Small Woman, Big Trouble (Grot)

[Aydyn Blair]

Late Morning on Srennia
Fifth Cycle of Ponutis
Season of Winter

The city had become stifling, confining. There were so many people, the roads narrow...at least in comparison to what she had become used to in Acumin. Every once and a while it felt good to get out and explore the terrain beyond the city, see the sights that the Lauryllian province had to offer that her previous homes had not. It was one thing to learn to be a druid, to acknowledge the fact that she was bound to nature, but to actually embrace it and spend time among it...it lifted the strain that Aydyn had felt weighing her down.

On a day off such as this, Aydyn could not resist the urge to saddle Adagio and go on such a jaunt for the afternoon. It was early morning when she rose, nearly dawn, and she was out of the city several candlemarks after the day had started for most workers. She had struggled with whether or not to leave the alicats behind. They needed the time to stretch their wings and loosen any fat they had gained over the past few cycles, but they were often a hassle during travel and Aydyn had wanted to indulge in a simple, pleasurable ride. The alicats would only weigh her down and she could always take them out to the park when she returned. They'd enjoy that. Or at least Whimsy would.

Aydyn guided the plainsbred mare along the road leading away from Mystique. They were traveling at a leisurely pace, a slow walk that was almost a little too choppy for Aydyn rocked back and forth in the saddle. Still the middle of winter, Aydyn had bundled herself in her cloak, donned the scarf she had purchased back at Crystaltide, and had stuffed her legs of her trousers into the tops of her boots. The chill wind still beat at her, licking cheeks, ears, and nose until they were red and numb. She was again grateful for the leather gloves that she had purchased upon her arrival in the city, else she was sure her fingers would be numb and sore, which only made riding more difficult.

She waited until the city had grown smaller behind her when she finally edged the mare off the road. She went south-east, away from the forests and more towards the snow-dappled expanse that doubtlessly wore grass in warmer seasons. Aydyn did not wander far from the road, keeping it in sight as she usually did. She stopped when she reached a lone oak tree, tall and thick, its branches naked for the winter and touched with snow. Here she dismounted and unhooked the saddlebags before allowing Adagio to wander freely, unafraid that the horse would wander off and get lost--where else had she to go for food and warmth than back with Aydyn? The horse would graze where she could find bare snippets of dead grass...hardly anything that would fill the mare.

Aydyn settled the saddlebags alongside the trunk of the tree, transferring the few objects she had packed into one pocket so she could sit down on the other. They were small, but so was she and sat down on the empty half of the saddlebag, wrinkling her nose when her backside became chilled by the icy ground. She had nowhere to be, nothing in particular to do...she simply leaned back against the frozen bark of the tree, eyes closed, and concentrated on the noises and sensations around her.

[Grot]

It had been a while since Grot had been back near the city the lesser races refered to as Mystique. Not since Xando had run off on him earlier in the season had he swung back this way. One could argue that he was coming back to search for her, as a master would search for any lost pet. To an extent this was true, Grot did indeed wish to find his pet, but at the same time he had really just wanted to stomp around familiar grounds for a while. Grot's morning started like anyother as the alabastor giant dusted off the light covering of snow that had fallen on him during the night forming a fair sized pile at his feet as he stood up. Grot wore little and carried little with him, he had a worthless dagger, a sack full of crowns and wore ragtag clothing made from dozens of different animal hides. After he had taken Xando as a pet he'd even sown a pocket into the front of his animal hide shirt, just below his right shoulder. The intent had been a warm place for his pet to sleep what would have given her easy access to sit on the giant shoulder should she wish. A shame she had left really...she would have made a fine pet.

Yawning loudly, having now awoken from his deep slumber Grot began his search for a meal as he set off at a lumbering pace across the empty plains. Grot simply followed along the road towards Mystique, hoping to encounter a lonely traveller or two that could make an enticing meal. Nothing to impressive, just one or two unlucky travellers or even a horse would do for a small morning meal. Despite the giant being in a hunting state of mind, Grot was still a giant, and silent movement was not his forte. Grot had spotted Aydyn from a fair distance, he'd seen her horse first in all honesty, and it hadn't taken long for him to also spot the prone figure of the well proportioned woman leaning up against a tree. Should Aydyn open her eyes before the giants arrival she would be greeted by the sight of a hulking 17 foot tall, bald, alabaster colored giant lumbering towards her, an unnerving gaze leveled at her from his deep purple eyes. With his alabastor skin, and the greyish color of his veins, Grot resembled a living statue whose rippling layers of muscle upon muscle appeared to have been carved by the god of Telath themselves. Grot was a true monster of a being whose footsteps, made an ever louder thud with each step. As long as Aydyn hadn't fallen asleep she would easily notice the slightly shaking ground and the sound of the giants footsteps approching well in time to do something constructive, such as flee. However Aydyn's poor horse would have noticed the giants approach far sooner then she and understood how terrifyingly dangerous such a being was.

ooc: sorry for the somewhat crappy post :P but I also figure I should stop here and let your PC react to the approach of a living marble statue of doom

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn had jerked from her relaxation as the ground shuddered beneath her, muffled booms accompanied by her horse's nerves whinnies drawing her eyes over the landscape immediately in front of her. Aydyn stood to comfort the beast, not entirely sure what was bothering her, but the horse shied away from her, tossing her head and snorting defiantly as wide, brown eyes peered out over the expanse of snow.

Aydyn followed the horse's gaze...and spotted the most astounding, mind-boggling sight she had ever seen. The man that came this way, more than likely the source of the trembling ground and loud thuds, was the largest man Aydyn had ever seen. She had heard of giants, had heard of their strange appetites for flesh. It made her feel cold instead and she made another reach for the horse's reins - she needed to get away from that thing - but Adagio tossed her head again, the reins flopping aside, before bolting back in the direction of the city.

She stood there, gaping after the mare as she took off at a gallop towards Mystique. But the giant was growing closer...and larger...and Aydyn spun about on her heels to stare at him instead. There was no immediate tree cover...with the exception of the oak she stood under and that would probably be nothing in regards to a giant. She wished she had brought her dagger with her...but then again, what would that have done in defense against a giant? So Aydyn stood there, staring stupidly...completely uncertain of how to fix this mess she was about to get herself into.

[Grot]

Step by step Grot came closer to the woman leaning against the tree. Since his last visit to this area Grot had learned how profitable the kidnapping business could be. The giant hadn't set out to fund his grand plan through the kidnapping of these lesser races, but thus far it had proven quite profitable. Even now as he approached he was eyeing the woman to determine if she was better used as a meal or to sell her off as a slave to other lesser beings. Grot smirked as she rose from her resting place to calm the nerves of her thouroughly frightened horse. Completely unaware for the moment that he would soon be upon her. The look of pure shock and horror as she turned to face Grot filled him with a strange sense of self satisfaction. The look of fear on the faces of lesser races was not a new sight to him, yet it always filled him with a certain joy that they understood their place in the world around them, that they were inferior in every way to the glorious giant race.

Grot was disappointed when the horse bolted away from his prey, but not surprised as most animals were smart enough to know when to run. Luckily for him, humans were not quite so instinctively intelligent and the woman was left frozen with fear as the giant finally reached her. Smiling maliciously, the skies seemed to darken, as if heralding the horrible fate about to befall Aydyn. There was a storm brewing in the distance, a storm that would soon head towards the pair even as the giant stopped in front of her. At seventeen feet tall, Grot was massive enough that Aydyn barely rose above his knees, he was a towering monstrosity of muscle that made Aydyn appear as little more then a child. Grot's purple eyes momentarily focuses on the fleeing form of Aydyn's horse as the giant licked his lips in hunger, disapointed that such a fine meal had escaped him before he turned his attentions back to the woman before him. Kneeling down before her he shot out a hand with the intent of picking up the woman frozen in fear before instinct managed to convince her to flee as far and fast from here as she could. "Serale little one, you appear to be missing a horse, what a shame?" Grot chuckled darkly as he brought her up to his eye level. Grot's day had just picked up...what a shame for his victim.

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn felt as if she were shrinking and perhaps might have thought it so if the tree she had settled beside had not remained the usual size. His shadow hoovered over her, darkening the already gray sky, almost completely blotting it out. Aydyn took a step backwards, nearly tripped over a root protruding from the ground, her stare locked on the large, purple eyes that peered down at her. Those eyes looked malicious and the mouth that bent into a smile was frighteningly huge, with teeth that looked fit for crunching a spine in two. And the hands...she wondered if they could squeeze life out of a person or shake her until she could no longer breath and died from the whiplash alone.

The image of her hanging limp and dead in his hand seemed to bring her back to herself and she drew up the courage to try and bolt, but a hand snaked forward and grasped her about the whole of her body, arms flattened against her side. She would have struggled if she knew it would earn her a release, but she was too afraid she'd be crushed or tossed aside. Maybe if she remained still and quiet he wouldn't hurt her...maybe he wouldn't eat her.

Face to face with the large and ugly monster, Aydyn trembled, trying not to allow a cry of distress to escape, but failing and looked utterly miserable in his clutches. He spoke...loud voice booming, his breath overpowering, and she felt as if she would shrivel up in his hand out of fright alone. The words assaulted her ears and she was sure she made out "horse" and "shame", but in her terror the basic ones eluded her. She simply gaped at him, unsure of what to say or do. Could she get away? Clutched in his fist, she doubted escape was to come any time soon.

[Grot]

At the last moment, the woman had come to her senses and turned to flee. It had been far to late by that point of course as the giant's massive hand clamped around her waist, pinning her arms to her side. She was quite attractive by the standards of the lesser races, though he was unsure how one could call such a small frail creature attractive. Such a seemingly weak mate could never produce a male many strong sons and daughters. How such pathetic creatures had once managed to best the giant kingdom so many hundreads of era's ago was lost on Grot. The whole fething race was pathetic with their petty squabbling, humans had no concept of breeding to ensure strong children who could survive the hardships of the world. Grot looked forward to crushing them for this error in the near future.

For now, his attention was focused on the woman in his hands however who besides an initial shriek of fright now seemed to be quite utterly silent. Obviously she had realized she was little more then a toy in the giants hand, and was suitably afraid. However, paralyzed with fear was not the best way to get her talking, the giant needed some entertainment afterall. Furrowing his brow when she seemed unable to understand what he said, the giant decided to try again, this time speaking slower, much slower so perhaps the human could understand. "Serale. Little. One." Grot said, saying each word slowly even has his put a suitably distainful emphasis on little. "Why. Have. You. Decided. To. Trespass. On. My. Land?" the giant asked in a slow manner one would normally reserve for the deaf or stupid. His voice wasn't full of contempt despite this though, it was more the tone of a man speaking to someone far below him in value, Aydyn after all was little more then an insect to the giant, he just hoped he got an appropriately terrified response in return. After all, a giant has to have a little fun.

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn cringed away from him and might have been offended by the methodical way that he voiced each word, but she was simply too terrified for it to affect her in such a way. Instead, each word only served to intimidate her more and Aydyn felt like fainting right there and then...though how she managed to hang on was a miracle in itself. Her mind racing, her nerves shattered, Aydyn stared up at the large face that watched her, looking a tad confused at her lack of understanding. Now it was hard NOT to understand and each word slammed against her tiny ears, making her twist back a little.

"I..um..didn't.." She trailed off with something of a whimper. This was the giant's land? How was she supposed to know that? There were no signs...no evidence of rest that she had seen. At this moment, any overexaggerating or jesting on the giant's behalf was going clear over her head. "I didn't know that...that this was...um...that this was your land." Her gray eyes were wide, gazing up at him and fully expecting to be swallowed whole. She certainly hope he didn't agonize his victims by chewing them dead before swallowing them. It made her shudder and whimper again. She was going to die.

[Grot]

Grot was amused with this human woman. Xando had been frightened of Grot as well when he first met her. However Xando had quickly gone from utterly terrified to actually attempting to exert some form of dominance over him. To be honest, her backbone had been amusing for the giant. She had even gone so far as to act playfully with him when he stroked his hair...and then she had run off on him. It was a lesson Grot would not soon forget. This female would likely make a far more docile pet then Xando...she seemed to terrified to even speak to him let alone try and bargin with him or try and run off in the middle of the night. Still, he wasn't foolish enough to think he wouldn't need to take more precautions, perhaps enlisting the services of a mystic would be in order this time around....if he could locate one. For now, Grot decided he would scare her a little more, perhaps to make her faint for easy transport. If she was unconcious she couldn't trouble him until later once he had decided whether or not to eat her, or keep her as a pet.

For a moment Grot looked out at the dark storm clouds beginning to swirl about him. It seemed the skies were reflecting the maelstrom that was about to be Aydyn's life, this storm would be massive.. Looking back at the capture woman, Grot bared his teeth in a quite discomforting smile before speaking. "Unfortunately for you, you crossed me while hungry, and your horse got away" the giant said with a cruel chuckle before bringing Aydyn up to his waiting mouth, ready to chomp down on the poor womans head. That is, until her felt her go limp in his hand. Grot chuckled again as he looked at the unconcious woman, quite pleased with how that had went before he calmly deposited her in the large , person sized pocket he had sewn into his shirt initially for transporting Xando. Picking up the saddlebags and depositing them next to his captive in his pocket the giant headed off to the east. With the wind beginning to howl now, and the first flakes of snow falling Grot plodded off towards the hills and mountains of the Lauryl province far to the east. It wasn't long before the storm began to take off into it's full elemental fury as the giant found himself walking through a virtual wall of driving snow that served to quickly cover his tracks. Despite his size and his being used to such weather even Grot had to give pause to the fury of this storm and after but a few candlemarks of the giant bounding through the Lauryl countryside the giant was forced to find shelter.

************************************************** ***************

When Aydyn awoke, she would find herself still bundled inside the giants shirt, however it was no longer being worn. The shirt, made of roughly sewn together animal furs, had been placed against the back wall of a small cave. A fair sized fire currently burned brightly in the center of the cave warming the entire cave. The entrance to the cave was was blocked by the enormous form of the giant that had taken her away, what he hadn't blocked had for the most part been filled in with snow, except for where the hot smoke from the fire escaped. Despite the sound of the wind howling behind the shirtless giant, it would appear as if Grot was asleep, the contents of her saddlebags spilled out carefully on the floor in front of him. Just what the hell was this giant up to anyway?

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn couldn't believe her luck...or lack of it. She gaped up at the hulking face that peered down at her, a grin as nauseating as his appearance churning her stomach and setting her body to trembling violently. Giants... Why hadn't someone eradicated them when they had the chance? As it was, he could snap her head off with an idle twist of two fingers and be done with her. She was beginning to feel a little light-headed as the giant displayed a full set of grimmy, filthy teeth and she shuddered as she imagined them clenching down around her body with a crunch. Holy Carmelya, save me, she pleaded her goddess, but couldn't open her mouth to speak them aloud.

But Carmelya was nowhere to be found and Aydyn felt herself withering away, the world beginning to fade and darken, her vision blurring, as she stared up into the gaping maw of the giant that held her. Food. She was going to be food. She was going to die, crunched into tiny pieces by blunt and disgusting teeth. She could no longer keep her body awake and she collasped like a limp ragdoll in the giant's massive fist as she felt herself drawn closer to his mouth.

To say that Aydyn was surprised when she woke up is an understatement. Her eyes opened slowly and she stared ahead of her with half-opened eyes as the sleep began to fuzz from her head. Then she recalled something: a giant, massive and intimidating, drawing her to his mouth as if to eat her. A dream? Her heart pounded as she began to take in the odd flickering of light against darkened walls that curved overhead at odd, jagged angles. Then she jerked upwards, tossing back what she had thought were blankets and blinking into the darkness illuminated by the flames of a large fire. A quick glance down at the "blankets" and she began to see evidence that they were actually a shirt...a very large shirt.

Aydyn could feel her body begin to tremble again, her mouth dry and her mind spinning as she struggled to determine if the giant had been real or simply a figment of her imagination. She turned on her booted feet and nearly fell back to the ground as she stumbled backwards in shock. There it was...hulking and frightening, even in what seemed like sleep. But maybe it was just feigning sleep, some trick to lull her closer to the exit he was clearly blocking. Were giants that intelligent?

She had dropped back to the ground, not fainted, but simply descended in a relatively slow manner in a crouch. She had spotted her saddlebags, the food and few coins she had scattered over the dirt. She had brought little else with her. She slunk forward, picking up the discarded bread and cheese before retreating back to the shirt that she had been strangely wrapped in. She hid it there, stuffing it beneath a fold for now. But questions gnawed at her mind: Why hadn't she been eaten? Why had he decided to keep her? Any answers she could think up only served to make her shudder and she wrapped her arms around her body and stared helplessly at the beast that had taken her.

[Grot]

It had been luck that he had found the cave, not so much for his sake, the cold rarely bothered the giant, but for the sake of his captive. Being that he was still unsure as to if she would be food or a pet Grot wanted to make sure the girl stayed alive. In no time flat his massive arms had snapped several trees into managable chunks of wood to be used for a fire. Once things had been in order, the giant had rummaged through his new pets belongings ignoring the food and other items the giant snatched up her visa. Aydyn Blair..... that was the humans name...BAH!!! Damn worthless lesser races and their last names. Grot didn't see the point in long, drawn out names, a name should be as quick and brutal as life was. Tucking the visa into a pocket on his trousers the giant threw more logs on the fire he'd built in the center of the cave before yawning and falling himself into the welcoming embrace of sleep.

Grot had no fear of this lowly human girl, and it would be suicide for her to escape past him ,if she could find a hole large enough, with the massive blizzard howling in futile anger and it's inability to faze the sleeping giant. Grot took more of a nap really, closing his eyes for a mere few hours while his victim remained unconcious in his shirt pocket. The giant was awoken to the sounds of his prey scurrying around the cave grabbing her food that he had so callously dumped on the ground. At first Grot didn't move, he kept the fact he was no awake from her for a few moments until she had stopped moving about the gave. Opening one of his massive purple eyes to gaze over at her terrified form he spoke. "Hello little one.....Aydyn is it not? We have much to talk about for you are my new pet and I wish to know more of you and why I should not consider you food." Closing his eye once again, he chuckled as he awaited her answer.

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn sat upon the shirt she had been wrapped in, gnawing on a small piece of bread she had torn off and staring at the opening the giant blocked. Though it was sufficiently warm in the cave, she trembled and struggled to swallow the mashed up bread before taking another bite. Her whole body felt like it was going into convulsions...she simply couldn't believe she was sitting there in the presence of a giant and was still alive. Quite frankly, she was terrified. How did you act around a giant? How did you avoid getting stepped on or crushed?

She was staring hard at his face, disgusted by the enormity of his features, when an eye suddenly popped open. Purple. The giant's eyes were purple. More importantly, he was staring right at her. The severity of her tremors increased into a single shudder of her shoulders before she fell back into the smaller quivers that wracked her whole body. She felt sick to her stomach...as if her nerves would betray her right there and then and she'd throw up in front of him. Somehow she held it in, even managed to listen to the massive creature speak...though at first she simply stared at him stupidly.

But he was waiting for an answer, clearly amused with her fear...fear Aydyn wasn't sure she could conquer in his presence. "I um..." He knew her name...how was that? She stared at her belongings, wondering what had given her away. Then another thing hit her. He had said pet. She felt her stomach flip flop and she clutched it, willing it to calm. "Pet?" she squeaked nervously. "What...what do you...do you mean?" Gray eyes widened as she gazed at him. She was so pale it looked as if she'd faint again...somehow she stayed conscious.

[Grot]

The giant opened his eye once again as his face twisted in annoyance at his new pet. How could she not understand what he meant? As much amusement as he had taken in her being terrified of him earlier, it was starting to grate on the giant. She was trembling constantly now and could not speak or apparantly think through her fear. It wouldn't do if his pet couldn't hold a decent conversation with him, or if she was to afraid to do as he told her. It was Grot's own fault really, and he knew it. It didn't mean he had to be happy about though. The wind outside seemed to howl louder as the giant found himself becoming more annoyed at his new pet, but it wouldn't do to cause her more fear....not yet anyway. "It is simple little one, you are my pet. Like you lesser races keep lower animals as pets, I will keep you. I will see to it you are well fed and safe...as you are obviously to frail to manage such things on your own, and in return you will amuse me and do what I ask of you." the giant said slowly, with an obvious hint of annoyance despite his best efforts to the contrary. "So I'll ask again.....tell me how you can amuse me as a pet and more of yourself...before I decide you are really food"

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn could hear the annoyance, the frustration that talking with her was bringing the giant. How could she miss it? He was more than three times her size and his voice boomed over her like waves crashing against a barrier in the midst of a wild storm. She wanted to dig a hole in the dig and simply hide away. But she had no way of doing so and thus had to face what was going on in front of her.

She groaned and tried to keep from burrowing inside of the fabric that she stood on top of. Just get a hold of yourself, she pleaded inwardly...and fell to drawing in slow, deep breaths, clenching her hands together in front of her and squeezing...trying to calm herself. She tried to work through her meditation, as if she were trying to achieve Clara, but there was simply too much going on in her head. But she seemed to have at least stopped shaking...just a little anyway. Yet trying to figure out how to save herself from becoming food was entirely beyond her.

"I'm a good friend," she offered quickly, even though it made her feel a trifle silly to say such. It seemed insignificant...probably entirely so to a giant who wanted her as a pet, not a friend. But what did people like about their pets? Aydyn loved having the companionship of her two alicats...simply loved how they loved to be around her. That was friendship. What person did not want that? But what did a giant look for? "I can...do magic," she offered...hesitantly. "Make plants grow quicker, calm down animals..." She doubted these skills would be much use to a giant. She spread her hands helplessly in front of her. What good was she?

[Grot]

Grot was still annoyed with the woman before him. On the one hand, he was going to need a pet such as her to accomplish things for him in the cities of the lesser races. With the giant civilization reduced to nomadic clans for the most part, items such as armor and other neccesities would have to be purchased from them. As a giant he couldn't easily walk into most towns and go about his business without suspicion, that's where this woman would come in, she could do this business for him if properly motivated to be loyal. Unfortunately, that motivation would not be easy to obtain, fear would not give him the kind of control Grot needed over the woman....he needed to seek out other means.

Grot roared with laughter when Aydyn told him she was a good friend, amused that this creature thought he needed her as such. It was comical really, comical enough that he might have let her live just based on the fact that she could bring him amusement. However his laughter ceased at the mention of her magic abilities. After all, magic was certainly useful...and obviously she was not at a high enough level of competancy to do him any harm or she would have already. "So your a druid then little one? My mother was a druid....I suppose that makes you amusing enough at the least not to make you a meal. Still.....you haven't answered my other question..... tell me about yourself pet, the long version of your tale. I want to know what sort of pet I have taken, and it will be hours before this storm has finished." he said with a disinterested tone of voice as he closed his eye again, fully expecting to fall asleep during her tale, afterall she wasn't going anywhere.

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn cringed backwards as the giant erupted with laughter. His breath stank up the cavern and, although this was the least of her worries, Aydyn felt another wave of nausea grip her, some gorge rising in her throat. She turned aside, her face shifting to look at the fire and inhale the dark smoke. The mix of smells in the place did not cease her shifting stomach, but the smoke helped to mask it some. She clutched at her stomach, wishing it would settle already. So maybe she was amusing enough? Things really weren't looking too bright for her just yet...there were still no promises that he wouldn't just decide to eat her. And who was to say that, even after deciding not to eat her now, he wouldn't just do so at a later time?

She had not really heard the other half of his question. She had merely been content to try and make herself seem appealing so she wasn't swallowed up whole. She cleared her throat, her hands twisting around one another nervously. "My story..." She trailed off, thoughtfully. Why did everyone want to know that? It wasn't as if it were actually interesting. "I uhm...I grew up near Candaceburg. Do you know where that is?" The question came out in a squeak, her gray eyes wide. "Uhm..anyway. I grew up on a farm and I uhm...left. Yes. Didn't much like it, you know. And I eventually moved to Demios where I started to learn...to learn about Druidism. And uhm..." She trailed, wondering if there was really anything interesting to say. Not really. "Then I went to Acumin, lived there a bit. And now I'm in Mystique." She looked at him, expecting the worst. "And...that's about it."