It was these "Jack and the Beanstalk" types she hated the most. When you were hunting a Nightmare or a hag or a dragon or even an ogre, things were very straight forward. They were big, yes, but they came straight at you, and you'd go right at them, and the one who hit the hardest got to live for another day. But these giants were always cultured enough to surround themselves with the trappings of the human world, and they liked to rub your nose in it.

Everything was so familiar, but big. Much too big. It made her feel tiny and insignificant. Like a child, or even a little doll depending on how big the bastard was. Today? Today was a doll day. Kalina tightened her grip on her sword and gave it a few experimental swings in the empty air. The blade danced and sang, twisting and bending like water or a whip as it sliced through a wax candle nearly as large as she was.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" The booming voice of a god shook her to the core. She could feel her bones rattling.

Kalina stood up straight and spun on her heels to face the colossus. From her position on his dinner table, she had a very good look at his chest and his face, particularly the fine silk tunic and immaculately groomed beard. She knew the type: a bully who played at being a gentleman. But something about the way he carried himself made Kalina feel inadequate. She smoothed her surcoat, shook some stray locks of hair back into place, and let her wings unfurl to their full length before responding:

"Well, sir, I'm here to kill you."

His laughter echoed through the halls, rattling the silverware and nearly sending the archangel down on one knee. She looked up at him in brazen defiance. Bigger things than him had tried to give her the fee fi fo fum routine. Bigger things than him were dead. So when he leaned down to smirk in her face, she whirled and sliced his lip open.

His scream was deafening. With her ears ringing and her world plunged into white noise, Kalina began a dance with death. Here she'd slash at an exposed forearm, ducking and narrowly avoiding the huge backhand threatening to take her head off. Now she dived off the table, wings spread wide, and let her whip blade dig into his waist. She swung through the air and kicked a steel boot into his back and dug a series of bloody wounds all the way up to his shoulder. She dug her heels in and readied herself to ram the blade straight through his ear.

She didn't notice him bring his arm up, not until he flicked her off of his shoulder like a pesky fly. Kalina went spiraling through the air and slammed into it like a comet. She coughed and sucked in air painfully, and she could feel the strain of three... make that four broken ribs. She scrambled to get up, to get to her feet, and got as far as pushing herself to a sitting position before everything suddenly went dark.

Impossibly dark. Not the kind of black you get when you shut your eyes or go to sleep or even when you're in a coma. This was darker than that, a place where light had never been allowed to exist. As if on cue, she was bathed in a column of light. It showed the mansion, but only so far as the... was that a spotlight? Only so far as it stretched. Another popped up with a click, showing the bloody giant frozen mid-stride on his way toward her. In between the pair floated a shadow, visible in the dark despite the impossibility of it all. A gaunt and grim figure with arms like scythes and eyes like the angry moon and... no. Oh no.

"Ladies and gentlemen," It didn't so much speak the words as draw them into the pit of nothing that seemed to exist around it. If it had a mouth, Kalina knew it would be smiling. "This has been entertaining, but a bit unfair, don't you agree? It's time to introduce a handicap. Miss Silver Knight, let's have that sword from you."

The world dove back into light and the mansion returned. Kalina's fingers closed around thin air, maybe a moment or two before the giant's fingers closed around her. He lifted her up so they could look each other in the eye.

"Well well well! You sure are a feisty one, aren't you? And so lovely, too! I think that I will keep you. My pretty little songbird, safe inside her cage. Won't that be nice?"

He brought a finger down to caress her hair. Kalina struggled and grit her teeth, but could not stop herself from blushing. She screamed, and turned her head to face away, to do anything but show him her reactions and give him the satisfaction of knowing just how close he'd come to breaking her. That's when she noticed the loose stone sticking out of the floor. A blur of motion, and she catches the fluttering of a cloak as its owner ducks out the window.

A misplaced foot. The giant stumbled and crashed against his table. Kalina wound up lying face first next to a knife like a greatsword... no, bigger than that. She grabbed it, lifted, and lunged desperately, plunging it straight into...

Rose startles when her fist suddenly collides with the floor of the apartment. Blankets and calmness and... what... what was that? She struggles for breath and tosses away the blanket she had been cherishing that night. Sweat drips from her face.

Her eyes fall on Marchande, propped up on the couch, and she sighs.