This choice: Something knocks you into the middle of the hall. • Go Back... And yet, before you could even begin to shake off the thoughts of the pounding steps of the giants all around you, the ground beneath you trembled as an even more powerful earthquake began. Obviously, it was the steps of a giant, but they were coming at such intensity and frequency that you found it impossible to focus and maintain your balance. If you didn't know any better, you would've thought the offending giant was purposefully trying to make your trek impossible.
Whirling around to confront this approaching threat, you had only enough time to notice a few simple things. For one, the shaking had been caused by a brown-haired girl (with pink highlights) clad in a tight pink top and brown skirt and leggings. She had been skipping with glee down the hall, her pounding skipping steps the genesis of the earthquake. Secondly, she was quite pretty, distractingly so, as was the curvaceous blonde elf girl walking beside her (a decidedly unamused expression on the elf's face, no doubt irritated by her companion's exuberance).
The third thing you noticed? That the girl in pink's joyful skipping was carrying her right towards the tiny-student pathway...and towards you!
You barely had enough time to process what was happening before the shoe of the girl in pink came flying down towards you, and you saw your life flash before your eyes. All your hopes of enjoying your time at this school, learning magic, and making new non-gnome friends was going to go up in smoke, your entire life reduced to a splatter under this obliviously happy girl's shoe. And yet fate wasn't quite done with you yet.
The girl's shoe stomped down mere inches in front of your face, sparing you from death. What it did not spare you from, however, was the fact that her skipping pace continued, and so that same shoe then jutted out, kicking straight into you. The toe of her shoe slammed into your gut, and you were sent flying backwards, propelled away with so much force that it was as if you'd been blasted out of a cannon. The force of the shoe slamming into you even knocked the air from your lungs, so you simply spun through the air in a silent daze.
You came to a landing a few feet ahead (still a huge distance at your size), landing in the slightly unzipped backpack of another giant who was slowly meandering down the hall. It wasn't a deep pocket, thankfully, but you still landed in a crumpled heap alongside a few pens, gum wrappers, and a stylized fairy keychain. Your stomach ached, but otherwise you were unharmed, thanks to the above-average durability of a gnome. Not even to survive a full-fledged stomp from a giantess, but enough to keep you safe from everyday bumps, bruises, and mishaps.
Still, you were a little achy and disoriented, so you simply let yourself lie in this stranger's backpack and try to catch your breath. From outside the backpack, you could hear semi-distant voices.
"Alexis!" A haughty voice hissed in annoyance. "You're skipping right into the walkway for tiny students!"
A sharp gasp followed. "Oh no, am I! Aw man, I just zoned out! I didn't squish any of the little cuties, did I?" The sound of shuffling feet. "Nope, just some gross goblins. That's good! But thanks for the warning, Lauren!"
The haughty person, presumably Lauren (and also presumably the blonde elf girl) sighed. "Whatever, Alexis. It's not like I really care, or anything. You should just try to focus more."
"Sure, sure, ya softie!" The other girl (Alexis, you figured, and she must've been the one in pink) teased. "Anyway, since we've still got an hour, let's hit up the cafeteria for some breakfast! I can't think straight in the mornings without a full happy tummy!"
"Do you ever think straight?" Lauren groaned, but you then heard the sound of the two giants walking at a faster pace by your current carrier, indicating that they were both indeed heading to the cafeteria. As they passed, you heard mention of the names 'Morgan' and 'Brooke', but then their conversation faded.
Further up above, the mystery girl whose backpack you were in let out a quiet moan at the same time that her stomach loudly gurgled. "Ooh...breakfast is a good idea. I should go to." She muttered to herself, and as her pace quickened, you realized she was off to the cafeteria as well.
The cafeteria was not where you had been trying to go, obviously. Class was in an hour, and you didn't want to be late for your first lecture at Caelum University. Still, you couldn't deny that you were a bit peckish. And the main reason you'd wanted to head to class straight away was because you knew it would take you longer as a gnome to get there. If you were being ferried to the cafeteria by a giant, as you were now, you'd have plenty of time to grab grub and still make it to class. Heck, maybe you could make quick friends with a giant and they'd helpfully carry you to class. You really wanted to make friends, after all!
Realizing fate had just given you a new opportunity, you let yourself cool down in the girl's backpack pocket, allowing her to take you to the cafeteria.
*****
Upon reaching the cafeteria, the girl whose backpack you were in sat down at a table beside one of her other friends, and let her backpack drop to the floor in a heap. After disentangling yourself from the gum wrappers, you crawled out of the pocket and dropped to the floor. From there, you took in the sights of the cafeteria, including the tiny-student eating area in the corner, as well as the multiple tables in the center of the cafeteria for the other giant-sized students.
Logically, you knew you should head over to the tiny-student area in the corner. It was where you were meant to go, and it was also the safest area. You'd even read up on the rules of the cafeteria earlier, as part of your student handbook. It was all magic powered, so you simply had to say out loud what food you wanted to eat once standing in an eating area, and the food would appear before you. One food item and one drink item per meal, three meals per day. Pretty nifty stuff.
But, then you remembered that tiny-student seating areas also existed in the middle of each giant tabletop, as part of the school's efforts to make it easier for tiny students to bond with the giant student body. The thought of eating so close to giants made you a little nervous, but it was also the best way to make friends, right? Surely things would go okay!
And so you choose the table closest to you, stepping inside the purple teleportation portal at the leg of the table, and thus appearing up on the tabletop. At current, only two girls were at the table, your mystery carrier and her friend. They were deep in conversation, so you walked a little closer to them in hopes that they'd notice you. The friend was doing something peculiar, holding a cold bowl of porridge in one hand and snapping her finger of the other hand. The girl who'd brought you here was looking at you in exasperation.
"I'm telling you, I can do this." The friend insisted, snapping louder.
Your cafeteria transporter sighed. "Even if you do, I really don't think it'll work how you want it to."
"Nonsense!" The friend laughed. "This fire spell will totally heat up the porridge, and prove to you that I can heat meals with my spells! Fire might be dangerous, but it's a cooking cheat code!"
"You really shouldn't--" The girl began, only to be cut off as fire finally sprouted from her friend's fingertips...immediately engulfing the entire bowl in flames.
"Oh shit! Aah, aah!" The friend panicked, the fire spreading to cover the whole bowl. While a user-created spell could thankfully not burn her own skin, the fire was threatening to spread to the table.
The girl who'd carried you here rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. Let me just use a cold wind spell." Reciting something under her breath, and waving her hand, the girl cast her spell, and a frigid but powerful blast of air shot forth from her hand, instantly quelling the fiery bowl.
Trouble was...the blast of wind also knocked into you, and you let out a scream as you were whipped into the air by the forceful gust and sent blasting into the air. Down below, the two giantesses didn't even notice, too preoccupied with handling the burnt bowl.
Yet again you found yourself tumbling through the air, just this time sailing through the cafeteria. As you spun, you noticed you seemed to be falling towards a table of giants all enjoying their breakfast. Four girls sat at the table, deep in conversation with one another.
The pink-wearing Alexis was there, as was the blonde elf Lauren. Beside Lauren sat a goth girl in all-black, and beside Alexis sat a sporty bunny girl. You recalled hearing the names Morgan and Brooke earlier, but didn't exactly know which was which. Nor did you have time to think about such things, as your momentum faltered and you began you rapid descent.
And right before you landed, Alexis told a groan-worthy joke. Alexis pinched her eyes shut in laughter, Brooke leaned her head back and away from the table to laugh, Lauren rolled her eyes and glanced away in annoyance, and Morgan closed her eyes and sighed. None of the girls saw your impact at all.
Where did you land?   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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