"And I keep telling you Tinkerbell isn't real..." Spark sighs, leading the inquisitive young Alexis Cole into their house, a place that looked to be even more and truly out of a fairy tale, built inside a hollowed out tree stump, but adorned with many modern and even human appearing features. Still, as the group toured the dwelling of Spark, Lark & Mark, it didn't take Lexi too long to notice that sister Lark was wearing dark green and had long blonde hair to match.
"Of course, of course, you don't want me to know ..." Lexi would smile smugly, before pointing out her observations, "plus Lark ... if that is your real name ..."
"...No I'm not her..." Lark sighed, "everybody LOVED to compare me to her in grade school because I like the color green and I have blonde hair ... as if that's the ONLY fairy to have ever existed"
"and she didn't even really exist!" Spark sighed, "I swear, that danged Disney movie has been the bane of our existence..."
Mark gave Lexi a bit of a look of discomfort, non-verbally urging her to drop the topic.
"Heh ... sorry" Lexi shook her head, trying to regain some of that "superhero" composure she was shooting for. After all, she was to be the ... fairy savior! Fairy Guardian? Friend of the Fairies? Surely some of this might have looked good on a future resume.
"Can I just say?" the enthusiastic Spark commented. She seemed to be the most similar to Lexi of the 3 fairies, "I LOVE your boots ... the purple is just ... wow! Like it pops, but it's not tacky or anything"
"Th-Thanks" Lexi nodded, "I love purple, maybe I can recommend some to you ... do they have a mall in the uh ... fairy colony? My apologies, I don't know too much about all this, I'm still new to the idea of shrinking"
"How long you been doing that??" Lark asked
"Hmmm, not even a year now... started 6 months ago with this weird science experiment gone wrong..." Lexi explained, "the whole thing is honestly kind of a blessing and a curse ... I mean, it scares me sometimes ... I ... I ..."
Oh no, not here ... Lexi thought to herself, beginning to momentarily feeling dizzy, she'd grab for a chair she saw in the distance but fall just short of it, slumping herself up to try to grab onto the chair leg and get up. Spark and Lark would help her up while Mark just watched on in a bit of shock.
"Whoa whoa, ShrinkGirl..." Spark whimpered, helping her to a sitting position as Lexi's vision and orientation slowly returned, "You okay there, hon?"
"It could be the sudden introduction of fairy magic into her system from being around us..." Mark suggested
"Or maybe she needs some water..." Lark added, before turning to Mark, "Mark, get her some water"
Mark grumbled while he went off to do so.
Lexi on the other hand knew it may be more serious than that. She had tried to keep it to herself, but she was getting more and more of those dizzy spells lately. It could be a result of her shrinking powers or maybe something else. Perhaps she just needed more sleep or something. Either way she shook her head, briefly putting her hand on Spark's ruby colored bracelet and patting it to say thanks
"Th-Thanks hon... and you guys can call me ... L-Lexi..." the tired girl stuttered, "I'm not gonna hide anything from ya ... after all, you've been kind enough to take me into your homes and all..."
Spark gave her a kindhearted smile and Lark even nodded a bit, coming around on the newcomer human who could just happen to adapt her size to theirs. In short time, Mark returned with the water and offered it to Lexi in what appeared to be a leaf all wrapped up into the shape of a cup. It was surprisingly sturdy enough to hold the water without wilting or dripping under the weight of it.
"Thanks, Mark ... and thanks all of you" Lexi nodded, "You all rock..."
----------
At the Minitropolis Mall, it was Leah Henderson and Josh James having similar thoughts but about something else
"Oh wow, this really rocks ... you think Lexi will like it?" Josh asks, looking intently at something that Leah was carrying in her hands as they walked towards the metalworking shop that Lexi herself had visited not too long ago for her wrist gauntlets.
"Psh, she better ... this thing hasn't been cheap to make ..." Leah smirked, admiring her own handiwork as they carried it in to share with their friend Taylor behind the counter, "...I've had to call in a few favors but it's going to be worth it. I plan to give it to Lex as a Valentine's Day gift ..."
"Heh, nice..." Josh commented, "s-say ... maybe we could say it's from both of us?"
"I ... I guess" Leah shrugged, not really seeing the point, "I mean, it's kind of an inside thing between her and I..."
Again, Leah would see Josh notably frown, "Oh ... yeah ... true, I wasn't trying to intrude ... it's just ... I don't know, kinda cool and it WAS my idea for the grappling hook and the ..."
"Okay okay ... we can put your name on it" Leah smirked, giving in as she playfully elbowed her friend while Taylor took a closer look
"Wow, this is pretty badass Leah" Taylor giggle, "I assume you want me touch this up a bit?"
"If you wouldn't mind ... and we also will need some painting done, if you have time of course" Leah requested
"We could probably get you in for that ... what colors were you thinking?" Taylor asked, measuring some things out while glancing up and down at the design Leah proposed.
"I'm thinking ... purple and gold..."
"I'm thinking we need a katana!" Josh interjects, suddenly distracted by the garishly large sword on display
"The heck you going to do with a katana?" Leah sighed, "...actually ... you probably will find a use for it..."
----
Lexi stepped out of the dwelling of the 3 fairy siblings in awe, taken out towards what appeared to be miles of plush land and unique, one of a kind structures made entirely of dirt, sand, trees and more. Some of them were twisty and windy, while others were stark and stone-like. The fairy trio simply let Lexi take it all in for a few moments while they walked around and Lexi's face seemed to light up at the sights of the fairy residents going about their lives, not too unlike a human city. There were little kid fairies going around chasing after bugs as if they were puppies. There were older fairies, knitting sweaters, and there was one fairy coming right at her with a sword?
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Spark would yelp, trying to intercept but she would find herself nearly struck with a toothpick length blade of steel that scraped the dirt around her and Lexi in a semi-circular pattern, brushing up a bit of dust in the process.
"Um... hello?" Lexi chuckled nervously but this only seemed to further enrage the warrior fairy who would raise the sword back up, taking on a defensive battle position.
"Dani, Dani!!" Spark shook her head, repeating her urgency to the advancing fairy knight.
In fact, this was a good way to describe this newcomer, as she did indeed take the form of a knight, just in fairy form, her armor even modified to allow for her wings to stay usable as she hovered just a couple inches off the ground, resheathing the sword in a holster that ran parallel to her waist. Finally after a few more moments of pensive staring, the warrior with light blue eyes and blonde hair which was tied up in a pony tail would land, her feet barely touching the ground.
"This is ... Daniella, or Dani..." Lark explained, "she's our ... fairy knight"
"I am a grand warrior of the finest order" Dani would add, thrusting her sword back up so that it gleamed with light across its glorious blade for just a moment before once again returning it to the sheath.
"H-Hi, nice to meet you" Lexi waved, "I'm ShrinkGirl"
Dani would hesitantly reach a hand out to shake, the hand covered in titanium alloy as was most of her body. Lexi shook it and tried to serve up a disarming smile although it may not have gone over too too well.
"ShrinkGirl's a superhero from her realm" Spark said enthusiastically. It was amazing how fast the young fairy woman had done a 180 on her opinion of the human newcomer, speaking of her so glowingly.
"Oh, is she?" Dani asked, before tilting her head, "well I'm glad you support the fight for good but... no offense. You seem kind of small for a human woman"
Lexi would shrug and offer up the only explanation she could, "W-Well, I shrink ... and grow"
"Oh quite interesting then ... you're a mage?" Dani asked
"Also ... not exactly" Lexi chuckled, "I just do the shrinking thing really"
"Maybe ShrinkGirl could show us right now" Lark smirked
"You crazy? She'd crush the whole town!" Mark yelped in panic, before noticing her other 2 sisters and even Dani were chuckling. It was intended to be a joke, apparently, "Ah ... yeah ... right ... laugh at the overly concerned one"
"Don't worry hon, we're just messing with you" Spark giggled, ruffling his hair a tad dismissively as the gang continued to float along, their feet just barely off the ground while Lexi followed close behind, her feet just walking one in front of the other just as any normal human's would.
"That is so cool, how do you guys do that?" Lexi would ask in a geeky fashion, watching the fairies so effortlessly float off the ground.
"Hmm?" Dani asked, not even giving a second thought to it
"She means the floating, I think" Lark nodded, seeming a bit more observant.
"Not really sure to be honest..." Spark shrugged, proceeding to float in a wide circle around Lexi, maybe just to show off, "does it impress you, Ms. ShrinkGirl?"
"A little bit" Lexi nodded, "I'm also just a fairy nerd ... and this place is incredible... I can't believe this has always just ... BEEN in the forest, this whole time. How do you guys like not get in trouble from outsiders or anything?"
"Well ask Mark..." Lark sighed, seeming tired of her brothers continued fears and stories
"For the most part ..." Spark interuppted, wanting to stay on the positives rather than Mark's irrational fears, "We are cloaked by a powerful wave of fairy energy for lack of a better explanation... that's why people won't even see our colony and also can't directly or otherwise interact with it ... we dropped the shield so that YOU could see it and thankfully you've proven your trust"
"Well I'm glad to hear that" Lexi replied sincerely
"Unfortunately..." Spark sighed, "there ARE some who can see us despite our cloaking magic, but it's extremely rare ... supposedly Mark saw one of those people the other night..."
"He's a bit prone to panic..." Lark added
"Even so..." Dani nodded, floating closer to Mark and defending his point of view, "How would you 2 girls explain the fire?"
"Fire?" Lexi asked
"There was a fire that night, it looked like a purple comet flying through the sky and it ignited in the village square ... leaving behind an aura of dark magic we haven't encountered in eons, most likely" Dani elaborated, recalling the ordeal, "Thankfully we were able to put it out as soon as we did or it may have consumed the entire colony"
As Dani talked, Lexi observed a couple of things. One was that Dani was dead serious about everything she had said which meant Lexi would also take her seriously. She also noticed that the usually flabbergasted and confused Mark couldn't help but look at Dani as she spoke and grin in her direction now and then, usually looking away or resuming his monotonous pattern of pacing and floating. This made her grin as well.
"Dani, cmon, do you REALLY think it was anything that bad?" Lark asked, as the group approached the town square for themselves. At the core was a set of large sweeping arch ways, which encircled the already circular plaza where the fairies were gathering. As Lexi looked around, her eyes were positively bombarded with sights to see and pleasant smells of flowers and treats as it seemed this was more than just a gathering spot, at least for now.
"Is it usually ... THIS bright and festive?" Lexi asked, "not to change the subject"
"It's um... heh for the Valentine's Day party" Spark smiled, seeming to get lost in the majesty of it all herself as she gazed briefly at a beautiful sparkling fountain towards the center of the plaza which spewed the clearest water one could see, save for the purple and pink speckles that flowed through its hydrotic veins.
"Oh? L-Looks like a blast, honestly ..." Lexi blushed, "probably a ... no humans allowed policy, huh?"
"Well, honestly ... maybe" Spark smirked "but we could make an exception for the one and only ShrinkGirl, huh?"
For just a moment, Lexi noticed Spark glancing over at Dani, the seeming defender of fairkind for the go ahead. She'd also notice Dani nodding in approval.
"I deem this a worthy idea" Dani smirked, "You seem quite alright, Ms. ShrinkGirl"
Finally Lexi relented and shook her head
"Okay okay, you may call me Lexi ... it's my uh... human name" Lexi smiled
"Lexi huh? A pretty name indeed" Dani smiled, "Yes ... I think it would be quite fine if you came to the party"
"Y-You mean you'll be there too, Dani?" Mark asked, interjecting just for a moment before shying away again.
"I ... may be" Dani nodded, "I don't usually partake in such festive occasions but ... even we knights need to take some time, yknow?"
"We usually get quite the crowd" Spark added, getting more and more excited about it the more they talked, "Not just fairies either, sometimes elves from the neighboring colonies will show and everything"
"There are elves too?" Lexi smiled, "I'm learning a lot tonight..."
"But maybe not everything you need to learn..." Dani cautioned, pointing upwards at the spiral shaped spire that served as a central point for the massive fairy colony. "If you can look closely up there, there's still some purple smoke clearing from the sight of the fire... while it seems unlikely the flame will spark again, it's clear to me and most who have inspected it ... a witch was in our midsts...."
"Oh cmon..." Lark scoffed, "witches have been extinct for years..."
Lexi thought to herself but refrained from saying it "so elves and fairies are totally normal but witches are impossible?"
"I'm just saying what I've heard" Dani shrugged
"Then why not make it more public knowledge? What about Esmerelda?" Spark asked
"Oh, she knows, trust me. Pretty much everybody in the fairy counsel knows ... it's just ... bad publicity with the Valentine's Day festival coming up and they're hopeful it was just a one time incident or that our ... wizard friend can maybe find her and put out the threat"
"Okay so I have like ... a million more questions..." Lexi stammered, much to Mark's delight, Spark's indifference and Lark's seeming chagrin as she feared more Tinkerbell comparisons. "Who's Esmerelda? Is there some kind of rivalry with the witches and ... who's the wizard? I believe Mark mentioned him as well"
"He calls himself ... what was it?" Spark replied, snapping her fingers as if trying to jog her memory, "Christophicles? Chri..."
"No no you're wrong, it's like Carlstophicus..." Lark nods, seemingly sure of this
Mark thought about it and wasn't sure either one of them were right but he also didn't seem too fixated on the issue, instead continuing to glance over at Dani when he wasn't just staring at his own shoes, a detail that wasn't lost on the inquisitive Lexi.
"ANYWAY... to answer your other question ... Esmerelda is our town elder and sort of like our mayor in a way" Spark replied, before seemingly summoning the aforementioned town elder with simply some words about it.
"Who are you calling Elder?" the tall and well robed Esmerelda would comment, her appearance startling Lexi as she had seemingly poofed up in a cloud of green smoke to match her green robes. She also wore a shiny gold medal that had a sun-like pattern on it. She had long wavy dirty blonde hair and dark blue eyes. As insinuated she did show some signs of age but she hardly seemed too old to lead or even fight if need be. "I may be 430 years old but I have some good fight left in me, and don't make me put it to use... who is this one?"
She'd immediately be referring to Lexi, who she could sense quite quickly wasn't a normal resident of the happy colony. Her clothing, tone of voice and most importantly lack of wings would make that quite obvious.
"Oh, I'm Lexi" Lexi smiled a bit nervously, trying to shake Esmerelda's hand but Esmerelda didn't budge a bit. Lexi, getting the hint, simply retracted her offered hand, leading all there, including the usually stoic Dani to show a visible frown.
"You..." Esmerelda simply muttered, not entirely clear on who she was referring to, other than to maybe scold the group of fairies, "you know better than to bring a HUMAN to the colony ... no offense Lemis..."
"Lemis? No.. Lexi ... how did you get Lem..." Lexi retorted before shutting her mouth. Best not to piss off the mayor, after all.
"She's good, I swear" Lark nodded
"Oh well, if you say so..." Esmerelda tsked, her tone clearly sarcastic and dirisive, "You have the approval of one of our more reckless fairies.."
"Reckless?" Lark sighed
"You once almost wiped out Magesty Boulevard with a rockslide..."
"When I was 5..." Lark whimpered
"Fairies have a notoriously long memory" Spark whispered to Lexi
"I heard that!" Esmerelda snapped
"and really good hearing..." Mark added
Esmerelda seemed stunned but not necessarily angry. It appeared quite evidently that she had other things on her plate and this human issue, while it would normally be a bigger concern was no longer such. She simply shook her head and retreated back towards the atria's main building which sat just under the spire from which the dark fire attack had occurred.
"She seems ... nice?" Lexi shrugged, trying to stay positive
"To be fair, we kind of predicted that reaction" Lark sighed
"M-Maybe it's best if I don't come back for the party" Lexi suggested
"No no..." Spark shook her head, "It'll be a blast! Besides there'll be so many people there... Esmerelda will be here with her security detail, I highly doubt she'll even be looking for you or even remember you..."
"...although just in case, maybe don't wear the purple and white costume" Lark added
"Well the dress is semi-formal" Spark shrugged
"SEMI-Formal?" Mark added, "I've seen what you're wearing, it's like a Cinderella gown!"
"I'm sorry some of us like to dress to impress!" Spark giggled, leaning in and again patting her brother's head with a hint of dismissiveness.
"W-Well, I do appreciate the invite and I'm sorry if I couldn't be more help with your witch threat but ... I do have ... or will have a uh ... human valentine's day thing to go to" Lexi nodded.
"The offer still stands" Spark giggled
"I'll keep that in mind, and thank you all so much for being so welcoming" Lexi blushed, "I'd ask to take a selfie or something but that's probably ... not allowed, huh?"
"A ... what?" Lark asked
"A selfie" Mark answered, seemingly out of nowhere, "it's a human tradition where they take their cell phone out in a self facing manner and snap a photo, usually focusing on themselves and the people in the background or just as a way to show where they're currently at, for example, on a vacation or something"
The other female fairies all looked back with Mark with a raised brows and dropped jaws while Lexi giggled a bit.
"Somebody's been doing their research" Lexi smirked
"Well I've been looking it up on this ... if-own thing" Mark said, taking out the iPhone they found in the woods from earlier, except it had been miniaturized so that your everyday fairy could operate it.
"Oh! So that's how you found my website" Lexi nodded, making sense of it now, "and it's pronounced 'eye-fone'"
"Oh... good to know" Mark blushed, looking a bit embarassed that he had messed it up
"Anyways, it was nice meeting you Lady Lexi of Humanrealm" Dani nodded, taking a bow before turning away, "but I must continue to patrol these outskirts for trouble... especially if there is a witch in our midst... dark magic can be very potent, even to us fairies"
With that the noble female would take off, leaving Lexi a bit stunned, although not in a bad way.
"Heh, is she always so ... intense?" Lexi asked
"Ever since I can remember..." Lark answered
"W-Well..." Lexi blushed, realizing she hadn't done much, if any, superhero type stuff, "I could go investigate that purple smoke or whatever if you wanted... if somebody could maybe fly me up there?"
"I... wouldn't recommend that" Lark shook her head
"If that IS dark magic ... there's still a lot we don't know about it" Spark cautioned, "and for a human it could be especially potent ... we have certain counter measures to neutralize it ... although if you'd like to help, you could just be on the lookout for the witch herself, if she's out there, when you're out and about and yknow, human sized"
"You got it, my friends" Lexi would give them a thumbs up. "I should probably get going now but I would like to have a word with your brother for a sec"
"Mark?" Lark asked, almost seeming incredulous about it, "s-sure, I suppose"
"Cmon Lark, let's go work on our dresses for the party" Spark smirked, before winking at Lexi, "nice meeting you, size changing human"
"Right back at ya, Spark AND Lark!" Lexi smiled happily, before taking Mark aside
"Wh-What's up?" Mark asked
"Okay so firstly, I'm flattered you reached out to me through the website.. the website that I admittedly didn't ask for ..." Lexi scoffed, getting off topic before steering things back, "and secondly ... when are you going to ask Dani?"
"Ask Dani?" Mark responded, confused
"Ask Dani to the Valentine's Festival" Lexi smirked, "I saw how you were looking at her, you like her"
"I ... I what?" Mark gulped, turning bright red again, "What? No... I mean she's very ... she's good at what she does, yknow? I wish I could be like her ... confident, strong..."
"well if you want to be confident, you can start by going right up to her and asking her out" Lexi advised
"I... I don't know..." Mark whimpered, "even just talking to her, I get kind of woozy, almost as if I've been exposed to some kind of magic .. you probably wouldn't understand..."
"Heh, you'd be surprised..." Lexi sighed, "I have somebody who does that to me too..."
"Oh?"
"Y-Yeah but I can overcome that fear" Lexi said confidently, "and so should you ... so when I get back to where I'm from, I'll ask my person out and you ask Dani to the dance, okay?"
"I... I could try" Mark sighed
"Do it hon" Lexi smiled, her look instilling some semblance of hope in the wavering Mark, "Do it for me, okay? I'll ask my person and you ask yours... deal?"
"Okay..." Mark stumbled around it before finally acquiesing, "Deal."
Giantess World
