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belethlegwen · 2 years ago

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The Faerie Spell - Chp 9

Chapter One: Click Here Previous Chapter: Click Here Story Directory: Click Here Words: 9317 Summary: Daphne continues to navigate her situation at Nakahara's Cellar where she's been trying to recover in the hour or so since she's been rescued. Trying to avoid entering multiple panic spirals, she has to consider how she'll get home and what's going to be awaiting her when she gets there.

[Major appreciations again to @adjacentperception for the wonderful opportunity to RP with their characters and play in their setting with this story. I love The Cellar and all of the beautiful folks that hang out there <3]

How can you feel like you’re boiling hot and chilled to the bone at the same time? Apparently, one way is to just be incredibly stupid and have to face up to a billion consequences you maybe should’ve thought of before taking a step out the door.

I was mad. I was mad at myself, I was mad at that stupid Faerie, I was mad at how my friends were almost definitely going to react when they finally found out what happened; But I was also terrified of all of those things as well. What if it had happened while I was driving? My dumb ass would be baked in a hot car like a purse-dog that someone forgot about, abandoned and locked-in on the side of the road. What if it had happened where I wasn’t able to pull over? Just… suddenly raptured out of the driver’s seat?

All of the things The Gang were about to yell at me for… yeah. Yeah they’d have a fucking point. Could’ve died in a billion different ways, and all because my dumb ass wanted to go for a walk without Gem. It felt like there was ice creeping up the back of my neck as everything started to really pile in, and—

"Hey,” Zora’s voice pulled me back to a reality that should’ve still been terrible, but was so much… nicer, than where ever my head was about to flush itself to. “You're not a criminal for wanting to have a haircut."

I turned away from the phone to look up at her, my chest too tight initially to respond. She seemed to lower herself just a little more to get closer to my level, and that was just… so appreciated, right now, compared to how I usually felt about that.

"You're allowed to have your freedom, and it sounds like you at least made the effort to be careful about it like… they can't exactly be mad at you for this."

I laughed bitterly at Zora's comment. I didn't mean to-- she was being so nice and I'm sure if I had made the same laugh at my regular size, somebody would've hit me in the mouth. I didn't want to argue with her, but I mean… my stupid ass got me into this mess and my friends had probably been panicking for at least an hour by this point, looking for me. They could exactly be mad at me for this.

God, mad would be the nice option out of what they could be at me, right now.

My mouth was opening to reply-- to argue, honestly-- practically involuntarily, everything just wanting to rush out of my body and ramble again like it had been, when Arthur's voice made me turn so fast I think I pulled something that was already sore.

"Your friends sound like shit."

I wasn’t really in the headspace, in that moment, to think of how funny that blunt, flat-toned line probably was.

"Arthur."

Zora didn’t seem amused either.

"If they've made her feel like being cursed is her fault and a giant inconvenience for themselves, then they’re shit friends. Get better ones whose texts wont make you breathe like that."

It rumbled around my head a few times. No-- no. They're not. They care about me and they want me to be safe, and then I go and pull stupid shit like this. My arms squeezed tightly around myself after I finished rubbing at my magically-cooled neck, too lost in the rollercoaster of thoughts to really appreciate magic goo all over my body doing it's thing. Was he right? Like… did I feel like they blamed me for my curse and stuff?

Stupid question. Yeah, they did.

"It's not intentional," I had blurted out defensively before really taking the 2 seconds it would've needed to realize that that still sounded uh… bad. I was also caught up on how bad my breathing was that Arthur could hear it. Blind-people powers, something something, he could probably hear it better than most people, but I really hadn't noticed how whack my cardio was being until he mentioned it. "They just want to keep me safe…"

I don't know if I believed it. They wanted me safe, mostly because it kept me out of trouble. They wanted me home so if this happened, it only bothered one of them, maybe two.

I felt like I wanted to sink straight through the bar into the ground. Then, Zora’s voice was back.

"How long do these spells of yours typically last?" She was really good at this, despite her insistence she didn’t know what she was doing. Girl was able to pull me back from a spiral like I was her yo-yo.

"Days," I said, turning to look up at Zora again. "It's… more complicated than that. They started short, and I had a couple of short ones in the middle… one of the last ones was really short? Two of them, maybe?" My headache was coming back full force as I tried to make sure the phone was as completely out of my view as something bigger than me could ever really be. "The latest one that ended this morning was almost two full days. The record for it is a little over four, I think? And I mean… I never-- it's never happened this fast after a zonk, shift, whatever, before. I don't-- this is new."

"Could we help you lay low here and make sure your friends don't get the password until the whole thing has blown over? I'm sure we could offer you a decent alibi if you give us a few minutes to think of one."

Her question made my eyes drop back down to the sweater I was on, and the bar top, glad that Zora's arms were still resting on it. It made me feel less exposed, less… vulnerable, I guess, though that seemed stupid to say. I was obviously vulnerable. I flinched as I tried to hug myself tighter and just pinched one of my bruised ribs. My mind was racing, trying to consider the options and the offer. "I… I don't want to keep you out for maybe days of this bullshit until the fucker gets his shit together and puts me back to normal, but like… yeah, I don't really… I don't wanna see them… just yet."

My eyes gazed down at my hands and arms, my coat still somewhere beside me. I was battered to shit, even if I could lie low and this was short, it's not like my took-on-Mike-Tyson-ass was going to look or feel any better in IMAX compared to the mobile version of me.

"…I think I just need a bit of time to think about it, if you'll let me stay at least that long. Sorry for making it such a problem."

Listen. I’m no stranger to looks of concern or worry or pity or… we won’t talk about some of the others right now, everything else is still too much. Especially since this all went down, I’m used to getting looks. The looks I’ve gotten and still get from my friends when this happens, the looks I’ve gotten when I had to mention that I was cursed. They’ve run the gamut. But the look of genuine, just… human concern that Zora gave me was something I had seen so rarely that it shocked me when I looked back up to listen to her.

“Please don't,” her voice was so, so quiet. God, I don’t get this, ever, when I’m down here. Even at the start, nobody cared to just be soft. “You wouldn't be putting me out. I'm happy to be of help as long as you need me to be. Few hours, few days, whatever. If you need somewhere to be I can help.”

My rat-brain was churning out vague attempts to try and convince me that that was how I get murdered or something, but it was impossible to believe that even for a second when even in this situation, I just felt… so much more at ease with that idea. Like, how did that feel so much better than Gem’s place? Or even my own? I obviously had been staring too long without a response, because she cut back in pretty fast.

“I understand that we barely know each other, so maybe that doesn't sound as welcoming or earnest as I would like, but the offer still stands,” she offered quickly, Arthur moving up alongside her and resting himself on his elbows on the bartop. I assumed, honestly, that he was going to ‘subtly’ stop her. It’d be weird to have a complete stranger— even a tiny one— just… around like that. Wouldn’t it?

“We could set you up with some space in the back if you really needed to hide out.” Kinda glad he’s blind, I’m sure the stupid face I made would’ve made him laugh otherwise. Me and Zora both kinda looked at him, though she was much less surprised than I was about his interjection, as he spoke more. “Public space might feel safer, but you'd have to be chill with like… muffled bar sounds.”

While I tried to think of a way to respond, Zora perked up enough to ask what time the bar opened tonight, an anxiety I hadn’t even worried about until she mentioned it. “We open whenever we feel like opening. It'll be a minute before anyone comes knocking,” Arthur’s flat voice retorted at her as I finally got my tongue in working order again. Not that it would matter, much. Arthur spoke again.

“You're not a problem. Don't think having a curse makes you a problem.”

It was like he could read my thoughts. Arthur had turned his head vaguely in my direction as he said it like he knew I was about to… I guess not necessarily argue, but close enough.

“Zora has a curse, a chunk of our patrons are cursed; Lots of people have curses,” the giant man continued as I just stood there, blinking, Zora casually glancing between the two of us. “The guy we're getting medicine from has like… seven or something ridiculous.”

“Not a bad guy, but…” Zora drawled. “He deserves his.”

Arthur cut back, a very faint hint of defensiveness though I’ll admit that the guy was nearly impossible to get any kind of read on most of the time. “Most of his. I'll argue a few in his favor. He's got garbage luck.”

Zora was just as quick. “That might be one of them.”

“Shit,” I uttered, getting both of their attentions off their banter for a moment. “I really didn’t know curses just… got around like that.” They were speaking so casually about it. Zora didn’t even look cursed, but Arthur knew and they were open enough about it to just tell a stranger? Well— ok, fair enough to point out that I was obviously cursed so like, yeah, probably a safe bet I’d be less likely to judge. The guy with a fucking collection of them sounded a bit much, but I guess if it’s helpful in giving him experience for the medicine stuff, maybe it’s a good thing?

I was about to rush headlong into a pile of questions that were probably… way too personal, when Arthur pulled me back with that deep, flat tone again. “Anyways, the point stands: No one should be making you feel like shit for that.”

This man had a frown that— I’m sure that even if I was at regular size— looked like it could turn someone to stone. It wasn’t directed at me, but god… he meant it.

He meant it, and that felt… that felt too good really to put into any words. At least at the time.

I had wanted to ask almost immediately what Zora’s curse was, but it just felt too personal. She was lucky; hers wasn’t as obvious as a doll-sized person crying on a bar-top in the middle of the day. I felt bad about making her open up about something she was easily able to hide like that. I focused instead on asking about curses in general, musing about how it seemed too taboo to talk about and that’s probably why I was so ignorant about how common it was. “Probably didn’t help that I was basically thrown out of a place for mine, so like—“

Arthur’s face scrunched up so fast and so dramatically I practically felt it. “Who kicked you out for being small?” He blurted, his sunglasses coming so close to looking directly at me that for a moment I was sure he could actually see. “That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.”

“Give us a name and we'd be happy to spread the word around our people,” Zora added firmly, nodding at me as her hands and arms moved in closer. I don’t know if she meant to, but it made me feel good instead of like I was about to get trapped or something. “We’ll make sure they don't get any business out of us.”

They were so fucking protective. Of me. Already.

I’d be lying if I said that didn’t make me feel guilty.

“I… uh… I don’t remember her name,” I lied, scratching at the back of my neck. I didn’t want to start a fight; if curses were that easy to get, I’m sure the witch would easily saddle me a few more if she found out I was smack-talking her business. She’d probably assume Cal’s eggs were thrown by me, too. Definitely not what I needed right now. “I wasn’t small when I saw her. She just wasn’t able to help with my curse. Was pretty nasty about it, but— it’s like— mine is probably different and that might’ve just been like… maybe she didn’t like…”

The last thing I wanted to do was make these people suddenly regret scraping me off of the concrete by telling them about my Faerie Bullshit(tm). But… I don’t know. Maybe they were cool about it? Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to prod a little?

“Is it… are there like, bad ways to get a curse?” I asked, immediately throwing my hands up in front of me defensively. “I only ask because that seemed to be, uh… her issue.”

The two giant people in front of me got to stewing over my question in a way that made me want to just go hide in the walls or something instead, in case they pieced together what had happened to me. What was actively still happening to me. “I mean… maybe? Probably… humans find a way to hate anything but… hm…” Zora mumbled.

“I guess if they thought you might bring more bad juju with you or something but… that's still pretty stupid…” Arthur droned. “Like… as long as you didn't get it for being a prick about something I don't know what the problem could be…”

Zora tilted her head at me and those giant eyes glanced me over. “I feel like people are more judgey about particular curses than like… origins.”

Arthur’s shrug and a gruff huffing noise didn’t even make me turn my head away from Zora as she watched me. “The vampires who took it willingly and trot around like they're hot shit are pretty fucking annoying but… I don't feel like that's an answer,” he said.

I was feeling more and more awkward as the conversation continued, and my body was really starting to ache as I just stood there. I kind of wanted to sit down again, but putting myself back on the sweater under my feet seemed pretty daunting given how messed up I was.

“None of it is any more taboo than you make it out to be. For some people it depends on the curse or the circumstance.” I really wanted to tell her again that she was good at this. She was making me feel better, no matter how my face probably looked at the time. “Werewolves still get a lot of undue shit in some places, but y'know, people are hard to convince when they’re scared. A lot of it is dying out as we modernize.”

I had never heard Vampires and Werewolves talked about like they were people. I didn’t want to say anything; again— came from a shit community with shit people around me who thought drug addicts deserved to suffer because they had sinned and shit and left it at that. If you were good and just and made the Right Decisions, nothing bad would ever happen to you.

“Basically,” Arthur cut in as his arms slid out on the bar, very careful to not come near to where I was, “it's no more taboo than talking about any sort of disability, and that has variances. To combat this, we don't let assholes in. That works pretty well.”

“I appreciate you not letting assholes in.” It was all I could really think to say; if I had woken up to being poked at by a bar full of people who were going to be judgey at me for what happened— I mean, it was bad enough trying to find the courage to talk to these people who had already been so incredibly nice about it. Zora’s arms seemed to shift just a little closer around me as she leaned down more to my level, her voice getting softer.

“You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Like, I get that you might want information but.. you don't have to give out what you don't want to.”

It took me a second for the words to really hit, but when they did I think I may have actually deflated. “Thanks…” I managed, taking a deep breath and smiling up at her. “Honestly. That… that means a lot, to hear. I definitely want to get answers, but… now’s probably not the best time.”

Pretty sure there was someone at that exact moment wondering where that stain on their shoe came from so… yeah. Probably an indicator that I could wait on any intense information digging. Speaking of digging, though…

“Would…” I started quietly, after turning to stare at the phone again, the icons having shifted place as most messages had rolled in in the peace of silent-mode. “Would it be ok to add you as friends or anything?” God, I sounded like I was 14 again. “It’s cool if not. I just… if I can talk to you guys and stuff, I’d love to come back here when things aren’t as… zonked, I guess. For me, I mean.”

I hadn’t even finished asking when Zora swung a massive arm up the bar to get a napkin and slide it down, Arthur groping around under the bar to get a pen. Before long, I was punching in their info to my account on her giant phone to add them both. It gave me a reason to get off of my inbox for a bit, at the very least, and that did wonders for how I was feeling. Well, that, and Zora offering again that I could lay low here or with her, and that the offer was always open.

I straight-up told her that that would be nice, even if just to get me out of the house sometime with someone who knows, who isn’t as likely to like… explode about it. Fuck, who knows how long it would be before I’d be allowed out again though. I was part way through suggesting that if she liked coffee I had very recently discovered a nice spot we could try, when Madge burst back in in a flurry and nearly scared the daylights out of me.

“Good god, Jasper is a chattering fool,” she was grumbling as she swept back toward the rest of us with vials in her hand.

“See, it’s not all my fault,” Arthur’s flat voice had managed to become comforting to me that quickly.

“You do not help,” Madge shot at him as she plopped a vial with a thick, pale-yellow goo in it on the bartop near us. “This is the one we were missing,” she said, her voice less loud now that she was close to me. It was appreciated. She seemed like the kind of woman who could knock a wall down with a few words if she really needed to. “Jasper recommends getting a bit on the end of a toothpick and stirring it into something for this sort of scene.”

“What does this one do?” Zora raced me to the question.

“Mends light fractures faster,” Madge said, sending my eyebrows straight up. “He’s not a miracle worker, but it’s a godsend if you can get it in ya early.” She turned to me, that quick flick of her eyes scanning me up and down though it was less aggressive-staring like I was kind of used to and more of that same concern that Zora was giving me. “Is the cold stuff helping at all?”

I stammered like an idiot. “Oh—uh— yes. Yeah, like… loads. My body doesn’t feel like it’d rather jettison my limbs than move them, which is nice.” To be fair to myself, I was way more focused on the magic potion vial. “Damn,” I breathed, staring at it. “I should’ve been checking out magic shops way before this.”

Madge was happy to hear the blue-goo was working, and she quickly set out another vial with a clearer liquid that was kind of… maroon? Just a pain-killer type of deal, apparently, which I was pretty excited for until…

“The nature of these,” she explained as she picked up my tiny cup from nearby, “is that they’re gonna taste real funky, just less-so when you mix them up.”

Arthur shrugged as he stopped leaning on the bartop. “I always feel like rum covers it best, but we’ve got other options.”

“I mean, carbonation does a decent job also,” Zora said with her own shrug.

“Either way, what drink would you like to taste like a foot so we can do this?” Madge asked so swiftly and so bluntly I blurted into a laugh instantly. That seemed to brighten the mood a little.

“I mean… a little bit of rum and coke won’t make this any worse, I think,” I said, still chuckling with a shrug. Arthur was already on the move to the back wall to start running his hands across the bottles before I even mentioned what I was looking for. It wasn’t like I was going to be driving BillTron home tonight; I’d need Cal to come with me or get one of the others to take my keys once they were back to a usable size again, and—

Cal.

“Um, Madge?” I asked, turning back to Zora’s phone and flicking it back to the inbox and the message previews again. “Did you… see anybody outside? Maybe acting weird? Dirty blonde hair, usually wears a beanie. They might’ve biked…”

Madge cut me off before I could spiral into worry about Cal. “The one walking in circles and not watching where he’s going? We may have met. Friend of yours?”

Why did that make my blood go cold? I nodded, and jumped a little as one of Zora’s hands slid closer to me again. She was looking at me with a worried stare. “Do you need more time?” She asked. “Do you need us to cover for you?”

I’m sure I made some kind of concerning noise as my brain ground to a halt, my heart going through the worst kind of cardio exercises yet again. “Uh… yes. Wait— no. Cal is… Cal is good.” Zora bit her lip at me as she listened, and her expression kind of said it all; I was as confident as a cat on a sinking boat and it was obvious. “They’ll be… fine! They definitely need to know where I am at some point, just…”

Now I absolutely knew I was making a noise as some kind of pathetic whining escaped me. Zora’s hand crept a little closer and I reached out to touch it if only for something to help ground myself. She rubbed her thumb against my back, and it was actually… reassuring, like someone patting my back. I didn’t know if she meant to do it intentionally, but I appreciated it all the same. I looked up at her again. “Just… follow my lead if I feel like I need to invent some kind of relation to keep them chill? I’m sorry— I promise they’re the better one out of everyone but just… I’m so sorry.”

“Please don’t apologize,” Zora replied as Madge looked on with noted confusion. I had forgotten she wasn’t here for the other two telling me they thought my friends were trash. “It’s going to be fine. We’ll help however we can.”

“So… should I go get him?” Madge asked.

Zora nodded with me. “Her friends should probably know she’s not dead.”

“Don’t tell him the password,” Arthur said over his shoulder. I was on the verge of asking if they actually had a password when Madge snorted out a laugh and headed towards the exit.

“Fine, I’ll leave it open,” she said, Arthur nodding vaguely in response as Madge disappeared out the door and back up the stairs. He placed a tumbler I could’ve soaked myself in near me and Zora with a container of toothpicks.

“Can you finish this?” He asked Zora, who had already picked up my tiny glass and a straw and was filling it for me. She seemed like she had done this dozens of times before as she used the toothpicks to swirl the medicine carefully into the glass and handed it back to me.

She had warned me not to think too much about the taste, and I had said I’d manage to get it down with way more confidence than was accurate. On the first big gulp I took the smell and awful… pre-after-taste? Hit me like an overflowing garbage truck. Zora pressed against me as I leaned back into her hand and plugged my nose to get through the rest of it. The painkiller part kicked in practically instantly, I just wished it did it’s thing on tastebuds too. Something something, beggars and choosers, something. I handed back the glass as me and Zora chuckled at how awful the stuff was, Arthur putting everything back in it’s place on the back wall when Madge re-entered with Cal.

“This one belong to you?” She asked from across the room, looking at me. Cal’s eyes were dodging to every dark corner of the bar, hunched and tense. I’d seen the look before; they absolutely thought they were being led into a murder basement.

It took me a second of staring to clock the weird feeling of massive relief at seeing one of my best friends and the chilling feeling of knowing how they were probably about to react to seeing me. When their eyes finally landed on me I kind of snapped back out of it and reached into my pocket for the amplifying stone and activated it, waving at them awkwardly from the bartop. “Hey, Cal…”

Zora jumped slightly, which caused me to jump only because I had still been leaning on her hand when it happened. She recovered pretty fast from the volume change though, moving her hand away as Cal immediately turned into the limp-spaghetti person I’ve always known. “Oh thank fucking God,” they blurted. “You’re actually here.”

They squared back up almost instantly, the relief short-lived as Cal glanced between Zora and Arthur with a concerned stare. I couldn’t blame them, Arthur had spun around on hearing Madge enter again and was leaning against the back bar with his arms folded, head toward the doorway. “…You good, or—“ Cal started to ask.

“I’m good, I’m good!” I called in a vague panic as Madge left Cal by the door and headed to stand next to Arthur. “They’re fine, it’s good!”

They didn’t relax much, but they felt at least ok enough to start approaching the bar.

“Hey there,” Zora said in a friendly greeting that was notably on the tense side, at least compared to how she had been before Cal walked in. “Nice to meet you, I’m Zora.”

“Hey, I’m Cal.”

I looked up at Zora to try and soothe her a little. “Me and Cal have been close friends for a long while. We come from the same neck of the woods.”

Cal’s awkward reply uh… undid any of the progress I had made in that regard as they said: “She uhhh… wasn’t always like this, heh.”

So if there’s one thing I always kind of hated with being small, it was being the topic of conversation for two people who were literally towering over you, who were talking like you weren’t even there. Like they had forgotten about you. The way Zora’s eyes kind of narrowed at Cal, I felt like I was maybe about to experience that again.

“Yeah,” Zora drawled awkwardly before brightening back up almost suspiciously fast. “she’s told us herself. But it’s not as if that would’ve prevented you from being friends, yeah?”

“I mean,” Cal replied with their crooked grin, “it’d have been hard to see her, mostly.”

I let out a reactive, polite laugh as Cal laughed at their own joke at a volume that I hadn’t had to worry much about for the last… well, however long I had been on a bar. The joke… didn’t go over well with everyone else. Zora’s face barely twitched, but Arthur was in the back trying to put both corners of his mouth through the floorboards, Madge also making an uncomfortable and displeased face as she put herself a bit more in front of Arthur. Like… it was awkward. I get it. This was just Cal though, it was fine.

…Wasn’t it?

“This is Arthur and Madge,” Zora said with a quick motion toward them, as if trying to get Cal to look at the two in case they might clue in. “They own the place, I just work here sometimes.” The three gave awkward waves, Cal as oblivious as ever still. My stomach was fixing to jump right out onto the sweater I was still standing on if this continued to get any more tense. Being an unseen spec on the bar top wasn’t helping my mood either. That was, until Zora spoke again, nodding down at me. “We met Daphne outside and offered some assistance.”

Zora’s description of what went down relaxed me so much, I found myself letting out a breath I had no idea I was holding. “Yeah, Zora’s been an incredible help, she got me inside after the zonk,” I said, turning to try and get Cal’s attention again. “Thanks for coming, my phone died and—“

“Wait,” Cal blurted, loudly, turning and blinking at me as if they suddenly remembered that I was here; that I was the reason they even came here. “How did you zonk?” I don’t even know if I had time to stammer something out before they talked over me again. “I thought you said it ended this morning?”

“No—no! It did end!” I said, trying to explain. “It happened again while I was out!”

Cal gestured in confusion toward me, their arms entering my airspace in big sweeps. “Why did you leave? Without telling anyone?”

Panic. It was mild, but it was just the start. I knew this was going to happen, I knew this was going to go to shit. God. What made me feel worse about it was knowing that this was how Zora was going to have to learn that I’m an idiot; by watching me get chewed out for every stupid decision I made. “I thought I had a few days, I usually have a few days… I just wanted to go get a haircut and a coffee an—“

Cal leaned down so fast to look at me I almost jumped backwards, worried I was going to choke on my own words. “Holy shit,” they muttered, their brow furrowed and looking extremely concerned as their massive eyeballs bounced up and down to look at me. “What happened to you?”

Their fingers and thumb gripped me as their hand swept across the bar, and the panic set in completely. “Cal—“ I grunted out through some kind of barrage of pained noises, but it didn’t matter.

“Relax,” they said, moving to lift me while I flailed, “I just need to look—“

I must’ve blinked, because suddenly Zora’s arm was across almost the entirety of my view and Cal’s hand was springing open to drop me back onto the sweater. I staggered back as a massive wave of noise crashed over me from all sides, my chest heaving and sore as the painkiller potion tried to kick back in.

“Bro you’re hurting her,” Zora snapped like thunder overhead, leaning across as she held Cal’s arm with one hand, the other one sliding up behind me as I staggered straight back into it.

“Shit—“ Cal hissed in surprise.

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Madge was calling from the back of the bar where she was holding Arthur back with a fully extended arm against him.

“You can’t just grab someone who’s hurt like that!” Zora continued sharply. Her eyes were like they were on fire as she leaned even more over the bar to get right in Cal’s face. “Do you not hear her?”

“You shouldn’t just grab anyone, period,” Arthur was muttering from the back of the bar as Zora finally let go of Cal’s wrist and just barely backed off from them.

Cal was stammering, pale as a ghost and holding their arm in front of them like Zora had burned it. “Shit, shit— I didn’t know it was that bad— shit.”

My hands were cradling my sides where I had been pinched, rubbing them to help the numbing feeling of the potions come back faster as Zora looked down at me.

“You good?”

I nodded up at Zora, coughing faintly as I tried to speak again. “It’s ok,” I said, just repeating to try and stop whatever had just happened from happening again. “It’s ok, it’s ok—“

“Shit, I am so sorry, fuck— I—“ Cal was still panicking, looking between me and Zora with a massive face of regret and concern.

“I’m good, it just— it wasn’t bad bad it just… everything’s hurt already so—“ I said, glancing between all four of the gargantuan people in the bar.

“Are you sure?” Zora asked, her hand pressing against me a little as she looked me over again. “Do you need more water? Did we just negate the painkiller?”

I shook my head. “No, no, painkiller is still working. Water maybe would be good but it’s ok, it can wait a second.” I said, as Zora’s concerned face continued to check on me. “Cal didn’t know, it’s ok, they do that all the time,” I tried to explain.

They nodded rapidly in agreement with me, hopefully cluing in that I was trying to save their ass. “Yeah,” they said, quickly. “That’s normal, I just didn’t know she was hurt— shit, what happened though?”

“You are aware,” Arthur’s blunt voice from the back got mine and Cal’s attentions quickly, “that saying this is normal makes it so much worse, right?”

“It shouldn’t matter that she’s hurt,” Zora added. “You don’t just do that to someone.”

My mouth opened to try and defend Cal. That was the original intent, I know it was. Cal’s my friend, I don’t know the rest of these people from a hole in the ground. But as my mouth opened while I was still staring at the intense frown on Arthur’s face, my brain just said one thing: Arthur was right. They were all right. I had hated getting picked up without being asked, I had hated getting grabbed. I had hated being pulled and carried around without anyone listening if I did bother to say anything, and literally no one had ever seemed to… care how I felt about it.

As I watched Cal jerk back a little with every single thing Zora said to them, my instinct was to try and defend them. But as Zora’s hand curled around me a little more, and gave me a safe place to just… breathe, that instinct went away.

“How on earth would you like that?” Zora snapped again, her voice sharp but still so much quieter than Cal’s had been. “Someone just squeezing your whole body with no thoughts at all?”

“I— it—“ Cal stammered, flinching as the barrage kept coming. “I didn’t think—“

“If she’s your friend you should at least treat her like a human fucking being.”

“It’s just what I’ve always done so I—?” Cal stuttered out.

“Saying that isn’t the cover you think it is,” Arthur said flatly, but I could see the veins on the side of the man’s head twitching as he leaned out over Madge’s arm. “You are admitting to garbage behavior, and I need you to understand how fucked up that is.”

Zora looked about ready to jump the bar after Cal as well.

“Zora, darling,” Madge’s voice came calmly from the back bar and cut them off as I moved a hand back behind me to rest on Zora’s palm, just to try and steady myself a little more. “He’s clearly an idiot, don’t get too angry. It’s to be expected.”

Cal shrank back at the comment, and then further as Zora muttered to Madge: “Well for fuck’s sake, it doesn’t take half a braincell to be decent.”

“You’ll have to forgive us,” Madge said sweetly, addressing Cal with a smile that looked from where I was standing like it could be hiding a series of knives behind it. “We have a deep respect for autonomy down here.”

I locked eyes with Madge briefly, mouthing a silent ‘thank you’ to her as Cal was finally calming down, now practically half way back to the exit after all of the shots they had just taken. “I uh… I get it, I think, I just—“ they started before turning to look at them all. “Fuck, I’m uh… I’m really sorry?”

“Well done on figuring it out at the dumbest possible time,” Madge said with that calm, sweet smile again. “It shouldn’t have taken this, but we’re glad you got there.”

Zora’s hand cupped around me a little more. I don’t know if during any of my bullshit episodes like this if I had ever been just… ‘held’ doesn’t even seem like the right word. Protected? This was new. It was new and it was nice and I liked it, especially right now as Zora’s voice sounded almost like a growl while she spoke to Cal again.

“Do not apologize to any of us. Don’t apologize because you feel like you’re in trouble. Apologize to her,” she nodded down at me and I pressed my hand further into her palm, “for not taking her humanity into consideration for two fucking seconds. You should feel terrible about that.”

Cal had practically withered away, and was somehow still managing to wither more. “I… fuck…” Their swearing was actually kind of soothing to me, only in that I only ever heard it happen like this before they had a pretty big attitude shift. For once, it seemed like that attitude shift would benefit me. “Garbage seems like a bit much but—“

I think they finally noticed Madge literally holding Arthur back and decided to abruptly shut up and change topic. They looked down at me finally. “Fuck, Daph… I didn’t realize. I’m sorry.” I smiled, feeling so much better about all of this with just those words. Then Cal kept talking. “You should’ve said something.”

I wondered, for a brief moment, if Cal would actually get murdered in front of me if I mentioned that I have absolutely said something, and been saying somethings this whole time. I leaned more into Zora’s hand only to keep it off of Cal’s throat. “Hey… it’s… this has been weird, and like—“ Y’know what? I’d like at least some praise for the fact that I could’ve been way more awkward about all of this and we only had to deal with this amount of awkward from me. “We’ll work on it,” I offered them. “I mean, you were getting better.”

“Oh,” Cal’s eyes glazed over and they muttered dumbly to themself. “That’s why you kept mentioning the whole-hand thing…”

I was desperate to change the topic before they got iced in front of me. “I got zonked in the middle of the sidewalk. That’s what happened to me, kinda.” That got their attention back pretty quickly. “I uh… wound up in the stairwell. Fell. It was rough but Zora got me inside. They’ve been treating me with some potions and things and I’ll be ok, I’m just… real rough right now.”

Cal’s brow furrowed and for a second I thought they’d been able to tell I wasn’t being totally honest. “Potions?” They asked bluntly, shaking their head before I could really take any relief from that change of topic. “Doesn’t matter. How long ago did this all happen?”

“Uhhhm…” I had no idea what time it still was. “Sometime before noon?”

“Where’s your car?”

“In the work garage…”

Cal let out an explosive breath that startled the shit out of me before I realized they were relieved. “Oh thank god, I don’t gotta feed a meter.” They whipped out their phone and started to type rapidly, my arm reaching out quickly like I was somehow gonna be able to do something— anything— to stop it. “We gotta get you home, the gang’s been losin’ it.”

“Don’t—!” Cal’s thumbs came to a halt so fast I thought I heard the sounds of tires screeching as they blinked at me. “Don’t tell them where I am, or anything. Just tell them you found me with friends.”

It was the best I could think of to try and stave off a massive party of screaming people storming into this bar and causing even more issue with these folks who had been kind enough to peel my corpse off the ground and bring me back to life. People who could actually help me and not just say they would. Cal stared at me and took a slow look around between everyone awkwardly. “Yeah, I mean… yeah, ok.”

Their eyes dropped back down to me, but moved to give Zora’s hand a long look before they went back to typing. I could tell Zora was still upset, her fingers were pretty tense and her breathing was like listening to an animal from here. “Offer’s still on the table,” she said to me, her voice a lot quieter. I appreciated that, even though I still wasn’t sure if I could take her up on it.

She still didn’t relax when suddenly Madge was approaching us with another glass of water for me in her fingers, still the calmest one here but the one I had a feeling I should be the most worried about.

“Would you like any of that medicine to take along with you? Just in case,” she asked as I took the water from her and started to guzzle it down. “You shouldn’t need more of the yellow stuff, but if you want a bit of the others for the pain, I can hook you up.”

“The blue stuff,” I managed, coming up for air and ignoring the concerned stares of Cal over their typing. “That’s wonderful, I’d love more of that if that would be ok. Especially because I don’t have to taste it.”

Madge smirked with a nod as she turned to get me the vial and another, smaller container to try and pour it into for me. “The red stuff… honestly I’ll take Tylenol or something when I’m home. It’s not the same but… it’s what we’ve got.”

“Crew’s, uh—“ Cal’s voice came quietly and I turned to see them glancing up at everyone in the room before they flashed me an uncomfortable grimace. “…glad you’re alive.”

I made the same face back. “Great,” I said as convincingly as I could manage, which I’ll admit wasn’t spectacular. Cal was trying to dodge getting more yelled-at by not telling me they were pissed, is my guess. “What uh… what did you tell them?”

“You’re with some friends. That you’re hurt.”

I stared and waited for more, which Cal seemed unwilling to give me until I gestured vaguely at the entirety of me. I needed to know if they had told the gang I was zonked or not. Cal groaned uncomfortably.

“Gem asked but I haven’t responded.”

I squirmed at the idea that I might leave here and wind up in a hand so much unlike Zora’s. I honestly tried not to think about it— how this hand could be just as bad as Gem’s with so little effort— and my stomach was starting to churn again. “Yeah, please just… hold off on that… at least for now.”

“She’s worried…” Cal drawled, whining.

“Please.” I said it more firmly this time, staring at them. “Don’t.”

With Gem fresh on my mind, I latched onto the only thing I could think of that might save me if I really started to panic. My head tipped back and bumped into Zora’s hand, getting her attention on me. “I uh…” I started awkwardly, really hoping she was going to follow along. “I know we had plans for today but uh… give me a minute to make sure I’m still good for them?”

It was instant. This girl was on the ball, and I couldn’t be more appreciative for it. “There’s no pressure in the slightest,” she said gently, “but know you have somewhere.” She smiled at me and I honestly believed for a second that this cool woman actually had plans with me. That she had actually wanted to make plans with me. I put my hand on the tip of one of her fingers, it just felt like the right thing to do.

“Thanks. I mean…” I figured I’d try to set up as much as I possibly could before leaving here, so I could at least look forward to getting more information that I needed. “We can always raincheck it. Loads of time to uh— go for coffee and food and stuff some other day.”

“Anytime, really,” she said back, her hand relaxing a little more around me. “I make my own schedule, so just shoot me a text and we’ll make it happen.”

When I looked back at Cal I saw them glancing between me and Zora with a weird face, but if there was anything worth talking about they seemed willing to wait. “Is it uh…” they drawled, looking around the room. “Is it cool if I pull up a stool, or something?”

Madge turned to look Cal over up and down a few times with a hard stare, pausing in her search for something to put blue goo in for me.

“We’re not open,” she said simply.

Cal jammed their hands in their pockets, something they always did to try and make them look less nervous, but they always just wound up looking more awkward. I felt a little bad for them. They went back to looking at their phone as I found new appreciation for how warm Zora’s hand was.

“Gem’s uh…” they started awkwardly after a second. “She’s pretty insistent that I answer her…”

“She can wait,” Arthur’s voice cut bluntly from the back.

I shivered a little as I shook my head. “Keep her on read for a—“

Wait. I knew that shiver.

“Oh, shit— sorry, sorry—“ I stammered out as I pushed out of Zora’s hand stiffly, swooping down with some pained grunts while grabbing my coat and putting the empty water glass down on the sweater. “I’m gonna bamf, hang on—“ I tried to explain as the air started to fill with concerned noises and Zora’s hand seemed to freeze in mid-air in concern.

I basically had to fall into a sitting position, and it was just barely on time as my legs suddenly shout out straight over the edge of the bar and I had the momentary dizziness I always do. My eyes closed tight while I waited for the ringing to leave my ears, reaching in to deactivate the amplifying spell before muttering probably a thousand quick sorries and sliding off the bar.

I would’ve probably expected and not felt so bad about Madge and Zora staring at me and assuming it was just because they hadn’t seen Full-Sized Me before, if it weren’t for Cal also staring at me, all three of them with wildly different expressions. My eyes dropped to my shoes as I hugged my jacket to me. Pretty sure I looked like I lost a cage-match against Ronda Rousey.

“…….Oh.” Zora’s voice came eventually and I looked back up at her awkwardly. Her eyes were wide. The first thing that struck me was just how god damn cool and pretty she was at normal size. It had been obvious from zonk-land, but it’s just… different when you’re all the same size again. We stared at each other a second before she spoke again. “…Hello.”

I shifted my weight awkwardly on my legs. I was about to say hello back when her hands landed on me, having jumped up from her stool. “Oh, geez,” she muttered, suddenly focused on me and trying to help me stand properly. “Are you alright? You got this?”

“I’m good, yeah… just… y’know,” I muttered with a chuckle as I let her help me for a second, even if it was kind of embarrassing, “a little bit damaged.”

Zora seemed to find it awkward and embarrassing too, taking her hands away as soon as I was on my feet kind of properly again and looking away quickly. She smiled, though, and that made me feel less bad. “Heh… just a little bit damaged. It looked dramatic already but… woof.” She winced as she looked me over again. “You’ll feel better after a bath, I’ll bet.”

I muttered awkwardly, leaning a bit closer to her to make sure she could hear. “Uhhh… baths are dangerous, for me. More dangerous than I thought, apparently. At least before today.” She flinched a little and gave me a small nod and smile of understanding.

Cal was next to us suddenly, rushing over after they had stopped staring. “Jesus Daph,” they breathed. “Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital?”

My heart entered my throat so fast I couldn’t get out any words about how terrifying I found the idea that I might go to a hospital and then suddenly zonk. “No, no—“ I stammered, shaking my head. “It’s just bruising and stuff. If it’s bad or anything tomorrow, or I notice anything worse… I’ll call my doctor or something.”

Cal stared at me, their mouth opening to argue.

“I promise, Cal,” I said, staring right back at them. “I will.”

They backed down a bit. “Alright, but…” their eyes swept with a whole head movement this time as they looked me over again. “Shit. Looks like you got shook up for a round of yahtzee.”

My stomach flipped at the size-joke, even though Cal obviously hadn’t meant it for a laugh. Honestly, that just made me a bit more uncomfortable— they just thought of that size as normal enough to talk about like that. Ugh. I looked myself over again, wondering if anything would’ve changed between being small and being tall. “It… it really does seem like it’s just bruising but…”

My eyes moved back to Zora with a sad smile. “I… I should probably head home to rest. I’ll, uh… I’ll hit you up as soon as I’m on my computer again and we can rebook? For coffee and lunch or something?”

She flashed a sad smile back at me, her eyes shining. God, she was gorgeous. I can’t believe I bothered her so much today with my dumb mistakes. “Please do,” she said. “No rush, no pressure, but I’ll definitely keep an eye out for it.” I grinned, she was really, really good at this. “I’d… I would definitely love to chat more.” She honestly made me believe it. This woman really wanted to help me out, for real. This was enough to make my heart pound against my chest— finally, answers.

Before I could launch into solidifying plans here and now for a coffee date, just to make sure this opportunity at curse-breaking didn’t slip through my fingers, Madge was next to me carefully putting the whole blue-goo vial in my hand. It had a beautiful, chilly feeling to it. “Take the whole thing,” she said warmly. I really liked Madge. “It’s just a hop and a skip for us to get more.”

“Thanks so much, Madge,” I said, literally feeling like things might be about to get better— really get better— in my life. “I’ll pay it off with a drink tab and some point, I hope.”

Madge took my hand in hers and patted it gently, like my Great Aunt used to. “You are absolutely invited to do just that. Pleasure to meet you today, even under rough circumstances.”

The idea of being able to come to a place outside of my house… outside Gem’s house… where I could be normal, even just a little bit, and even if I was zonked was… god I don’t know if they made words strong enough for it. Liberating seemed too shallow.

Then, slowly, Cal’s arm slid around my shoulder. Very slowly, and carefully. I don’t know if that was because I was hurt, or because they didn’t want to get torn apart by Zora and Arthur and probably Madge. “C’mon,” they said quickly. “Think you’re good to drive or should I get Mak to pick us up?”

My heart sank immediately. I didn’t want to see any of them. God, it was going to be an actual disaster. But I also, honestly, couldn’t trust myself to drive. “Uhhh… yeah. Pick-up is the smart idea.” I turned to Cal with the sharpest look I could manage. “Tell Gem I’m regular sized, by the way. Just… just that.”

Cal gave me a hesitant nod. “Ok. I will. If you’re sure.”

“Very sure.”

Cal started to lead me out of the bar, and I smiled and waved as cheerfully as I could manage to fake it to the three of them as we headed for the exit. My eyes landed on Arthur and I almost jerked to a halt to talk to him. “Arthur!”

He perked up and turned in our direction. I didn’t quite know how to read him, still, even at regular-size. I didn’t know the best way to say thanks.

“…Keep set 3 clean for me.” Seemed good enough. “You make good potion-cover.”

A tiny smile crossed his features with a quick nod. “Of course. Zora will give you the password.”

“I will,” Zora added with enthusiastic nodding. “Don’t worry.” She gave me a little wave goodbye. “Let me know you’re alright. Talk to you soon.”

I felt myself blush a little. I get to learn a secret password to a magic bar, and Zora actually wanted to talk to me more. “Talk to you soon,” I said back, waving as Cal helped me through the door and toward the stairs.

Now it was just a matter of getting home.

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