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“Now’s as good a time as any since there’s nothing we can do about my back, but I have no clothes to go anywhere in. Nori stole my clothes, remember? If I shifted right now I would be completely naked and that would be awkward for everyone.” Seige said standing up, his back feeling slightly better.
He noticed he was hungry, ‘I need to stop by a butcher shop sometime soon.’ His stomach growled at the thought of fresh food. ”Can we get some food while we’re out?” |
"Hm, well of course we can get some food... but you can't walk around naked or as a Cinsaid," Gin replied and mixed a few thoughts in. Her eyes slowly slid to Sade, who was inspecting a new blender, running his fingers over the buttons with a very blank expression. "Sade!"
"Hm--what?" He didn't look up but moved onto the fridge. Upon opening it, his jaw dropped. "They even cleaned the stains in here. Sons of..." "Sade... can we borrow a bath robe or something?" She asked sweetly. "Yeah sure," he mumbled, not really listening. "I just don't understand who would do this..." She looked at Seige and grinned. "Well... we have a few options. Come upstairs with me." |
Seige eyed Sade, looked at Gin then eyed Sade again,”I’m not sure anything will fit me but we can try.” His back had returned to normal, a dull tingling feeling so he followed her upstairs, accidentally bumping his head on the door frame before reaching the first step.
‘Ugh, I’m not made for stairs, this is difficult.’ |
"You're probably right," she said over her shoulder as she approached the closet. "But... we could always try a robe. No one will think you're strange in this city for wearing nothing more." He could probably get away with wearing nothing but a pair of Sade's boxers.
The closet was pristine. Polo shirts (Sade didn't wear much else) and pants hung neatly on hangers. Two pairs of shoes were lined up on the floor next to a stack of blankets. Gin wondered why he had so many. The image of Seige wearing all those blankets made her chortle as she thumbed through the clothes. "I'm not really sure what I'm looking for," she said more to herself than to Seige. And then, on an entirely different note, said, "I can't believe you cleaned up here, too." |
“Yes I did. I like to be clean.” Seige replied looking over her shoulder into the closet not seeing anything big enough for him.
“You know,” a thought had just occurred to him,” I could save you some hassle if you’re not arachnophobic. I could turn into a really small spider and stay in your pocket or on your shoulder or something like that until we get there.” |
Gin spun around. "You can get that small?" Her eyes widened with disbelief. "I had no idea..." Nodding, she said, "Yes. Let's do that."
Why didn't he tell me sooner? It would have saved us trouble. Ah well... he probably didn't think of it at first is all. "And I suppose you can sit wherever you're comfortable," she offered. In truth, she had never been a friend to spiders, but she could make an exception for Seige. |
“Yes I can be as small as I want but can’t get any bigger than twice the size I am now. It’s same with my scorpion form too.”Seige said. “And I’ll be sitting on your shoulder or shoe, there’s less chance of me being squished that way, so I need you to pick me up and put me on your shoulder unless your shoe will work, but there’s a very large chance I’ll get lost or killed that way.”
He decided the best size would be about 1/4 in, shifted to a spider then started shrinking. When he was done he was a small green spider with black markings that looked like a face. |
Gin watched in utter amazement and fascination as the transformation occurred. Maybe she should start believing in curses if this was possible. At first, she only stared at the little green spider but quickly snapped out of it and lowered her hand to life him to her shoulder. "That was amazing," she said softly as if her voice might make him disappear.
The walk to her apartment took about ten minutes, maybe a little less because she walked quickly. If she noticed a breeze, she quickly put her hand up to shield Seige from it. Her heart raced the entire way. She was absolutely terrified of him getting hurt or killed. Nature could be cruel to smaller creatures. As she walked, she also wondered how she would explain him to Malia. The woman would probably flip when he walked in. |
Seige wished he could thank her you every time there was a breeze and she shielded him, as he was so small it was hard for him to hang on and a breeze to a normal person was like a F5 tornado to him. The first time she did though he irrationally thought she forgot it was him and was going to squish him.
Ringing on her shoulder was fun though, not something he’d want to do again but it was still, even if most of what he could see was an earlobe and hair. |
She pounded on Malia's door. They had to stand around for a few minutes as she rushed to put on clothes. The woman who finally answered the door had black dreadlocks tied back with a red handkerchief and surprisingly blue eyes against the darkest skin Gin had ever seen.
“How ya be doin’ my friend?” Malia asked in her deep, musical voice before engulfing her in strong arms. She sucked in her breath and squirmed away, hoping Seige wasn’t hurt during the hug. “Careful,” she yelped. The woman’s head jerked back a little and her forehead wrinkled a little with confusion. “Did ya hurt yer back or somethin’?” “No, no,” she said quickly with a nervous laugh. “I have a friend…” Malia looked past her, rocking to each side without finding a thing. “Where?” “Funny story, actually,” Gin began, her words coming slowly. “You see, my friend… is a spider right now.” “Yer friend is a spider?” With fists against her hips, she cocked her head doubtfully. “I haven’t heard dat one before.” “Me either, heh.” She tugged at a curl. |
Seige had to scramble around onto the back of Gin’s neck when Malia gave her a hug and just barely made it in time. He was getting tired of being so small, he longed to be somewhere else, even home where he didn’t need to hide.
‘Hurry Gin, I’m tired of being a speck.’ He thought knowing she wouldn’t hear him. |
“Please let us in,” Gin begged, clasping her hands together. “I promise you won’t think I’m crazy once I explain.”
Malia gave her a hard stare before stepping aside and jutting an arm out as if to allow her a grand passage. “Living room. Now.” She hurried to the sofa and sat down. “Okay Seige,” she said softly. “Now would be a good time to show yourself. I’m not sure I can explain.” |
Seige had to stop and think of what the best thing to do was, what was the way to do this where there was minimal freaking out? After a second of no ideas, he decided there wasn’t one.
As he increased in size he crawled off her onto the sofa once big enough that he wasn’t squishable anymore he jumped on to the floor to continue the transformation back to comfort. Once he was done he turned to Gin. “That was an interesting experience. Thank you Gineja for making sure I didn’t die, those breezes are like tornados when you’re that small.” Then unwillingly turned to face Malia, dreading what he thought would follow. |
Malia screamed. And screamed. And screamed. She ducked behind the kitchen counter and grabbed a fly swatter. Brandishing it like a sword, she screamed again and then, threw it at Seige. “Damn it Gin! Get that thing out of here!”
Gin shook her head and remained seated on the sofa. “I told you my friend was a spider.” She stood and went towards Malia as she spoke, “It’s okay. Seige is really nice.” |
He thought it would be bad but hadn’t imagined any kind of reaction like this. Seige was frozen with shock until Malia’s flyswatter hit him on the arm.
“Um, Gin? Do I need to leave or something? Is there anything I can do to make her stop?” He was concerned she might die of shock, a heart attack, or a stroke, besides, the screaming was going through his head like a knife. |
Malia clutched her shirt above her heart with her hand, chest rising and falling quickly. “Dear God, I’ve never seen anythin’ like dat,” she said, pressed against the fridge. “What da hell did ya bring into my place, Gin?” She had stopped screaming, but panic remained in her eyes.
“Well, Seige is a Cinsaid. And he needs clothes. And you are really good at that sort of thing.” She shrugged. “I’m sorry to spring this on you… but he’s… really tall, and when he said he needed clothes… I thought of you.” “Dat’s all very fine and well, but I don’t know about dis.” Shaking her head, she let her hand drop to her side and stopped clutching the handle on the fridge door. “Are ya sure he’s friendly?” Gin nodded quickly. “Yes, he’s very sweet. Right, Seige?” |
Siege watched the two with concern, Malia looked like she was going to stroke out but he didn’t want to scare her by coming any closer, to stop himself from subconsciously doing so he sat down.
He was concentrating on the woman behind the counter so hard that he completely missed part of what was going on and only caught the last part. “Right, I wouldn’t harm a human unless I was in mortal danger.” |
“Why doesn’t he just get a very large shirt?” Malia was beginning to calm down, but she didn’t dare step any closer to him until she was sure he was friendly as Gin had assured her he was.
“Well, he can be human, too. And pants are hard to come by in his size. Well, you don’t come by them, actually. Anyways, he needs something that looks nice on him. A baggy t-shirt would look ridiculous,” she rambled on a little like the woman she was. “Please, Malia. You are a brilliant seamstress, and I know you can do this.” She looked hesitant for a moment but finally nodded. “Alright. I’ll need some measurements, though… human measurements.” “Thank you!” She practically tackled her neighbor. “I told you she would help, Seige!” Gin turned to the Cinsaid, smiling. “And I’m sure she’ll like you soon enough.” “Just warn me next time ya change into somethin’ else,” Malia said snappily. |
Seige grinned widely when Malia agreed to make him some clothes. ”Thank you, and I will warn you next time. We only did that so we could come here. I don’t exactly blend in like this,” he motioned to himself, “And I’d just get arrested if I walked over here naked.”
Turning to Gin, with a wry smile he said”I’m sure she will, most people like me sooner or later.” |
"No kidding," Malia said with a slight amused smile. "Well, den it's a good thing ya came as a little spider." She began digging around in a junk drawer as she spoke. Her muscles were still tense, and when she found a tape measurer, she rolled her shoulders back to ease the tightness.
“Alright,” she took an uneasy step around the counter. “I’ve never measured someone so tall before.” Gin sat back down on the sofa, suddenly remembering how tired she still was. She had only slept a few hours before. “If it’s alright with you, I think I may just take a nap while you two figure this out.” Malia gulped. “Ya, ya… dat’s fine.” She crept closer to Seige, her hands shaking a little. "Just let's yer arms fall normally," she said, edging to his side to measure his arm. She caught sight of the wound on his back and immediately stepped away. "My God, what happened to yer back?" |
“I saved a human woman from our hunters. My father despises all humans so by I saving the woman I committed one of the highest crimes and got flogged with a cursed whip 50 years ago. The whip lays a curse on the person being flogged that prevents the affected area from ever completely healing. Since it was my father who did it I feel like I’m being beaten again every time he touches it while thinking about me.” He said wincing at the memory of what happened to the woman after his father was done with him, she was never killed but he thought death would have been a better what had happened to her.
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Malia winced. “I’ll do my best to be gentle, then, hon.” She snatched a pad of paper and pencil from the coffee table and jotted down a measurement, not at all surprised by the excessive length considering Seige was… lengthy. “Lift up yer arms a little so I can measure yer chest.”
Gin had been watching tiredly from where she sat with her cheek against a pillow. She wanted to sleep so badly. Her eyes felt as if there were semi trucks hanging off her eyelashes. But it seemed sleep would not come that easily. Longing for her own bed, she suddenly stood and walked towards the door. “Just knock on my door when you’re done,” she said over her shoulder. “I really need to get some sleep.” "Go on," Malia said, waving her away. Then, she turned her attention back to Seige. "Tell me hon, where do ya come from anyways?" Conversation made her feel more comfortable as long as it was smooth. For that reason, she decided not to ask questions about why his father hated humans, though she did wonder. |
Siege sat and obeyed her orders, watching her work,” It doesn’t hurt, you know, it just tingles like when your foot falls asleep and it’s waking up again. Anyway, I’m from the forest on the edge of the city.”
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A wide grin arched across her face, carrying into her eyes and making them gleam. “The forest, ya? No kidding. It’s beautiful out dere. Why would ya come here?” She looked up at him curiously for a moment before scribbling down a few more numbers and measuring his neck and under his arms down his side.
After she wrote down all the measurements, she asked, “What color do ya prefer?” |
“I was banished for saving two humans and then fighting with my father, the king, about it.”Seige said looking at her.
Wishing he knew what happened to the woman, and knowing she lived in this city he asked “Did you perchance ever hear of a woman named Dawn Monday?” “Any color that will suitably cover my body.” He answered. |
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