Chapter 1: In which our Star falls from the sky.

“Ha! You sure you can handle more?" Star guffawed, as the ox in front of her swayed to the side before righting himself with a jolt, a thin stream of drool threatening to fall from the corner of his maw.  His reddened brown eyes lifted up to meet hers, and he set his jaw determinedly. “No small thing such as yourself is going to outdrink me tonight! We go more!" he half slurred, half roared. The small crowd that had gathered around them in the bar laughed appreciatively, and soon another round of shots was delivered by a waitress, a short badger with a bemused look in her eyes.  3 shots for each individual, the lynx and the ox each grabbed for a shot, clinked their glasses together, and began to down the bitter tasting liquor. Shot after shot they drank, until the Ox groaned, tilted forward, and slumped forward onto the table, crashing from his chair and taking the table down with him with loud complaints from the furniture. The crowd backed up to avoid the ox's huge form from potentially squashing them, and cheered as Star stood up from her chair raising her arms in triumph.  “David defeats. . . Goliath!" she hiccuped, and took a few small steps to adjust her balance. The people in the crowd congratulated Star on her victory, but soon enough returned to their own evening plans in the bar, leaving Star alone with the poor, unconscious beast.

She warily stepped over the ox's slumped body, and strode over to the bar, swaying slightly but cheerily.  She told the bartender that the loser of the competition would be paying for the drinks. The bartender, a rather large elephant, rolled his eyes in affirmation and reached below the bar with his trunk to fetch a pen and paper and began writing down the due owed to him while his hands worked away at cleaning a glass.  Satisfied that her dues were in the hands of her unfortunate competitor, the strawberry haired lynx stumbled towards the exit, a stupid grin on her face carrying her between chairs and tables as her mind swirled and her vision blurred. She left the residence behind her, and though the streets were only dimly lit by street lamps she shambled her way home, giggling to herself giddily whenever she almost tripped and fell.  Suddenly a wave of nausea hit her, and she realized that she may indeed have reached her limit that night. Out of the corner of her she noticed a strange, rather gnarled looking tree. “A perfect location to place my deposit!" she thought to herself sarcastically, as she leaned over to upchuck between the roots of the tree. The lynx leaned down and hurled, the contents of the night's poor decisions splattering below.

Perhaps it was the alcohol affecting her balance, perhaps it was the nausea and sickening feeling of vertigo she always felt when throwing up, or perhaps it was simply because Star was a bit of a clutz, but all of a sudden she was falling forward and instead of crashing onto the ground she slipped between the roots of the tree and began to free fall.  Down fell Star, crashing through branches and leaves, nicking her face, arms, and legs and she yelped in surprise at suddenly being hurled by gravity through, seemingly, the ground below the tree or, apparently, the lack of it. For a few seconds she fell until the ground rushed towards her and with a painful, "THWUMP!" The lynx's limp body thudded against the roots of a tree, her head striking one of the gnarled wooden nodes. Her vision blinked out like a light short-lived and then she felt nothing.

A shrill note pierced through the air and shattered against Star's ears.  She blearily opened her eyes, “I swear today is the day I take my firearm home from work and dispose of all the birds within a five mile radius!" she thought to herself. Blinking, her vision slowly began to fall back into focus.  She was surprised to see leaves and branches above her, and beyond them a blue sky and a radiant sun shining between the breaks in the foliage. She frowned, “Did I pass out outside last night?" she asked herself, and her paws quickly went to check her pockets to see if she still had her personal items.  Her phone, keys, and wallet were still present to her relief, but she glanced down when she noticed her clothes felt a little bit more ragged than usual. She realized to her dismay that her t-shirt and jeans were torn rather badly, as if she had gone running through a thick row of bushes for fun. “When did this happen?" she said to herself, and looked around to determine where exactly she was.  Her mouth dropped in surprise as a large grassy field met her eye. She was laying underneath the shade of a tree in a field surrounded by a forest with trees the size of redwoods all around her. Except, much to her disbelief, the trees surrounding her were wiley oak trees, as if straight from a Norse fairy tale with fairies, trolls, elves, and giants.

Star's head raced to think up a possible explanation of why she ended up in such a strange forest.  Was she hallucinating? Was she in a coma and this was just a dream? Did her friends get her drunk again and leave her in a random location as a prank?  Did she walk out here last night while blacked out and simply not remember how she got here? The questions chased themselves around in her mind, playing tag with each other and pulling on the various gyri of her brain for fun, causing her a significant degree of headache.  She shook her head, rubbing the side of her head with a paw, completely unsure of what was going on. Just as she was about to pick herself up and perhaps see if her phone had any reception, she heard a loud snap that came from the forest edge . Star's heart rate increased as she realized that there may be wild animals in this forest that could pose a threat to her.  She attempted to stand but her hungover head throbbed and she did so too quickly, black and red spots appearing in her vision she fell down again, scratching her arm as she did. She looked up after her fall to see the biggest pink fox she'd ever seen in her life. Wearing a pair of short shorts, a sports bra, hoodie, and a duffle bag the giantess was striding over to where Star was located, having spotted her when Star fell over.

Star's thoughts raced, she picked herself up on her hands and knees and pinched herself on her arm, hard.  She winced as she registered the pain, “This is no dream," she thought to herself, as she readjusted herself into a sitting position, holding her head on her hands.  Star closed her eyes and focused on the throbbing in her head, taking in deep breathes and gritting her teeth. When she opened them again, before her the giantess was crouching down and leaning towards her, curiously inspecting her. “JESUS FUCK!" Star yelped and scrambled away.  “Elthrin?" The giantess's voice wasn't deep and rumbling as Star might have expected, but pitched normally for a person her type yet loud. Star furrowed her brow, staring up at the giantess. “What'd'ya say?" she asked, confused as to what the giantess had said. “The giantess looked perplexed herself, as repeated, “Elthrin? Oluck dursf hendon.  Lindium effikasen durifium hendon. Litten elthrin oluck!" Star stared blankly at the giantess. “What the fuck are you on about?" she yelled back, not being even able to identify what language the giantess was speaking let alone being able to understand the words.

The giantess half-smiled a little bit, but her face quickly faded into one of concert as she noticed the various injuries that patterned across Star, giving her a bedraggled look.  In one sweeping motion, the giantess picked up star and threw her over her shoulder, stood up, and began walking back into the forest from where she came. Star's eyes were wide open with shock for a few seconds and she wasn't able to react, and then suddenly waking up from her hangover she began to kick and struggle against the giantess's grip.  The giantess barely noticed her quarry's fretting, and continued marching through the field and into the forest. Star was furious at being man-handled like a naughty puppy, and even resorted to attempting to bite the giantess on the back, but she found her teeth did nothing to even graze the giantess. It was as if she were made of steel, her strength was immeasurable and her physical resilience completely immune to Star's attacks.  Star began to feel a sense of dread washing over her and her struggles began to abait. She was completely powerless around this being, whoever she was. Her imagination began to get worked up as well, as the idea came to her that this giantess might want to eat her. Star's hung-over brain, her various injuries, and the shock of being completely miniscule in a world of looming trees, large grasses, and giants who were resistant to all forms of bodily attack were beginning to be a bit too much for Star.  Although no tears were shed, she felt alone and scared of her situation; unsure of what was going to happen to her.

She grit her teeth, angry at herself for allowing herself to think in such a weak manner, and was about to take another attempt at giving the giantess a good old chomp when she was suddenly whirled around and held above the giantess's head, supported under her arms to face another clearing, with a large house built in the middle of it surrounded by a small vegetable garden.  All thoughts of fight vanished from Star's mind as she beheld the scene in front of her in a slight awe. The house was painted a pleasant sky blue color, with two floors and a surrounding porch encircling the entire house. The vegetable garden sported all sorts of overgrown plants, giant tomato plants clinging to large rods placed for their support, several berry bushes sporting fruits Star hadn't seen in her life, various herbs with leaves in the most bizarre of shapes.  The entire picture filled Star with a sense of wonder, “What world is this?" she thought to herself. “Esteth fon!" exclaimed the giantess happily, before once again depositing Star over her shoulder. Star grumpily harrumphed and leaned her head against her hand, supporting her elbow against the back of the giantess. “If she's showing me her home with such enthusiasm, her intention probably isn't to eat me." she mused to herself, “However that doesn't mean whatever she has in store for me going to be something I like."  Star decided she was going to have to perform some recon, but just as she was going to attempt to communicate with the giantess once more, the two had arrived at her house, and a giant beast rushed towards them from behind the giantess which had emerged from the garden. The only thing that star was able to do before the purple lion had tackled her and the giantess was scream.