jérôme was interested in all the happy, boisterous voices (Kaila’s also very loud), and he came over to introduce himself. Very expensive suit aside, an easy laugh and a gently playful attitude made him right at home with our vacationing heroes, and he settled in for the evening.

Jérôme was pleased to make the acquaintance of everyone in Kaila’s entourage that evening, but there was one in particular who stood out to him. Slightly out of place in the party bar’s joyful atmosphere, Ms. Afolabi’s voice carried in it a struggle to maintain professionalism in unfamiliar circumstances, and she seemed a little bit adrift. From the first moment she called something Kaila had done “inappropriate” in that intriguing accent, Jérôme took a liking to her.

Perhaps it was his disarming charm, or the sense of normality she found in the business-like aura he carried around with him. Then again, it might have had something to do with the silly umbrella drink that Kaila had demanded she have (she was very much a lightweight when it came to alcohol), but Ms. Afolabi felt comfortable next to Jérôme.

Of course, she was still very much aghast the next day when Kaila took her phone and texted Jérôme for her to offer up a date! She was mortified at the prospect—not at all interested in such things, thank you!—but when Jérôme texted back a charming acceptance, she was rather trapped! Of course, he ended up being a perfect gentleman. Now, as for how they later ended up in her bedroom of the large beach house Tulu rented for them all, it’s not what it looks like! Ms. Afolabi would like everyone to know that this was certainly not her idea, as she’s as professional and dedicated as her hero Cellina. She certainly wouldn’t be charmed by some big moose in a suit, all gentle smiles and broad, muscular chest, no! She has no time for such frivolous pursuits, see, and if anything it was surely that bottle of wine that Jérôme showed up with. Yes, it must have clouded her judgement, is all!

However she would try to frame it to her knowingly grinning friends later, Ms. Afolabi and Jérôme did end up in her bedroom. He was a gentle lover despite his size, though he slowly built up quite a head of steam as events proceeded. As things began to threaten to approach their natural conclusion, Ms. Afolabi’s legs were wrapped tight around his hips, and she was lost in a sea of pleasure. Their relative heights meant she was mostly staring directly up his nose as that huge head of his surged forward with each strong and increasingly urgent thrust, but she was so delirious with the (incredibly inappropriate, of course) intensity that she hardly even noticed how close his antlers were getting to the headboard.

Well, as things approached a crescendo, with teeth grit Jérôme finally shoved forward just a little bit too far, ramming his left antler hard against the headboard. The loud snap and the heavy dead-weight that struck the mattress next to her brought Ms. Afolabi back to reality and, well…

Downstairs in the living room, the scream from above catapulted Keru off of the couch, and she found herself charging up the stairs almost before she was even aware of what she was doing. It was very awkward for everybody involved when she barged into Afolabi’s bedroom, and it took a minute to sort out exactly what was happening. See, moose have antlers seasonally. Each year they grow in, shed the velvet, hang around for a while, and eventually drop off. It’s about that time of year, and it probably would have only been a week or two before Jérôme’s dropped naturally if he hadn’t accidentally shortcut the process on the headboard. But antelopes have horns which start growing from birth and remain throughout one’s entire life. Someone from a horned species, like Ms. Afolabi, is pretty likely to instinctively see a broken-off antler as a grievous injury.

By the time Keru barged into the little love nest, Jérôme was gently comforting the blubbering Ms. Afolabi, who was positively out of sorts. But his calm assurances and gentle touch were helping, at least, as he assured her through her rattled tears that he wasn’t injured, she hadn’t done anything wrong, and it didn’t even hurt. The nerves go as the blood supply cuts off near the end of the cycle, and it wasn’t any worse than chipping a hoof a little.

Ms. Afolabi did eventually calm down again, though that did rather put a damper on the evening! Plus, that being the last night of the trip, Ms. Afolabi and Jérôme would part ways the next day. But don’t worry, perhaps we’ll see this moosey fellow again sometime. Kaila has his number, and she’ll surely be giving him a heads-up if the gang goes on vacation again!