Julia suspects a cursed item might be responsible for this week's insanity. She's four feet tall. Kady is like two feet tall.
THEY SEARCH FRUITLESSLY.
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Mention of spiders (but no actual spiders).
Each night, shortly after the reset, Julia woke up. It wasn’t a dramatic event. She’d feel a sharp pain just under the surface of her right temple, and her nose would bleed slightly. The urge to go get pizza faded quickly from the suggestion Senator Gaines put her in mind, but it always came at a tiny cost. Then her eyes would close and normally she would drift back to sleep if everything seemed normal enough.
And for a few groggy moments in the middle of the night, it did. It wasn’t until she woke up the second time, Julia questioned her half-sleeping assumption.
Opening her eyes and staring from her bed, Julia was reminded of an MC Escher drawing. If looked in just the right way, nothing appeared to be off between her and her roommate Larry. She was proportional to her bed, her clothing, her phone.
It was when Julia sat up that the perspective no longer lined up, and she squinted at first, wondering if something was wrong with her vision. Standing up from her bed, she stepped closer to her roommate, and felt as though the room slowly began to swallow her, dwarfing her. The experience started to give her a headache.
She turned and went to the door instead, which she assumed was larger than normal. She hadn’t realized anything was wrong with her until she stepped out into their living space. Looking over all of it, it was large, but not quite as large as her roommate’s half the room. Was it both of them? Was it space? Julia needed more information.
She walked the space slowly, but none of it shifted or changed the way it had in her room. She picked up her phone and it was quickly filled with messages of people commenting on the strangeness of the week. After catching up with Kady, Julia left her room and stepped out into the hall to go find her.
The hall was proportional to the other living spaces in their room, and so Julia started to conclude she was shorter. She was still adjusting when she made her way to Kady’s room and knocked on the door.
There was a slight upside to not sharing the same room with someone and that was the fact that nothing seemed out of place until Kady actually ventured out into the common area of the dorm. Everything in her room was the same size, her clothes fit, and nothing was out of place.
But as soon as she walked through her bedroom door to use the bathroom -- well, it felt like she was walking into some real fucked up version of Alice in Wonderland. Where Kady normally stood at a height of 5’7”, she was now at least two-and-a-half feet shorter. Or that’s what it seemed like. It took her a minute to adjust, realizing that things hadn’t enlarged, but that she’d shrunk.
She looked down at herself, and then back up at everything in the room, before letting out a noise of frustration and going back into her room for a moment so she could try and figure out what to do. Other than complain on the network. That’s when she saw a few other posts regarding the situation and after a quick back and forth with Julia -- who was also affected -- she went back out into the living space.
Motherfucker.
It didn’t take long before there was a knock at the door and she walked over to the door and looked up at the door knob. Okay, this was going to take magic, wasn’t it? Though maybe if she jumped just hard enough…
Aha! Success. She managed to get the door open somehow and pulled at it, opening it a few inches to look out and… up. Well. Julia said she was shorter, but she was still at least a couple feet taller than Kady. “...hey.”
Julia looked down at her friend. “Hey.”
They were friends. Maybe that term was unfair. Kady was and had been a dear friend to her, the two of them going through hell and back together, creating a bond forged in death and suffering. Julia remembered what it was like. She remembered what it felt like. Even without a shade, it was still important to honor that bond.
(Perhaps not initially, but now? Julia didn’t like who she was when she forgot.)
Her lips twitched.
Julia tried with all her will not to smile or coo or comment on how adorable Kady looked that small. It was insulting, right? And Kady knew how to throw a punch. So Julia stared and kept her lips pressed tightly together until she trusted herself not to laugh at the unfortunate circumstances.
“It could be worse,” she tried. But the mirthful expression in her eyes made it clear she didn’t believe this one bit. Julia was enjoying this. It was a harmless thing to enjoy, right? No one was dead.
No, no one was dead, but Kady felt like she was annoyed enough by the situation to go out to the Green and let loose some battle magic on a poor unsuspecting squirrel or five. That might make her feel better.
Kady just rolled her eyes a little at Julia’s reaction. She could tell she was trying not to smile at the sight of her and honestly, if she’d been in Julia’s shoes, she probably would have laughed. It was one of the reasons they got along so well. “Look, I know. I’m fuckin’ tiny right now. Let’s not get into it.”
Instead she stepped out into the hallway and let the door shut behind her, frowning a bit as she looked back up at it. “I’m literally like, six inches too short to comfortably reach the handle. Of a door. This blows.”
“Yep. So cursed object hunting?” Julia suggested. “I usually wake up right after the reset, not for long, but I don’t remember anything being off right away. Things were definitely off after I went back to sleep and woke up which means-- early morning? Which means, if it was a cursed object, it was probably something someone stumbled upon in the dorms.”
But that didn’t quite add up, did it? Wouldn’t the person who activated it have noticed?
Unless they weren’t affected. Some people weren’t, and the public areas of the dorms weren’t. If it were rooms, individuals and the outside it was possible someone could have set off the curse without realizing it.
“The week we burst into song it was a karaoke machine. The week our reflections came alive it was a mirror. So… look for something size or perspective related? Something that looks mundane.”
“Cursed object hunting,” she repeated before shoving her hands into the pockets of the hoodie she’d changed into before making her way out into the main part of her dorm. Luckily her clothing seemed to have resized along with the rest of her -- that also didn’t seem to be the case with everyone.
Kady looked over and up at Julia at the mention of the curses they’ve previously dealt with. Huh. “So like, a doll or something?” That might explain the sizing issue. “I’d be willing to guess whoever accidentally did this probably isn’t going to actually say anything 'cause they fucked up.” She wouldn’t blame them if they kept their mouths shut at all, honestly.
“I feel like I went through that stupid shrinking machine thing of Willy Wonka’s. You know the one that made the kid obsessed with TV super tiny?”
“Hard to say,” Julia said. She didn’t blame them if they did or didn’t. “I like the doll idea, though.”
From there Julia became focused. The two of them worked together, keeping their eyes peeled. There were the easier places to look where something out of place would have stood out: the hallways, the staircases, the elevators.
“Unfortunately, if someone took the item with them into their room there’s going to be no way of finding it. I tried cracking these wards for weeks.” Still, there were other areas of the dorm to explore. It was when they went back to the elevators, Julia having to walk slowly to make up for Kady’s tiny size, that Julia stared down the gap between the floor and the elevator, unable to really see down the elevator shaft.
“...I think I have an idea.”
They’d have to make sure the elevator didn’t come down on them, but if they got to the basement level where the washing machines were and forced open the elevator doors?
That meant taking the stairs again. At least from the first floor and the basement. And having more time to talk, Julia finally asked, “So the pool party last week… did you and Fandral…?”
It felt like they were coming up short (no pun intended) no matter which direction they thought to look, but Kady could almost see the light bulb over Julia’s head when she mentioned having an idea. “Uh, okay? What’s your idea?” she asked, but then gestured ahead as if silently telling her friend that she’ll go along with whatever it was.
They’d definitely been through worse together, to say the least.
Except then she was asking about her and Fandral and Kady stopped in her tracks, looking at Julia with a very ‘what the fuck sort of question is that?’ expression. “Uhhh. I mean, the guy is pretty hot for looking like he does, but if you’re asking if I fucked him, the answer is definitely no.”
“Huh,” Julia said. Julia had described Kady to Fandral and wondered who else had dark curly hair and a blue bikini that night. She didn’t think Fandral would lie or exaggerate, but he must have been mistaken.
Once they were in the basement, Julia entered the hallway between the elevator doors and the laundry rooms. She did a series of tuts, and the first set of elevator doors opened, revealing an empty shaft with the car suspended above them.
“...Figured something small might have fallen down here,” she explained. But the bottom of the elevator shaft, while grimy and dusty, did not seem to reveal any hidden objects, cursed or otherwise.
Returning to the previous topic, Julia said, “I’m pretty sure Fandral is technically a god. None of the other people he slept with that night were magicians from our world. So, I was just wondering if anyone had the opportunity to test that yet….”
This had been the first time Kady’d really had the chance to explore the campus and Julia seemed to know her way around well enough, so she just followed along, trying to memorize things as they went. It was good to know this was where the laundry room was, anyways, though it wasn’t like she had much in the way of clothing to choose from yet.
Fuck, she missed her wardrobe from home right now. Well. Not right now, but she’d definitely kill to at least have a few of her favorite pieces.
“I’m sorry, that dude is a god?” Well, it made sense. He kind of looked like one. But Kady’s nose scrunched a bit and she propped herself against the wall next to the doors to the elevator. “And when you say test that, you mean see if fucking him gives us god-level mojo like it would back home?” Not that she’d ever want to test that with one of the gods from their world; it made her want to test that theory even less with the god from a world she was completely unfamiliar with.
“Yep,” Julia said. Given her own experience with gods, she should have been even less eager to test it. But given her current state, Julia was shockingly casual about it. “It’s fine. I’m not asking you or anything, just if you had happened to…”
But after bringing it up, Julia dropped the subject. There were two elevators that served the building. Julia went to the next elevator shaft and again cast the spell to improperly open the elevator doors. Another miss.
“Guess we can check the laundry room next.”
“Since I haven’t, are you considering testing it yourself?”
The subject wasn’t being dropped that easily, though Kady followed her to the next elevator. They really weren’t having any luck. What if it wasn’t a cursed object at all?
“At this point, if we ever find out who caused this, I have half a mind to blast them across campus.” Kady grumbled a bit and followed on Julia’s heels toward the laundry room. Maybe, just maybe, they’d actually find something here. Were the odds in their favor? Not really.
“I mean, he’s kind of slutty, it’d be pretty easy to. He wouldn’t even have to know. Plus we reset each week so it’s not like I have to worry about any long term consequences.” Another shrug, as if what she had been through last time wasn’t traumatic. The problem was, for her, it wasn’t anymore.
Julia was at least tall enough to open up top loading washing machines and peer in. She had to do a hop or two to get a good look and make sure she didn’t miss anything inside. She found a faded white sock with no mate, but nothing that made her think of something that would mess with size.
“The last time something happened that wasn’t a curse, it was basically Rick’s fault.” They could go interrogate him next, but somehow Julia didn’t think he’d be very intimidated by Kady. They were going to have to try a different approach. He had tried to mend things at the party. Perhaps they could use that to their advantage.
“Huh.” That wasn’t something that Kady had considered and though she’d been given a brief rundown of the resets and, well, now had experienced her first one, the idea that there were no long term consequences of anything like that simply hadn’t crossed her mind.
Mostly because it wasn’t something she’d ever had to think about before. “So… no pregnancy, no aging, no death? Because we reset every week? Weird…”
And yet: cool.
Except that made falling off the wagon tempting because there would be no consequences of it and no -- no. Kady swallowed to wet the sudden dryness in her throat at the idea.
“I mean, if you do end up banging him, more power to you. He looks like he’s got a big dick, at least.” And if he was kind of a slut? Well, he probably knew how to use it, too. That made her laugh a bit. “Rick’s that weird old guy, right?”
“Rick’s the old guy, and he’s kind of a dick,” Julia confirmed. When all the washers came up empty, Julia sighed. She looked back at Kady. Might as well take advantage of her small size. “Can you get behind the machines and take a look?”
Of course, the more obscure nooks and crannies they searched, the more fruitless it was feeling. More likely that they would find a second cursed object.
“We can absolutely die. A few of us have, it’s just that we wake back up next week. So, no long term death but I don’t really recommend it.”
Julia began to look through the dryers and sighed.
She paused, hesitating at the request. Ugh. Just because she was small enough to get back there didn’t mean she wanted to. “I’m only doing this cause you’re my best bitch, but I swear to god if there’s some overgrown spider behind one of these machines…”
Her voice trailed as she went to go look, searching behind one and then another, though not without a loud whine at one point. “Oh my god, the amount of dust and cobwebs back here is disgusting, Jules.”
Kady made her way back out to where her friend was, actively trying to rid herself of excess cobweb that had latched itself to her pant legs and shoes. “Well, it’s good to know that death isn’t a permanent thing here, but I don’t plan on giving that a try if I can help it.”
“You still have battle magic, Kady,” Julia said. She was pretty sure a spider didn’t stand a chance, even if it would be the size of the tiny hedge’s face.
Once Kady was back from behind the machines, Julia sighed. They had gone floor by floor and searched every open area they could think of. There was no way they’d be able to search the entire campus.
Julia sighed, trying to think of what their next move could be.
“Now what,” Julia complained.
No, the campus was definitely too big on a normal day, but given their new heights? Kady didn’t have the energy for that kind of shit.
She sighed and leaned back against one of the machines, leaning her head back against the metal and looking up at the ceiling of the basement. Gross. Why did basements always get forgotten and never cleaned? Not that much of this campus seemed to ever really get cleaned, anyway.
“I don’t have a fuckin’ clue,” she admitted quietly. “Though with the amount of running around we’ve done already, we should probably eat.” She paused for a moment and pushed away from the washer. “Or try to if we can get to anything in the kitchens.”
“How bad of an idea do you think it’d be to try and calculate a portal?” Julia said. Given how much larger the outside was, at least the trees of the Green, Julia was thinking it might be incredibly easy to miss the mark. It didn’t seem possible to portal outside of the Void so it was probably safe?
But only probably.
“I think I’m going to go shower.”
Food didn’t strongly appeal to her. It wasn’t that Julia wasn’t tired or hungry. Julia just didn’t cook. There was nothing in the kitchen that didn’t feel like it wouldn’t require some level of effort. Hunger felt like the preferable option.
“If you see my roommate Larry, the guy covered in bandages? He usually makes breakfast. Pretty sure he’s giant sized this week so, not sure how that’s going to work out in the kitchens though.”
“Uh, I don’t think I really trust this place yet, especially not given this fuckery, so I’m going to say it’s a pretty bad idea.”
Once upon a time Kady probably would have been fine with giving it a try just to see, but anymore she’d rather play it safe. She wasn’t keen on the idea of getting killed by trying to portal out of the basement.
She gave a nod though and then shrugged. “Fair enough. Let’s get back upstairs. I’ll head to the kitchens and see what’s going on in there. Hopefully he’s cooking something, otherwise I’ll have to fend for myself and that could… be interesting.” She wasn’t exactly dressed to rock climb up the side of a counter to be able to reach food.
Though she was certain seeing that would be hilarious.
Julia offered Kady a smile. This might have been the part where they hugged, or at least briefly squeezed one another's hands, some sort of sign of their camaraderie and friendship. But the height difference between them made it somewhere between awkward to impossible.
“You got this,” Julia said, but the truth was, Julia would have paid money to see Katy climb the industrial kitchens in Dexter Hall to figure out food. Julia planned on looking into it once, grabbing what she needed for the week and --
Kady would be fine, right? Julia gave the other hedgewitch a searching look and decided that it was. They travelled to the ground floor together before splitting up.