Honey, I Shrunk Myself

Honey, I Shrunk Myself

So maybe stopping by the festival was a bad idea. So far Jini had been talked into the apple game nonsense which had left such a sickly sweet taste in her mouth, that even her often impressive sweet-tooth couldn't handle it. Leaving the game with damp fur and the horrendous taste in her mouth, the tawny shiji-long spared the grinning vendor a look of dismay as he was already enticing several other unsuspecting patrons into his grasp. Though she had half the mind to warn them away from the terrible fate that she herself had stumbled upon, each dragon approached the man giddily and with glee. Well, they certainly had an experience before them.

 

Choosing to instead mind her own business, Jini set out across the festival, hellbent on finding something far less sickening to take the taste out of her mouth. Though the food vendors were numerous, her former experience had resulted in a level of apprehension from the young dragon, leaving her waffling between stalls as she tried to make sense of where to place her dwindling coin. Everything smelled delightful at least, though the appearance blurred the lines between grotesque and comically whimsical, which in itself was enough to give pause. Did she dare to try the inky black skewers with wirey tendrils branching out from them? She wasn't even sure what the dish was called, but at least it smelled better than soggy fruit.

 

Finally settling on the caramel color squares one stall over, Jini stepped forward to make her purchase, completely unaware of the handful of giggling children barreling between the booths. Colliding with not one, but two of the pipsqueaks, the speckled woman squeaked in dismay, pinwheeling backwards in a failed attempt to regain her balance. Careening back, Jini landed hard on her backside, her satchel hitting the ground with a devastating sound of shattered glass. Horrified, the big-eared woman looked down to see the questionable contents of her mystery potion oozing from her ruined bag, seeping through the fabric of her dress, until the cold, thick ooze began to drench her skin. With a noise of despair, Jini climbed to her feet, plucking at her ruined bag and dress with ginger fingers, brow furrowing as she watched the children disappear into the crowd. "Oh..."

 

Round, mahogany eyes scanned the festival market, seeking anywhere to clean up as she made her way uneasily to the side. There wasn't anywhere really to clean up, but the wet feeling of the potion in her fur was growing more and more uncomfortable, and if she didn't know better, the cold clamminess was slowly growing warmer. Realizing that it wasn't her imagination at all, and that the wet spot against her side was growing hotter by the second, Jini found herself beginning to panic. It wasn't burning, not yet at least, but that warm prickle in her side was spreading, until her entire body felt as though it was being pricked by thousands of tiny needles. Fur standing on edge, the woman threw her bag from her side, tugging more desperately at her dress when the sudden feeling of vertigo seized her, the dizzy spell so strong she had to fight the nausea threatening to spill from her mouth. 

 

Hands leaving her dress, Jini grabbed her head in an attempt to steady herself, the motion making her miss the way that her surroundings seemed to pull and stretch around her. It wasn't until she stumbled forward to her knees, that she realized the ground was much closer than expected, knees finding the grass far quicker than normal. With blurry eyes, Jini looked up to realize that the stalls and trees and people were all growing with every second, until the towered around her in every direction. "No.... no no no no no no no." Her panicked cries were little more than a squeak as she made the horrified discovery that they were not growing, but that she was, infact, rapidly shrinking. Blades of grass now tickled her thighs, and she was still growing smaller with every terrified beat of her heart. 

 

What would Tanveer think? Assuming she even managed to make it home to his town, what would become of them? She should've stayed home when he expressed his lack of desire to attend the festival - she was a fool to go alone, and now Jini wanted nothing more than to be home safe at his side. Instead, she was days and miles upon miles away, struggling to make her way across the green that now dwarfed her in comparison. At the very least, it seemed that her shrinkage had stalled, if not just for the moment. Her bag seemed as large as a dwelling on the ground beside her, and the people that milled about, unfathomably large, seemed completely oblivious to her plight, a lesson she quickly learned as the horrifyingly unthinkable occurred. Blind to what had happened, there was a man crossing right above her, merrily distracted by a show happening just beyond them. With a terrified screech, Jini took off in a run, narrowly avoiding the thunderous footfalls stampeding around her. Abandoning all her possessions, the little mouse of a shiji made haste - if she could find the potion vendor again, maybe he'd have a way to undo this curse. If not... well, she was truly and fully screwed.