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Here's a story I wrote for Jevin, seeing as he let me stay at his apartment during AnthroCon this year and is generally a really cool person. I've been meaning to write it for so long, but getting going has been a battle for me lately. If you've read Jevin's "We Don't Hate Being Micros" stories, this is kinda sorta set in the same universe, which was the only guidance he really gave me towards writing it. I hope I did a good enough job, and any comments and criticism is welcome as this is an ongoing process. Some things still don't sit right with me about the story, but if I didn't ignore them I would never get anywhere. Hope it's still good enough ^^;
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Flipside
Part 1
by Selendro
Devyn inched his way along the baseboard of the wall, his grey pointed ears at attention. It was very early in the morning, and the half inch tall wolf pulled the small bit of white cloth that served as his clothes tight around his body. Drafty floors are even more unpleasant when you're a micro. The little wolf had overslept a bit, not wanting to get out of bed due to the cold weather. Hunger had eventually gotten the better of him, and he was eager to make it to the kitchen. He just hoped that the other resident in this apartment wasn't awake yet.
As he scurried along the wall, Devyn kept looking back at the bedroom door, making sure there was no activity from within. He gave one last look behind him when he reached the kitchen, gave a sigh of relief, and walked around the corner. He soon stopped short, staring dumbfounded at the green, scaly wall in front of him.
“Oh...damn,” was all he could get out before the toes he had just walked into squeezed around him. The wolf's attempts to struggle and back out didn't do much good, because the owner of the toes now knew he was there. He was trapped.
“Well well, look who showed up,” Kade said as he leaned against the white kitchen wall and took a bite of his toast. The dragon amused himself by getting the unfortunate wolf trapped under the ball of his foot and rolling him along the kitchen floor while he finished his breakfast. Devyn, of course, did not find being trapped under a huge scaly foot and being rolled around in toast crumbs to be all that amusing. He struggled and yelled at first, but then got hold of himself and just gave in. His instincts told him to fight, but he knew from experience that it was better to play dead. Kade rolled the motionless wolf a few more times as he took the last bite of toast and brushed the crumbs from his hands. Devyn then found the huge foot lifting away and the darkness was replaced with the view of the dragon leaning over him.
“Good morning,” said the smiling tooth-lined muzzle of the dragon. A great many responses came into Devyn's mind that were as far away from “good morning” as you can get, but what he said was:
“Good...morning.”
Kade bent down and scooped the wolf into his hand. Devyn could still smell the scent of buttered toast on the dragon's fingers and it made his stomach growl. He knew if he didn't speak up, then there was no telling when he'd be able to get away from the dragon again now that he'd been caught.
“Can I...please...have something to eat?” Devyn asked his captor, trying not to make the please sound too forced, even though it took great effort.
“Hm? Oh, sure.” Kade walked over to the blue tile kitchen counter and set Devyn down. The wolf took the opportunity to shake off some of the earlier abuse, getting crumbs out of his fur. Just as he glanced over to see what the dragon was doing, a huge shadow loomed overhead and Kade set a piece of buttered toast down on top of him. Devyn could hear the dragon chuckling on the other side of the toast, and he had to make himself count to ten to avoid doing anything too drastic. The smell of the warm toast laying on top of him did something to assuage his anger, and he set about escaping his toast prison by eating a hole through it. When he popped out on the other side he found Kade leaning against the counter and watching him. Devyn tried not to make eye contact with that smug face as he continued to eat away at the toast until he was stuffed. He leaned back with his hands on his belly, feeling happily satisfied at last. In a few moments, though, he found himself back in the dragon's hand and being taken into the living room.
Devyn had to struggle somewhat in the dragon's grip to get a view of where they were headed. Kade walked over to his brown, somewhat saggy couch and sat down heavily. He leaned back and let out a long yawn while Devyn squirmed around more, trying to get comfortable unsuccessfully. Kade looked tired as he regarded the small wolf for a moment before starting to lower him down. Devyn looked around himself after he was deposited in the dragon's lap, and realized that Kade wasn't wearing anything except for a pair of blue boxer briefs. What's more, he was sitting directly on top of the bulge between the dragon's legs. Devyn slowly raised his eyes up to Kade's dark red belly scales and began trying to quietly move somewhere else. His attempt was foiled when Kade simply pushed him back into place with a hand. Devyn sighed and sat down. Kade loved to lord his size over the wolf at every opportunity, and the point of this exercise was clear. “Relatively, I still bet mine is bigger,” the wolf consoled himself internally as the dragon watched the morning news.
There wasn't a whole lot on the news that interested Devyn, but he watched anyway. It kept his mind off his humiliation a little. Most of it had to do with the daily lives of macros, which was something he couldn't really relate to. Micros like him were second-class citizens at best and vermin to be exterminated at worst. Thoughts like these served to make him bitter about his situation. He looked up at the zoned out face of the dragon watching TV and hated him. He hated everything the macros stood for at that moment, and he hated that the only thing he could do was sit here and brood about it. Devyn's thoughts were interrupted when Kade yawned and stretched, then suddenly moved from sitting on the couch to laying with his front towards the back of the couch. Devyn was apparently completely forgotten and so these movements caused him to tumble down off Kade and land on the couch cushion. The landing was soft, but when he looked up he found an enormous wall of green and red scale blocking him in. Devyn gritted his teeth and began looking for a way out. At least he could finally get away from the stupid dragon.
Devyn was angry, but also a little afraid. Macros were sometimes at their worst when they were completely ignoring you. He was very cautious, therefore, and kept as far away from the dragon as possible while making his way down to the end of the couch. This precaution didn't help much when Kade suddenly pressed into the couch closer, and Devyn found himself pinned up against the back of the couch by the dragon's huge leg. He had the wind knocked out of him, and he tried to wriggle free, but it became obvious he wasn't going anywhere. Kade stretched his legs out after a while and Devyn fell free, panting. When he'd gotten his breath back from being smushed, the wolf scurried quickly down to the end of the couch. Why did every little thing have to be made so difficult by this stupid lizard? Devyn stared at the dragon's feet, which were now the only obstacle between him and freedom. He gathered his courage and made a dash for it, but just at that moment he was knocked over by one of the feet moving towards him. He scrambled to move out of the way as the sole of the dragon's foot pushed against the end of the couch. Devyn's heart was racing as he stared back. He wondered if he'd just had an amazingly close call, or if maybe the dragon wasn't as asleep as he appeared. Somehow neither option gave him much comfort, and he climbed down to the floor in an even more foul mood than before.
When Devyn was far enough away to start feeling more comfortable, he finally let out all his rage. He punched and kicked at the wall furiously, and with a great tug pulled up a strand of carpet, throwing it down in defiance. He had actually been in a good mood this morning, but that huge green jerk had messed everything up. Devyn was still furious when he got back to his little shelter underneath the floorboards. He flopped belly-down on a salvaged pin cushion and gave a long sigh of relief. He gazed around his home and thought about how everything he had in life was something the macros didn't want or wouldn't miss. “Just like me,” he thought to himself. He curled up on his pin cushion and cried a little. He knew that there was a micro civilization out there somewhere, away from the oppression of the macros, but he had no idea how he would ever find it without getting stepped on by an uncaring macro foot.
Then something clicked inside Devyn's brain. He lifted his tear-stained muzzle from the pin cushion and pushed himself to his feet. He'd just watched Kade bring home a new cell phone last week, and had overheard him talking about how awesome it was with some friend or another. The dragon had said you could use it to find anything with the touch of a button. The wolf latched onto those words. You could find anything. Kade was asleep at the moment, and without his pants. His cell phone might still be in his pocket! Devyn brushed aside his tears, and clambered back out of his hole, poking his head up first to make sure there was no sign of Kade. This time he walked along the wall in the opposite direction, towards the bedroom door. Devyn lay down flat on his belly and wriggled underneath the door, tucking his tail between his legs so it wasn't in the way. When he emerged on the other side, he looked around the dragon's room curiously. Understandably, he rarely ever came in this room – there was no food and far too much chance of running into Kade in here. The walls seemed to be covered in movie posters. He even recognized some of them, having seen parts when he was caught in the living room at times.
Devyn shifted his gaze back to the floor. He shouldn't be wasting time. He spotted a pair of jeans laying on the floor and took off towards them. They were thrown aside carelessly, so it took him a bit to figure out where the pockets in the mess of fabric were. He felt around, until he felt something that seemed solid, and then climbed into the cavernous pocket. He soon felt the smooth screen of the cell phone beneath him, and it lit up as he touched it, surprising him a little. In the dark pocket he had to let his eyes adjust to the bright screen before he could make it out. He walked over and stepped on “Search” which brought up a little keyboard. Devyn had to scamper around like he was playing hopscotch, but he managed to type the word “micro” and then hit enter. He looked over the results and tried a few links. Most were just plain useless, and a few led him to porn sites that turned his stomach. There seemed to be a whole industry devoted to abusing micros. Devyn was more sickened than ever by these macros, and was almost ready to give up on his foolish hope, when he clicked another link and couldn't believe what he saw.
It was the site of a micro-run self-defense company, something he had no clue could even exist. On their website they had all sorts of tools specially designed for micros like him. One of them caught his eye: “Shrinking Powder: To be used on abusive macros only. One dose shrinks the target for at least 24 hours. $5000.” His mind raced. This was perfect! He could finally get back at Kade for all his humiliation! The price would be an issue, though. He didn't even have a single dollar, let alone five thousand. He had a dime he'd found under the couch one day, but he didn't think that would get him very far. Then a grin formed on his muzzle, when he realized in the other pocket of these jeans, the dragon's wallet sat waiting.
He poked his head out, making sure the coast was clear, then scampered over to the other jean pocket, tugging on the huge wallet with all his might. It wouldn't budge. Devyn hadn't come all this way to lose out now, so he shoved his hands under the flap and tried to wrench it open. He only managed to lift it a crack, but it was enough to find Kade's credit card and begin to tug it out. With one final pull, Devyn fell backward and the huge plastic card slid to the floor. He got to his feet, breathing hard, and quickly memorized the number before running back to the other pocket to punch it into the web site, along with the address of Kade's apartment. He crossed his fingers as he touched the “Submit” button. After only a moment, the site displayed “Thank you for your order, please allow 4-5 days for delivery.” Devyn smiled as he cleared everything from the phone and walked out of the pocket. His celebration was cut short by the sound of movement in the hallway. He dived for cover under the dresser just as the door opened and Kade walked in, still looking groggy. The dragon walked over to his pants, bending down to pick them up. As he did so, he saw the credit card lying on the floor. Devyn watched from his hiding place, holding his breath, as the dragon picked up the card and looked at it. Kade shrugged and shoved the card back into a pocket, before sliding on his jeans and walking over the dresser to find a shirt. As Devyn looked out at the huge green toes in front of him, all he could think about was how this was a view he wouldn't have to live with much longer.
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lovers, and you are really good at writing.
I strongly doubt 24 hours is enough to make Kade realize what it is like, but I suppose the micro R&D guys behind the powder figured "fast-acting" had a higher priority than "long-lasting." Especially if the target was not intended to live long enough for the effect to wear off...