Mega Vignettes - by Aliasi (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/aliasi/) 01 - In which gainful employment is sought --- "Next!" The manager glanced over his papers at the new applicant, and quirked an eyebrow. The earth-toned canine in his office would be a startling sight anywhere, but her eight-foot stature looked especially comical in the cramped trailer office. Her clothing - baggy black shorts and a cropped t-shirt - might normally be considered unusual for a job interview, but at Antone Construction it was standard business wear. Even the manager's outfit gave only the slightest of nods to standards, and the collared polo shirt looked odd enough on the bulldog's neckless body. Well, he thought. At least she looks fit for the job.... She certainly didn't look unused to manual labor! Her clothing did little to conceal her heavily muscled frame, somewhat softened by the short coat of fur. He consulted the application. "Meg Mahoney?" "Meg-a, sir." Her voice was deep, but feminine. Not especially fascinating - for a moment, he'd feared this would turn into a noir movie. "Ah, right. Sorry. Mega. I'm going to be honest with you... normally, I wouldn't give an application like yours a second thought. You've got no experience, and you haven't even filled in the most basic information... no Social Security, no references, no previous jobs of any kind..." "That's because I don't have any of that, sir. I've only recently moved into town. I've lived with my tribe most of my life." She gestured towards the complex tattoo patterns etched on her biceps. "Yes," he replied, "I thought you might be a Native. We get breaks for hiring Natives... which was one of the factors in interviewing you today, since we're being honest. The other one being you. Are they all that big where you come from?" "No, sir. It's a reason I left. Normally, we come about... this tall," as she held a hand slightly above her waist. "Bonking my head on ceilings was getting real tiresome." "Hmph. Well... we can get you set up with a SS number. And we can verify your background, I'm sure... but I want to make sure you aren't just a broad back and small mind. Let's head out to the site." The construction site was deserted - Mega was the last interviewee for the day, and the workers had gone home some time before. The manager pointed to a cement truck. "Let's see you move that across the lot," he instructed as he hopped into the passenger side. Mega didn't get in. He was about to lean out the window and find out what was taking her so long when the truck lurched. He felt it lean back, then move. Too shocked to take action, he simply held on to his seat tightly as the truck bounced around, and with a loud THUMP and a final shock it stopped. He scrambled out the door to see Mega just straightening up from depositing the truck on the ground. She grinned. "I don't know how to drive, so I figured I'd just do it directly, if it's all the same to you." "Er.... uh.... we don't have much call for lifting cement trucks around here," he managed to recover. "But what about something like that pallet of bricks?" He pointed out the nearby stack. Mega shrugged and walked over. "You want me to juggle 'em while I'm over here?" She dead-lifted the bricks with as little effort as it would take for most to pick up a single one, and held the pile over her head. "This good enough? Mister? You all right?" The manager shook off his astonishment. "No, that's fine. Set them back down... and call me Frank. All my employees do." He was gratified to see that he wasn't the only one who could be astonished. "I'm hired? Just like that?" "Sure thing!" Frank grinned in return... then it faded. "Just one thing. The boys... oh, they're good guys, make no mistake. But if you're pulling stunts like you did with that truck, they might get kind of... uncomfortable, you know? I don't mean like they're sexist or nothin'... just mean, if I hire somebody as strong as ten other guys, they might get to wondering which ten guys I'm looking to fire. So... try to keep it toned down, will ya? At least until they get to know you." Mega nodded. "I think I see what you mean. Don't worry sir... uh, Frank. I'll be good!" "All right. I want to see you here - tomorrow - 8 in the morning. Sharp. I don't care how damn big you are, try to show up late I'll personally toss you out on your ear." He laughed. "Or throw out my back trying. We'll take care of the details and paperwork later." She grabbed his hand in both of hers and vigorously shook. "Thank you so much, s... FRANK. I'm so glad! I... I'd better get home, look at the time! See you tomorrow!" Mega bounded away in a manner totally inconsistent with her intimidating appearance. Frank shook his head at sight of the retreating figure... and took a moment to admire her behind, figuring he'd earned it. Still chuckling, he punched the speed-dial on his cell phone. "Mister Antone? You ain't going to believe this..." ==== 02 - In which the perils of public drunkeness are demonstrated --- It'd been a long day at work for Mega. Not so much the work itself - she was hardly tired - but she was still keeping up the ruse that Frank, her manager, had suggested, to conceal just exactly how strong she was to her coworkers. It'd been a week, but already she saw the benefits. It took some care to not give herself away, and she made sure to ask for "help" on particularly heavy-looking things, but the crew had readily accepted her. She was the only female on the crew, but the men were well behaved about that, too. She'd caught them all sneaking looks, she wouldn't begrudge that, but not a one of them had said the slightest impolite thing. Of course... even as strong as they think I am, they still know I could twist any of them into knots. That must help, she thought, smiling. She'd even struck up a friendship with the only one on the team who could look her eye-to-eye; Charlie, a large ursine who looked as though life had really meant for him to be a sumo, but had a personality more suited to a Laughing Buddha statue. The two of them even wore the same size of T-shirt - save that where Mega's fit tightly around her shoulders and chest, tenting out over her stomach, Charlie fit his shirt like a sausage fit its casing. The pair of them were sitting at a bus stop across from the construction site, sharing a six-pack of beer. Mega never took the bus herself, preferring to walk, but she liked talking to Charlie. She had a date planned for tonight, but the few minutes waiting for the bus to pick up her friend wouldn't matter. She looked up to respond to some little comment he had made regarding the news. It was then she noticed the fifty-foot raccoon walking down the street in a stagger, kicking at parked automobiles. Charlie groaned. "Oh, damn. Alfred's drunk again." "Alfred?" Mega asked. "Yeah, ol' Alfie, he's our local macro. Oh, right, you wouldn't know, since you're not from around here." Charlie cleared his throat to explain. "Y'see, few years back, some weird stuff happened. Still kind of hush-hush, but most people figure it was some kind of military experiment or something... basically, you had people from all over getting really big, like Alfie there. Government stepped in to restrain the ones that decided they didn't have to follow the rules, but the ones that behaved they set up an aid program for. "Alfred, he's a vet, that's how I figure the military angle, anyway. Nice guy, except he's a mean drunk. I heard his wife left him... my guess, he's taking out his frustrations. On our construction site, probably, since there's nobody there now. He ain't totally clueless." "And you're just going to LET him?" gaped Mega. "We've spend all week on that, if he trashes it we'll be so far behind schedule it won't be funny!" "Got better things to do than get squished by a giant drunken raccoon, Megs." Mega just scowled. "He isn't going to do anything if I've got anything to say about it!" She placed her beer can on the bench, stood up, and marched down the street to confront the giant interloper. Charlie just stared. "Been nice knowing ya, Meg... no sense wasting good beer, though." He downed her discarded can in two quick swallows. "HEY! YOU! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" The raccoon tried to focus, blearily, on the little yelling annoyance at his feet. "Huh?" "GET AWAY FROM HERE, DAMN IT! I SPENT THE LAST-" Mega's rant was interrupted by a decisive stomp, as Alfred continued taking out his anger on the scenery. A few moments later, feeling an insistent prod on his leg, the raccoon spun around to deal with this new busybody... and got a faceful of knee. Looking up, he saw the knee was connected to a leg, and the leg continued on to a body, eventually ending in the very angry face of a truly huge canine woman. "You really shouldn't have done that, 'Alfie'." Mega picked up the smaller giant by the scruff of his neck and held him at eye level. "But I'm a merciful sort, so I might just content myself with breaking both your kneecaps for that stunt." Alfred fainted dead away. "Hmph." Mega walked down the street in huge strides, carefully avoiding cars and people. "Well, if you're just going to pass out, I guess I'll let you sleep it off... this park looks good. 'cuse me, down below, going to drop this guy down there. Try not to wake him up, he's going to have one hell of a hangover when he does." She tromped back down the street to the bus-stop, shrinking back to her accustomed eight feet as she did so. She shot a look at a wide-eyed Charlie. "What are YOU staring at? I... oh." Mega suddenly remembered that - as her clothing didn't grow with her - that she was entirely naked. And these surface-dwellers had some funny ideas about clothes... no wonder he was staring! "Sorry, sorry... I'll have to pick up something to wear..." Glad for his shock to be misinterpreted, Charlie hurriedly took off his own shirt. "Nah, that's alright Megs, take my shirt. It'll do ya until you get home.... uh, have you always been able to do that?" Mega shrugged. "Not always always, but since before I moved to town, yeah. You aren't... mad or anything, are you? Frank was warning me about showing off entirely how strong I am, and I figured growing was the same sort of thing." She explained what she had been told by the manager. Charlie broke out into laughter. "Haw, even when he's been promoted, Frank still thinks of his buddies! Yeah, I guess I can see his point, but dammit, I wish we'd known that earlier. To think, we got a macro working with us... we'd be ahead of schedule in no time! Look, the guys know you a little by now, and if any of 'em give trouble, they know I'll knock some sense into them. And... uh..." "Yes?" Mega prompted. "Uh, I don't want that you take this the wrong way or nothing. It's just, I think any hard feelings the guys would have about you are smoothed over a lot by the fact that you're kind of... you know... a really amazingly gorgeous chick?" Mega blushed. "That's sweet of you, in a completely weird way. If I didn't know better, I'd ask you for... DATE! Oh, damn, I'm going to be SO late! Thanks for the shirt, I'll bring it back tomorrow, I've gotta run!" In one smooth action, Mega stood back up and began to sprint home. "Byeeeeeee~!" she called over one shoulder. Charlie shrugged and opened the last of the beers... hoping that the last few minutes weren't a product of the can's predecessors. ==== 03 - the problem with bootleg video --- Heads turned as the pair walked down the street. The gawkers had good reason. One of the walkers was a black fox, handsome with red hair that had a tuft of green at the fore. It was not this, but the feathered cape he wore that attracted notice - a closer look revealing the "cape" was actually a pair of wings, folded close to his back. The things most unusual about him did not show, however, and so his companion received the majority of notice. Where he'd lived in this neighborhood all of his current life, she was a new arrival, but already well known. Mega stood head-and-shoulders above the fox, no slouch himself - and easily half again as wide as his slender frame. Both were dressed casually - he was shirtless as he preferred, and Mega wore her usual tee and shorts, with the red ribbon tied around her ponytail being her one concession to "dressing up". They'd been dating for two weeks. Neither of them was the "dinner and a movie" type, so this amounted to them merely spending the majority of their free time together, talking and exploring. "I still think 'Technic' sounds like you're a set of fancy building blocks," Mega complained. Technic riposted. "Like 'Mega' is any better? At least you look the part." "I keep telling you, that's just a normal name in my tribe! If I'd been born a boy, I'd have the masculine ending of Mege. It's a coincidence that it means something in English!" "And I keep telling you, it's the same with me, I... huh?" A nearby window display grabbed Technic's attention. "... isn't that... you, Mega?" Mega followed his pointing finger to a rack of DVD cases. On each was a blurry, but recognizable picture of Mega... stark naked... and giant. She blurted in astonishment. "That's... that's from two weeks ago!" "Oh? Something you haven't been sharing, Mega?" Technic archly replied. "It's nothing like that!" She hastily explained how she had prevented Alfred, the drunken macro, from demolishing her workplace... shredding her clothes due to her haste. The fox rubbed his chin, picturing it. "I guess someone had a camera running... and now they're trying to make money off the tape." Eyeballing the steady stream of customers exiting the video store, he added, "... and doing a good job of it, too." "But... can they do that? That's ME!" A rare chivalric impulse rose in Technic hearing Mega's indignant protest. "You're new to the city. There's a certain way you need to go around it. Let me handle it." Mega watched her date walk into the store. Technic approached the counter, run by a... a... whatever it was, it looked like a big ball of fluff with eyes. He entered into a discussion... which turned into a heated, agitated argument... and the next thing Mega saw was Technic's form involuntarily sailing out the door, head first. "That ASSHOLE, he wouldn't listen! I'm going to make him... I'll cram him into a bucket... I'll..." Technic sputtered angrily. Mega tried to calm him down. "Look, there's no need for you to make a scene. You didn't happen to mention I was out here, did you?" "No... why?" "Watch and learn. Mind holding these? I like this shirt." Technic gaped as she began to rapidly strip. "What...? I... uh... er..." It could hardly be seen under his black fur, but he was blushing. Finished, she handed her shorts over. "Going to show him why he should choose his victims a little more carefully. Good thing this shop's just a little one-story thing..." Mega grew to a moderate forty feet, just enough to casually tear the roof and peer in. She glanced over the terrified patrons, who were running over each other in their haste to run from the store, and fixed a cool gaze on the proprietor, who could do nothing but stare, wide-eyed. "You know," Mega said as casually as if she was remarking on the weather, "it's a really BAD idea to piss off someone like me. So let me tell you what's going to happen. My boyfriend, there, is going to take all the money you've brought in today. It's a video of me, so it's only fair, right? And after that..." The fuzzball, whose self-preservation instinct had finally kicked in, found his attempt at escape halted as she snatched him with one paw. "... after that, you're going to quit selling those. Otherwise..." She waited for Technic to exit the shop, kicking the place to rubble once he gave the okay signal. "You're going to find yourself suddenly two-dimensional like your shop. If you get what I mean." She gave Fuzzball a significant squeeze and gently placed him by the ruins of his building, and motioned for Technic to hop on. Doing so, she made her exit, carefully picking her way down the city street - filled with many more gawkers than previously, though none anxious to get in her way. After turning a corner, she put the fox back down and returned to her normal size. Technic hesitantly began. "Uh... I didn't know you could do... that. Aren't you afraid you'll get in trouble?" Mega laughed it off. "Showmanship, that's the thing. Impress the hell out of them and you can get away with just about anything. Surprised you didn't know... seems like everybody else in the neighborhood does by now!" Sobering, Mega regarded him carefully. "But is it a problem with you?" Flustered, the blush rose to his cheeks again. "... actually, I kind of... liked it." They kissed to the background noise of police sirens... ==== Mega defiantly took a puff from the slim white cylinder in her mouth, staring at the police officer on the other side of the desk. "What d'you mean, I'm free to go?" The officer, a bear, shrugged. "Apparently, Dr. Fuzzball's shop just spontaneously collapsed. Despite reports from numerous eyewitnesses, not to mention the rumors in the neighborhood... but the Doctor is very clear: no pressing charges." He shifted position in his desk chair, fiddling with a pen as he continued. "Of course, that wouldn't stop the department from an arrest and charges, given the Macro Control Act is still on the books... but it would involve turning the case over to the feds." The police officer suddenly reached to the whirring tape recorder, pausing it. "And... strictly off the record... Bro has nothing but good things to say about you." This last sentence broke Mega out of her carefully play-acted scowl, and she looked closer. "You're Charlie's brother?" He had a resemblance, though The policebear nodded, not quite smiling. "Yep. Michael Grizwold, at your service. Mike to people I like. And I think he'd agree that you look like a dam' fool with that candy cigarette." Mega resumed her scowl for a moment. "... but I thought all hardened criminals smoked..." She blew one last puff of sugar from the confection, snapped it in half, and swallowed. "Firstly, you aren't a hardened criminal. In fact, as of now you're not even under arrest - you're free to go. But maybe you can hold off your rush to freedom for a wise word. Look, I have a pretty good idea of what really happened, and I don't think anyone could really hold what you did against you, if they were in your shoes. But believe me... if you are an unregistered macro, there's going to be some people with some very serious questions to ask you. Especially if you can change your size, since NOBODY has been known to do that. Don't think being huge is going to help - those folks have a lot of experience in giant-killing. I'm only holding off for two reasons, Megs. One reason, really. I'm worried they might hear about that little incident with Alfie and kick off another panic. He doesn't need that. This city doesn't need it. The fact that Charles thinks the sun rises and sets on your head just let me feel okay with it, and that's the sum of the matter." Mike took a deep breath. "How big can you get, anyway? I ask purely for purposes of information." Despite his dire warnings, Mega took a liking to the bear. "I can't really say. Best I could guess is... well... not long after I left home, I caught a ride on a ship that was heading here. They stopped off at an island overnight, and just for fun, I swam out into the ocean a bit and grew, keeping my head just above water, to see if I could get my feet to touch the ground. It took a little while, but I did it!" If he'd been equipped for it, Mike would have broke into a cold sweat. "You're telling me... if that's the island I'm thinking of... I used to do some diving off there, let me think..." He calculated in his head and didn't care for the answer. "You'd have had to been a little over one mile tall! Nothing gets that big! Hell, nothing could survive the pressure-changes..." Mega grinned. "I did, and I did. I didn't stay that way for long, of course... the way I do it, it would... be bad if I maintained that kind of size for a long time. And I don't mean the way you think I do; it's not like I have to eat more, at least if I don't stay that big. It's more of a 'borrowing-spare-life-energy-from-the-planet-and-things-get-sick-if-I-don't-give-it-back" thing." The officer stared in growing horror. "Now... I'm really glad I've only heard good things about you. I don't intend to be the first town to get nuked to stop a macro." "You think they'd do that? You think I'D do that?" Mega asked, all wide-eyed innocence. She'd never considered the possibility. "I think..." he began carefully, "that if you made it seem necessary, they might. I've gathered you don't know much about what happened back when the macros started appearing. You suddenly had people become these giants, like in some cheesy sci-fi movie... and a lot of them decided to take it out on everybody else." "Yeah, Charlie told me about that, said the bad ones got restrained." "Fancy word for 'killed', Miss Mahoney." The formality after Mike's friendly manner jarred. "They got killed. Being fifty feet tall doesn't make you bulletproof. You might be able to get big enough that bullets wouldn't do anything... but they'd just pull out weapons up to the task. They're awfully paranoid about macros, too... it's why I was so worried about Alfie. He's a good guy. You'd trigger every instinct they've got, and with good reason too. I don't think you mean any harm to anybody - not from the stories I've been hearing - but I can't say there isn't some little part of me that wonders what might happen if you get really... REALLY angry, someday." "Look, I'd never act like that...." ... and I wouldn't be so sure about them having weapons that could hurt me, she silently added. "... but you COULD. And the good people of the nation, through their representatives in Congress, decided the threat was enough to have macros treated as a special case - since normal furs can't demolish cities at will." Mega decided the conversation was going nowhere. "You don't have to worry about it. I'm not going to start any trouble." Not unless I can finish it.. She got up to leave. "I'll keep everything you said in mind, okay, Officer Grizwold? All I want to do is go home and get ready for work tomorrow. Does that sound like I'm planning to demolish anything?" "No, it doesn't," he agreed. "I'm glad to hear. Don't give us a reason to have to bring you in again." Mega stomped miserably out of the station, Technic jogging alongside to keep up. "Did it go okay...?" Technic ventured. "Yes. No. Both. I... don't wanna talk about it, okay?" The fox shrugged. "I see you're not real happy about it. We can talk later. After today, I wouldn't want you unhappy." He tried to say it lightly, but Mega took it poorly. Shouting into his face, she unleashed a torrent of angry words. "... and I bet you think I'm a monster too!" she screamed loudly enough for the entire street to hear. Technic studied his feet, unwilling to look at Mega. Finally, he quietly replied. "No. I don't think that." Without further goodbye, he turned his back and walked the other way. Mega glared after him... then busily blinked to get the... dust, or pollen, maybe she was getting some kind of allergy, this city air. It couldn't be crying. No possibility.