Out of their Element

The board to share all your fiction
Post Reply
littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Sat Nov 19, 2022 6:27 pm

Hello! I’m back with another writing project. I've been having so much fun with this~ I did want to mention if you've read my stuff before and are a fellow micro fan - sorry, no micro in this one! I'm in the middle of a particularly busy stage of life and just wanted to relax and write a lot of fluff. But still a lot of focus on characters and slow-burn emotional stuff as usual.

I hope you enjoy!



Part 1: Trial By Fire

Chapter 1
Evie

I feel like I’m sitting at the bottom of the ocean. My head is swimming. There’s a buzzing in my ears and a warmth filling up my body. My eyelids are heavy. Everything is so heavy. I just want to sleep… Maybe if I just…

No. No no no. Something’s wrong. I can’t let myself fall asleep. Come on. I have to force my eyelids open. Come on

With monumental effort I manage to lift up my chin by just an inch or two. All I can muster is the barest of squints. I see light and shadows dancing in my vision until something solid comes into view. There’s someone in front of me… I make out a face. It’s familiar.

There had been a white room, a waiting room I think. A doctor’s office? And he was there. He was standing just behind the counter.

“Hi there! Are you Evie?” He had such a friendly smile. I remember it setting me at ease.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Cool, I’m Aiden. It's nice to meet you.”

I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him. A shock of dark hair, broad shoulders and strong posture, and yet fine, almost delicate facial features. I wasn’t even sure what his eye color was - light brown? Green? I finally decided on hazel.

His attractiveness started to set off all sorts of alarm bells in my mind. But he seemed so nice too, so warm and relaxed, and he looked about my age. That helped me calm back down.

“Hold on a sec,” he’d said, “Are you in Professor Hickory’s class? Biochem?”

“Oh. Yeah! I thought you looked familiar. You doing this for lab credit then?”

“Yup. The extra cash doesn’t hurt either.”

“I hear ya. So are you participating in the experiment, or..?”

“Kind of - I’m here as a technician. Well, first I’m here to get you checked in. Could you fill this out?”

How long has it been since I was in that white room? It feels like so long ago. But I don’t think it was. I remember completing some forms, chatting with the handsome boy behind the counter. What happened after that?

There's an aching in my shoulders, I'm being held upright by straps that are digging into my skin. I have to keep my eyelids open. I try looking at something else, shift my gaze to the left. There’s a desk not too far from where I am. I focus on a red mug on its surface. I see flashes of broken red ceramic on a kitchen floor, hear the grating sounds of a woman yelling. I quickly push that memory away. It’s not helpful right now.

Wait… There’s someone else there, next to the desk. He’s standing further away, he’s harder to make out in my dizzied state. But then he glances up at me, his dark eyes meeting mine. Suddenly it's like a bucket of ice fills my stomach. I feel inexplicable terror grip my throat at the odd, calm expression on his face.

I'm not sure why, though. He had been friendly too. Not quite as warm as Aiden, and a little distracted. Older, maybe in his late thirties or early forties. What was his name again? I think he’d introduced himself as I stepped into the lab, but I can’t fully remember…

“Evie, I take it?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Step right through here, please. Aiden will help you set up.”

When was this? I think this just happened recently. It was after the white waiting room... Yes, I think it was only minutes ago. I was led into a small chamber of sorts that was bolted to the floor in a corner of the room. Three metal walls like a narrow closet around me, a bench for me to sit on. Aiden helped buckle me into supportive straps attached to the wall as I tried not to blush from his close proximity. Then he closed the door on me, the fourth wall of the chamber, made entirely of glass. There was an odd, medicinal odor in the air. I can still smell it now…

My head slumps forward, too heavy to hold up. I try again, my neck straining at the effort of raising my chin. I can’t lift it high enough to see Aiden’s face anymore. I stare at his torso, at the white lab coat that’s covering it. I catch a glimpse of black fabric peeking through from underneath, where he’d missed doing up one of the buttons. Back in the waiting room the coat hadn’t been buttoned up at all…

“I like your shirt,” I had said as I gave him back his clipboard.

“Oh hey, thanks! Do you play?”

“I used to. I’m more into board games, but I like card games too.”

This scene in my head is interrupted as the fabric in front of me shifts. I’m seeing Aiden’s face again, he’s crouching down in front of the glass so that he can meet my wobbly gaze. I’m suddenly realizing his mouth is moving and I’m hearing his voice, and it’s not in my head this time from the fragments of memory, it’s here in the present, coming out of some kind of speaker in here as the glass is sealing him off from me.

“Evie? Can you hear me?” There’s a gentle look on his face, a wrinkle of concern in his brow.

I try to move my mouth. I have to let him know something’s wrong. But my body can only do so much at once. I manage to whisper something incomprehensible, but as a result I can’t keep my head up and slump forward again. I catch movement in my periphery as the figure in front of me stands back up.

“Sir, she’s still not responding.”

“That’s alright. She may be a little dizzy for the next few minutes, perfectly normal. That’s why we have her on those supports.”

No, these aren’t supports. They’re restraints. I try again and I find more success now, pushing my head up and letting out a quiet, desperate groan. I still can’t form words, though, and everything goes blurry for a second from the effort.

“But… are you sure we shouldn’t–”

The older man’s voice is a little sharper this time. “She’s fine. I have all her vitals pulled up here, everything’s in order. Pay attention to your own screen, Aiden, it should be almost ready.”

The fuzzy figure before me pauses for an extra beat before it shifts to the side, to my dismay. Every muscle in my neck and shoulders is trembling at this point, and I manage to lean back this time instead of forwards, my upper back resting against the metal wall of the chamber. I stare out through the glass, taking in the rest of the room, the mundane furniture littered with foreign machinery.

I can’t see him in front of me but I do hear Aiden’s voice. “We’re fully calibrated. Ready when you are.”

“Good. Solution's nearly loaded. Remember to monitor that gauge until the sensor lights up. Then just keep an eye on her for me... Alright, let's begin.”

Panic rises in me - I have no idea what they're talking about, but somehow I know intrinsically, without a doubt, that something terrible is about to happen. My focus is on my arms and legs now as I try to push against the bindings, but it’s like my muscles are made of molasses. I might as well be trying to lift an eighteen wheeler.

I'm more and more alert as whatever drug was impairing my brain function has been slowly dissipating. Despite barely being able to move, I am all too aware of what happens next.

The odor in the room turns nauseatingly sweet and the air feels thick and warm. I'm hit with a wave of vertigo and I see it happening around me… I'm falling. I'm sitting firmly on the metal bench and yet I'm slowly falling anyway, the ceiling pulling up and my back sliding against the metal wall. My eyes widen in awe as the scene just beyond the glass wall begins transforming. It's as if the glass has become a movie screen and I watch everything shift on it… slowly growing. Impossibly, my entire environment is increasing in size.

Surely I'm seeing things, a hallucination from whatever crazy drugs they've put me on. I can't make sense of it. But even as I stare and try to tell myself that this isn't real, the most convincing piece of evidence comes into view - Aiden's stepping back in front of the glass. Only now he's twice as tall as I am and getting bigger by the second. Something about seeing him makes me realize that it’s not my surroundings that are growing. I’m getting smaller.

His eyes are wide too, his look of awe mirroring mine. But while I'm looking at him with terror, he's looking at me with a growing exhilaration.

“Whoa," he says, leaning in. He's smiling widely. "Look at her go!”

No, no, this isn't anything to smile about. I stare at him desperately, screaming at him with my eyes. Distractingly, I hear the more distant voice - I can’t see him now but the other man at his desk laughs lightly.

"Fascinating, isn't it? Enjoy the show."

This is a nightmare. How can I make them understand I'm not okay? I make another attempt to yank against my constraints and I'm surprised this time that my arms slip right out. I quickly realize this wasn't because I've suddenly regained my strength, but it was bound to happen at any moment as I'm shrinking right out of the bindings. I slump forward and manage to catch myself, my hands hitting against the metal bench hard. It's taking everything in me to hold myself up.

I notice my legs are starting to straighten out with the bench continuing to grow beneath me. My breathing is coming out shorter as panic builds. I look at Aiden again, who's easily towering over me now, his frame dominating my own as I can't be much bigger than his forearm at this point. Tears well up in my eyes from the fear and I push my vocal chords to grate out whatever I can.

"Stop," I whimper, pathetically.

There's no way that he heard that, even if the communication system is two-way - I could barely hear myself. But he can certainly tell from my expression that I'm not sharing in his enthusiasm. Aiden crouches down, leaning one knee on the floor, so that his head can still be level with mine. Except he still isn't low enough - despite him kneeling on the ground I'm forced to look up at him. And he's still growing, growing…

“Aww poor thing, she looks so freaked out," he says, like he's observing a squirrel in a cage. He puts a hand up, gently tapping the glass with his fingertips as he addresses me, "Hey, it’s okay. Everything's looking good, Evie, just hang in there. Should be done in just a minute."

His reassurances are nothing short of infuriating. Why are they doing this? It wasn't supposed to go this way. I can remember it now, this was just supposed to be some stupid extra credit for school. Something about testing oxygen levels in the air in response to different methods of respiration. It specifically stated in the brief that none of this should result in me passing out, that I would be attached to supports merely as an extra precaution. This should have been quick and simple as I hold my breath or purposely hyperventilate for the experiment. That’s all this was supposed to be.

Instead, I’m now surely no taller than the gargantuan hand that’s leaning up against the glass door. I glance down, catching sight of the floor of the chamber despite the edge of the bench stretching further away, and I’m dizzy at the realization of how high up I am. Reflexively I try to scoot backwards, away from the sheer drop of the cliff. I manage to shift a hair. Very slowly some of the strength in my muscles is returning. It does me no good, though.

Bringing my sights back to the giant beyond the glass, I can feel my heart trying to break out of my ribcage. He’s still growing. How small are they planning to make me? Is this going to go on indefinitely? Am I about to–

“Aaaand…” Aiden’s voice makes me jump, the speaker booming from somewhere above me. “There. All done.”

I yelp at the sudden sound of whooshing coming from every direction and my hair whips into my face. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying not to fall over from the sudden wind storm, leaning forward to brace myself on my hands.

And then everything goes very, very still. I don’t sense any more strange smells, in fact the air seems bizarrely sterile now. As is quickly becoming routine, I forcefully tense the muscles in my neck so that I can look upwards. Please, let this be some insane form of virtual reality. A hallucination. A dream. Something. There’s no way the world could have actually gotten this big. There’s no way I’m only a couple of inches tall to the man that's smiling from beyond the glass. It's not possible.

The speaker crackles to life with the far-off voice of the other, older person. “Vitals are normal, solution levels are stable. I’m unlocking the hatch.” A large, metallic thunk breaks the air. Every new sound makes me almost leap out of my skin, although in reality I’m doing little more than twitching.

“I think the halothane’s wearing off,” says Aiden, his too-large hazel eyes looking straight at my face. I stare at his mouth as he talks. Each subtle movement of his is unreal.

“That’s fine. The neuroblockers should also fully wear off in the next ten to fifteen minutes. It’ll be easier to get the measurements done within that time, go ahead and put her on the scale now while I finish the records.”

Every bit of me is trembling. The whole shrinking process took several minutes but at the same time, it all happened so quickly and my change in perspective is completely overwhelming. There’s no time to compose myself, though. My chest tightens as I watch the nearby giant rise up ever higher, impossibly so, reaching his full standing height within a second. He reaches outside of my line of sight for something, but I don’t even process what that is as I fixate on his hand that then extends in my direction.

“I’m coming in, Evie,” he says gently. As if a soothing tone is enough to compensate for the intensity of his presence.

He opens the door.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Mon Nov 21, 2022 5:12 pm

Chapter 2
Evie

The click of the doorknob echoes menacingly. Each sound is magnified to an astounding degree, bouncing off the metal walls of the now tower-like chamber. I make a terrified, weak whining noise as the glass door swings open, and I’m trying again to scooch backwards, bending my legs up but making very little progress. Aiden is a veritable monster now, all thoughts of his handsomeness completely vanished as I take in the hulking form of this colossus approaching me like some gargantuan predator.

He crouches before me again, the movement causing me to feel like everything’s closing in, and although it’s helpful to not have to take in the entire looming form of his body, having his face come so close to my perch is entirely unnerving. His head alone looks as big as a house.

My breath is coming in shallow as every instinct is hating how exposed I am and wanting me to flee. I’m having to remind myself that I’m staring at another person, not some unthinking beast. I need to communicate with him.

Aiden doesn’t look like he’s used to whatever experiment he’s helped run, completely fascinated by the sight of a shrunken girl. He just watches me for a moment, holding himself still as he observes my miniaturized body, his eyes darting over the length of my tiny frame. I try to form words, to call out to him, but even if there weren’t drugs impairing me I think I’d be frozen right now as I observe him in turn. Finally, Aiden seems to catch himself, his expression changing with a blink.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to stare,” he says quietly, though the vibrations of his speech are practically palpable. There’s something weirdly intimate about the rumbling of his voice being so close as I’m now hearing him actually talk, without the use of a speaker. “This is nuts... Although I’m sure it’s even more intense for you, especially since you can’t really move right now.”

A small whimper sounds at the back of my throat and I feel a tickle on my cheek as the tears that had been welling up finally overflow. Aiden’s brow furrows and he bites the edge of his lip. He thankfully is attempting to stay quiet as he continues to try and reassure me.

“Yeah, this is probably really scary, huh? Even if you know it’s coming… I’ll be careful, okay? We’ll take things nice and slow and then we’ll have you back to your normal self before you know it. Just think about all the lab credit you’re getting out of this.”

I’m momentarily distracted. He… he thinks I knew this was going to happen? I'm starting to put some things together. He might have known what this experiment was all about, but meanwhile I had no idea. Is this some horrible misunderstanding? Or have I been deceived? The older man’s voice rings out just then, catching my attention as if the universe is trying to answer my question.

“Aiden? Today, please.”

The closer giant’s expression shifts again as he frowns with annoyance. With a slow breath he regains himself, brow smoothing out as he turns his head to the side to respond, “I'm just… giving her a second.” When he turns back towards me, it’s with a smile and a lighter tone. “Giving myself a second too. This is incredible.”

The other person doesn’t respond. What was his name again? Some things are still fuzzy, but I know it’s with this older man that I was originally in contact with. Is he also just following orders, under the impression that this is an experiment I’ve consented to? Or could it be that he…?

There’s a strange sound, like an elastic stretching, coming from near Aiden, and as I focus on him I put together what he had reached for before entering the chamber - he’s putting on gloves. I realize immediately what this must mean. He’s about to touch me. I almost fall over as I shove against the metal floor, trying to push myself more upright. Even if I appear to be facing a gentle giant, the sheer scale of him is dangerous in and of itself. But I’m reminded yet again by the sluggishness of my body that there’s nothing I can do to stop any of this.

A massive blue hand comes into view, making me flinch as it rises up over the edge of the cliff. It’s over twice as long as I am, a monster in its own right. Aiden lays his hand flat in front of me, leaning it onto the surface of the bench. I stare at the latex covering his palm, trembling at the sudden proximity of this moving mountain of a man.

“I’ll be carrying you over to the scale. Are you able to climb on?”

I’m not sure how he thinks I might be able to get onto his hand if I can barely hold myself upright. Instinctively, I want to get away, but this time when I push back with my arms I really do fall over. For a second I make it to my hands and knees, legs twisted out awkwardly on either side, but then my elbow buckles and I slip forwards, my face crashing right into the side of Aiden’s hand. There’s a pain in my neck as it bends uncomfortably from the way I’ve landed.

The giant winces sympathetically and I watch in horror as his other hand appears, coming in from above. It hovers for a moment, unsure, until his thumb and forefinger open like a mammoth claw machine. “I’m just going to help you on, okay?”

The blue fingers move down to encircle my frame, and my entire body tenses up as they pinch around my torso. I'm half expecting the vice of his fingertips to crush me, bracing myself for the snap of a rib. But to his credit he's staying true to his word and being very careful. I'm dragged forward onto his palm, as big as a rubbery queen-sized mattress, until he sets me down again onto my side. As I struggle to move I only manage to wriggle feebly. Like a worm.

I’m pressed into the floor by the g-force as Aiden then lifts me up. I can’t see over the edge of his hand from my sprawled position, but I can only imagine the height as the blue platform brings me into the sky. I shut my eyes, trying to block out the dizzying visuals zooming by. Though there’s so much I can’t ignore… The echoing sounds of machines whirring and footsteps booming. The smell of the latex pressed against my face. The feeling of my heart racing. The nauseating movements as I’m propelled through the air, swaying with the giant’s gait, followed by the vertigo reminiscent of being on a descending airplane that’s coming in for a landing.

“You still with me, Evie?”

I think Aiden’s trying to be gentle with his voice, but he startles me nonetheless. My eyes fly open again and I can see that the surrounding scenery is no longer whooshing by. I manage to lift my head a tad, just enough to take in the structure that I’m about to be set on. A wide stage, a counter of some kind. There’s a variety of oversized instruments - I clock a beaker, a microscope, tongs, and… the afore-mentioned digital scale. This is where the hand platform comes to a halt.

I try once again to see how much mobility I can muster and manage to get up onto one elbow. Progress. Before I can try anything else, Aiden gives me the head’s up of, “Setting you down now… Easy does it…” just as his gloved hand begins tilting. I slowly slide along the surface of his palm, stretching out one foot to try and stand it against the slick black floor below me. My leg can’t quite hold my weight and I crumble to the ground in a clumsy dismount, back onto my hands and knees.

I try to push air out of my lungs in an attempt to produce sound, frustrated by the fact that my limbs are recovering faster than my mouth. The faint squeak that comes out is just enough to catch the giant’s attention - he was about to straighten back up but instead he leans down a little more, his eyes alight with interest.

I try to speak again and it comes out in a hiss. “Stop… this…”

Aiden is noticing again how panicked I’m looking, and he frowns as he strains to hear me, leaning in even closer. “Sorry, what was that?”

I fight against how scared I am of his gigantic face moving too close for comfort. “Didn’t… agree…” My voice finally comes out stronger this time but it’s at the expense of my throat going numb and I’m suddenly caught in a coughing fit.

The giant’s frown deepens and he’s opening his mouth to respond when the sound of approaching footsteps interrupts.

“Have you taken her weight?” The older scientist passes by behind Aiden, a massive blur of color and movement. He stops at another counter, his question hanging in the air.

I could scream in frustration as the giant face in front of me quickly moves away again. “Working on it right now,” he responds, looking a little nervous about how stern his superior has started acting with him. He looks back in my direction, but it’s not for an attempt to talk - instead he’s focusing on the buttons at the bottom of the scale I’m sitting on. “Make sure to hold still for me, Evie? Umm… wow. Less than 6 grams. Can that be right?"

"Sounds appropriate," the other man responds absently.

I can't process that number right now. It's too insane. Aiden sure seems to get a kick out of it, though, as he shoots me a little grin. "No wonder you felt like nothing in my hand."

I jump at a sudden loud sound, almost losing my balance. Looking around wildly, I realize it was the snapping of a glove as the other giant is donning his own pair. I feel goosebumps on the back of my neck. I’ve had a bad feeling about this mystery man from the moment I came to, and now it seems like it’ll be his turn to interact with me. Sure enough, his figure looms larger as he begins to approach.

Aiden has turned his attention to a nearby tablet now to record his notes, and I finally get a good look at the older man. His hair is darker, shorter. His eyes are dark too. Humorless. Hungry.

That's when I remember his name. We'd exchanged several emails and the signature that was always at the bottom flashes in my mind's eye. Dr. Charles Little. The irony is almost laughable. Almost.

I hardly have any time to take in this new titan as he's already reaching for me, acting much less hesitant than Aiden did. I shy away, a yell getting caught in my burning throat. These new monstrous blue fingers crash right into me and knock me over - I feel my back hit the floor and I'm suddenly pinned under the heavy weight of his hand.

More terrified tears are forming as I struggle to take in a breath. I'm now entirely convinced that I'm not going to survive this nightmare. Dr. Little's being so much less careful than the previous giant. He's not even looking at me right now as he picks something up from a nearby shelf… a caliper. Which at this point just looks like a massive torture instrument.

The measuring tool hurtles towards me, and the scientist shifts his fingers, keeping his index pressing down on my upper chest while using his thumb to straighten out my legs. With his other hand he adjusts the jaws on the caliper, lowering it into position around me. I struggle desperately in my panic, though I can hardly budge.

Please…” This time I manage to actually shout as I feel hard metal against the top of my head. “I didn’t… consent…” The pressure increases against my chest and now I can’t get anything more than a garbled cry out.

Aiden’s still standing nearby, and his eyes flick up from the tablet he’s holding. There’s momentary silence before he decides to say, “Did you catch that, sir?"

"Yes,” Dr. Little responds with an irritated but almost bored tone, “Interesting. She shouldn't be able to speak at all quite yet. Take note of that, I'll need to revisit the neuroblocker concentration.”

"Shouldn’t we be trying to listen to–”

"Take note of the height too. Almost exactly three inches, I'm seeing 7.617 centimeters. At least the accuracy was quite good this time... Still need to make sure everything’s in proportion - can you go get the micrometer, Aiden? I think we left it by the heat lamps."

The younger giant seems to hesitate but ultimately obeys, vanishing from my view. As soon as he’s gone, Dr. Little begins leaning in, doubling over so he can bring his face closer and closer to me. My stomach jumps up to my throat at the sight of his head lowering enough that I can feel the breeze of his breath as he whispers.

"Keep your mouth shut. Alright? Be a good girl and maybe I'll take it easy on you tonight.”

And just like that, it’s like my world has flipped upside down once again. I stop breathing and my blood runs cold. At this point it’s beyond clear that this isn’t some kind of misunderstanding. I stare wide-eyed at the titan who might actually be a nightmarish monster. Our eyes meet and he’s completely immune to the pleading desperation in my gaze. A whisper of a smile crosses his face and he slides his latex-covered finger down the length of my body salaciously.

Then he straightens back up to standing, getting back to business. I can tell my arm and leg muscles are regaining strength by how violently they're shaking with fear. I squirm as Dr. Little readjusts his grip on me, enveloping me into his grasp… and lifting me into the air.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Wed Nov 23, 2022 4:25 pm

Chapter 3
Aiden

I’m not usually one to panic about things. In fact I tend to pride myself on being able to stay calm in stressful situations. But the way this day is going, that’s starting to be put to the test.

I’ve worked with Dr. Little before, just once, a few days ago. He gave me the rundown of the machinery I’d be operating and let me assist in a couple of trial runs. It was amazing, getting to see the shrinking technology in person. At this point I’ve watched a chair, an apple, and even a rat become miniaturized, and quickly I was realizing that this wouldn’t just be me getting simple credits for a college class. I was getting to witness history in the making.

I’d found it pretty insane that I would not only get to be his assistant for some of the human trials, this one apparently being the fourth, but that it would literally just be me and him running the show today. Could something this monumental really be happening on my own university campus? Well, technically across the street from campus, but still. I’m just a grad student. A Geology major at that, I’m not even a physicist or biologist or engineer. I’m not sure how I qualified for this. But I was just excited to be a part of it.

And then… and then everything got weird.

Dr. Little hadn’t come across as a particularly easy-going person on the first day, but he was nice enough and seemed to enjoy my excitement as he showed me how everything worked. But ever since Evie stepped into this room he’s been a little more tense. More concentrated. That makes sense to a certain extent - this is a huge deal. Pun very much intended. But the more time is passing the more my superior is starting to come off as… sketchy.

Up until now, I’ve been distracted from it. Watching a person shrinking down in front of me was nothing short of mind-blowing. I tend to keep it to myself, but I’ve always been fascinated by this kind of thing, and now I got to watch this young woman - this cute classmate of mine, no less - dwindling down like an ice cube melting in a time-lapse.

The only thing dampening my enthusiasm was how scared Evie looked when I approached her. Her long chestnut hair was completely disheveled, her tiny limbs trembling, her shining brown doe-like eyes giving me an almost pleading look as tears ran down her face. Like I was telling her, it would make sense that she’d be so freaked out, no matter how much preparation she went through. I’m sure it really didn’t help that she was still affected by all the anesthetics that were necessary for the shrinking process.

But… I’m starting to realize that there may be more to her fear. Her little voice was hard to make out, but I know what I heard. The suspicions swirling inside of me are becoming impossible to ignore. I scan the counter to my left, finding the micrometer that Dr. Little requested, and as I cross the lab again to hand it to him, I muster the determination to pose the rather horrifying question.

“I have to ask,” I begin hesitantly, gesturing towards the frightened shrunken girl that my boss is currently holding aloft. “Was she not… informed of what was going to happen?”

Dr. Little, who’s been clearing off the counter with his free hand, pauses, giving me a hard look. “Of course she was. What gave you that idea?”

I shift uncomfortably but push forward. “Did you not hear what she said earlier?”

“I think you're the one who might have misheard.” He’s not looking at me anymore, setting things up for the next phase of testing. “Her voice doesn't exactly carry very well. I can assure you she’s well aware of what the experiment entails.”

Evie lets out a tiny whimper. Her voice is weak but she manages to push out a scream as she throws her head back, and to me what she says is as clear as day.

He's lying–!

She’s cut off as Dr. Little shifts his thumb just then, pushing it up against her face and covering her mouth. She looks so small in his fingers, so fragile, and I wince at how casually he just did that. My temper flares.

“Hey,” I snap, dropping any pretense of being deferential, “Come on, don't you think you're being a little rough?”

Noticing my shift in tone, Dr. Little turns towards me with a haughty air. My heart rate speeds up as my eyes are still fixed on my classmate that he’s handling so carelessly. From the way he jerks her around I worry her neck might snap from the whiplash alone.

“I’m starting to think I made a mistake with you,” he snarls. “You know, the only reason I’m even needing an assistant is because I can’t operate the machinery on my own. I’m not paying you to share your opinions on how I conduct my work. She’s fine.

“I… Sir, listen, clearly there’s been a mistake here,” I growl back, feigning diplomacy to try to give him an out, “Some kind of miscommunication. I’m sure it was an accident, but we shouldn’t keep going until it’s cleared up.”

“I can assure you, there’s no mistake. The girl’s still recovering from the drugs and isn’t thinking straight. That’s all.” His eyes narrow and there’s a heaviness to his tone, almost like he’s trying to give me an out this time. “And here I thought we were kindred spirits. I thought you might have appreciated this… particular study.”

He’s gotten agitated. I want to reach for Evie, to try and take her away from this man who’s one step away from actually injuring her, but any struggle that might follow could result in disaster. Even now his grip on her looks too tight. I pause, feeling tense and helpless, and put my open hands up in an attempt to pacify him.

“Okay… okay, just… Take it easy," I say, as calmly as I can.

Dr. Little gives me one last, long glare before returning his attention to his work space. I can tell he's keeping an eye on me, though. My mind’s racing. How do I stop this?

And… did he just say kindred spirits? I suddenly feel exposed, wondering if he’s somehow gotten access to my internet search history. I’m starting to think that maybe there really was a reason I was selected to be his assistant. I've always been interested in things like fairies and shrink rays as far back as I can remember, and I'd fantasized about having my own tiny friend more times than I can count. As I got older, my interests matured right along with me. But regardless of what my personal… tastes may be, this is different. This is real life. This is a real girl who’s in real trouble right now. If he truly thought I’d be okay with him shrinking someone and running tests on them without consent, then he has me read completely wrong.

I try to mentally run through my options. My phone’s in a different room, with most of the rest of my stuff in a locker. There's a landline here for emergencies, but it's on the other side of the counter and very visible. Is there some kind of panic button or something in this room that can call security? Probably not. What about the tablet I’ve been working on, can I use it to contact someone? Might be worth a shot. But even if I call for help, if this guy literally has a hostage in the palm of his hand, how the hell can anyone do anything without risking her getting hurt?

And then suddenly he makes a mistake. He needs both hands to adjust the micrometer and puts Evie down on the counter for a second, dumping her unceremoniously into a heap. I can see her little body shaking as she valiantly tries to get up again, and it gives me the courage I need to surge forward, to take action, to throw my hands around the threat–

“What are you doing?” Dr. Little yells angrily as I grab him around the chest from behind, pinning his arms against his torso. I wrench him sideways, just trying to pull him away from the counter, away from Evie, and I’m attempting to twist myself around and put my body between him and her.

I don’t answer him, not having had time to really come up with a plan, and just try to hold my own as my boss is fighting back now. I'm only slightly taller than he is and it doesn't really offer an advantage, nor do I actually know how to fight. But the struggle doesn't last more than a few seconds… and then a lot more happens in a very short period of time.

He wrenches an arm free and grabs at me - there’s the sound of ripping fabric as buttons pop off my lab coat and he gets a good grip on my clothes, breaking my hold as he throws me off him. I stagger back, and he loses balance from his own shove, tripping and falling and his back rams into a counter. The counter that happens to be housing the power generator for the shrinking machine.

The power generator he had told me to stay far away from.

There’s a loud crash of metal and plastic, a flash of a spark, and just like that, without so much as a yell, Dr. Little’s body convulses, goes stiff, and crumples to the floor. I feel like I watch it in slow motion, my breath getting caught in my chest. The slow motion continues as the power generator, as big as a suitcase and knocked askew, teeters on the edge of the counter before crashing to the ground as well. Then, on the edge of the fallen scientist’s lab coat, a flame begins to bloom.

The sight of smoke snaps me to my senses and I dart for the nearest fire extinguisher. But while my instincts were correct, I’ve never used one of these before. It takes me a second to find the pin, giving the fire an opportunity to flare up and envelop the generator, and as I squeeze the handle, I realize too late that I’ve aimed for the flames and not for the source. The extinguisher empties and I’ve failed to take care of the problem.

I hesitate for a second longer, wondering if I should continue to fight the fire. But the flames are moving fast and have already jumped to two other pieces of machinery, causing them to spark and pop. The blaze is growing as smoke quickly fills the room.

I have to get out of here. And, I realize, I have to get Evie out of here too.

Hurrying over to the counter, I make eye contact with the tiny, terrified girl who’s just watched all of this unfold in massive proportions. She’s frozen in place, paralyzed by the cocktail of fear and anesthetics. Without saying anything I gather her into my hands, trying to be as careful as I can in my haste, and instinctively I hold her up to my chest, cupping her body against me with one hand so that I can keep the other one free. As I look back up towards the exit, Dr. Little’s briefcase somehow catches my attention, right next to us on the counter. I grab it. And bolt towards the door.

The blaze has spread so quickly in the room and I hear yells and alarm bells as I run through the building and smoke fills the air. People are rushing out, some of them panicking - a chemical lab is a terrible place for a fire to break out. I’m starting to cough before I reach the front door, breaching it and joining the group of people that has gathered just outside. I take a deep breath of clear air. My head is spinning as I remember my little passenger, and even as I try to put space between me and the burning building, I take a moment to look down, to tilt my hand back just a bit so that I can check on Evie.

Her miniscule fingers are clutching at the fabric of my half-torn lab coat, her eyes momentarily squinting against the sudden influx of light before they widen again. She looks like she’s wheezing and when she tries to say something she's instead overtaken by a fit of coughs.

“Are you–” I start to say before someone bumps into me, a large crowd continuing to form. My voice would have been drowned out anyway as the sound of sirens fills the street from an approaching fire truck.

I can’t think straight. I can’t process what just happened. There’s too much chaos. I make a desperate decision in my panic. I live just off campus, a few minutes’ walk from here, and mechanically my legs start taking me in that direction. In just a couple of blocks things are quieter, and soon I'm hurrying into my apartment building and running up half a flight of stairs. Thankfully my keys are in my pocket, unlike my wallet and phone which are probably already burnt to a crisp in the lab’s locker.

Letting out a shaky exhale, my throat still itching from the smoke, I shut the door to my place and lean against it for a second. I hear the siren of a police car zooming by outside, and I just stand there, breathing hard.

But the trials aren’t over. I pull my hand away from my chest and my stomach sinks at the sight of Evie’s body lying limp in my palm. She’s unconscious.

“No no no no no no,” I mutter, dropping Dr. Little’s briefcase to the floor and hurrying over to the closest surface, the kitchen counter. I gently set the shrunken girl down on it as I try to take in the state of her. She’s still breathing, her little chest rising and sinking, but clearly the smoke must have affected her more than it did me as her breath comes out hoarse. And her face is too tiny for me to be completely sure… but I swear her lips have started to turn blue.

I hover over her for a moment, tenderly pushing against her shoulder and repeating her name, trying to get her to wake up. I want to call for an ambulance, but I don’t have a phone. I curse myself then for having headed back to my apartment instead of staying with the emergency vehicles. Despite her size, surely they'd be better equipped to help her than I am. Do I go back? Is there time? Would carrying her around just make things worse?

I almost decide to run out into the hall and start yelling for help in the hopes of finding a phone when I suddenly remember something. I leave my classmate on the counter, darting into my bedroom and beelining for the closet. In the back corner I find what I’m looking for. My dad has a lung condition and he keeps a ventilator kit here for whenever he comes to visit. It’s bulky and rather annoying to hold onto, but it may be the stroke of dumb luck that I need.

Fully aware that the clock is ticking, I hurry back to the kitchen, untangling the tubes coming out of the machine. Unlike the fire extinguisher, I’ve used this thing before - never in an emergency situation like this, but I know how to get oxygen flowing. I place the device next to Evie and set the transparent cup of the face mask over her entire body. A few button presses later the machine whirrs to life and I crouch down next to the counter, observing the tiny girl with bated breath.

Her chest continues to rise and fall weakly. As oxygen is pumped onto her, slowly – agonizingly slowly – her breathing starts to smooth out again and her skin gradually regains a healthier color. She’s still out cold but, from what I can tell, she’s stabilizing. I slouch against the counter with relief.

Minutes pass. Once I’m convinced that she’s alright, I have to step away for a second. Give myself a moment to breathe. I stumble over to the sink, running a hand over my forehead. Feeling the rubbery surface of latex against my face, I frown as I remember I’m still wearing gloves. I rip them off and toss them down forcefully before I lean over the sink, arms taught and letting my head hang loose. Desperately trying not to vomit as the magnitude of everything settles onto me. I take a tremulous breath in and let it out with a tense whisper.

Fuck.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

User avatar
i am insane
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 155
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2018 3:00 am
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by i am insane » Wed Nov 23, 2022 11:42 pm

I'll admit, I wasn't expecting him to catch on so fast, and for things to accelerate so dramatically. I was expecting the focus to be in the lab for awhile, really. Now they're stuck together, there's no way to fix her, and he's probably not that eager to report all this to the authorities, even if she is.
Power is choice.

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Thu Nov 24, 2022 8:42 am

They're certainly in quite the pickle! In earlier ideation I did have the thought of the lab stuff going on for longer, but it honestly wasn't really meshing with the greater story I had in mind, maybe something for a future tale. So I opted for things to go real south real fast instead, to kinda give them that "what the fuck just happened" disorientation.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Sat Nov 26, 2022 4:18 pm

Chapter 4
Evie

I’m back at the bottom of the ocean. Head swimming. Maybe it’s better like this, in the dark and the calm… but despite myself I’m fighting to get my head above water. Fighting to get back to the surface.

I come to consciousness suddenly, violently. My eyes fly open and my body’s shaking, my teeth rattling together. I realize it’s because I’m freezing.

With a surge of adrenaline I bolt upright. The anesthetics have worn off, but I’m still so disoriented and I can’t remember what happened last. It had all been so horrifying. Not fully in control of myself, I’m scrambling backwards, my back quickly hitting a wall, and I frantically look around. I’m in some kind of transparent room with a domed ceiling, and it only takes me a second to know that everything beyond it, though I’ve never seen it before, is much bigger than it’s supposed to be.

The scream that has been desperate to get out of me is rushing to the surface, but even now it can’t quite escape as my throat sears with pain and I start coughing again instead. I startle as I see movement in the distance in response to the noise I’m making.

I hadn’t even noticed him there, he’d been standing so still, his back facing me. But as he turns around I take in the size of him and my body remembers all too well what it was like to be picked up by one of these titans, whipped around, pinned down, threatened—

The scream comes out in bouts, more like a shrill gasping noise that racks my body as I push back uselessly against the plastic wall, going into a panic.

“Whoa, whoa, it’s okay!” To my surprise, the giant’s not moving towards me but is retreating, stepping back while holding his hands up in as non-threatening a gesture as he can. I watch him, still taking in gasping breaths, though I manage to stop shouting. A part of my brain is trying to remind myself that Aiden hadn’t been the threat. Not intentionally at least. Aside from him being over a hundred feet tall, I could have woken up to far worse things.

We have a bit of an awkward stare off in the ensuing quiet. I’m still shivering profusely. He notices and finally takes a mindful breath in before speaking.

“You’re probably really cold. I’m going to take the mask off, alright? I’m not going to touch you.”

I don’t say anything and he responds by slowly stepping forward, causing me to tilt my head back as his towering form approaches. He reaches a hand out, and I absently note that it's no longer in its blue glove, making it look not quite so alien. Still just as monstrously large, though. His arm crosses a vast distance and his fingertips touch down on the top of the plastic dome with a soft but reverberating thump. I cower nervously under the vaguely spider-like shape of his hand above me.

“Please don’t fall off the counter,” he says softly, lifting the dome away.

This helps. Warmer air envelops me and my violent shaking begins to abate, helping me calm down. I can see better without the plastic walls. The sight is sobering, to say the least… The sheer cliff of a refrigerator to my left. The plateaus of a stovetop to my right. A chasm in front of me, with the appropriately titled kitchen island across the gap. The skyscraper of a person.

"Where… is this?" I ask in an effort to make contact with the nearby giant.

Aiden frowns and leans his head forward. "Sorry, I didn’t catch that."

I clear my sore throat and try to up the volume. "Where are we?"

"Oh. We're in my apartment. I wasn’t sure what to do, so… I brought you home. Um…" He looks tense and hesitant. "How much do you remember?"

I'm feeling pretty tense myself. Trying to have a conversation with someone a couple dozen times my height is really disorienting. As if I'm watching a movie in IMAX and the character on the screen suddenly starts addressing me.

"Uhh," I say, trying to focus on what he's asking me and thinking back. "The last thing I can think of is being outside and hearing some sort of siren? It was so loud…"

"Oh okay," Aiden says as he nods, "You didn't miss much then. I think you had taken in smoke and passed out so I tried to give you oxygen. Sorry, for whatever reason the air that comes out of that thing is really cold. How do you feel?"

I let out an incredulous huff. "How do I feel? I… Look at me! What did you do to me?"

I catch his subtle wince in response to this. I had meant a collective “you”, I wasn’t aiming to accuse Aiden directly. But he looks guilt-ridden nonetheless, staring at the floor for a second before his eyes meet mine again.

"Listen, I’m… I'm so sorry. I had no idea, I– I didn’t know…"

"You didn’t know?!"

"I thought that you were fully on board. I had no idea you were being tricked into this. It’s just… it’s all so messed up…"

I believe him, I don't have any reason not to. But an apology isn't very useful to me right now as I stand here at three inches tall. "Well now what?" I implore, "What do we do?"

Aiden's voice is soft. Dejected. "I don’t know, Evie."

Meanwhile I'm on the verge of screaming at him. "What do you mean? You were part of it, right? Is this going to wear off? How were you going to undo this?"

"He never showed me that part. He said he didn't need help with it… conveniently." Aiden leans against the kitchen island, bringing a hand up to his brow as he closes his eyes for a second. "Now I’m starting to see the red flags. I did think it was weird he wasn’t using the on-campus labs. Paying in cash instead of going through the school's credit system. Insisting I don’t discuss anything involving the experiment with you beforehand. There was so much secrecy in general… I just don’t know why he would…"

He trails off, the unspoken question filling the space between us. I think back to my brief but vivid memory of my time in Dr. Little's grasp. I remember the implication that he had plans for me tonight.

"I don’t think it was all just for the sake of science," I say, breaking the quiet. I shudder at the memory of the violating touch. "I… I don’t think he was planning on restoring me."

There's another moment of silence as we both process this realization.

"Oh my god…" My voice is breaking. "Am I stuck like this?"

Maybe it's because I'm on the verge of tears but Aiden's sounding a little desperate as he tries to reassure me, taking a small step towards me. "I’m sure there’s a way. We’re going to figure this out."

"How?? All that stuff burned down right? Dr. Little’s gone?" Suddenly I'm on my feet, still staring upwards at the giant and gesturing manically. "I’m screwed. Because of this stupid science experiment I’m royally fucked. How the hell are you planning to fix this?"

No answer comes. Aiden's demeanor shifts, his eyes unfocusing as they drift to the floor and he starts to shut down. I'm having trouble reading his expression and suddenly feel a spark of anxiety.

What am I doing? Why am I antagonizing the one guy who’s on my side right now?

I have a desperate realization. I'm completely helpless. This smaller size has an infinite amount of implications. Everything I need to survive is so inaccessible. The world is full of dangers - I’ve already experienced that firsthand. Hell, if it wasn't for this gigantic yet gracious man before me I would have been kidnapped or crushed or suffocated or burned to death.

I need him.

My heart is racing as I feel horrified with how I've just been yelling at him. Does that blank look on his face mean that he's getting tired of my shit? I need to put myself in check. Now.

"Aiden…" I call out to him with a tremulous voice. "I’m sorry. I know it’s not your fault.'

With a blink his eyes flick back up to focus on me, and he frowns with confusion. "What? No, you have every right to be upset right now."

He moves closer and slowly crouches down to be eye level with me. I shy away, taking a timid step back. My nerves feel raw, every little thing overwhelming me. But some of my growing fears are assuaged by his expression - he looks so concerned and sympathetic as he continues to speak softly.

"I can’t even imagine what you’re going through. I really am sorry, Evie." He pauses as he contemplates. "I guess… the next step is to take you to a hospital. Or to the police. I'll tell them what I know. We'll find a way to help."

The anxiety comes right back. "Wait," I say reflexively, "I don’t… know about that." Aiden all but cocks his head to the side, puzzled with my immediate reaction. I scramble to find an explanation, stumbling over my words. "Sorry, I just, I’m scared… Just like, the idea of this going public or anything… Maybe I… need a little… time."

He frowns and I fidget nervously at the way he's examining my face, but he doesn't press the matter. "Okay. Sure, that's fine." He goes quite still, looking rather anxious himself. "To be perfectly honest, the idea of contacting the cops kinda freaks me out. Dr. Little, he… he’s dead… because of me…"

I'd almost forgotten about that. It hadn't really seemed real, not to mention I've been so focused on my own problems. I feel a twinge of guilt. Aiden's been so supportive when in reality he's been having a rough day too. "It wasn’t your fault," I say, "It was an accident… And you were just trying to help me."

He lets out a sarcastic laugh. "Right. I’ve done such a great job at that…" Then he sighs and shakes his head. "All of that should be the least of your worries, though. How about we contact your family at least?"

"I um… I don’t really have any, to speak of." I'm starting to feel very self-conscious as I continue shutting down his suggestions.

He looks perplexed again but continues to not pry. "A friend then?"

And now I'm the one gazing towards the floor - or in my case, the counter. "This is my first semester… I just moved here a few weeks ago, I don’t really know anyone yet…"

Realization hits me like a lightning bolt.

"That's why." I stare at my feet a moment longer. Then I look up at Aiden, my eyes wide as I meet his gaze. "That’s why he picked me. He picked someone that… that no one would miss if they disappeared."

We stare at each other, neither one of us knowing what to say. Eventually the giant's figure goes blurry from my own tears and I wipe them away, covering my face, trying to suppress the sobs that are threatening to break out. It's all too much to handle. I'd finally been able to set out on my own for a better life, for a new beginning. But the universe had other plans for me... This change in perspective isn't exactly the fresh start that I had in mind.

“Would you be okay staying with me then?”

I need to stop startling so easily every time he talks. His suggestion takes me by surprise too. I lower my arms as I look back up at him and dare to hope.

“Just for a little bit,” he adds, looking rather embarrassed.

“I-Is that alright?” I ask breathlessly.

Aiden smiles. “I warn you, I have no idea what I’m doing. But you’re more than welcome to stay here while we figure this out.”

I nod, taking a deep breath in. I don't have a choice. “Yes. I’ll take you up on that… Thank you so much.”

“It’s the least I can do.” He starts standing back up again and I manage not to jump at the movement this time - I’m beginning to notice subtle cues from the way his oversized body moves. I have a long, long way to go to getting accustomed to my stature, but it seems I’m slowly making progress.

Aiden looks out towards the rest of his apartment, scanning the area while he contemplates. Meanwhile I continue to observe him, becoming more fascinated as the fear begins to recede. He looks like he should be made of stone and metal, not flesh and blood. It feels so humbling, staring up the length of him like this.

“First things first,” he says, turning back my way, “I don’t know if the kitchen counter’s the safest place for you to hang out. If you’re okay with it, let’s find a better base of operations… Can I, uh, offer you a ride?”

It’s just like before, his hand appearing from over the horizon to lay on the counter in front of me. Except I’m in control of my own body this time. I spend a moment taking in the sight of it and letting my nerves settle while Aiden waits patiently. To the point that I start feeling awkward about how long I stand there staring.

"Sorry," I say, "I just need a second."

"I understand, take your time. I can find a different way maybe… Like get a tray or something and carry you on that?"

"No, it's okay, I can do this," I say, conscious of the warmth in my cheeks as I'm embarrassed to be struggling with something so simple. If I'm going to be stuck like this for any length of time I will probably need to get used to being carried. I force myself to reach out and just touch the damn thing, settling my hands onto his skin.

I'm still feeling really cold from my time under the mask, and the giant's warmth is unexpectedly pleasant. I suddenly feel the urge to huddle against the side of his hand and use it as a space heater. There's also something about touching him like this that just really hammers in the fact that this building of a man is actually alive. So weird.

Having taken this first step I find it easier to follow the momentum, leaning forward to put one knee up on his palm and then the other. All of my limbs are a little shaky as I can't help but feel nervous about the upcoming ride with no harness or safety rails. I'm not particularly afraid of heights, but I think anyone would be afraid of this.

Aiden's been nothing but kind to me, but… God, please don't let him be clumsy.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

Xinunar
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 146
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2021 2:23 am
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by Xinunar » Mon Nov 28, 2022 2:12 am

I am enjoying this. But... three inches isn't micro? That's pretty small.

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Mon Nov 28, 2022 12:32 pm

Xinunar wrote:
Mon Nov 28, 2022 2:12 am
I am enjoying this. But... three inches isn't micro? That's pretty small.
Thank you! Yeah I'm not sure what the exact "rules" are with the size terms haha, generally I think of micro as an inch and below. Evie's definitely still quite tiny in any case!
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Mon Nov 28, 2022 8:13 pm

Chapter 5
Aiden

This. Is. Crazy.

I hope Evie can’t tell just how freaked out I actually am. I've probably had more adrenaline pumped into me in the last hour than in the entire past year combined. I can't even begin to unpack Dr. Little's death and the part I played in it. Not to mention the predicament of my shrunken classmate who I'm holding in my hand like she's a goddamn hamster. But I know that all pales in comparison to what this poor girl just went through. She looks so lost and afraid and I feel a sense of responsibility to keep it together in her stead.

But then again. The experience of having her willingly climb onto my hand is… something else.

I'm not wearing gloves this time so I can feel the tiny tickle of her fingers as she hesitantly reaches her arms out and touches me. I can sense the weight and temperature of her body as she clambers aboard. I can tell she's trembling as she crawls away from the edges and kneels in the middle of my palm. Despite a part of me feeling incredibly stressed about the whole thing, another part of me is just as enchanted now as I was the first time I picked her up.

I gently lift her off the counter and it's like holding a little bird, she's so light and delicate and… and adorable. I feel a wave of guilt at having any kind of positive emotion from this when Evie still seems so freaked out. I slip my other hand under the first, cupping my fingers around her protectively.

"Is this okay?" I ask, trying to keep my hands as steady as I can. "You good?"

She's looking a bit pale and is clearly trying to not look down. But after a moment of pause she glances up at me, tilting her neck back. "I'm good… Don't drop me please." And she actually manages a weak smile.

Maybe that was some feeble attempt at joking around, but I think it might be best to respond with sincerity right now. "I won't. I've got you. So uh… I'll give you a tour? You've already seen the kitchen. Right past here's the living room..."

Holding Evie up near chest level, I begin slowly making my way around the apartment. The kitchen and living make up one big open area, with a couch and ottoman to one side, a desk near the window, a small bookshelf beside it. Coming off to the right side of the room is a nook containing a washer-dryer unit, with a door to my bedroom on one side and one to the bathroom on the other. My place isn't particularly huge, but for her I’m sure it’s a very different story.

I keep glancing down at the tiny girl in my hands, trying really hard not to stare excessively. Thankfully she’s too busy looking around wide-eyed at everything to seemingly notice. It's all feeling so surreal, like a very bizarre dream. I try to remember seeing her in class, back when she was just average human height.

She always sat by herself towards the back, though that didn't keep her from looking attentive. I'd thought before of sitting next to her, not sure if she was shy or just preferred being on her own. Every once in a while I'd notice someone else talk to her, and she always seemed really friendly despite keeping to herself. But I already had a friend in the class and never got around to approaching her. She'd rarely linger after the lesson either, just pick up her things and march out of the classroom with a confident stride.

It's so difficult to accept that this tiny person I'm holding is the same young woman I'd see in class… All the details just as I remember them but in miniature…

"You might wonder why I even have a desk in the other room since I clearly do all my homework in here," I say as lightheartedly as I can when we get to the bedroom that's littered with papers and textbooks. "Yeah, I don't know either."

That's how I end my very short tour of the place. Evie hasn't said a word during the entire thing and honestly things are feeling pretty awkward. Neither one of us knows how to handle the situation.

I'm having a hard time imagining what the coming days are going to look like. Even though she seemed so hesitant to get outside help - and I can understand why facing all of that might be intimidating - we're going to need to do it eventually if we want to try and restore her, right? Assuming I don’t have a police officer show up at my door first because it was on record that I was in the room that caught fire.

I don't know how long it'll be until we face the outside world. But I figure at the very least we should take the rest of the afternoon to try to settle our nerves and form some kind of plan.

“So... I'm trying to think through how we want to do this,” I say as I step back into the living room, “I don't want to just leave you stranded up somewhere, but I also don’t want to put you on the floor, that doesn’t seem safe. Or sanitary.” I should really give this place a good clean.

Evie says something quietly, too quiet for me to make out. Without thinking, I reflexively lift her up higher to hear her better, causing her to recoil and give me a fearful look. “Sorry,” I wince, pulling her back farther from my face again.

Good going, Aiden. Let’s just continue to traumatize her why don’t we.

“It’s hard to hear you sometimes,” I try to explain.

“N-no, it’s okay,” she says, projecting a little more. “Um, I was just agreeing… on maybe not the floor… But I mean, anywhere’s fine.”

“Okay, well… How about I set you on the ottoman for now? I’m just nervous putting you anywhere too high up.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

I make my way over to the nearby couch and begin to lower myself to the floor, which should be a simple maneuver and yet I feel a wave of anxiety as I do it… I’m so conscious of every little movement I’m making at this point. Once I’m kneeling down I shift both hands up to rest on the gray, rectangular ottoman in question. It’s not very big, maybe one by two feet, but again for Evie I’m sure it’s a very different experience. She crawls back off my hand, the tickling of it making my heart skip a beat, and I actually feel a little sad about how relieved she looks to be off of me and on more stable ground.

She gets to her feet and has to hold her arms out to maintain her balance on the plush fabric, making me second guess myself at the choice of furniture to put her on. Although her trying not to fall over like this is also really cute…

Stop. Staring. I tell myself, looking off to the side for a second. I really need to focus.

“C-can I get you anything?” I finally say, turning back to her. “Some water maybe?”

Evie has given up on trying to walk at this point and just sits on the ottoman cross-legged. “Actually, yeah. That would be great,” she says, remembering to speak up this time.

I head back to the kitchen, feeling admittedly nervous about leaving her by herself even if she’s still within my sights. Without even thinking I grab a glass from one of the cabinets and am about to fill it before it hits me that she can’t use it. Right. Smaller cup.

I start looking through the other cabinets and drawers for something I can use and instead I’m realizing just how many other things are no longer going to work either - forks, knives, plates… And it’s going to go beyond that. If she stays with me past today, where will she sleep? What will she wear? How will she bathe or brush her teeth or go to the bathroom? What about her belongings, wherever she was living before? What about her classes? Or the thousand other concerns I’m not even thinking about right now? My head is already spinning and I haven’t even been able to get her a simple glass of water.

I take a deep, steadying breath. My brain is scattered and keeps trying to take on too much at once. I need to focus on what's right in front of me. Like… this measuring spoon. Yeah, this could work, actually.

I fill the teaspoon with a few drops of water and start heading back when I notice something else right in front of me. I'd forgotten about Dr. Little's bag, laying on the floor by the front door. Hold on. What if there's an antidote or something in here?!

Suddenly a man on a mission, I grab the briefcase and come back into the living room where Evie's waiting patiently right where I left her. She notices the intent look on my face and seems a bit unnerved by it.

"Is everything okay?" she asks as I kneel on the floor and put the bag down.

I carefully set the measuring spoon onto the ottoman as I explain, "I just remembered, I grabbed this on the way out of the lab, it's some of Dr. Little's stuff…"

I zip open the briefcase, laying it out on the ground and taking in the array of stuff inside. Evie's interest is piqued and she forgets about the water, scooting over to the edge of the ottoman to watch.

Trying not to rush, I go through everything in turn. There’s an unsettling amount of syringes, filled with what’s clearly labeled to be a variety of sedatives. There’s a small contraption of some kind, a metal box that looks to be the right size for Evie to fit inside. A carrying case maybe? Though when I pick it up there’s a slight sloshing sound that seems to be coming from its walls - I’m not sure what to make of it and just set it on the ottoman near my little classmate. There are a few tiny outfits that look more like hospital gowns. There’s also a ziplock bag with a huge variety of miniature items, too small and too numerous for me to make sense of right away, and I put these on the ottoman too.

I don’t see anything that is an obvious cure for being shrunk. I really shouldn’t be surprised, especially with all the machinery it took to reduce things down in the first place, but it’s disappointing nonetheless. There is a journal, though, and I pick this up last. Evie’s watching me intently as I take a quick glance through.

“Looks like it’s some of his notes,” I tell her as I flip the pages, “I’ll see if I can find any clues in here…”

“Alright. I’ll look through some of this other stuff.” She’s already struggling to access the ziplock bag, and I’m about to reach over to help when she finally pries it open.

“Is that a toothbrush?” I ask, leaning in to squint at the first thing she pulls out.

“Looks like he was really prepared for… something,” she adds with a grim tone.

“Well, at least some of this might help us in the short run,” I say as I get up to sit on the couch, notebook in hand. “Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

And this is how we spend the next part of the afternoon. At first there’s lingering tension in the air, the both of us still recovering from all of the previous excitement. But as the minutes eventually become hours in the relative quiet, we’re finally beginning to relax somewhat.

These notes were definitely not anything official, and they’re really hard to decipher. Some pages he just used as scratch paper, littering them with equations and nonsensical thoughts. At some point the focus switches to the experiments he ran, just offhanded observations on the large variety of items that he shrank down. I'm thinking most of the items that Evie is going through are the results of said experiments.

I still can’t help occasionally glancing at the shrunken girl before me. I tell myself that I’m just watching over her, making sure she’s safe up on her perch. But I can’t deny the fluttering in my stomach whenever I look over. I just want to observe every detail… Her industrious mannerisms as she parses through the miniatures. The way she has to scoop water into her hands to take a drink from the measuring spoon. The expressions on her little face, overwhelmed but also quite focused on the task at hand. Everything about her is just so tiny and cute and… enticing.

Focus, I tell myself, every time.

At one point, I come across something in the journal that at least looks familiar - a sketch of a schematic with some notes on how it works. I realize it matches the little metal box that had been in the bag too.

“So...” I interrupt the silence as quietly as I can but still manage to make Evie flinch. “Apparently this thing’s supposed to be a miniature bathroom,” I say, pointing at the box that’s still on the ottoman.

She stands to approach the chamber curiously and I lean in as well. There’s a door in the front that she pulls open, cautiously taking a step to peer inside. I don’t quite see what she’s doing as she carefully explores the apparatus, but suddenly there’s a whooshing sound from within. It only lasts a second or two and it's not very loud, to me at least, but it makes her yell and suddenly pull her arm back, taking several fearful steps in reverse.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Y-yes. That’ll take some getting used to,” she answers, staring at her new bathroom. “Still…” she adds with a weak attempt at laughter, “Better than trying to use a normal toilet I guess.”

That’s true. One less item on our very, very long list of things to worry about. The fact that this device even exists is a little disconcerting, though. Hammering in the fact that Evie would not have been restored to her normal stature anytime soon.

I take a second to glance at what she’s been working on, sorting all of these tiny items into sections, lined up neatly in each group. I’m recognizing things from what I’ve been seeing in the notebook - plastic bottles, various fruit, a towel, a basketball, I even notice the chair that I had personally seen shrink down. They’re not all tailored to her size, a strange amalgamation of items at all different scales.

Evie notices where I’m looking and addresses me, “I do think there’s some stuff here that might come in handy, but most of it's so random. I’m guessing this was all of the earlier experiments? Not sure if this is any kind of clue, but it looks like most of it’s made of wood or cloth or plastic.”

“Right, so I do know a little bit on how the machine worked…” I say, at this point looking for any excuse to talk to her and escape the cramped handwriting of Dr. Little’s pen. “It used some sort of solution that he vaporized into a gas. That’s what would alter the size of the subject topically.”

“Topically?” She looks up at me with a furrowed brow. “I figured it was whatever I was breathing in there, but it worked by touch?”

“Yeah, that’s how your clothes got smaller too. It doesn’t affect metal or glass, though, which is what the testing chamber was made of.”

“That explains why I couldn’t wear jewelry or anything metal…”

“Yup,” I say with a nod. It somehow feels productive to tell her the little that I know about the technology behind this. But it’s not. I’m not really doing anything to solve the problem, since it’s not like I actually understand how any of this works.

We return to our tasks - I dog-ear the page about the mini bathroom so that I can refer back to how it works later, and then I go back to squinting at the messy handwriting. Time continues to drag and I’m not finding anything else that's particularly relevant in the notebook.

That is, until I reach the end of it. Then I find way more than I had bargained for.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Wed Nov 30, 2022 3:03 pm

Chapter 6
Aiden

I stare at the next page in the journal, the title at the top immediately catching my attention: "Human Trials." Something about seeing that on paper gives me a horrible sinking sensation in my stomach.

There are a few separate entries, each of them quite lengthy. It looks like Dr. Little wasn’t lying about the fact that Evie was the fourth test subject. There are paragraphs of notes about the other three, detailing not so much measurements and data but qualitative information - how they behaved and reacted. I notice that all of them were women. As I continue to read… I really start to feel sick.

He would take them back to his home for “extended study.” But I’m not even sure he cared so much about actually studying much of anything; the types of experiments he documented didn’t seem to be about scientific research. Things like seeing how they’d react to extreme hot or cold, or being tied up for hours at a time. He doesn’t go into all of the details in his notes, but the further I delve the more it sounds like the experiments were actually more like… punishments. As if he was training them, somehow, like they were animals to domesticate. He’d go on about their beauty and… my brain starts to fill in the gaps. I don't think the fact that Evie's really pretty is a coincidence.

I try not to linger too long on any one sentence, just pushing through as I desperately hope to find some indication of him restoring these girls. But what I find instead is far more horrifying.

The first of them didn’t make it through a “stress test.”

The second ended up jumping off a table while his back was turned.

The third had never stopped shrinking.

My hands are trembling as I keep reading. All of the test trials had gone through some sort of issue where the machinery didn’t work quite right, resulting in each of the subjects not reaching the target size for the test, particularly so for the third. Dr. Little rants about this for a couple of paragraphs, venting his frustration in stilted lines on the page, about the complexities of the shrinking process for humans being too much to juggle on his own in the lab. At the bottom, in capital letters, underlined twice, he wrote “NEED ASSISTANT.”

I worry I might actually throw up. With shaky fingers I shut the book quietly and try to take a deep breath. After more than two hours of sitting here, the sun starting to set outside, I’ve reached the end of the notes with nothing to show for it. I'm shocked at the horrors that I was unknowingly going to be complicit to, and I’m completely losing hope.

It's at this point that I look back towards the ottoman, expecting to see my classmate meticulously working as usual. But instead I see hundreds of miniscule items, fully categorized into rows and groups, a perfectly organized display… but the girl who’s sorted them is off to the side, sitting with her back to me. Head in her hands. Her shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs that are too quiet for me to hear.

It’s been a long, stressful, life-changing kind of day. I think about the other victims of the shrinking process. What could have potentially happened if Dr. Little got his way with Evie today. And then, even though I hardly know this girl, I feel a sudden surge of emotion. A desperate desire to protect her from all harm.

I move instinctively, sliding off of the couch to the floor while trying not to make any sudden or frightening motions. She hears me and her shoulders tense - I think she tries to stop herself from crying as she continues to hide her face. But try as she might, her breathing is still coming in shallow. She just can’t keep her emotions at bay anymore.

“Hey…” I say softly, my chest tight, “You’re not alone, okay? I'm here to help however I can.”

I wish I could tell her how. I wish I could fix this, or at least take her hand or give her a hug or… or something. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this helpless in my life. I do the only thing I can think of and reach a hand over to gently brush a finger against her back.

For a moment she stiffens at my touch and I worry that I’m making things worse yet again. But then she turns, still keeping her gaze away from mine, and presses up against me, burying her face into my fingers, and she begins to sob in earnest. This sets my heart racing. I’m not sure what else to do so I just let her cry it out, using my thumb now to carefully rub up and down her back.

After a couple of minutes, Evie starts calming down, taking deep, shuddering breaths. She finally looks up at me and musters a smile. “Thanks,” she says, and she’s still so quiet, but my ears are getting better at honing in on her little voice.

“Don’t mention it,” I say, weakly smiling back. “Maybe we should call it a night soon… Are you hungry?”

“Not really. I’m just so tired…” She rubs at her eyes and lets out a sigh. “But I should probably eat something. Any luck with the notebook?"

"Um… not yet," I say, evading the question. Now doesn't seem like the best time to give her the details I've found. “I’ll go grab some food for you. Is cheese and deli meat okay?”

“Sounds good. I’m not picky.”

I go back to the kitchen to make a simple sandwich - ham, cheese, avocado. I pinch a tiny piece of it off for her, though it's probably still bigger than her entire head. I stare at it and don't love how rough it looks, like I just ripped off some leftovers to feed to a dog, so I take a few extra seconds to lay the mini-sandwich on a cutting board and use a knife to trim off the jagged edges. It doesn't exactly look beautiful in the end but it's a bit neater at least. I lay the food on a spoon in lieu of a plate and get some more water for her while I'm at it.

Evie thanks me as I set these down in front of her, and she’s stifling a yawn. She appears less upset now, at least, but definitely super fatigued.

"Yeah, you look tuckered out," I observe with a sympathetic smile. "Want to go ahead and turn in early?"

She's reaching past the lip of the spoon to pull off some bread and nibble at it as she stares off into space. "I don't think my body's going to give me much of a choice. I feel like I could pass out at any minute… again."

"Um, let's try to avoid you fainting this time, please."

I watch her for a moment, a little amused at how she's eating - instead of attempting to bite into the oversized sandwich she's just picking off tiny bits of ham and cheese and bread as separate components, holding a crumb in both hands as she takes small bites. Like a mouse with a millet seed. She has to be actively trying to be this cute, right?

Trying to reel myself in and avoid gawking at her again, I turn my mind to next steps. It’s not even 7pm yet, but clearly we need to get this girl some sleep.

"I'll go change out the bed sheets real quick and I can bring you over there whenever you're ready,” I suggest.

Evie lifts her head and cocks it to the side at me, slowly processing. "...You're offering me your bed."

"Yeah, I can sleep here on the couch. No big deal.”

"Aiden, no, you don't have to do that. That seems a bit ridiculous, don't you think? With me like this?”

"Just because you're little doesn't mean you're not a guest.”

She actually lets out a laugh now and okay, true, the mental image of her in a vastly oversized bed is pretty silly. It does feel good to see her smile, though.

"No, really, it's okay," she insists, "I think part of the reason I'm so tired is because this kind of already feels like a giant mattress… I'll be fine here. Honestly anything bigger would probably be too overwhelming."

"Oh. Yeah okay, I could see that." I ponder for a second and add, “Well, I’ll at least find you something to use as a blanket... I’ll be right back."

That insistent part of me that I keep trying to push away feels a little disappointed that I don't get to pick her up again. But I'm determined to at least do what I can to make her comfortable. I go to my bedroom and look around in the closet for anything that can work. Blankets, pillow cases, shirts - everything's way too big. I start going through my dresser drawers, and for a moment I consider a sock since it's at least a somewhat more appropriate size. But even though they're clean there's something about it that just seems gross.

I come across a well-worn T-shirt that I haven't used in a while since it has a couple of holes in it. It's pretty soft, though… I should probably be getting rid of it anyway, maybe now I can salvage something.

On top of the dresser are some of my office supplies that have congregated, including a pair of scissors, and I set to work cutting into the shirt. I got this from some kind of volunteer event and there's a little logo on it in the shape of a dog… I let that adorn the bottom of this makeshift blanket, making me smile as I imagine her snuggling underneath.

I cut another strip of the fabric to fold a couple of times into a small rectangle to offer as a rudimentary pillow. I'm finding myself wishing I could sew and wonder what other little things I could make for her… assuming she'll be staying here for any length of time, that is.

When I come back to the living room, I worry for a second that Evie really has passed out. She’s slumped onto the side of the spoon, and it looks like she’s hardly made a dent in the sandwich before giving up. She twitches at the sound of my footsteps coming in, sleepily lifting her head back up to watch me, her body tensing at my approach.

I crouch down beside her for the last time that night, setting her makeshift pillow down next to where she's sitting, and she immediately turns to collapse onto it. I smile and get the sweet moment I'd been secretly hoping for, carefully draping the blanket I'd made over her tiny frame. I refrain from trying to tuck her in, though, too afraid of squishing her.

"I'll leave a light on in case you need to get up at night," I mutter, and then I see I'm losing her fast so I quickly add, "If you need anything, let me know with this."

I set down something I'd picked up from my bedroom, a visual countdown timer that I use for studying. It's about as tall as she is and the knob in the center should be small enough for her to maneuver without issue.

"Just turn the timer on and off and it'll beep. I'm a light sleeper, it'll definitely wake me up."

Evie gazes up at me and for a second I worry she's about to start crying again. Am I overwhelming her with too much stuff? I really need to just leave and let her sleep. But she pulls it together and forces a smile my way.

"Thank you."

I nod and start backing off. "No problem. Good night, Evie."

I turn on the desk lamp and turn off the overhead light, walking away as quietly as I can. Just before going into my room, I pause. I stare at the ottoman, the minuscule figure laying on it, already curled up on her side and visibly unconscious. I really don't like leaving her by herself.

An image pops into my brain, unbidden. Her little form curled up on me instead, snoozing away on my chest as I drift off to sleep– And I'm so mortified by the thought that I immediately turn on my heel and march straight into my room.

I spend the rest of the evening on my laptop, trying to find any scrap of information that I can about the scientist responsible for all this. Google gives me nothing. I dig into all of the school records and he never actually had an association with the university, all of that was faked. So was the sponsor company he said he'd worked with. When searching the room reservations for the chemical lab we were at, I'm shocked to find his name but literally no other information. There's no record of me being there, nor Evie, nor any of the other victims for that matter. The secrecy behind this whole thing is far more extensive than I'd realized. I feel like all I'm doing is running into dead ends.

And even when I eventually try to sleep, it doesn't come easily. Images keep flashing in my brain. Evie writhing in Dr. Little's grip. Fire overtaking a corpse. Evie unconscious under an oxygen mask. Notebook pages reeking of terror and death. Evie crying her heart out. Evie trembling with fear in my hand. Evie so, so small… so vulnerable…

So beautiful…

I feel like my head might split in two as a battle rages within it. Hours pass before I finally drift into a dark, uncomfortable, fitful sleep.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Fri Dec 02, 2022 7:44 pm

Chapter 7
Evie

As tired as I was, I still don't get the best night's sleep. Every time I turn over my subconscious senses how unnaturally thick the threads of the ottoman are below me and jolts me awake. Even when my eyes are closed, I can feel the vast empty space all around. The extra light probably doesn’t help, although I think if I was in darkness I’d probably be even more scared.

Nevertheless, bit by bit, my body gets some rest. According to the wall clock that’s hanging in the distance like a numbered moon, it’s about 4am when I give up on getting any more sleep. I get up, use the bathroom - now at least mentally prepared for the aggressive noise that comes out of it - and take a few minutes to sit and think.

I’ve always been pretty convinced that the universe has it out for me. As far back as I can remember, from the moment my dad died when I was four and my mom turned to drugs, it’s been one thing after another. This whole getting shrunk thing might just take the cake. But I’ve always dealt with each challenge the same way. Don't give up. Fight back. Work harder. I really, really wish that the universe could just give me a lucky break, just once in my life. But I’m used to that not being the case.

As I stare out at the wide expanse of the apartment, dizzied by the sight, I give myself five more minutes to be upset about it. To wallow in the hopelessness and fear, and to curse whatever uncaring gods have allowed this to happen.

Then I put the lid back on. Enough with the tears. It’s time to pull myself together.

I make my way along the lines of miniaturized items - I’ve sorted out the things that I think will be particularly helpful in the coming days, but I don’t want to overlook anything. This stuffed narwhal might appear useless, but if Aiden hadn’t given me something to use as a pillow it would have come in handy.

Aiden… I don’t know how to feel about him. I’m not worried about his intentions, at this point he’s clearly proven himself to be kind and well-meaning. But I still can't help being nervous about how things will go. It’s understandable that he’d find this whole thing pretty stressful too. Unlike me, if he wanted to he could just walk away from all this and move on with his life. Honestly, I wouldn’t particularly blame him. I really, really hope that we find a way to reverse the shrinking before that happens.

I trip and fall over, landing on my knees. I’d have hoped to be used to the texture of the floor by now, but this ottoman is just so difficult to walk on. I hate the idea of burdening my giant keeper by requesting a different home base, but I don’t know if I can keep spending all my time here. I might as well make it as quick and easy as possible to relocate… Let's pack it up.

There’s a plastic letter opener among the shrunken items that looks like a dagger - since it isn’t made of metal it’s not as sharp as I’d like, but it can still do the trick. I approach the massive ziplock bag that had originally held all of the reduced items and start cutting into it, making large square sheets from the plastic. I use these to bundle up the miniatures, bringing in the corners of the tarp-like plastic and tying them off with a knot.

The process is slow, especially with how long it takes me to cut out the squares. Hours pass and the sun slowly begins to rise outside. But at least it keeps me busy. Eventually I finish making bundles and start piling them into the miniature bathroom like it’s a moving van. I’m almost done with this and am feeling very out of breath when I hear a disturbance in the distance. My muscles tense as I figure that Aiden’s getting up.

Even though I order myself to not freak out when I see him, I still go stiff at the sound of heavy thumping signaling his footsteps and then flinch at the sight of something so big coming into view so suddenly. But despite my heartbeat picking up speed, I manage to maintain a composed facade this time.

Even from a distance I can see more detail at this size than I normally might. Aiden clearly didn’t sleep great either. And yet despite the bedhead and heightened shadows under his eyes, he still gives me a warm, friendly smile as he enters the room.

“Good morning,” his voice resounds, “Sorry, have you been up a while? Do you need anything?”

"I'm okay, thanks!" I really try to project this time since he's still a few feet away.

He comes closer to sit near me on the couch, and it's as he crouches down that he notices all the shrunken items aren't laid out anymore. His eyes move to the bundle in my hands.

"Huh. Looks like you've been busy," he says, blinking.

“Yeah, I… guess I have been up for a little while.” I’m feeling embarrassed, holding my makeshift luggage a little tighter to my chest as I hesitate to make the request. “I was hoping to ask you, if it's not too much trouble… since you said you don't really use your desk… do you mind if I move up there?”

His eyes now glance down to my feet, still clearly unsteady on the squishy surface of the ottoman, before his gaze flicks back up. “Oh, yeah, no problem. Sorry Evie, I could have helped you with all that…”

I shake my head and take an unsteady step towards the metal bathroom, tossing the final bundle inside. “That’s alright, it’s been a good distraction.” I shut the door and step back sheepishly.

Aiden smiles at me and gathers the timer and the last of the tiny items, since a few of them are too big to have packed up - things like a calendar, a book, a baseball bat, all bigger than I am. Then he easily lifts the bathroom, standing up so he can transport it all to the nearby desk.

I stare out at the chasm between me and the high-up surface of the table, trying to imagine a ramp between here and there. It would be almost a hundred feet in length… How long would it have taken for me to have traversed back and forth across such a bridge in order to carry all of those items across? Meanwhile for this giant it takes him less than two seconds with practically no effort.

“Want to go up there right now?” he asks, his arm already outstretched as he comes back to me.

I keep it together best I can as the massive beast of a hand comes in for a landing. "Sure," I respond and force myself to march right up to him. I try to continue talking so that I can keep my mind off of how intimidated I feel. "So I’m guessing there wasn’t anything useful in that journal?"

His fingers visibly tense at the question - well, it's visible to me anyway. "No, not really," he responds softly, "I’m sorry…"

I climb onto his open palm, silently crawling to the center of it with my eyes downcast. I’m surprised by how disappointed I feel. I mean, what was I expecting? To find out I just need a bit more vitamin C and I’ll be back to my old self before I know it?

"Yeah, I figured as much," I say with mock indifference, settling into a kneeling position. I look up and give him a nod, an indication that I'm ready for him to carry me over.

He inclines his head in return. "Up you go."

Aiden raises me skyward, a lot more slow and careful than he was with the bathroom. I do wish I had something more substantial to hold onto. A part of me wants to ask him to loosely wrap his fingers around me so I can do just that, but I feel way too awkward about making that kind of request.

Thankfully the giant continues talking, keeping me distracted from how far down the floor is as we traverse the gap together. "So for uh… next steps. I was planning to go out this morning, check out a few things. There was a news article about the fire, and from the photo it looks like the building itself is intact. With any luck, so is some of the machinery - I’ll see what I can find out. I should probably replace my phone and stuff too…"

"Don’t you have classes today?" I ask a little absently, keeping my eyes on my destination as I'm now elevatoring down to the surface of the desk. As I climb back off his hand, I catch Aiden's bemused look.

"You’re kidding, right? That’s the last thing on my mind. I can stand to be absent for a couple of days." He pauses to make sure I'm fully off of him before he pulls his hand away again.

There’s something weirdly nostalgic about stepping out onto the parking lot sized surface of the desk. The visuals are rather foreign - a wide expanse, some oversized office supplies littering the other end, the desk lamp hulking ahead of me like an otherworldly tree. And yet something still feels familiar. I’ve done a lot of moving around in my life, and I realize that I’m strangely reminded of the moment where I walk into a new, empty apartment for the first time.

Aiden takes a seat at the chair nearby, his gaze softening as he watches me take a look around. I rather prefer seeing him from this position - instead of being near his knees as he sits on the couch, I'm closer to his chest level now. He's still looming over me, but not by quite as much. I have a feeling this view of him is going to become all too familiar.

"You definitely look steadier on your feet," he remarks.

"Yeah, this is way better, thank you. Plus I can get more sunlight from here!" I motion to the window that's just alongside the desk. "I promise I'll stay over on this side."

"No worries, take up the whole desk. I'm clearly not using it, it's yours."

My chest tightens. I keep feeling uncomfortable with how much he's going out of his way for me. But I also don't want to seem ungrateful.

"It's more than I need but… Thank you…"

"You bet. With any luck it'll be very temporary anyway."

I've noticed that Aiden has these moments where his gaze tends to linger. Can't say that I blame him - it's been less than 24 hours since I've become a bit of a freak of nature. I must be a rather bizarre sight… And hell, sometimes I can't stop staring at him either.

He snaps out of it, straightening up as he says, "Um, I saw you were almost out of water, I'll go get you some more… Any breakfast requests? I'm not the best cook but the fridge is pretty well stocked."

I blush, chest getting even tighter at the feeling of being so reliant on him. "Anything's fine, really…" I say and realize my nervousness is peeking through so I add more lightheartedly, "I don't even eat 'breakfast foods' usually. I'm a heathen and will just have whatever leftovers are in the fridge."

Aiden grins at this. "You're just like a friend of mine. He will literally roll into an 8AM class with his tupperware of lasagna."

"Breakfast lasagna's the best!"

We share a laugh. It's our first genuine laugh since the incident and I watch how it lights up his whole face like sunbeams after a storm. I swear, for just a split second, I forget that I'm small. For this infinitesimal moment of time, I can pretend that everything's normal and I'm just getting to know a new friend.

And then the nerves rush right back. I stay perfectly composed though as Aiden continues, "I'm pretty good at making eggs actually. We should have a proper meal this time.”

I extend an awkward thumbs up. “I’m game.”

He gets me another spoonful of water before he retreats into the distant kitchen. I can still see him just fine from where I’m at, but it’s more like watching clouds moving around, albeit too colorful and too fast. Sounds of clanging and sizzling echo in the distance, and cooking smells eventually travel across the room.

I decide to use my water supply not just for hydration - I really need to clean myself off. I can still smell the smoke on my clothes, a sobering reminder of just how recently everything changed. And speaking of clothes…

I already know from going through all the shrunken items yesterday that the only things that fit me are those little robes that Dr. Little had set aside. They’re so flimsy and scratchy, clearly something he bought as is instead of a real piece of clothing that he shrunk down. Still, it’ll have to do for now. I wish I had the tools to make my own clothes. I’m not too bad at sewing, but I would at least need a needle and thread and don’t have anything of the sort… Oh well, like Aiden said, with any luck this is all very temporary. I don’t want to think about the alternative right now.

I at least have a few tiny toothbrushes, toothpaste and a bar of soap. I duck behind the metal bathroom to strip down and clean myself best I can before slipping on one of the robes. It feels even worse when it's on.

I hear and see the giant coming back from the kitchen, massive plate in hand. I take a deep breath but stay steady at his approach. Good, I’m starting to get more used to this.

He sets the food down a short distance away from me, the ceramic of the plate a loud clang against the wood of the desk. I ignore my quickened heart rate reacting to the noise by commenting loftily, "With all this junk he shrunk down, he could've included some more outfit options.”

"Ohh, right, that's a problem,” Aiden says as he sits down, “Maybe we can get you some doll clothes?”

"That's alright, I'll make do.”

He sets a gigantic spoon beside me with little bits of scrambled egg and apple in it, and I realize that I’m starving. I thank him and dig in gratefully, not caring that I’m having to use my hands. I notice after a moment that I’m being observed - there’s a little frown on my new friend’s face as he's looking me up and down and then his eyes swing over to where I’d left the soap near the teaspoon of water.

"Evie… I could at least have gotten you some warmer water or something.”

"It's okay. This was fine. You really do make good eggs!"

Aiden still looks bothered but doesn't push it, eventually mustering a smile instead. "Thanks. It's one of, like, three meals I have any confidence in..."

Breakfast passes without further incident. It’s a little unnerving at first to watch such large amounts of food disappear into the giant’s mouth like it’s nothing. But strangely enough I get over it fairly quickly. Something about having a meal together like this is comforting. A small slice of normalcy in a very abnormal situation. Soon we're back to discussing plans for the day as Aiden finishes up.

"Take your time eating, I'll go get ready to head out. Speaking of which, um… I can try to bring you with me, if you’d like? Though I'm assuming you'd rather stay hidden if you don't want to make a scene, so… maybe it’s actually safer for you to stay here? Even if some of the machine is still untouched somehow, I don’t think it would be as simple as just…”

He trails off and the air feels a little heavier. Neither one of us is quite ready to think too hard about what will likely come out of investigating the lab today.

I shake my head, breaking the silence. "No, you’re right. I’ll stay here while you scope things out.”

He nods in return, his jaw tight. "I'll try to hurry back. You sure you don’t need anything before I go?”

“I’m good.”

I stare after him as he goes to get ready, feeling as restless as a dog whose owner is about to go to work. Just as he opens the door to leave the apartment, he turns to shoot me a quick wave and a “see you later.” He’s on the opposite side of the room, so even if I yelled I’m not sure he would have heard my response.

I hate the silence that’s left behind once he’s gone. It makes it harder to ignore the thoughts that are lurking in the depths of my mind, swirling beneath the surface and threatening to devour me. Everything’s too vast, too empty, I feel like I might drown–

No. No tears. It’s time to keep myself occupied.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Sun Dec 04, 2022 1:43 pm

Chapter 8
Aiden

Really, what was I expecting?

Standing outside of the chemical lab is a little surreal. All of its outer walls are still standing, but glancing down the alley to the side of the building, I can see the charred black where I estimate Dr. Little’s rented room was. There’s a surprising number of people around, many of them just passersby who are stopping to stare. There are a few police officers near the entrance, some having discussions with a couple of people not in uniform - owners of the building maybe. The perimeter is blocked off with black and yellow caution tape. I approach with some hesitation, and one of the more idle officers notices me and walks my way.

“The lab’s closed,” she tells me with a very dismissive tone.

“I know, um… I was actually here when the fire broke out yesterday. I, uh, left some of my stuff in one of the lockers and was hoping to see if I could try to get it back?” Not a complete lie.

She frowns and sighs and I have a feeling I’m not the first person who has tried to get in and snoop. “Wait here,” she tells me.

She steps away to have a brief discussion with a couple of the officers, the three of them all turning to look at me from afar. In the end a different person joins me - a bearded, friendlier-looking man. “Come with me,” he says, lifting the caution tape up so that I can duck underneath it.

We go inside and the intense smell of the smoke and burnt chemicals is nauseating, though I guess nothing truly toxic burned up if they’re letting people come in here without hazmat suits. It looks like the firefighters were able to douse the flames before they spread across the whole building, so the entire right side is eerily empty but intact. I lead the officer to the left.

"If you were near where the fire broke out then you might be out of luck," the policeman remarks.

"I'm not sure if I was," I say. This one is a complete lie. "I think I was close but it's all a bit of a blur…"

"I'll bet."

My anxiety rises as we go down the hall, uncomfortable memories rushing back. I look for the familiar white door to the lab room but then suddenly realize that there is no door at all.

“Not something you see every day, is it?” the policeman says as I slow down to peek inside the very obvious scene of the incident. My heart sinks to my stomach.

Everything is in shambles. I can’t even make sense of what’s what - it’s all twisted metal and piles of charred rubble. I think the fire reached some kind of chemical in the cabinets that eventually caused an explosion. Part of the ceiling is caved in, one wall is mostly destroyed, and I see sunlight peeking through a crack in the other wall. There's more caution tape and the room is clearly mid-investigation, even if it's empty right now.

"Kinda spooky, right? Apparently someone died in there."

My heart now leaps up to my throat and my shoulders stiffen. I wasn't expecting him to announce something like that so plainly. "That's awful," I say tightly.

"Sure is. And the weirdest part is that no one knows who he was or what he was up to," the officer continues in a low, conspiratorial voice. "He was real dodgy and secretive about his experiments, apparently. And now that everything's destroyed I guess we'll never really know what he was doing. Apparently something dangerous since it caused a fire."

What the hell is wrong with this cop? Isn’t this, like, classified information or something? I wonder in a moment of panic if he's playing mind games with me for some reason, but from what I've been gathering about his demeanor… it feels like this guy might just not be very bright.

I try to stay cool while taking advantage of getting potential information, matching his detached tone, "Really? Was this the only place he ran experiments?"

"See, that's the thing!" He leans in a bit closer, looking excited about sharing the gossip, "No one knows! He used a fake address and fake qualifications when reserving this place, and nobody knows who was sponsoring him. It's all a big mystery. Real weird stuff."

"Weird," I agree, all the while my eyes still searching the destroyed room for any sliver of hope. I find none.

"Anyway, if you work here then I'm sure you've already been questioned about it..?" He's looking at me expectantly and I suddenly realize that [/i]he[/i] has been trying to wheedle gossip out of me.

"Oh, I'm just a student," I respond plainly. The officer gets very quiet after that.

Nearby are the lockers, and while half of them still look pretty intact, the ones that Evie and I had used are in the half that got caught in the blast and now looks like the blackened remains of a campfire. So much for that.

I decide after I leave the lab that there are a couple of different errands I should run, so I head back to my apartment building’s garage to get my car. I stop by the bank to request a new credit card. I replace my old phone. I get a temporary driver’s license at the DMV. Meanwhile my mind is a million miles away.

As I sit in the car after what feels like a long morning, I wonder if I should stop by a store for supplies before heading home. I try to think of what Evie might need. She specifically declined my offer to find her doll clothes to wear; it seems kind of rude to ignore her and get them anyway. I can't think of what else to do for her… I'm feeling really helpless again and my mind starts to spiral…

What am I going to say to her when I get home? It's been dead end after dead end. Who am I kidding, I'm completely in over my head. There was never a chance that I could fix this on my own. I'm starting to think there might not be anyone who can fix this.

I slump over the curve of the steering wheel, letting my head hang in defeat. I decide to head back to her. It's almost lunch time anyway.

One short car ride later, taking a quick detour to stop at a taco place so that I don’t have to cook, I get back to my apartment. There's a flutter of nerves in me as I approach the door - I hope my small friend has been okay on her own.

But my fears were unfounded. I step inside and look towards the desk at the opposite wall, immediately seeing movement on it. I smile as I notice how quickly her little legs are moving… it looks like she's running out to greet me. That feels really good, at least.

"Hi! It's getting close to lunch time," I call out to her as I set my stuff down and slip my shoes off, "Not too hungry?"

I realize my mistake as soon as her voice reaches my ears - she's yelling loud enough for me to hear her but not quite enough that I can make out the words.

"Sorry, I'm an idiot," I laugh as I approach the desk, "What did you say?"

"I said I probably have enough food to last all day," she responds, motioning to the spoon that still has some of today's breakfast on it.

“Right, I guess I still need to figure out portions. Better than too little I guess?”

“Oh totally, you don’t see me complaining.”

She's giving me a wide smile and for a second I’m once again overtaken by the cuteness of her size. She looks like a little toy... Though I’m getting better at catching myself at least and I quickly move on.

I notice as I take a seat that a few things have changed on the desk since I left. The shrunken items have all been unpacked, and while most of them are still organized in piles off to the side, it’s like she created little stations for herself too. There’s a chair and table with some books of various sizes stacked onto it, the toiletries are all next to her water source, and anything edible is on its own smaller table by the comparatively massive lamp.

It's so surreal, seeing this miniature camp easily fitting on the surface of my desk. I'm glad to see that she hasn't just been wasting away in misery while I was gone. I find myself endeared to her industrious nature.

"You must really like Magic: The Gathering."

"Huh?" I look back at her again, confused.

"Your shirt," she says with a teasing smile, pointing towards my chest, "You were wearing a Magic shirt yesterday too."

"Oh." That's right, we had bonded yesterday over card games. Right before our lives changed irrevocably. "I didn't even realize… You know, I own exactly two Magic shirts. Apparently thought it'd make a good first impression to wear them back to back." I laugh, a little embarrassed. "I promise I like other stuff."

"Uh huh. Likely story."

I grin at her, enjoying this procrastination before we get into what I was up to this morning. But then, due to us talking about clothes, I suddenly notice that Evie’s wearing something new.

It takes me a second to figure it out, but she’s somehow used one long strip of gray fabric to tie around herself, looping over each shoulder and around her torso, and knotted off at the hip to make a rudimentary dress. She definitely looks way more comfortable than she did in that hospital gown thing. I idly wonder where she got the strip of fabric until my eyes fall onto the one other thing that’s different since I’d left.

While half of my office supplies have gradually migrated to my bedroom, the other half is still here on the desk, on the opposite side from where I’d set up Evie. She’s dragged over every bit of fabric from the miniatures into a pile here… Right next to a pair of scissors. A pair of pointy, wide open scissors leaned up against a stapler, a heap of gray fabric still half draped over the sharp metal…

I can feel the color draining from my face as I imagine her miniature frame leaning over the comparatively gigantic blade. “Um, Evie,” I say faintly, “Please don’t tell me you used those scissors.”

Her demeanor changes as her eyes widen and she clasps her hands in front of her. “Was I not supposed to?”

“Are you serious? Th-that’s so dangerous!”

I didn’t raise my voice by much, but it really doesn’t take much, and the tiny girl’s stepping backwards now, shying away as her own voice wavers, “I-I was being really careful. I h-have experience with woodworking a-and building stuff, s-so I just… I thought I could…”

Ah, shit. I’m scaring her. I try to shrink back in my chair and appear less intimidating, taking a steadying breath to relax the muscles in my face. I remind myself that she’s safe, nothing happened, but my heart is still racing as I can’t help imagining the very different scene I could have walked in on if her hand had slipped while cutting the fabric. I feel like a parent who just found their toddler wandering around next to a swimming pool. Which, to be fair, isn’t a very respectful thought.

I lower my voice again and try to sound gentler. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be patronizing or anything. You’re an adult, I’m sure you’re fully capable, but… but accidents happen. I wouldn’t know how to help you if…” I trail off, unable to complete the sentence.

Evie slowly nods, still looking at me fearfully. She doesn’t say anything.

I try to force a smile. “You can let me know if you need help with something like that, okay? If I nick myself all I’d need is a bandaid.”

Her gaze drops down to the desk as she nods again. Her silence is killing me, but then finally she mutters something.

“Sorry?” I ask, leaning in.

She takes a deep breath and raises her head, summoning her resolve. “I just want to be able to… to do things myself. I don’t want to bother you every time I need something.”

“What? It’s not a bother at all.”

Her gaze drifts down again. “It’s a bother to me…”

I watch her for a moment, trying to find the right words. For being the larger person, I sure have been feeling a whole lot of helplessness lately. I know this entire thing is a bigger conversation. One that ties into what we needed to discuss anyway…

A wave of sadness passes through me. I want to keep putting this off. I want to go back to bantering about breakfast lasagna. I want to actually get to know her. To keep her for a little longer.

But it’s time to face the music.

“I think… we need to talk.”
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Tue Dec 06, 2022 3:26 pm

Chapter 9
Evie

Oh no. Oh no no no no no.

This is it. He’s done with me.

“A-about what?” I ask, trembling, “I won’t touch the scissors anymore, I promise!”

“Not that,” Aiden says, shaking his head. In this moment he looks very tired, and... hurt, almost. I don’t understand, not completely, but I’ve seen this kind of look before.

I stand there, not knowing what to say to stop the train from wrecking.

He sighs heavily. “I went to the lab and… it was bad. The whole room’s pretty much destroyed, none of the machinery was intact. And from what I can find out, Dr. Little was a complete mystery person - no one knows who he was or where he came from or anything. I don’t even know if that’s actually his name at this point or if it was just a sick joke. And according to his notes, none of the stuff that was shrunk down ever got restored again. It… it doesn’t look good, Evie.”

I have to keep the lid on. Keep it together.

“I wish I could tell you how sorry I am that this happened to you. I hate that I’m partly responsible. I’m trying to think longer term though…”

I can’t look him in the eye anymore, wrenching myself away from the piercing hazel.

“I understand that you’re scared of going to the authorities, and I wish I was able to just restore you myself instead. But I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what else to try.”

There’s a pause of deathly silence as I waver on the spot. It’s not a surprise at this point to find out that I might be stuck like this forever. I’ve either already come to terms with that, or more likely I just don’t have the capacity to process it yet. But now I have to face an entirely different reality instead. One that fills me with a deep, deep dread.

I blow out an exhale, like letting out steam to alleviate some of the pressure inside me. I try to take this small death gracefully and give him my gratitude for helping me as much as he has, all the while gathering the strength to negotiate.

“Aiden…” I finally say, still not quite looking him in the eye, “I don't know what would have happened yesterday but… the way I see it, you saved my life. On more than one occasion. That's not lost on me. I don’t know how to thank you and… you're right. You’ve done enough.”

Another breath, even as cracks threaten the walls of my facade.

“I can’t ask any more of you. I can only imagine the burden I’d be. So… so I’ll… I’ll go…”

I feel a tickling on my cheek, a tear that I wasn't able to keep in check. I stiffen and ignore it. Stay steady. I have to broker something other than the cops. Maybe someone from school, a professor or something–

“Hold on. What?” His tone makes me jump as he interrupts my thoughts, and my eyes suddenly meet his again. He looks completely bewildered. “Evie, I don’t think we’re on the same page. I really don’t know where you’re getting it from that I think you’re a burden?”

I blink, thrown off. “You were just saying… you want to go to the police, right?”


“I want to go to the police to better help you. Not to get rid of you. Is that what you thought?”

I had been reliving something from years ago. But it’s going differently this time, and I suddenly realize I’d completely misunderstood the situation. It’s as if the looming threat of a dark storm was actually just a cloud passing over the sun. I start seeing rays of hope again.

“Would you really rather just stay here? Even if you'd be stuck this way?” Aiden continues, “Y-you’re totally welcome to…”

Maybe it's selfish, but I scramble for the opportunity. “Yes. Yes, I would. If that’s okay.”

“I mean… If that’s really how you feel then… shit, you can stay as long as you want.”

“Really?” I ask, and I finally wipe away that stray tear.

“Totally.” And he’s smiling at me now, the pain in his eyes dissipating. “Honestly I really miss living with someone. Not to turn around and make light of everything but, I don't know, having a tiny roommate sounds kind of... fun?”

I feel surprised, but before I can unpack what he means by that, he resumes a more serious tone, “I just figured you’d want to take steps to getting back to normal as quickly as possible. You sure it’s a good idea to put it off?”

The danger has passed, but I still squirm nervously. “We don’t even know what that’ll look like,” I eventually say, “What kind of experiments they’d need to run or if I’ll end up all over the news… I just don’t know if I can handle that right now.”

"Okay… okay then! Well, damn, I'm glad we cleared that up. Just let me know when you feel ready to change course.”

"Thank you. I will.”

Aiden leans back in his chair and he actually looks just as relieved as I feel. "This changes things.” He crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow at me, corner of the mouth ticking up. “Now we can talk about the scissors.”

I wince. "I know, you're right. It wasn't worth the risk…”

"No, I can totally see why you'd want some amount of autonomy. So… let's compromise, yeah? Let's problem solve it. We'll set stuff up so it's easier for you to do things on your own. And please…” He leans in again, closer than usual, lowering his head so that I don't have to look so high up. His gaze is gentle but intent. “Do take my word for it if I tell you you're not bothering me? Being able to help makes me happy. Got it?”

I can feel something new on my cheeks. A warmth. It spreads through my whole body until I’m almost giddy with it. Suddenly I’m beaming up at him and extend my arm as if to give him a handshake. “Got it.”

He’s grinning right back and brings his hand up, index finger outstretched. I take it in both hands and we shake on it.

Things feel different as we have another meal together. I haven't gotten over my new size, not by a long shot. I'm still actively pushing a lot of fear and uncertainty aside. But accepting my situation, even just on a surface level, is helping us both to relax.

"One thing I do need to ask of you…" I say, looking up from my taco crumbs, “I’ve been staying at AirBNBs while looking for a more permanent place to live. I was going to move out of my current one this weekend. Not that I can use my stuff now, but it all fits in one suitcase so…"

Aiden's finished eating by this point and is currently cleaning up the desk. “Yeah, I should have enough space in my closet,” he says, “Sounds like we have some weekend plans then.”

“Maybe the day after tomorrow? The owner isn't usually around on Saturdays.”

“Sure thing. In the meantime…” And now he’s opening up a drawer, below where I can see on the desk, and pulls out a notepad that’s over twice my height. “How about we start making a list of things to help you feel more at home?”

I get to my feet and internally attempt to reassure myself that it’s alright to let him help me this time. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

We go through a typical day and try to think of everything I might need to take care of myself. Thankfully I already have some shrunken toiletries, but Aiden offers me little bits of his own shampoo, deodorant and such to fill in the gaps. We debate what might be the best container to hold some of these things and eventually he thinks of the fact that he had gotten a bulk amount of toothpaste, meaning he has a bunch of little caps from those that we can use. I figure these might also be helpful just as buckets for carrying water.

On the subject of cleaning, we agree it might make more sense for me to hand wash my own clothes rather than potentially ruining them by including them with the normal sized laundry, so he offers me a drop of laundry detergent in another toothpaste cap. He ties some thread up to stretch between the desk lamp and a mug that he brings over, laying a hand towel down underneath it all, and bam. I have a clothesline.

I still need to make the clothes themselves, but I plan on letting him help this time. I’m still not particularly keen on the idea of doll clothes… I feel like they’d be made of something similar to the scratchy fabric of the hospital gowns. But I tell my new roommate that I’ll try them on if he thinks he finds something suitable. I do agree that dollhouse furniture might be nice - I wouldn't mind shelves to store some of these things.

Food and water is a little trickier. A tank meant for small pets could work, at least to use for cleaning and whatnot. Aiden offers to give me a fresh spoonful of water every morning for drinking. He also brings over a couple of less perishable items - granola bars, packets of crackers, freeze-dried apple chips. We figure they're good to have around in case I have to unexpectedly be alone for a meal. As much as I enjoy cooking, we can't think of a safe way to set that up for me, so I'll have to rely on my larger friend for the most part.

"It'd still be nice if we could get you a little fridge though," Aiden muses. He's brought his laptop over by this point to look for ideas online and is scrolling through a list of mini fridges, all of which would be the size of bounce houses to me. "Hey look, this one only holds a single soda can!" He looks at me with a bit more concentration, sizing me up.

"A can is what… six inches tall?" I wonder.

"A little less I think. Hmmm," The giant has his hand up now, hovering it well above my head as he tries to visualize the height. "It would still be pretty big for you… Maybe worth a try though."

I catch sight of the price on the billboard-like laptop screen. Yikes. "Don't worry about it, I'm not sure I want to pay that much anyway."

I had begrudgingly conceded to the fact that I wouldn't be paying for rent nor for food since Aiden wouldn't be spending anything extra on me (and while I have a small bit of savings, I clearly won't be able to go back to work). He had wanted to pay for everything, but after some back and forth he eventually gave in to the decision that we would split the cost of my setup.

"My treat?" he offers now with a sheepish glance down at me. "If I see it at the store tomorrow I think it's worth the experiment."

I sigh in dramatic defeat, though I give him a grateful smile. "Fine. Thanks. It's true, it might be nice for when you have classes over lunch time."

Aiden pauses, thinking about what I just said. "We haven't talked about school yet," he says quietly, "It'll obviously be harder for you to attend classes this way… um… are any of your classes online?"

"No, they're not. I've thought about it, and yeah it's a bit of a bummer, and a waste of that scholarship money... but oh well. I took this long to start college, I can wait a little longer. Maybe when I get my textbooks back I can study and be extra prepared for next time."

"Hey, that’s the spirit. You can still be my study buddy for Biochem if you like.”

"I doubt I'd be much help, but sure!”

This leads us to the subject of what I’ll be occupying myself with all day. Studying aside, I’m bound to get bored. I do have several shrunken books that are more or less in my size to check out. Aiden breaks up little bits of lead in case I want to write or doodle. And thankfully I still have a warranty on my phone that was lost to the lab fire, so he can hopefully get a replacement for me and I’ll at least have internet access on that. It’s a good start.

Some craft projects will probably keep me busy as well. I will say, letting Aiden help me cut the strips of fabric for my makeshift dresses and rompers really is so much easier than when I spent an hour cutting one myself. But I’ve now also found a way to take a broken piece of toothpick and grind it against the side of a matchbox so that it sharpens into a point, creating a rudimentary sewing needle. Maybe I could make some real clothes at some point, but for now I test it out on a simpler project. Aiden cuts out a rectangle of fabric from an old shirt and offers some cotton stuffing from his couch cushions. I tie some thread to the toothpick to sew the thing up best I can. Voila. I have myself a mattress.

We’ve spent all afternoon and evening planning and making things, and I can’t believe I’m thinking this but… it’s true. This is kind of fun, somehow. In a summer camp kind of way, a new adventure where it feels like there’s so much to explore.

And we’re chatting throughout it all, entering into discussions about our interests and hobbies, and it turns out he does like things outside of Magic, such as hiking, fantasy novels and geology (hence his major). Meanwhile, I mostly mention enjoying cooking and crafting - everything to do with home economics. I find out that we’re almost the same age, with me being 24 and him 25, and that’s a rather strange thing to bond over, being a little older than the average college student. I find out it’s because he’s a grad student, and while I don’t go into all the details, I tell him about my wide variety of odd jobs I’ve had since high school.

We start joking around about the ludicrous gap between our sizes. At one point I invite him to sit down at my shrunken table and chair, acting all confused when he chuckles at me instead. At another point he pretends to hand me something but briefly holds it above my head, way out of reach. Nothing too mean, just kind of silly. Apparently finding the humor in the size difference is our way of coping.

The conversations are nice… I like him. We get along with very little effort.

Since neither one of us slept well last night, we decide to call it a little early for bedtime. Aiden gets me some warm water to wash myself with before he leaves, and I turn to look around at my setup, feeling satisfied about how everything’s coming together. And after some shopping tomorrow it’ll be even better.

Don't give up. Fight back. Work harder.

I can do this.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Thu Dec 08, 2022 2:31 pm

Chapter 10
Aiden

“You sure this isn’t too awkward?”

“I’m sure. It’s just an arm, Evie.”

“Yeah, to you…”

I don't let her know just how much I'm getting a kick out of this… This is probably the most intimate interaction we've had thus far. It was entirely her idea too.

Over breakfast Evie was going on about how she's getting used to her new space on the desk and thanking me for my help. Meanwhile I'm just glad that she's still here and settling in so well no less. Maybe it's wrong, but I can't help enjoying this fantasy-come-to-life situation.

And then she admitted to not feeling used to me. For a moment I was worried that I'd done something bad, until she clarified that she just still feels a bit intimidated by our size difference. Well… that's understandable. I must still look like a monster to her. No amount of joking around about it is going to erase that.

She asked me if I wouldn't mind just putting my hand up on the desk so that she could spend some time taking it in. My heart rate started picking up, but I was still more than happy to oblige…

And here we are. I've propped my entire forearm onto the table's surface, my hand relaxing palm side up, and at first Evie's just assessing, walking along the length of it, like a curious little mouse eyeing a potential hiding place. So cute. She's halfway between wrist and elbow before she finally reaches out to touch me.

It’s probably just the anticipation of it that’s making my nerves oversensitive, but it feels like electricity where her skin meets mine. The hairs stand up on the back of my neck and I just try to hold really still. Her back’s to me so I don’t see her expression, but I imagine it’s one of fascination from the way she’s fixating the spot that she’s touching. She starts making her way up towards my hand, her tiny fingers trailing along my arm.

She’s getting close to the inside of my wrist when she pauses and puts both hands out now. “Whoa,” she says, and now I do get to see her face as she glances over her shoulder at me, “I can feel your pulse.”

If that’s the case, I hope she can’t tell how fast my heart is beating. Trying to play it cool, I quip back, "Well that’s handy. You can be my at-home nurse then– ahhh–” I try not to flinch as my whole arm lights up with goosebumps. She just brushed her fingers along the base of my palm. "Okay that tickles," I say tightly.

"Sorry," she laughs, pulling her hand away and continuing along.

Don't be, I say only in my own mind, That felt really good

I kinda wish I could explore her too. To maybe wrap my hand around her frame or carefully grasp a limb between my fingertips. To try and brush her hair back in order to gently touch her tiny face. But all of that seems way, way more invasive than what she's doing to me. I don't want to treat her like an actual doll. I thought I was having success at keeping these kinds of thoughts in check, but with Evie interacting with me like this it's becoming very difficult to do so.

She reaches the ends of my fingers now and pushes against the third and fourth one while I let them hang loose, so that they curl in from the pressure of her minute muscles.

"What's it like from your perspective?" she asks after she's pulled the digits back out, and then she cautiously crawls right onto them.

Hoo boy. I want to be careful about how I answer this.

"It really is weird just how light you are," I say, consciously flattening out my hand to give her an easier time clambering across the length of it. "At first I was so nervous about hurting you, you just seem so… fragile? No offense."

"None taken," she says, reaching my thumb now and using it to hoist herself back to the desk.

"My aunt has pet birds, though," I continue, "and I got really used to handling them growing up when I'd go stay with her during the summer. If I can trim a finch's nails I think we should be okay… At least your bones aren't hollow. Mind if I try something?"

Evie looks up at me curiously and nods as a go-ahead. I tilt my hand upright and snake it around behind her, and then I very gently use my middle finger and thumb to pinch around the sides of her waist. I make sure to be careful about where I aim... All of her body parts are really close together and I don't want to touch her anywhere inappropriate. I put on just enough pressure around her torso to lift her up, until her feet barely leave the floor. She lets out a little gasp, suddenly leaning forward to catch herself on the fingertips protruding from either side of her, but she doesn’t protest.

“Not too uncomfortable?” I ask before setting her back down.

“N-no…” she says, despite looking a little nervous. She takes a step back as I slowly slide my hand away again, and she’s looking from my fingers to my face, as if trying to put it together that I’m all one being. “In fact,” she adds, and her cheeks are reddening, “that might actually be better for when you have to carry me. Just something that feels more secure I guess? I’m always worried about falling.”

As if there was any universe where that would be an issue for me. “Okay, yeah. No problem.”

Her entire face is flushing now and she suddenly covers her eyes with her hands. “This is so weird!” she exclaims fervently.

I laugh and figure she might need a break from this exercise so I pull my arm back off the table. “It is very weird. You think this is helping you get used to it though?”

She pulls her hands off her face as she takes a deep breath, quickly regaining her composure. “It is. Thank you.”

"Any time." God do I mean that.

I leave to run more errands after that, intent on finishing up Evie's setup today. I’m out all morning, visiting a few different stores, being quite selective about the things on our list. I don’t find a mini fridge that’s even remotely the right size, unfortunately. And I’m realizing that most dolls are quite a bit bigger than three inches tall. But I otherwise do find success. At one point I get a spontaneous idea for something we hadn’t discussed that I might try to build this afternoon, so I stop at a craft store too.

Being at the pet shop is particularly strange. I’m just here to get her a water tank, though I figure I might as well look through the small animals section in case there’s anything useful. I briefly imagine her running around in a hamster ball, which makes me laugh to myself.

There’s a harness here with a leash - it’s clearly meant for rabbits or ferrets so it would be way too big for her anyway, but… something about it makes me shudder uncomfortably. I remember Dr. Little’s recounting of how he trained his victims to act a certain way. And I take a moment, right there in aisle 4, to firmly tell myself that I will never, ever treat her like an animal. No matter how small and cute and dependent she is. I can’t ever lose sight of the fact that she’s a person.

I come home to the bright, adorable smile of my little roommate, and the afternoon is spent unpacking and setting up everything that I bought. I’ve upgraded her measuring spoon to a small bowl for me to put fresh drinking water in, and Evie’s very excited about some of the miniature shelves and furniture I’ve found - I even came across a bed frame that fits her makeshift mattress.

She assures me she’ll pay me back for this stuff as soon as we get her debit card tomorrow amongst her other things. I secretly hope she forgets. She’s got enough on her plate as is, paying for this stuff is the least I can do.

I go fill up the water tank, which is just the right height for her to easily scoop out of with her toothpaste-cap-buckets, perfect for filling a bathtub. Speaking of which - I bring over a longer charging cable to set up the mug warmer and a small dish that she can use to bathe in. It’s a USB-powered warmer that’s just meant for office use, so it doesn’t get excessively warm, and the dish completely covers the hot plate, so it should all be quite safe. Plus she’s able to operate it independently… It’s all coming together.

She has a section on the corner of the desk that is quickly becoming the bathroom area, and I take some quick measurements of it with a ruler. Then I set to work, using the ottoman as a table and pulling out the white plastic sheets I got at the craft store.

“What are you working on?” Evie calls out from the desk, tilting her head to the side as she watches me.

“You’ll see,” I say with a smile, “I don’t want to promise anything in case it doesn’t work out.”

We spend a little while in comfortable silence as I measure, cut and glue the plastic while she starts putting things on shelves, her industrious nature manifesting again as she organizes everything meticulously. Early evening is approaching when I finally finish my project.

It just looks like a box, about five inches tall and over twice that in length. The roof is a series of many very thin criss-crossing plastic strips, meant to obscure view but still be able to vent. One of the walls has a wide doorway, and another one has a hole just big enough to string a power cable through.

“Let's see if this works…” I say, softly interrupting Evie’s endeavors.

She glances up as I approach the desk, and her brow furrows with a mix of confusion and interest. I take the mug warmer with its ceramic dish and put it inside the box, orienting it so that the doorway is facing the side wall of the apartment and is out of sight, and then I place the entire structure right next to the water tank and metal toilet box for easy access.

“Thought you could use some privacy,” I say, standing back up to admire my handiwork. “At first I thought about using a shoebox, but then not only would it be dark in there but I figured all of the evaporation from the bath would make the cardboard soggy. What do you think?”

Evie enters her new bathroom excitedly, and while I can see a little bit of movement through the roof vent, I can’t tell what she’s doing.

“Can you see me?” I hear her voice yell.

“No, not really. That’s kind of the point,” I say with a laugh.

“Thank you so much, Aiden,” she looks almost emotional as she comes back out to meet me, “This is so thoughtful.”

“I’m glad you like it! I won’t ever go in there unless it’s to dump out the water bowl, so just let me know whenever it’s okay to do that."

"Sounds good."

"Maybe at some point we'll figure out how to make you a kitchen. Hell, I wish we could get you your own mini grocery store. It'd probably fit in the living room."

She laughs, and I can't get enough of its near musical sound. "I think I have more than enough up here."

"Yeah, unfortunately you're still stuck with my cooking. Any requests for your celebratory welcome dinner?"

"Hmm. What are the other meals you said you're good at?"

"Well it's pretty hard to screw up fried rice. And I learned to make homemade pesto sauce once, so I'm not bad at pasta. That takes a while, though."

"Fried rice it is then!"

This works out since I have a lot of vegetables I need to use up. I make a large batch of it and I'm excited to get to use Evie's new dollhouse plates. Like almost everything else, they'll be a little big for her, but it's better than her having to crouch over a giant spoon. I carefully place her portion on her shrunken table and we're both able to sit in a chair this time as we eat.

Since at this point we're done with any work we can think of, I suggest watching a movie to relax for the evening. I actually don't own a TV, just watch everything on my laptop, but I think that's better suited for my little friend anyway.

"So what kind of stuff do you normally like to watch?" I ask, offering her my hand to climb onto.

“Umm… I watch a lot of nature documentaries…” she says, settling onto me, “It’s a bit embarrassing, but a lot of cartoons too. I’m really into animation.”

I remember to loosely close my fingers around her this time, giving her something to hold onto, and I’m trying not to look too excited about having another excuse to hold her in my hand like this. Still, I offer her a smile as I lift her up. “Don't be embarrassed. I’ve just gotten into anime pretty recently, so if that counts then I’m right there with you.”

Evie clings to my ring finger and looks up at me eagerly. “Yeah, it counts! Gosh, I haven’t watched anime in years. My best friend growing up showed me so much of it, that was her big obsession. What's your favorite show so far?”

“So, one thing you have to know about me…" I say, sitting down on the couch as I continue holding her aloft, "is that I really love camping. I usually try to get out in nature for a couple of days once or twice a year. Last year was particularly busy for me school-wise, and I didn’t get to go. Sooo, what’s the next best thing? Watching cutesy anime girls camping instead, apparently. There’s my long-winded explanation for why I love Laid Back Camp. Even though I’m probably not the target demographic... It’s just so relaxing and a really nice escape for when I have a lot going on.”

“I've never heard of it. But a relaxing escape sounds really nice right now… Um, if you're okay watching something you've already seen.”

“I don’t mind at all, I'd love to introduce you to it!” I set Evie down next to me on the couch and reach out to the laptop to pull up the show.

Our setup is rather comical. Like a kid who's pretending to watch TV with his favorite action figure. I have to be mindful not to shift around too much - it's not like she's right up against me, but I still don't want to jostle her.

We're about halfway through the episode when I notice her small figure out of the corner of my eye, shifting closer to me. I think she's trying to be sneaky about it… which might objectively not be the smartest thing if it could lead to me accidentally knocking into her. But I also feel touched that she trusts me to be careful. I wonder what she's up to…

Evie comes very close to my leg, and I abruptly realize what she's looking for - body warmth. She's shivering.

Any normal person would have offered her a blanket. Or I should have at least gone and updated the thermostat. But instead, my gut reaction is to lay my hand down next to her on the couch. She jumps at the sudden movement and looks straight up at me.

"You cold?" I ask quietly, and I gently nudge her with my pinkie. For a second I think she's going to decline and feel incredibly stupid for not offering her something other than myself to stay warm. But then she silently crawls onto my hand, huddling against my fingers as I curl them around her. And bit by bit her muscles relax as her shivering goes away.

"Thanks," she finally says, giving my thumb a grateful pat as she readjusts herself on my palm for the long haul. "This helps."

I have a really hard time paying attention to the show after that.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Sat Dec 10, 2022 4:39 pm

Chapter 11
Evie

It's Saturday… Day four of being too little for this world. Today I would be seeing even more of it. Maybe it's because of this that I wake up feeling incredibly anxious, and the room feels particularly vast this morning. I slide out of bed and gravitate towards the bathroom Aiden made for me, despite having no intention of taking a bath right now. At least here the ceiling isn't 150 feet away.

What a rollercoaster of emotions I've had. Here I was thinking I was starting to get used to things. I thought I'd been able to see some of the fun in this messed up situation. But now it’s beginning to feel like this little camping trip I'm on should be ending soon. And yet instead we're going to move my things out of the apartment I’d been staying at, despite me not having booked a new place to stay. Since… I already have a place to stay. A huge, scary, hopeless new home that–

Stop. Aiden will be up soon. I want to greet him with a smile. I know that my predicament is understandably overwhelming, and he hasn’t acted judgemental with any of my struggling. But I don’t want to push it. I want to avoid having meltdowns in front of him as much as possible. I take a deep breath and put the lid back on... I can do this.

The morning passes quietly since my oversized roommate admits that he should probably try and get some homework done. This gives me some time to occupy myself, and I decide to learn how to use bits of lead and a notepad to write at this size. I wet some tissue paper, twisting it around the lead and letting it dry again to make a rough handle, so that I can avoid my hands becoming gray. I’m not sure what to write, though. I start making a list to take stock of everything on the desk, just to fill the time. Eventually I get bored of that and start writing down recipes that I wish I could make, which ends up affecting today's lunch.

"You were so right, toasting both sides of the bread makes such a difference," Aiden says, sighing contentedly from his bite of grilled cheese. "Aww, now I really wish we could make you a kitchen so you can cook your own food. I can already tell you're way better at it than I am."

"I don't think I have a particular talent for it," I respond, nibbling away at my own portion, "I've just been doing it since I was pretty young. I'd be happy to share tips and recipes!" My mind wanders in the ensuing pause in conversation before I add, "Have you seen Ratatouille?"

"Uhhh I don't think so… but I know it involves a rat that cooks?"

"By sitting on a person's head and controlling him like a puppet."

"Ahh, I'm picking up what you're putting down. It's worth a try!" He grins. "For real though, as long as we're careful, feel free to join me in the kitchen. I'm happy to at least attempt any of your favorites."

After lunch it’s time to get going. I hop aboard Aiden’s hand and this is the first time I’ve traveled so far since I’ve gotten here, all the way to the front door of the apartment. My heart starts thumping hard against my sternum as he opens the door. He sticks his head out to make sure the coast is clear before stepping past the threshold, and I look at the world beyond.

I’ve actually never seen this hallway before, since I was unconscious the last time I was here. It stretches in both directions, impossibly far. The uniformity of the doors feels unnatural at such a large scale. The lighting is dim enough that I feel like I’m in a deep, dark, massive tunnel that threatens to completely engulf me–

“You okay, Evie?” Aiden says quietly, pausing in the doorway as he holds me up near his chest. I curse myself for losing any of my composure. What is wrong with me today?

“I’m fine,” I assure him, “Just taking a second to adjust.”

“Well, here, I should keep you hidden anyway if we want to avoid any awkward conversations.” He closes the door and then covers me with his other hand, creating a little cave with a small gap above my head. “This alright?”

I let out a breath. This is much, much better. I’m hidden away from the world, but the world is also hidden from me. I thank him, leaning my head against his chest, and he starts walking. I’m sure he probably won’t attract much less attention holding me this way, but it’s the break that I need to get adjusted to being outside of the apartment.

For whatever reason, the inside of his car intimidates me far less. He sets me up on the dashboard and we just hang out for a couple of minutes as I walk around the hilly plastic surface. The curve of the steering wheel is like a river boat’s paddle wheel protruding from the horizon. Even when I was normal sized I never owned a car or learned how to drive, so the view of this gigantic vehicle is all the more foreign.

“You ready to be my little GPS?” Aiden chuckles, “I'm turning the car on now, okay? You might want to sit down.”

I take a seat cross-legged, a short distance ahead of the steering wheel. The car comes to life with a shuddering rumble, the vibrations shaking my legs and filling me with adrenaline. I maintain a good grip on the plastic floor as the metal beast starts moving, and I just stare wide-eyed at the view beyond the glass.

I’m reminded of a time I visited one of the largest aquariums in the country, big enough to house whale sharks. The glass stretching in every direction before me, the mysterious aquatic world beyond. But there’s even more for me to see through the car window, especially as we come out of the parking garage. The buildings, plants, other cars, everything overwhelms me for a moment. Trying not to freak out, I suddenly look upwards…

Interesting. The sky looks the same as it always has. Something about that is reassuring, somehow.

I don’t have the AirBNB’s address memorized, but I’m familiar enough with the bus route that brought me to school that I’m certain I can get us back there. It takes me a minute to get my bearings and make sense of the vast river-like streets, and then I’m calling out directions with ease, pointing as I use my best robotic GPS-y speech. This makes Aiden laugh, which lifts my spirits somewhat.

About ten minutes later, we pull up to a more humble apartment building than the one we just left. Thankfully the owner of the place uses a keypad instead of a physical key, or else we wouldn’t be able to get past the door. Everything is just as I’d left it, an almost eerie sight.

“Can I set you down here?” asks my gigantic friend, motioning towards the bed. This is a studio apartment, one big room and then a bathroom, so the bed is actually quite central to everything, it’s as good a spot as any. I step off his hand, immediately struggling not to sink into the bedsheets. I quickly notice that I’d left a pair of pants sitting on the bed. Seeing my own things magnified to this level is tripping me out.

I direct Aiden to where my suitcase is and then he starts packing all of my things away - primarily clothes and textbooks. I really did travel light. As he comes back from the bathroom with my toiletries bag, I feel desperately thankful that I had just finished a load of laundry the morning I shrank. I'm already embarrassed enough without him having to deal with my dirty clothes.

I do have one thing that’s sentimental: a stuffed lion that’s sitting on the bed. It’s about a foot tall normally, so now it looks more like a taxidermied mammoth.

“I know it’s kinda silly to keep something like that,” I say self-consciously as Aiden packs away my lion with care. “Especially since it’s so bulky.”

“You want to talk about bulky, you should see my rock collection,” he responds lightly. “I bring that stuff with me for every move too, just can't seem to part with any of it.”

"That’s cool, I've never collected anything before. Could you show it to me later?"

"Yeah, I'd love to. It'll give me a reason to drag out the box."

"Aww, why do you keep them in a box? Poor things. You should display them if they're important to you!"

"You know what? That's a good point. I think I will."

A few minutes later he zips the suitcase closed before taking one last look around the apartment, assessing the empty drawers and counters.

His voice is a little tense. "l'll admit this is pretty weird. It kinda feels like I've broken in…"

It does feel bizarre. Then again, everything about this is abnormal. I turn to humor, yelling out towards him as he passes by. "Oh no, help! There's a giant man stealing all my stuff!"

This removes any of the tension in the air as Aiden turns to face me, looking down at me on the bed with a little smirk. He crouches, reaching a hand out to pick me up as he joins in dramatically, "Oh noooo, he's about to steal the damsel away too!"

Okay maybe I didn't think this through. I might have too much nervous energy to handle this today. His hand swooping in, fingers outstretched like a predator about to devour me, feels pretty scary. I'm a good sport about it though, letting out a laugh as he wraps his fingers around my frame and gently lifts me up.

Although I've started having more experience being handled, going straight up and down still gives me a lot of vertigo. Thankfully Aiden seems to be conscious of this and moves pretty slowly.

"I think this thief is all done packing," he says with a smile, "You ready to say goodbye to this place?"

I take a brief look around. I was only here for a couple of weeks. Just one more living space amongst countless others. So I don't feel very attached to it, and yet… the farewell does feel different this time. It's more than saying goodbye to the apartment, it's saying goodbye to all of my previous life. I get misty eyed, and then I swallow it all down.

"Yeah. I'm ready to go."

We head back and I help again with the navigation from my spot on the dashboard. We're almost back home - and I'm finding myself desperately looking forward to being on the familiar surface of the desk again - when something very unexpected happens.

We're suddenly face to face with another car. It swerves into view from out of nowhere, going the wrong way on this narrow road, and we both let out a gasp as Aiden turns the steering wheel hard to avoid impact. I'm sent sliding off to the side, tumbling, right over the hump of the dashboard, slipping behind the steering wheel, too shocked to let out a sound–

I make contact with flesh, now crying out in pain as I land hard in a massive hand that's just managed to slip under me in time.

“Holy crap!" I hear, and I'm still completely disoriented as I roll to a stop on my back, staring up at the roof of the car that's whizzing by as I'm yanked away from the dashboard. Aiden's upside-down face comes into view instead as he looks down at me fearfully. "I'm so sorry! Shit, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah, I’m alright…” I manage to respond.

We both jump at the sound of one car honking, and then another. It's a miracle no one's collided into each other. Knowing he has to keep moving, the giant lifts me to his chest now, cradling me against the fabric of his shirt, so that he can go back to driving with his other hand.

“I’m sorry, Evie… Hold on, we’re almost there… I got you…”

I can feel his heart hammering away at a million miles an hour. I don't really see what's going on anymore, I don't want to look. I bury my face into his chest until I sense the light dimming, signaling that we've entered the parking garage.

The vibrations of his voice rumble through me as Aiden speaks again. “I feel so stupid. Of course it wouldn’t be safe to put you up there.”

I turn my head so that my face isn't quite burrowing into the fabric, though I still keep my ear against the warm wall as I press into him. “I didn't think about it either. How about next time I ride in your pocket?” I suggest weakly. "It's not like I can put on a seatbelt at this size."

“Yeah… I probably have some shirts with pockets. If not, I need to refresh my wardrobe anyway. I don't have enough Magic: the Gathering stuff, I could use some more…” I appreciate the attempt at a joke, but neither one of us is in the mood to laugh.

He parks the car and I let out a sigh of relief as the engine dies down, so that all I can hear is the gradual deceleration of Aiden's heartbeat. I can feel the muscles in his fingers tense to pull me away, and I cling to his shirt tighter.

"Wait," I say quickly, and in the ensuing pause I add, “Um… C-could we stay like this? Just for a minute?”

My face is covered in tears and I don't want him to see them. Maybe he can tell anyway, but he respects my request and just holds me there for a few minutes longer, quietly stroking my back with a comforting finger.

I’m on a never ending roller coaster. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the ups and downs. But as I cry softly against the gigantic chest of my only friend in the world right now, I take a moment to be thankful that at least I'm not on this ride alone.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Mon Dec 12, 2022 3:40 pm

Chapter 12
Evie

"Sorry, what's the word you're standing on?"

"Oh, my bad!" I exclaim, taking a few steps to the side to get out of the way. Aiden's a faster reader than I am, although that might be because the letters are so much bigger to me. He doesn't seem bothered by me walking all over his textbook, though.

"So, the tri… car… boxylic cycle and the krebs cycle are the same thing?” I ask, having to take a few steps forward to look back to an earlier passage.

"I think so? Yeah, that’s what it says here. And it’s also called the citric cycle. Why call it so many things...”

There’s a large diagram at the bottom of the page that shows all the steps of said cycle, going in a big circle. I walk along the circumference a few times, trying and failing to memorize the steps. Aiden watches me with amusement for a minute before saying, "Let me know when you’re ready for the next page."

"I’m ready," I immediately say, giving up on the futile attempt to memorize the chemicals. I dart over to the edge of the textbook and hop to the floor - and by that I mean the actual floor today.

My giant roommate spent the better part of our Sunday cleaning the apartment between homework assignments. So then when we decided to study together in the evening, he took advantage of the cleaner space to spread his papers on the floor and bring me down there to join him.

How many more things are going to be new discoveries for me? It’s a whole other world this far down. I never would have thought I’d prefer seeing a huge drop beyond the horizon of the desk compared to everything around me stretching so high up instead, the ceiling twice as far away. It’s especially disconcerting when Aiden leaves to get a quick drink of water.

I almost fall over backwards as he rises into the air, looking more skyscraper-like than ever before, and I can feel every one of his footsteps as they shake the ground. It’s humbling to know the earthquakes would be imperceptible to anyone else on the planet. I can’t see him over the kitchen island either, which is unsettling as I hear the echoing sounds of shuffling and water filling a cup, and I’m instinctively wanting to crawl underneath the cover of the textbook for shelter. Instead I stand there trembling as I wait this out.

Aiden approaching is even more intense than him leaving, and for a moment I’m just staring at his massive feet thundering like heavy machinery. Trying to desperately convince myself that I’m not about to get stepped on, I force my head to lift towards his face again.

As he crouches he gets close enough to see my expression and can clearly tell how pale I am. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he says as he kneels, looking around for whatever gave me such a fright. “Everything alright?”

“Yes,” I squeak promptly, “I’m good.”

“Oh wait,” he looks back at me with a little frown and sits on his heels, hunching lower to try and make himself look smaller. “It’s probably from me towering over you like that, isn't it? I’m sorry. I really don’t think things through sometimes…”

“It’s okay, Aiden,” I say with a smile and a bit more confidence this time. He definitely means well. And I need to not be so scared of every little thing. It’s only day five. We’ll get there.

He goes back to laying on his stomach, propped up on his elbows as we resume studying. I return to my spot on the textbook, my heartrate still settling. Together we continue trying to figure out the krebs cycle.

Soon it’s time to turn the page again, and this time as I hop off the book, I ponder our setup. After a moment of thought I call up to my friend, “Could I try sitting on your shoulder? Then I won’t be in the way and it’ll probably be easier for me to read.”

“Yeah, sure thing. Upsy-daisy…”

His fingers slip onto either side of me and I grip them tightly as he gives me a boost. It’s another new environment, the broad expanse of his shoulder. I instinctively start huddling towards his head since I’m now high enough that I want something to hold onto to feel secure. As I scooch from his shirt to his skin, I notice that little bumps are appearing on the back of his neck. I hope I’m not tickling him too much.

“This alright?” I ask. For once I actually don't need to project so much since his ear is so close.

“Mm-hmm." He sounds unbothered so I settle in. It’s definitely much easier to read from up here.

We stay like this for another forty minutes or so, and I’m starting to really struggle staying engaged. Studying for school was never really my strong suit, especially from textbooks like this. I always learned better by doing, or at the very least by listening to someone explain things.

“So pyruvic acid ferments to become lactic acid, right?” I ask, suppressing a yawn, “Which is… what exactly?”

"You’re getting it. Lactic acid is that stuff that makes your legs feel like rocks after a five hour hike."

“Right... Oh yeah, that reminds me!” I pipe up excitedly at his word choice, giving his neck a little shove. “You never showed me your rock collection.”

Aiden chuckles at my obvious desire for a distraction, shaking me a bit in the process. "Want to take a break?”

“I really do.”

“Yeah, me too. Okay, hang on tight.”

I turn to straddle his neck, bracing my fingers and toes against his skin as if hugging a giant tree trunk. For extra assurance, I reach up to a lock of dark hair that dangles just within my reach. Once I let him know I’m set, the giant carefully pushes himself up to crouching and then standing, moving slowly and with a hand at the ready to catch me if I slip. I keep thinking we must have reached the apex of his height but we continue going up, up, up…

From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs. I've never been in a helicopter but I imagine it feels somewhat like this. It's like I'm looking down at a canyon. And then I think about how Aiden's eye level is even higher up.

He walks over to his bedroom with me along for the ride, heading to a shelf in the back corner. He holds very still as he briefly takes his hovering hand away, grabbing a shoebox that he settles under his arm before the protective hand quickly returns. I feel pretty confident I'm not about to fall off, but his diligence is comforting nevertheless.

It's funny how he's already gotten so used to me hanging around and seems so comfortable with our interactions. I guess it makes sense that it'd be easier to get accustomed to being around a tiny person than a giant one. But still, he's taking the transition to having an unexpected (and unconventional) roommate quite well.

We're back at the desk now and Aiden drops me off directly onto my bed so that I can be comfortable. I sit there cross-legged, watching as he opens the cardboard box and begins digging amongst the rocks.

"So did you find these yourself?" I ask.

"Some of them. Like this one… It's literally just a big pebble from the yard at the first house I lived in. Oh and this is from the second house, but you see that? It's actually a fossil. I think it was some kind of snail. Kinda crazy that it was in my own backyard."

He places each of them down near me in turn and I lean forward from my spot on the bed, genuinely curious.

"Most of these are gifts, though. Rocks and minerals kinda became my thing, so it was a go-to present idea for people. Like this jasper," he puts down a reddish stone that's almost as big as I am, "my uncle gave this to me when he was visiting for my eighth birthday. He thought it'd be funny since my last name's Jasper. And this," he sets down a black one, "is a meteorite my dad brought back from his time in Australia."

I hop off of the bed now and approach the growing array of his collection. I've never really paid attention to rocks before. But hearing how Aiden comes to life as he talks, I can't help but get sucked in. I meander between the boulders like I'm at a museum.

"I've got a few geodes and agates – this one's probably my favorite since I found it myself when rockhounding in Arizona. That was home number four."

I look up at him at this point. "Sounds like you moved around a lot growing up, huh?"

"Yup. Military family. My parents were both in the Navy."

"We have that in common. Not the military part, just the moving."

"Kinda sucks, huh? Maybe it's just me, but I can't wait to put down roots somewhere."

"No… It's not just you. I feel the same."

I zigzag between the pyrite, the petrified wood, the rose quartz, the polished amber. Each one of them has a story, scattered fragments of Aiden's life. One of the geodes is only half as big as I am, and I sit down so I can peer into it, marveling at the gorgeous purple crystals inside.

"I actually can't quite remember where I got that one," Aiden muses, leaning his cheek on his hand as he smiles down at me. "I think I got it early on, when I was first deciding I wanted to start a collection. Probably just spent my allowance on it at a tourist shop."

"It's so pretty…" I say, reaching out to feel one of the smooth amethyst facets. "Would you mind keeping it here on the desk?"

"Of course not!" He grins, clearly pleased that I've taken such an interest. "That's right, I need to find a place to display them all."

"Is there any room on that?" I wonder, pointing at the squat brown shelf that's near the desk, opposite to the couch. It looks to be pretty full of books but there might be some space in front of them.

"Well, I don't have anything on top of the shelf... Plus I could see them easily if I put them there. Good idea, Evie." He picks up the geode I'd been staring at. "This one stays here with you though." His hand glides over to my area, repositioning the rock towards the back of the desk so that it's visible without being in the way.

Having wandered from one living space to the next, home decor is never something I could really afford to have. As I take in the look of the crystals, adding a welcome air of fantasy to the area, I decide that I'd like to change that.

"That reminds me," Aiden says abruptly, "Be right back."

He disappears around the corner into his bedroom, and when he returns I'm surprised to see him holding my plush lion.

"I've been thinking this could maybe help you feel like you're in your own space," he says, and he sets the stuffed animal on the windowsill that's just behind the desk, so that the lion's top half is well in view to watch over me. It's as if Aiden had heard my thoughts about decorating.

"What do you think?" he asks.

I gaze up at the fluffy feline face that has been by my side through many a challenge. "Perfect," I say with a big smile.

Aiden's expression softens and he slowly slides a hand towards me. I turn to face it, feeling a little wary but mostly curious. He gently touches the top of my head with his index finger, barely putting on any pressure as he gives it a little pat.

"Welcome home, roomie," he murmurs.

I blush all over.

At this point it's almost bedtime so we give up on doing any more studying. Aiden puts the rocks back into the box so that he can relocate them to their new spot on the shelf. I stare after him quietly, feeling anxiety bubble inside of me. End-of-weekend dread isn’t something that has ever really affected me since going to school was a welcome escape from my home life and my work schedule has always been all over the place. But right now I hate that tomorrow's Monday.

We say good night and I drag myself over to the water tank to brush my teeth. I don’t plan on taking a full-on bath tonight… I’ll have plenty of time by myself tomorrow, after all.

I turn off the desk lamp and slide into bed. Absently I run my hand over the dog-shaped logo of my blanket that used to adorn Aiden's shirt once upon a time, and I gaze at the moonlight that stretches across the surface of the desk. I stare and stare and stare and sleep continues to slip away from me…

"Come on," I whisper to myself in frustration. "He's done with school at four. No big deal." It's not like he's never left the apartment before. But I guess in my mind it's a big jump going from a couple of hours alone to the majority of the day.

I feel so pathetic. Here I've been so adamantly wishing to be autonomous, to not bother him so much. I simmer in self loathing for a little while before I bolt upright, suddenly struck by an idea.

I go turn on the lamp again, hoping I don't attract Aiden's attention from the other room. I grab onto my makeshift pencil, step onto the giant notepad… and I start writing.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Wed Dec 14, 2022 3:52 pm

Chapter 13
Aiden

As soon as I open my eyes I let out an involuntary groan and a wave of sadness hits me so hard that I almost choke on it. Whoa. Where did that come from? Did I just have a nightmare?

It takes me a minute, but as I come to, I realize that no… I'm just really dreading going back to class. Part of it is this protective worrying of leaving Evie alone for that long. But the other part is a bit more selfish. We've spent the better part of a week together at this point and I can't hide from myself the fact that I've become infatuated with her presence. I just love having her around… for various reasons. I don't want to wake up from this dream.

I berate myself for being so dramatic. What's the alternative, giving up on work and school so I can sit around and stare at her all day? We'll still get to spend plenty of time hanging out. Maybe this is a good thing, maybe she needs a bit of space for all I know. I do think she's enjoying our new friendship. But I also know I can be overwhelming to be around, whether I like it or not.

It takes me another minute to drag myself out of bed, and it feels like I have weights chained to my ankles as I quietly go get ready. I'm dressed and groomed when I come out to the living room, and I notice Evie's already up, waiting for me near the edge of the desk.

"Hey you!" I call out to her before I approach, “Did you need something? I was about to figure out what to do for breakfast.”

“I was hoping to take you up on your offer and join you in the kitchen today!” she calls back. It’s fascinating how I swear my hearing has gotten better to compensate for her tiny voice.

I cock my head to the side curiously, although I’m reflexively already starting to reach my hand out towards her. “Were you wanting something in particular? I’m starting to run a little low on supplies, I’ll need to do a grocery run tomorrow.”

“But you’ve got a banana, right?” she asks as she steps onto my fingers, pointing towards the kitchen counter, where one lone fruit sits in plain view.

“Right…”

“And eggs?”

I close my fingers around her bottom half as I lift her up. “Yeah, I think I still have a few.”

“Then we can make pancakes.”

I pause, blinking at her. “That’s all we need?”

She gives me the cutest little smirk. “That’s all we need.”

“Huh. Show me your magic then, little pixie.”

As I’m about to find out, the recipe she has in mind is so simple that she could have just told me what to do and I could have done it alone. But I have zero qualms with having her nearby. Well, just one qualm… I feel really nervous about turning the gas stove on with her in the vicinity.

“I’ll be careful,” she assures me, catching my worried expression as I set her down on the counter. “Or I could ride on your shoulder if that makes you feel better?”

I recall what it was like to have her sitting against my neck yesterday. The subtle weight of her had given me goosebumps and her warmth was so wonderfully comforting. She had reminded me of a little bird again and I loved every second of it. The idea is very tempting now.

“But if I’m cooking I’ll have my hands full and wouldn’t be able to catch you if you fall,” I fret begrudgingly, then quickly I add, “Not that I think you can’t hang on, it’s just, you know, if I move too quickly by accident…”

“I gotcha. I’ll be fine right here,” she says with a soothing tone. Ugh, am I going to miss seeing that smile today.

"Alright, captain,” I say playfully, “what are your orders?”

She puts her hands on her hips, bending slightly at the waist. "Okay, listen closely. We're going to need one bowl.”

"One bowl,” I echo dutifully, bending down to a cabinet and fetching a medium-sized glass bowl. I set it down near her, and she takes a step back, her confident demeanor faltering slightly as she takes in the giant receptacle.

"R-right. Okay, next we need a fork.”

I nod and repeat the order, fishing the utensil out of a drawer.

"Now you're going to mash up a banana, mix in two eggs… and you've got your pancake batter.”

"It’s seriously that simple?” I ask with a laugh, stepping over to the fridge to get the eggs.

"Yup. I mean, it'll be more like sweet omelets, but it's always been an easy go-to for me.”

"Now, we’re not out of the woods yet,” I say as I start peeling the banana, “You might be severely overestimating my ability to flip these pancakes. We may be getting sweet scrambled eggs instead.”

“I believe in you, Aiden.”

I start prepping then, mashing up the fruit as Evie recounts how she figured out this recipe. I notice that when I crack the first egg against the rim of the bowl she jumps at the ringing sound, so I make sure to tap the other one against the opposite side of the counter instead to make the noise less jarring. She looks embarrassed about this but thanks me anyway. I’m more than happy to learn all the ways I can adjust to make my shrunken friend more comfortable.

She thankfully gives the stove a wide berth as I fry up the egg disks - since I keep the pancakes small I’m able to flip them easily enough. As I start piling the finished product onto a plate, my little commander showers me with praise, to a clearly condescending extent, and we have a good laugh over it. I hope this can start being a regular thing. It’s a lot more fun than the usual me tossing something together for the sake of sustenance.

I have a brief moment of panic when I finish making the food and go to pick up the plate - I suddenly notice Evie’s not on the counter anymore, and when I look around I realize she’s sitting on the plate that I’m holding.

“Oh my god, warn me next time,” I say with a relieved exhale, “I didn’t notice you climbing on.”

“Sorry,” she responds, and she’s acting like she’s completely fine but I can tell that the way I picked up the dish was a little rougher than she was anticipating. “I thought I was being loud. But now that I’ve said it I realize how stupid that sounds.”

I smile and carefully start walking with her still crouched on the plate. “It’s all good. Just always assume you’re about twenty times more discreet than you mean to be.” And I need to make sure I constantly know where she is. Noted.

I drop everything off at the desk and then go grab fresh water and some leftovers for her to have for lunch before I forget. Then we settle into breakfast, since I have a little bit of time before I need to leave. These sweet banana-egg-disc things really aren’t so bad, and pretty healthy too.

“I thought you said you don’t eat breakfast foods?” I tease, waving in her general direction with my fork.

“Yeah, I’d make this for dinner,” she retorts, and I laugh.

“You said you’ve been cooking since you were pretty young, yeah? What got you interested in it?”

Evie seems to stiffen at this. She takes her time chewing, looking deep in thought. Then she swallows and says hesitantly, “When I was a kid, my mom wasn’t a very, um… active person in my life, I guess? And my dad died when I was really young so I had to grow up a little bit faster than most kids. I got tired of getting food poisoning all the time so I eventually tried making my own food. I wasn’t the best at it when I was six, but I eventually got the hang of it.”

I'd just speared more food on my fork but freeze in place as I stare at her. “Six?

“Maybe I’m exaggerating, I can’t really remember. Sorry, I don’t mean to start complaining about my childhood. It made me stronger and stuff, so it’s all good.”

I watch as she closes in on herself and it's obvious she’s not sharing nearly as much as she could be. What kind of parent leaves a six year old to fend for themselves?

“It’s okay, you can complain,” I say cautiously, wanting to neither dismiss nor pry into what might be a sensitive subject. “I’m all ears whenever you need to vent about something." Evie sits there quietly, still looking very uncomfortable, so after a moment I try to diffuse things instead, "Want to hear a messed up story from my childhood?”

She looks up at me with her doe-like eyes and nods silently.

“I wasn’t that young I guess, maybe twelve? My uncle has a pool, and one time when we were visiting, he pretended he was drowning. I freaked out, and I wasn’t able to drag him out of the pool, so I propped him up on the stairs and ran inside screaming for my mom. When we came back out my uncle was sitting up and laughing. Said something about how he wanted me to learn what to do in an emergency.”

Evie’s eyes are much wider now. “That sounds traumatizing!”

“Yeah, it kinda was! My mom yelled at him after that and now it’s a bit of a family joke. At least I found out I could handle myself more or less okay in a crisis, I didn't totally freeze up. Not something I particularly wanted to find out, though.”

My little roommate is still looking thoughtful, but there's a soft smile in her gaze now. Finally she says, “I’m glad I got to find out. That you can handle a crisis. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t be here right now. And… I’m glad I’m here.”

I set my fork down and return the smile. “I don’t love the circumstances, but… I’m glad you’re here too.” We hold eye contact for another beat, and then I glance behind me at the clock. “And on that note, I should probably get going.”

“Oh, wait a sec!”

She runs over to the desk lamp, and at the base of it is a small piece of paper, folded into quarters, though even folded up it’s half as big as Evie is. She struggles to lift it up towards me.

“Take this, for later.”

For a moment my chest tightens at what seems to be some kind of gift. I gingerly pinch the paper between my fingertips. “Is it a grocery list?” I joke, pulling out my wallet to store it in one of the credit card slots.

“Nah, just open it when you get to class. Have a good day!”

“Thanks, Evie. You too.”

It’s a struggle then, but there’s no point in dragging this out. I rip myself away, giving her a casual wave as I head out the door.

The cool morning air makes me shiver when I step outside. I make my familiar trek to class, each landmark just the same as it's always been, and I almost feel like some kind of spy. Pretending to go back to my mundane life, to greet my classmates as if everything was normal, all the while keeping this monumental, insane secret tucked safely away. I feel like I might burst with the weight of it. Fortunately, if I ever did blurt out the truth to anybody, it’s quite literally unbelievable.

As I settle into my first class, I glance around to ensure I have privacy before I eagerly pull out the piece of paper Evie had given me, unfolding it and realizing it’s a letter. The writing is quite small, although I can tell she tried to make it very big so that I can have an easier time reading it.

Hi Aiden!

I just wanted to thank you SO SO much for everything you’ve been doing for me. I wish I could properly put it into words so instead I’ll put it into picture:


Underneath she’s drawn what I surmise is herself, though it’s little more than a stick figure, reaching her arms up with a big goofy smile on her face. I can’t help grinning right back at the sketch, imagining her having to make wide gestures to draw this in what is almost exactly her own size. I take a second to reach my finger up and brush it against the paper, gently stroking the cheek of the 2D Evie in a way I’ve never touched the real one. Then I finish reading the note.

Okay, that doesn’t do it justice either. I can’t draw. But seriously, I don’t know where I’d be without your help, so thank you.

-Evie

PS Could we watch the next episode of Laid Back Camp tonight? I know you have homework, but just one episode?


I don’t even hesitate. I put the tiny piece of paper down and open my notebook, ripping out a blank page and setting it on my desk. I start writing out a response, as small as I comfortably can.

Hi Evie!

I appreciate the note, it made my day. You really don’t have to thank me, I’m sure anyone else would have done the same. It’s been so nice having you around!

-Aiden


I hesitate, leaning my pencil against my chin as I look over to Evie’s message, staring at her miniature graphite self. And then I go for it, making one little selfish bid to somehow continue this penpalling conversation:

PS I’m glad you’re liking Laid Back Camp. Do you have a favorite character so far?
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Fri Dec 16, 2022 3:29 pm

Chapter 14
Evie

All sounds are muffled as I let myself sit with my head leaned forward, taking in the calm and the darkness behind my eyelids. It’s like I’m sitting at the bottom of the ocean again, of my own volition this time. The pressure of the water feels kind of nice… but it’s also getting a little too warm.

I pop my head up, taking a deep breath as I breach the surface of the bath. I vaguely wonder if I should go turn the temperature down a little bit, it feels a bit more like a hot tub in here than I’d like. But that would require getting out into the cold air… and I’d rather just hang out. I don’t really feel hurried to do anything right now.

I scoop up some water into my hands and lift it out, and the surface tension creates a droplet on my palms that holds its shape. A couple of weeks ago, as part of a lab credit that didn’t end up ruining my life, I got to play around with mercury, and I’m reminded of that experience now, messing with a liquid that doesn’t quite act the way my brain thinks it should. I roll the droplet between my hands before plopping it back into the bath.

The texture of water at my small size might be interesting, but it’s not going to be much longer before I get incredibly bored. It’s weird, I’m so used to living alone, why should this be so different? Is it just because I know how limited I am? In the past, even if I spent all day relaxing at home, I at least knew I had the option of stepping outside for a walk or to go run some errands or something. I had work to do, or school, something that gave me direction in my day. And now, suddenly, the bulk of my time is becoming devoid of any kind of structure. It just means I’m going to have to create my own sense of structure… somehow.

Not sure I’ll be getting around to that today, though. Ever since my roommate left this morning I’ve been wavering between feeling anxious and depressed. I realize the heat is starting to make me a little dizzy. Fine. I’ll get out of the bath.

Once I’m dried and dressed again, I go on a little walk around the perimeter of the desk. I wonder what Aiden’s up to. He should be in his - I glance up at the distant clock - second class by now. I wonder if he read the note I wrote. I hope he didn’t just forget that he had it tucked away in his wallet. Even from this far away, I feel like I’m trying to tug at his attention, wondering if he’ll notice me.

I miss him. His giant body intimidates me, but the person on the inside is someone I’ve already grown so fond of. I want to spend more time with him than ever so that I can force myself to get over my fears around being so little. I just want to hang out with a friend and feel like I can relax.

I look towards the clock again. This is going to be a long day.

As the hours crawl by, I eat when I’m hungry, clean when I’m restless. I open one of Dr. Little’s old books, but the contents of this one are about the most boring thing I can think of, the first chapter being all about how rust is formed, and I quickly close it again. I wash the outfit that I'd slept in and hang it up to dry, disappointed at how little time that took. I wander to the notepad and try to continue adding to my list of recipes, but my heart's just not in it.

I look past the edge of the desk, towards the distant floor. At one point Aiden had offered to figure out a way to give me access to the ground, just so that I'm not trapped up here. I could tell he was nervous about even mentioning it, probably since it might be tempting fate to risk me falling or ending up unnoticed and underfoot. I told him not to worry about it, and now I wonder if that was a mistake. But then again, what’s the point? It’s not as if I’m lacking in space, in fact I almost feel paralyzed by the vastness of my surroundings, being on the floor would be worse…

I feel annoyed with myself. I'd thought this out days ago, I'd come up with all sorts of things I could occupy myself with. I could work on making better clothes, I could write or doodle, or maybe one of the other books might be more interesting. But I don't try any of it, and the more I notice that I'm slipping into a dark hole, the further in I slip. The whole day passes as I sink, and at about a quarter past three I run out of any scrap of motivation that keeps me on my feet. I just sit on the desk and stare at the clock.

An entire hour passes. I'm fighting tears at this point. And I kind of hate myself. I don't think I've ever felt this pathetic in my life. But I don't even care. I just want… I just want…

I snap my head up at a muffled thumping outside. And then I'm on my feet at the familiar sound of the keys jingling and sliding into the lock. My heart soars as the door swings open.

I don't care that he's too big. At this moment I don't even care that I'm so incredibly dependent on him, and not just physically. In the midst of my emotional shambles from these last several days and the misery of the past eight hours, all I care about is that he's home right now. He's back. I'm so happy to see him I could break down and cry.

"Hellooo!" Aiden calls out as he slips off his shoes and then heads my way. "What a day… You’re a sight for sore eyes. Guess what I had time to do during my lunch break?"

"What's that?" I yell back when he gets close enough, and my voice is a little thick. He notices, and as our eyes meet he must see how red mine are, his expression shifting to concern.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I try to assure him, "I just… um…"

I squirm for a moment. Ugh. Screw it. I don't have the strength right now. I let myself be a little vulnerable.

"I had a bit of a hard day," I admit, smiling sadly at him as I wipe at my eyes, "I’m just really glad you’re home."

"Awww…" Aiden sits down at the desk chair, a mix of emotions on his face, and as if it's moving of its own accord, his hand floats over to rest on the desk ahead of me. "Evie, come here…"

He doesn’t need to tell me twice. I hurry forward, clambering aboard and feeling immediate relief at the warmth of his skin. He keeps his hand on the table but bends his fingers in to form a wall behind me, his ring finger resting supportively on my shoulder.

"Anything in particular you need to talk through?" he asks and I blush at how dumb this all feels.

"No, it's… it's stupid, I had all these plans, and I just… I don't know why I had such a hard time being alone for so long…"

There’s a pause and the digit on my shoulder gives me a careful rub. "I can think of a few reasons you're having a hard time right now," the giant says softly, "It's been less than a week since you became too small to be part of regular society. Cut yourself some slack."

My shoulders droop. As someone who spends so much time in my own head… I think I needed to hear that.

Aiden continues, "And it's understandable you might have trouble entertaining yourself stuck up on a desk. Hopefully this will help?"

With that he finally lifts up his other hand to reveal what he had wanted to show me when he came in. It’s a new phone. I perk up at this beacon of hope. He’s already gotten it out of the box and charged it, and he's apparently put a pop socket on it so that when he sets it on the desk it’s held upright. I eagerly climb back off his hand to go take a look.

“Sorry, I should have gone to get this for you before today...”

“That’s okay! This is awesome, thank you so much! Did they take the warranty?”

“Um…” Aiden hesitates and I pull my attention away from the phone, turning to look up at him. He looks like a kid who just got found out for stealing a cookie. “No…” he admits, “The warranty just covered defects. But… I had points with them after I’d replaced mine, and the expensive part would have been adding the phone plan, which I didn’t do since you can just use wifi for everything…”

I know where this is going and I’m already slowly shaking my head with a defeated smile.

“I’m not going to insist, but… I’d really like to cover this one for you. If that’s alright.”

Since I did pay him back for some of my setup, he’s seen my bank account. He knows I can’t afford much now that I can’t go to work. I don’t have the energy to argue anyway.

“Thank you,” I say helplessly, for what feels like the thousandth time since I’ve been here. I wish I had better words. “Thank you so much.”

“Happy to help,” he responds, sounding weirdly helpless himself. “Truly.”

We sit in an awkward silence for a few long seconds. Wishing things were simpler. That our dynamics didn't have to be so off-kilter. That we could just be normal friends.

“D-Do you want any help setting this up?” Aiden finally asks, gesturing towards the phone.

“Um,” I say, glancing from the device back to him. “Yeah, maybe tonight we can take a look? I’ll have plenty of time to figure it all out tomorrow too. Honestly, uh… I’d like to hear how your day went? If that’s okay.” God, I’m so desperate to just have a conversation right now.

“Yeah, of course.” He sounds a little relieved before he turns the clock back through his memories. “Well, first two classes were as boring as all get-out. And, if it makes you feel any better, you actually haven’t missed much of anything with Biochem. I feel like we’ll be stuck on the krebs cycle for weeks. I had a lot of catching up to do for work, so thankfully today was just a lab day. Oh, but I gotta tell you about this one guy…”

I make my way to my bed, taking a seat onto it and looking up at him avidly. I try not to get too caught up in just the sound of his voice, wanting to actually pay attention to what he’s saying, drinking up every moment. It feels like medicine for my fevered loneliness, like I’m slowly coming back to life.

It’s reassuring, us slipping back into whatever normalcy we've found in the few days we’ve been living together. It’s a reminder that he didn’t just leave forever, that even if the days might drag sometimes, Aiden will always come home. It's striking how much my world has constricted in on itself in such a short time, largely limited to one room and one person. In the back of my mind I know that’s probably not healthy. But right now it’s enough.

Images flash through my brain, as if I’m getting visions of the future.

The two of us are sitting on the couch. I’m on his shoulder and his feet are propped up on the ottoman. He has a textbook balanced on his knees as we read together.

My new phone is playing a workout video. I’ve made myself a rudimentary yoga mat and am following along. Keeping myself busy and healthy as I survive on my own.

Aiden is holding a piece of fabric up to a light. He’s leaning in and squinting at the tiny marks I’ve made. His hands are carefully maneuvering the scissors with each snip and I gaze up at him gratefully.

Long, powerful fingers are carefully snaking their way around my torso. I’m lifted up with incredible ease, drifting through the air in a gentle and warm embrace. Carried over to our usual spot to watch a favorite show.

My giant friend and I are chatting in the kitchen. We’re having some kind of pointless yet entertaining debate over what some fictional character would do in a given situation. I’m all but useless in helping make food but I’m just happy to be at his side.

Speaking of which…

“Oh hey,” Aiden says with sudden recollection, “I actually need to go defrost something for dinner later. Want to come with me? I was going to say so that you can stretch your legs but… well… you know what I mean.”

It might not seem like much, just walking across the room. But to me it’s a welcome change of scenery. I’m so glad for the invite, so glad that he seems to get it. I eagerly climb back onto his hand and he lifts it up as he stands, though before he starts walking he reaches towards his back pocket.

“But first…”

He fetches his wallet out and lays it on the desk so he can open it one-handed. Out of one of the credit card slots he pulls out a folded piece of paper. My heart jumps at the sight. I hadn't expected this at all. Aiden holds it up briefly, smiling in my direction before he sets it back down on my miniature table.

“For later.”
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Sun Dec 18, 2022 3:28 pm

Chapter 15

I’m so happy to know your week is getting better, Evie! Something else you should check out when you get the time is this communities app, I'll email you a link. I think it would be up your alley, I'm sure there's at least one forum about woodworking.

Speaking of, I didn’t realize when you said you’d done woodworking that you did it in school. What was that like?

By the way, if these notes are going to be a regular thing I wanted to tell you, it’s okay if you write smaller! You could probably cut the size in half before I need my glasses.


***

“Mmkay,” I mutter to myself, pinching a spot on the string that I’m holding around my waist, so that when I pull it off of me again I have an accurate measurement. Then I lay it down on the blue fabric at my feet and make some marks with my little pencil. This would be so much easier if I had a pattern. But I think I’m making progress. I’m hoping to have the panels I need marked up before Aiden gets home so that he can help me cut them out. Then I can spend a good part of tomorrow sewing.

The playlist that I'm listening to runs out so I run over to my phone to pick out a new lofi video. The phone is bigger than any TV I’ve seen, almost as tall as I am and about twice as long. It’s been taking some getting used to figuring out how to best touch the screen so that it picks up on my small hands, but after a couple of days I’ve been getting the hang of it. I find something from a video game soundtrack and nod along with the beat for a moment before I get back to work.

I’m not exactly sure where my bursts of motivation are coming from. There was something about admitting to my giant friend that I was having a rough time that made the anxiety start to dissipate. Being vulnerable is so hard for me, I never know when I can take it too far and I don’t ever want to find out where Aiden’s limit is. But for now, I think… I’m doing okay.

***

Happy Friday! I can’t believe the weekend’s here. Do you think you can bring me into the kitchen again with you tonight? I want to show you how to make that homemade gnocchi and you can show me how to make your famous pesto!

To answer your question about the dress, I learned it from when I was nannying. For the babies I'd wear them in a sling sometimes, and I'd used this wrap thing that you loop around yourself and tie off. I just thought a few more loops and maybe I could make a dress or a romper! It’s been working great until I make better clothes.

You did a good job cutting that stuff out by the way, super precise. It’s been harder than I thought but I've been making progress on the sewing too.


***

I’m studying at my actual desk, for a change. It’s for a Hydrology course so Evie’s doing her own thing beside me, quietly tapping away at something on her phone. Though at one point she seems to get bored with that and ambles over. To my surprise, she leans her full body onto my wrist, peering over it towards my textbook. I go very, very still at her touch.

“What does drawdown mean?” she asks curiously.

My eyes flick down to watch her. She might technically be interrupting, but I'm so glad that she's been less worried about "bothering" me lately. “I haven’t gotten there yet. I think it has something to do with elevation?”

She seems to notice how stiff I’ve gone and suddenly looks embarrassed, standing back up and taking a step away from me. “I’m sorry,” she says, “I feel like I’ve gotten so… touchy lately. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that this is actually your hand, and not just… I don’t know… something other than a human body part.”

I shake my head, hoping I’m not blushing too much as I smile. “It’s understandable. I think my brain does something similar. Maybe because we haven’t had much of a choice about me needing to carry you around since day one.”

I reach across with my opposite hand, carefully bracing my thumb against Evie's abdomen and my forefinger against her back. And then I pluck her up and place her right onto my forearm, in a spot where she’s able to get a better view of the handout I’m using from the slight boost in elevation.

“I won’t make it awkward if you don’t. Think you could help quiz me on these terms?”

She hardly seems phased by me picking her up like that and smoothly settles into a cross-legged seat on my arm, looking happy to be of assistance. “Sure!”


***

In case I forget to tell you later - just as a head’s up I’ll be leaving a little early on Monday. Last-minute test run with my group members before the big presentation. Yay…

That show sounds really fun, I’d be down for checking it out. I think we need to start making an actual list of anime we should watch! I'll take all the recommendations.

Oh my god I’m sitting in the class that I’m the TA for and some guy just dropped his drink and it exploded all over like five people in the row below him. I feel so bad but I’m trying so hard not to laugh right now. Actually, I’m sure I’ll just probably tell you about it when I get home. So never mind.


***

“You want to come study outside with me?”

Aiden’s hand is already reaching out for me hopefully. I stare at him for a second before I respond, “Like… in public?”

“Yeah, there’s this little courtyard just outside the apartment. Hardly anyone goes out there, and look – this shirt has a pocket in case you need to hide.” He grins down at me and nudges my leg with his finger. “Come on! I thought it might be nice to bring a snack and get some fresh air while we do Biochem.”

I give him a dubious look and then giggle as he continues to poke my leg, almost making me fall right onto his hand. “Okay, okay! That actually sounds nice now that it’s getting sunnier… Lead the way!”

***

Uhhh I guess when you lift me straight up and down that can still make me a little nauseous. But it's really not that bad anymore. Crazy what you can get used to! Thanks for asking though.

Yeah it’s a weird last name, my friend Lynne (the one who got me into anime) would tease me about it all the time. It’s spelled "Ondine."

So which of your classes is your favorite?? If I had to pick for me I kinda miss my Construction Technology class. Makes me wonder why I was focusing so much on chemistry in the “before times.”


***

"Hey Aiden?"

I'm sitting on the couch and glance up from my laptop, happy for a distraction. "What's up?"

"Am I supposed to do anything to take care of the geode?"

I take a second to process the question, looking past her on the desk to the rock in question. "No, not really. We could get mineral oil for it, but it's not a requirement. Especially since the edges are cut and polished on that one."

"Oh, okay. Would it be bad if I dusted it?"

"I mean, it can't hurt. I guess you might be able to see that kind of detail more than I would... Need any help?"

"Nah, I'm good. Just wanted to show it some love."

Over the next ten minutes I keep glancing over to the desk, feeling very touched at the sight of little Evie diligently wiping away at the purple crystals that I'd given her.

***

Thanks for being understanding about Thursday, I don't get to see this friend very often and that was the only time he could meet up. I'll be home between school and dinner so I'll make sure you have something to eat!

And thanks for the pep talk too. Teaching isn't my long term goal but I still feel responsible for helping my students as much as I can, you know? I'm sure she'll come around, she's a smart kid who's just going through a hard time right now.

OK now I have a very important question for you. I know it’s not even March but… what is your opinion on the appropriate time to put up Christmas decorations?


***

"Look what I've got!"

I'd been trying to crane my neck to see what Aiden was holding behind his back when he came home today. He brings it into view now, and at first I don't even know what I'm looking at. Some kind of green and white box?

"It's a mini fridge!" he says brightly, placing the towering structure on the desk. "Finally found one."

"Aiden…" I whine, though I'm being mostly sarcastic as I’m actually really excited about this. "First the phone and now this?"

"No no no, see, I didn’t spend a cent on it," he says insistently while I go investigate my new refrigerator. "I was overhearing this guy trying to pawn it off on his friend in class. Apparently it works fine but it's defective because it's too small. Like, he couldn't get a can to fit inside. If this thing isn't destined to be yours I don't know what is."

It's still over twice as tall as I am, I have to reach over my head to get to the handle. But I manage to pull the door open on my own, and I think if I tie a rope or something to it I'll be able to manage just fine.

I turn to grin up at my giant friend. "You rock. I love it."

***

My birthday's September 12th! What's yours?

As for games, I'm into pretty much any kind of board game you can imagine. A lot of them I probably couldn't play anymore, I guess. Or I could like… BE the pawn. Maybe that would be fun. But I still want to figure out how to play Magic with you! Watch out, I used to be really good. I might be rusty now but I bet I could still beat you!

And dude, I’m telling you, I can’t draw. There’s no way you’re worse than me. Now I want to play pictionary with you just to prove it haha. I'm sure we can find other ways to do creative stuff.


***

It’s bulk cooking day today (I like having freezer meals at the ready for evenings when I don’t have time to cook) so I spend a few hours in the kitchen with Evie on the counter. I’ve been working on a batch of soup and have sausage and vegetables roasting in the oven. The latter we plan to have for tonight’s dinner as well, and while I mess around at the stove, my shrunken roommate has offered to make a side salad for it.

I’ve opened the plastic bag of greens and she transfers them, leaf by leaf, into a nearby dish, washing or tearing off any dirty spots she comes across. Would it be faster if I just dumped it onto the plate myself? Of course. But I’d much rather she feel useful – not to mention her tiny eyes are sharper than mine for catching any iffy spots in the greens, so it’s a win-win.

We’ve started accruing some little kitchen tools like smaller bowls, a mini whisk, and a spoon and fork made for toddlers, with wooden handles so they’re not too heavy. So when it comes to the dressing for the salad, I do help by measuring out some ingredients according to her instructions into a bowl. But then she brings over her whisk, still half her height, intent on mixing it herself.

“You got it?” I ask, a little skeptically, as Evie hoists the utensil into the small bowl.

“Yup!” she says, and she begins to make wide turns with the whisk, so that it looks more like an oar. “It’ll take a while but we will have a vinaigrette soon enough.”

“You sure it won’t separate before you’re able to combine it?” It doesn’t look like she’s able to stir it nearly as fast as she needs to.

“That’s what the mustard was for. It won’t separate, it’ll emulsify.”

I grin down at her. “Look at you using science! Carry on then, little chef.” I decide I don’t need to question her cooking techniques after all.

***

Yeah I'm really bad at explaining it since I'm still figuring it out. Maybe I sneak you into class one of these days?? (just kidding)

Hmm, that’s a good question. I do like rockhounding, but I’m also pretty happy with my collection. Something I’d really like to get into one day is gardening. I can’t wait to have a backyard and grow my own vegetables or something. I’ve thought about getting a house plant but just never got around to it.

It's supposed to be really nice weather on Saturday, how about we actually go on a walk? There's the park on the north side of campus, some of the flowers are starting to be in bloom right now. No one should be there since there's the football game, we should go!


***

“Ow ow ow ow ow,” I say with a hiss as I carefully try to extricate my hair from where it got stuck on a piece of tape. I need to add that to the crafting list… a hair tie. I’m sure if I could get some kind of small elastic I'd figure out how to make a scrunchie.

But that’s not what I’m currently working on. I’ve been spending most of my afternoon on a new project - taking a post-it note and bending up the sides of it to form a little open box. The hardest part has been trying to get pieces of tape to hold it all together. I now have sticky patches all over my body from where the adhesive got caught, and a growing pile of crumpled bits of tape off to the side. I’m going to need to take a bath after this.

It’s about then that Aiden gets home. I don’t even really flinch when I hear the keys jingling now, it’s just a normal part of our weekday routine. I’m still happy to see him every time, though.

“Ooo, whatcha working on today?” he asks as he ambles over.

I gesture dramatically at my paper box. “Tadaaaa... It’s a mailbox! We’ve been penpalling for weeks now, I figured we could use a proper– whoa! What the hell, man?”

He just shoved me in the back. I take a stumbling step forward, before glancing over my shoulder at his hand in confusion. He’s holding a tiny piece of tape between his fingertips.

“Sorry,” he laughs. “You’ve got a couple of these on you. Hold still?”

Now knowing what’s coming, I brace myself, digging my heels against the desk’s surface to try and keep my balance. With one hand he uses a finger to carefully push my hair aside and with the other he yanks two more bits of tape from my clothing. “Thanks,” I say, “I got it all over my skin too… Think I have time to wash up before dinner?”

“Go for it,” he says with a smile, “Oh wait, first! The inauguration of our beautiful new mailbox.”

He pulls out the latest of our long series of notes, holding the folded paper between index and middle finger. He does a little flourish with his hand before delicately placing the letter in the open box. Like a proud parent, I beam up at him and give him a satisfied nod, thankful for him humoring me.

Yeah, I’m doing okay. In fact, somehow, I think I can say I’m doing well.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Tue Dec 20, 2022 7:26 pm

Chapter 16
Aiden

I’ve noticed something today… Evie’s gotten a lot better at walking on soft surfaces. She’s hardly wobbling at all now when she strolls back and forth on the couch. She’s deep in thought as she contemplates her next move, eyeing each Magic card like she's observing an art gallery. The way we’ve figured out how to play is by sticking the cards upright between two couch cushions, so that I can’t see what cards are in her “hand” as I sit on the floor facing her.

She’s wearing a new outfit today too. Even though they’re probably not the easiest thing to make (and definitely not the easiest thing to cut out for her, admittedly), she’s been focusing on making little shorts for herself. They do look homemade, but she’s getting better at re-figuring out how to sew. Her top is new and is actually really pretty, with its decorative pleats lining the hem, which is especially impressive considering she just used fabric from another one of my old shirts. This shade of green looks a lot better on her than it did on me. Between that and the earthy brown color of her shorts, she’s looking even more like a mystical woodland sprite.

I have my elbow propped on the couch, wearing a constant smile as I watch my little friend concentrate. I’m definitely paying more attention to her right now than the cards laid out in front of us. I still easily won the last game, though… Apparently it’s been a while since she’s played this.

Evie was the one who had requested this morning that we play when I get home after work. I offered to build her a deck she could use for the game, but she wanted to try her hand at it first. So I’d given her my cards to look through, sorted in a few piles by color, and apparently she spent all day building her own deck. Which must have been a workout since these cards are taller than she is.

My tiny opponent finally nods with a smirk. She has to stretch her arms out to the sides to pluck one of the cards out from the couch, pivoting it so that she’s holding it above her head. Then she walks forward and slaps it down with confidence. “Downsized!” she exclaims.

“Seriously?” I laugh at the irony of her using what is essentially a shrink ray.

“Yup. Target creature gets minus 4 to power. And I will target your cheeky little Doomwake Giant over here." The irony of me using that card was not lost on her either.

Now is when I turn my attention back to my own game, and I suddenly realize she just made a very good move. She’s rendered my sole defense at this point completely useless. I look at the cards out on the couch cushion and in my hand, but clearly the writing's on the wall.

"I… can't… win this one," I finally admit.

"Aw yeah! That's right!" she cheers, throwing her arms up in the air and running a victory lap around her side of the cards as she giggles with delight. I can't help but grin and laugh in turn. I'd be happy to lose every time if it meant getting to see this adorable display.

“Yup, you got me, I did not see that coming. You're a sneaky little thing, aren't you?” I say, reaching forward to push down into the couch next to where she’s passing by, and she trips over the sudden depression that I’ve created. She goes from stumbling to intentionally falling forward onto the soft surface, still beaming at her triumph as she rolls onto her back to look up at me.

“We have to do a tie breaker now!” she chirps, getting back to her feet and eagerly taking a few steps forward… and she gets a bit too close to the edge of the couch for my liking.

“Careful,” I say softly, shifting my hand to rest in front of her in a loose fist, essentially blocking her way. I hope I’m not being condescending in the process. Evie’s gotten so much more confident with her size over the past couple of weeks, she’s almost starting to overtake me in feeling comfortable with it. I add, “Can't we just say that we’re equally good and call it a day?”

“I… I just want to play with you more,” she says with sudden sincerity, her smile faltering. She reaches out and touches the hand that’s in front of her, her miniscule fingers pressing into one of my knuckles. I don't think she means to be giving me puppy dog eyes, but that's absolutely what's happening.

There’s a tightness in my chest. She’s so, so difficult to resist. Truly such a little thing, and yet she has so much influence over me nowadays…

My friends are starting to notice that something’s off with me. For one, I’ve definitely been a bit “busier.” Not that I used to invite people over that often, but I’d at least meet up with them to study at the library or something. I still do that between classes and will often grab lunch with people, but it’s clear that I spend way more time away from others than I used to. Just this morning, my friend Diego was giving me a hard time about it.

“What’s that?” he asked, making me jump. He pulled back the seat next to me, giving me a knowing smile as he sat down.

I was just looking at Evie’s latest note. Normally I would have already read and written a response before Biochem, but I had two back to back exams for my previous classes, so I was only just getting around to reading it. I folded the tiny piece of paper up and casually tucked it back into my wallet.

“My grocery list,” I said shortly in response.

“Uh huh… which is why you’re hiding it. You’ve been acting weird lately, you know.” My friend’s taller than I am and was using it to his advantage, leaning in and narrowing his eyes menacingly.

I gave him a tired look, raising an eyebrow to show him I wasn't down for his usual ribbing. “How so?”

“I don’t know, just… off. I have a sixth sense for these things. And we never get to see you on the weekends anymore. Is it a girl?”

There’s no way I kept completely cool at that. I immediately felt heat in my ears at how quickly and accurately he hit the mark. Though the situation's not exactly what he was thinking.

“I’m not secretly dating anybody, if that’s what you’re implying,” I said, keeping my tone as casual as possible.

You, my man, are avoiding the question,” Diego responded with his signature goofy grin as he leaned back in his chair. “Fine, keep your secrets. Just as long as you help me with the homework for tomorrow. Wanna grab burgers after this?"

“Yeah, sure.” I cracked a smile at that point, grateful that he was respecting my privacy. Though it did make me wonder… How long can I keep this up?

“Pleeeeease?” Evie begs now, snapping me back to attention.

“I’ve got homework to do!” I laugh, giving her an apologetic look. “This paper’s not going to write itself.”

“Oh, right... That's fair. Sorry, I don’t mean to distract you so often,” she says and she sounds a bit self conscious now, her eyes trailing to the floor. “Um, mind putting me back up on the desk then?”

I smile and reach behind her so that I can scoop her up into my hand, enjoying the feeling of her weight against my palm.

“Hey.” I touch her shoulder with my thumb and hold her high enough to be level with my face so that I can get her to look at me. “Just so we're clear. I’d much, much rather kick your butt at Magic.”

She smirks back, my attempt at lightening the mood successful. “Uh huh. Oh I see now, the real reason you don’t want to play is because you know I’ll kick your butt. Again.”

“Hardly,” I say with a chuckle, slowly standing up now, “Though I’ll be honest, I haven’t lost that bad in a long time.”

“I'm sure you'll recover someday. You’re actually really good, Aiden. A worthy opponent.”

“Same to you.”

I set her onto the desk and notice that apparently all of my papers are still in a pile here from when I was doing homework alongside her last night.

"Oops, I forgot I left my stuff. Let me get it out of your— aahh." I jerk my hand away from the textbook I'd been closing, wincing in pain.

Evie jumps at my sudden exhalation, looking over at me wide-eyed. "What happened?”

"Paper cut.” There’s a tiny trickle of blood at the base of my thumb so I stick it in my mouth, taking a slow breath through my nose as it stings.

"Oh no, those are the worst! How bad is it, can I see?”

“I mean…” I’m trying not to show amusement at how worried she looks and pull my hand away from my face to show her. “No, it’s not bad. I’m fine.” Even as I say that the blood stubbornly bubbles right back up. She looks crestfallen at the sight.

“Do you have bandaids? Ugh, I wish I could help…”

“Yeah, I have some in the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” Seeing the look on her face I add, “Don’t worry, Evie, it’s just a small cut.”

I step away, processing what I’d just said and realizing that from her perspective it might not have looked so small. I go through my medicine cabinet and am finding myself blushing. How sweet of her to fret over me like that…

I wash off the cut and normally I’d just put on the bandaid and call it a day. But I’m hit with a thought and instead bring the box of bandages back out to the living room. Evie’s still standing there near the edge of the desk, wringing her hands and visibly looking like she’s trying not to fuss.

“Think you could give me a hand?” I ask sheepishly as I come sit down, “I always have a hard time wrapping these things around one-handed.”

She perks up immediately at the thought of feeling useful. I hold the middle of the bandaid at the outer edge of my thumb, and the extra help is actually kind of nice as my little assistant stands on the other side and pulls each end of the bandage around the digit so that it’s nice and snug.

“There you go,” she says, rubbing her palm over her handiwork. She’s come around to making lighter of the situation now as she pets me and says with a doting old lady voice, “Now, you give it plenty of time to heal, alright? I don’t want to see you being so reckless again.”

I chuckle and play along, “Yes, grandma, I'll be careful.” I look down at her fondly and since she’s standing next to the inside of my thumb she’s in the perfect position for me to close my hand around her. I gently bring a couple of fingers in to give her a very small squeeze. “Thanks, Evie. That was really sweet.”

“Anytime!” She wraps her arms around one of my fingertips and squeezes me back.

“That did make me realize, though…” I say pensively as I pull my hand away. “We should probably have a first-aid kit over here that you’re able to access. It would be a different story if you were the one to get a paper cut.”

“Yeah, not a bad idea…” she agrees. “Though, honestly… I might be too small for that to happen? I think paper is too thick for me now. But yeah, probably shouldn’t take that chance.”

I put the homework on hold for another fifteen minutes or so as I gather a variety of first-aid items, cutting out tiny bits of gauze and bandages for her to have access to in an emergency. Though hopefully I’d be there to help if anything happened. No… hopefully, we’ll never need to use these at all.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Thu Dec 22, 2022 1:55 pm

Chapter 17
Evie

I stare at my calendar, miniaturized at about the size of a notecard, and yet it’s as tall as I am. It’s been almost four weeks since I was shrunk. 27 days. The number boggles my mind. It seems like so much longer in a way, like I’ve been dealing with this forever… and yet sometimes it also feels like it just happened. I still have days where something unexpected startles me or I get disoriented.

Oddly, as much as I miss my old size, I don’t know if I can say that I miss my old life. Not the specifics of it at least… I've come to realize just how much I was struggling. I’m still struggling with being three inches tall, of course, but something about it is different now. And I think part of it is the fact that I have a friend now. I haven’t been this close with anyone in such a long time. It sucks that we were essentially forced to be together, but… even if I were to become my old self again, I can’t imagine life without Aiden anymore.

I hear his familiar footsteps coming in from the bedroom, and I turn to see him come into view, giant laundry basket in hand. For a little while I just watch him going about his daily life. I take in the movements of his enormous body as he transfers what looks like a series of circus tents into a silo. I brace myself against the booming crack of noise as he closes the washing machine, and the sound of the appliance starting is like the rumbling of thunder.

He’s been a little extra quiet today ever since he got home from work. Not that he’s a loud person, but he usually has more to tell me about his day, and I’m beginning to know him well enough to sense that something’s off.

Aiden puts the basket on top of the machine and then turns, shooting me a quick smile before he ambles over to the kitchen. I hear the distant clattering of ceramic echo through the canyon of the apartment as he starts doing some dishes. At this point I’ve stepped away from the calendar and have picked up a book - one of the shrunken novels actually turned out to be kinda interesting after all - but I keep glancing over at him. The more I pay attention, the more I notice the tension he’s carrying in his shoulders and his jaw. His gaze is largely unfocused as he goes through the motions.

After a few minutes, I decide to get up and walk over to my phone. We’ve been writing each other physical notes and see each other so much at home that I hardly ever text him - if anything he’s the one who will shoot me a message if he’s going to be late or something. But I want to reach out. And I know he wouldn’t be able to hear me yelling from this far, especially over the sound of the running water.

I tap open the texting app and pick out Aiden’s name. The message I write is quick and short. “You okay?”

I wait as my words traverse the airways, and a second or two later the distant giant seems to react to the buzz of his phone in his pocket. He turns off the sink and wipes his hands off on a nearby towel before he fishes out the device. He stares for a second and then breaks into a smile, his eyes flicking up towards me. Then he sighs as he puts his phone away and walks in this direction.

“Can’t hide anything from you, can I?” he says, still smiling as he approaches the desk.

I fidget with my hair as I give him a bashful grin. “Sorry, were you trying to? I don’t mean to pry. You’ve just seemed so down since you came home.”

“No, it’s alright, I'll tell you.” Aiden sits down, slouching as if his limbs are too heavy, and his smile weakens until it vanishes. “Um… do you remember that student I was telling you about? In the class I’m assistant teaching, the girl I’ve been trying to help?”

I nod. “Cassandra, right?”

“Right. I just found out today that apparently she… she dropped out. She did better on this last exam but not quite as well as she needed to. I guess the stress was too much for her.”

There's a squeezing sensation in my chest at the sight of the pain in his hazel eyes. I feel like I’m learning a lot about him in this moment.

“Oh…” I say, a little lost for words. “I’m sorry, Aiden. That really sucks.”

He shrugs and shakes his head. “It’s okay. I just… I don’t know, I really thought it was all going to work out. I’m so… disappointed. Not even in her, but in myself. I wish there was something more I could have done to help.”

He’s actually looking like he might get emotional. It’s a very odd sight, seeing this massive man that I view as incredibly powerful now practically on the verge of tears. His gaze is downcast and I step closer to the edge of the desk, trying to walk into his line of sight as I look up at him.

“Listen,” I say, “I watched you stay up late to make a custom study aid for this girl. It sounded like you were teaching her one-on-one for so many of your office hours. You did everything you possibly could.”

Aiden closes his eyes, taking a breath in through his nose. I wish I could reach out and touch him. My hand moves forward automatically, and if I was able I'd be resting it on his shoulder right now. The reality is that, despite the fact that he's sitting down, there’s a ten-foot gap past the desk to his body, and his face is hovering forty feet above me. I press on anyway.

"Sometimes, as much as you want to fix something for someone… there’s just nothing you can do. They need to figure it out on their own."

He takes another breath, nods and opens his eyes again. He really does have such beautiful eyes, even when they're a little red, shining like one of the crystals in his collection. I try to hold his gaze.

"It’s hard, though. It’s so hard. I’m really sorry that happened."

Time seems to be moving slower, somehow. We look at each other and no words come for a while. But no words feel necessary at this point.

Aiden finally breaks the silence. "Can I… hold you?"

I go stiff, blinking up at him.

He laughs self-consciously. "Sorry, that came out weird. Just… whatever our equivalent of a hug is."

Tentatively he reaches a hand out to me. As if moving out of pure instinct, I take the opportunity to finally touch him, placing my hand on one of his outstretched fingertips. We share a feeble smile.

"Yeah, of course," I say, following through the motion and using the finger to hoist myself up onto his palm.

The giant lifts me up towards the top of his chest and brings me in. His second hand joins the first and puts gentle pressure against my back, cradling me against him. I hug him in return best I can, pressing myself against the warm expanse of his chest.

At one point I had told him that I was getting so touchy because it can be hard to see his body as human. I wasn't lying, but I've since realized that's not quite right. I wonder if it's because I do see him as a person. And I've spent so much time isolating myself over the years that I’m starved for another's touch. Greedily taking in whatever I can.

Aiden's breathing seems to level out again as he holds me close. I wish there was more I could do to make him feel better. The collar of his shirt is just above my head and I reach up so that I can run my hand along his clavicle.

"Want to make a mug cake?" I suggest. "Oo, actually, I know a really good mug brownie recipe. I could make it for you myself if you just give me like… an hour."

I'm so close to him that the lightest of his laughs destabilizes me, and I cling to his collarbone to keep from falling over. "No, that’s okay," Aiden says, lowering his hands back down so he can look at me. It seems his tears have retreated without spilling over. "But thank you. You’re such a good friend, Evie."

This comment knocks me off balance, far more than the shaking of his laughter did. I don't think anyone's ever said that to me before. What did I do to deserve such an amazing compliment? At this size I can't even actually go get him food or anything. I have to force a deep breath to stay steady, at risk of getting emotional myself.

There’s a thump that jolts me out of my thoughts - the hand platform coming to rest on the desk. Selfishly, I linger. I'd like to stay with him a little longer. He doesn't ask me to get off.

Instead he says softly, “Can you believe it’s been almost a month?"

I sit down in his hand, pulling my knees up to my chest, and nod. “As of tomorrow. Tomorrow’s the eighth, right?”

“Yeah.” There’s a long pause before he finally asks in a tight, worried tone, “You sure you’re still okay with all this? Staying here?”

I get nervous every time he brings this up. I don’t know how long I can keep running away. I keep pushing off thinking about the long term.

“If it’s still okay with you… yes,” I tell him. “Honestly… okay, this probably sounds crazy. But even if it were easy to fix me… I don’t know, I guess it’s been kinda nice. Getting away from normal life. Hiding out like this. It obviously took some adjusting, but weirdly I think I needed the break.” I pull my legs in a little tighter, tense.

"You can stay here forever if you want...” It sounds like he’s almost just muttering that to himself. I resist burying my face into my knees, trying to keep my composure. I know he can’t mean that. But I just want to keep pretending.

Aiden takes a breath in and sits a little straighter, trying to lighten up the rather dreary mood. “Want to do something special? To celebrate one month as roommates?”

I jump at the opportunity to change the subject, perking up along with him. I unravel my limbs and slide my legs over the side of his hand so that I can stand up on the desk.

“Let’s do it! Ummm, okay, we’ve only got two episodes of Laid Back Camp left, right? How about a big season finale? And, and… maybe we start season two while we’re at it?”

“Okay! Let’s do something fun for dinner too, it’s been a while since we’ve done takeout. I don’t remember if I’ve asked, what’s your favorite type of food?”

“Hmm… I really like Greek food. Haven’t done that in a while.”

“Let’s get some, then! I’ll plan around it. Tomorrow night, no studying, no homework. Let’s just hang out. You and me.”

I beam at him and shoot finger guns in his direction. “Me and you.”

As much as I don’t want to face it, it’s so clear that I’ve latched on to this guy like a little lost duckling. It actually feels as if old habits are creeping back to haunt me. But it comes along with the other bad habit that has gotten me through life - my stubborn ability to bury my head in the sand.

The past few weeks haven't exactly been a walk in the park. No matter what happens, I know my life will never be the same – I’m no longer the person I was from a month ago, freshly shrunken, staring through a vast wall of glass at a titan of a man. Completely ignorant of the fact that he would soon become my savior and my best friend.

Who knows how long we can keep going like this, but… is it so wrong to let myself enjoy him while I can? Ever since I can remember, life has pelted me with one hardship after another. But it’s never stopped me.

Don’t give up. Fight back. Work harder. And maybe this time, for however long it lasts, I can cherish this little scrap of happiness.
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Sat Dec 24, 2022 6:49 pm

Chapter 18
Aiden

“Doing okay in there?” I ask, brushing a finger against my shirt pocket. I feel what I think are Evie’s little shoulders through the fabric.

There’s a shifting against my chest as she readjusts herself restlessly. “Y-yup! All good.”

I’m a bit nervous too. We haven’t gotten back into a car together since the first time. Every once in a while that image of her rolling over the edge of the dashboard still haunts me. I have no idea what would have happened if I hadn’t caught her. Thankfully sudden movements should no longer make her fall off a precipice.

I return my hand to join the other on the steering wheel. “We’re almost home. I’d say this was a successful test drive!”

“W-wait until we park to say that. Don’t jinx it…” Poor thing. She really sounds like she’s ready to be done.

A few minutes later we’re pulling into the parking garage and I can feel shuffling against me again as my tiny passenger stands up to stick her head out of my pocket. I stop the car, put it in park, and we both let out a sigh.

“Aiden,” says Evie nervously, and I pull my neck back so I can look down at her. “I didn’t want to freak you out so I kept quiet, but I had a thought during the drive back. If there was a crash bad enough for the airbag to pop out… do you think I'd get flattened in here?”

My blood goes cold. I feel pins and needles run over my skin like a wave and my heart rate picks up. I hadn’t even thought of that. The idea of her getting crushed, against me no less, is so horrifying that my hand moves reflexively up to my pocket to cover it protectively. No wonder she was so anxious during the drive with that swirling around in her head.

“That’s… a very good point,” I say shakily, “I-I’ll come up with something else.”

“I’m probably overthinking things.” She’s noticed the proximity of my hand and reaches out of the pocket to give it a reassuring pat, the lightest of sensations against my skin. “Or maybe I just don’t need to do car rides. As much as I like the thought of going out with you.”

Going out?! My heart’s racing all over again.

Wait. She means, like, going outside. Right. Of course she did.

“We’ll find a solution,” I say with a bit more strength. “I’d like to take you out too.” Take you… outside. Right…

After that rather stressful couple of minutes, I start to get a hold of myself again as I carry the takeout bag through the winding hallways and back to the apartment. Before I can even turn the key to the door, a small voice squeaks out of my pocket.

“Uggghhh, I can’t waaaait, I can smell it from here and it smells amazing.”

“Almost, almost!” I tell her with a laugh, stepping inside and setting the stuff down on the counter. “Hang tight for just a second.”

I pull out all the takeout boxes as Evie watches me avidly from her perch near my heart. We essentially just got a slew of appetizers, so I make sure to get her a tiny piece of everything onto one of her larger miniature plates. I get my fill as well and bring it all to the living room so that we can watch the anime while we eat. On a dish I’ve already set up a candle that’ll sit right next to the laptop so that it feels like a tiny campfire, to match the theme of the show. I have the kitchen light on too so we're not just sitting in the dark, but the small flame is already creating a rather cozy atmosphere.

Once I've settled the plates directly onto the couch, I finally reach for my eager little friend, pushing down on the lip of my shirt pocket with one hand so that I can more easily slip my fingers around her torso with the other.

I’ve set her food on the edge of my own plate so that it’s at about the right height when she sits next to it. I take a seat on the floor and smile with amusement at Evie sitting there, her hands clapped in front of her mouth, as if she’s having a religious experience.

“Spanakopita, my love,” she finally gushes, taking the bit of pastry in her hands and raising it up reverently.

“Umm.” I was in the process of pulling up the show on my laptop, but I pause and raise an eyebrow at her. “Should I give you two some privacy?”

“Nope, you have to deal with this,” she says, taking a bite and then letting her head fall back for a second with pleasure before aiming her attention at me. “Someone has to press play. Let’s do this!”

If I knew a bit of spinach pastry is all it would take to make her so happy I would have done this much earlier. After everything she’s been through it warms my heart to see her full of joy like this. I start the show and we enjoy it as we feast. I like Greek food just fine, but Evie’s enthusiasm makes it taste even better to me.

We finish an episode and I make sure she's done eating before tidying up the leftovers to clear some space off the couch. My shrunken friend is looking off in the distance longingly, seemingly deep in thought.

"This really does make me want to try camping," she remarks, gesturing towards the laptop. "Though I have no idea how we'd even do it. It's not like they make tents in my size. Or any other supplies really…"

She actually sounds pretty forlorn. It's true that she doesn't really get out much. I need to change that, bring her out into nature more often than I currently do. But in the meantime I try to lighten things up.

"Don't worry. I've got a built-in tent right here," I say, holding my hand up and bending it inwards to form an upside-down V. Then I plop the whole thing down on top of her, and she’s already giggling as I carefully knock her over backward from her seated position. I settle my domed hand onto the couch cushion, trapping her underneath. "See?" I add, biting back a laugh.

I never would have done something like this at the beginning. Hell, maybe I'm going overboard right now, physically pushing her down like this, even if I'm doing it gently. But her muffled laughter sounds so genuine. I really just think it's a testament to how comfortable we've gotten with each other.

"You know,” she calls out, and I lean in so that I can hear her better, “this might actually be cozy if it wasn't so dark in here!”

For a second I think she's pushing upwards with her hands against mine, but then I quickly realize I'm actually feeling tiny bare feet kicking my fingers as she lays on her back.

I continue teasing her, grinning as I respond, “Huh? What's that? You'll have to speak up.”

She must have gotten up onto her knees because when I feel her next I can tell those really are her hands this time pushing against me. I let her shove my fingers aside as she pops her head out between the third and fourth digit, taking a dramatic deep breath before trying to wriggle her body out. The sight is both silly and absolutely precious.

But then, as much as I’ve gotten accustomed to her shrunken state, there are still moments where it really hits me just how little Evie is. Seeing only her head, no bigger than a marble, makes me feel a wave of dizziness. I spread my fingers out from around her and lift my hand away, suddenly afraid of hurting her... It wouldn’t have taken much more than a twitch to snap her neck. She hardly seems bothered, though. What a gift that she trusts me like this.

I regain myself and try to actually respond to her earlier wish. “We could rent a cabin. That way there's less chance of having to deal with bugs or bad weather. It's not quite the same but it could be fun?”

“Maybe,” she responds, getting to her feet. “Or I can just live vicariously through cute anime girls. Come sit up here, we’ve still got the last episode!”

I smile, nod, and get up off the floor, repositioning myself so that I can sit next to her. Lately we've started perching her up on my shoulder or my knee when we watch stuff, so by the time I’m on the couch she’s already walking up to my leg. She tries something new though, grabbing onto the fabric of my pants. I just watch her and let her try to pull herself up, but there clearly aren’t any good handholds.

“Nope, not happening,” she gasps, falling back to her feet and taking a couple of steps backwards.

“I got you,” I say, carefully lifting her up like she’s a chess piece and setting her on top of my leg. We start the episode.

There’s something… different happening today. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I just… I feel like I can’t keep my eyes off of her. I’d kept the habit at bay when I was sitting on the floor and my head was more level with hers, but now my eye line is much higher, making it easier for me to look without her noticing.

I watch as she settles onto me. She’s cross-legged for a bit, contentedly escaping into the colorful world on the screen. And then about ten minutes later she shifts her position and ends up laying on her stomach, propped onto her elbows with chin resting on her hands, legs bent with her feet up in the air.

I can’t stop staring. I don’t even try to hold off this time, as creepy as that sounds. I just observe her little form there in my lap for the entire rest of the episode, until my face is feeling warm and my heart starts beating harder.

Evie has no idea how good she looks. She’s got some homemade black shorts on that still manage to outline the shape of her rear, and her slender legs slowly drift through the air like flower petals in the breeze, her ankles occasionally crossing and uncrossing. The way her dainty little feet arch is almost ethereal, her toes so small that I have a hard time making them out in the candlelight. She’s wearing her usual gray strip of fabric looped around her top half, tied in a bow just above her tailbone, like a present begging to be unwrapped. The way the garment hangs on her frame accentuates the dip in her back, and I notice there’s the smallest gap that has formed within it that shows a sliver of bare skin at her waist.

Hold on. I’m getting… really excited. To the point that it’s starting to physically show. I can feel a lump forming between my legs, and it’s way too close to where she’s currently resting.

Panic floods my system. Shit. Shit. I can’t let her see. I have to step away. But I can’t exactly do that while she’s sprawled on top of me. The ending song of the episode is playing now and I attempt to position one of my arms so that my hand blocks the view of my crotch. I take a deep breath, and then with my other hand I reach out to gently stroke her back.

“Hey, Evie?” I say softly, trying to sound as sleepy as possible, “Sorry, I know we talked about maybe starting the second season tonight, but I think I need to call it here. I had to stay up late last night and I’m feeling super tired.”

She rolls over onto her back to look up at me and I’m really trying to keep my cool while also desperately hoping her gaze doesn’t drift too low. My finger’s still right there and she lifts her legs up to prop her feet up against it, shooting me a little smirk. God, she needs to stop being so adorable.

“Quitter,” she taunts, kicking at the digit.

I catch one of her tiny feet between finger and thumb and gently lower it back down. “Sorry… But I think we can agree that me falling asleep with you on me would be very bad.”

“Yeah, okay, that’s fair.” With that she stretches her arms up above her head as she yawns, her mid back arching and lifting off my leg. The strip of cloth hanging off of her slips, exposing more of her torso. Stop. Stop…

"We'll start it on Friday, okay?" I say, lining my open hand up alongside her. I'm struggling to sound casual. I need to get out of here.

She nods and rolls back over so she can sit up, languidly stretching again before finally climbing onto my palm. I quickly lean forward to blow out the candle, and then I lift her up a little higher than I normally might, so terrified especially as I get up that she's going to notice something. I try to surreptitiously tuck away the evidence as I stand.

"Good night, Evie." I manage a smile as I put her back on the desk, crouching to make sure my waist is well out of sight.

"You too. Thanks for making the one-monthiversary special." Her grateful smile in this moment is enough to break my heart into a thousand pieces.

I turn and try not to be too obvious about hurrying out of the room. And then I do something that I don't normally do when I get into my own bedroom - I close the door.

I let my facade crumble then as I let out a shaky breath and collapse onto the bed. I need to calm down and get a hold of myself.

But as I stare up at the ceiling it's like I can see images dancing across it, shadows of Evie's tiny form. I can't stop thinking about her, laying on my leg with her feet kicked up, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

I close my eyes. How amazing is it that I get to hold her the way I do, every day, her tiny body easily fitting on my palm or wrapped up in my fingers? And how wonderful is it that she's so comfortable with me handling her now, that I can touch her so casually, pretty much whenever I want?

And yet there are so many other things I wish I could do.

I want to feel every bit of her between my fingers. Every bit of her. I want to roll her around in my palm like it's nothing, push her into whatever position I'm feeling like. To touch every beautiful curve.

I want to bring her up to my face, closer than I ever have. To see her in greater detail. To gently snuggle her against my cheek. What would she feel like against the sensitive surface of my lips? What could it possibly be like to press such a small person against my mouth, covering her with gentle kisses as she writhes against me?

I'm sure something like that would terrify her. But what if I could actually make her feel good… What if I could figure out the ways to elicit moans of pleasure from the way I touch her… The smallest of sighs as she closes her eyes and rolls her head back and gives in to me...

What if that fabric had completely slipped off of her and I could see what was underneath. To feel her tiny, naked form against my own skin…

It's too much. I'm drowning in my thoughts, the images in my head swirling as my breath comes in shallow.

My hand is down my pants now as I imagine what she would feel like down there. There's so much her little body is capable of, so many ways she could make me feel amazing, and she has no idea. She's just so small… so tiny… so—

I release right then with a tight, stifled groan. The bliss lasts for all of half a second… before it's replaced by an intense, stomach-curdling, heart-wrenching shame. My eyes snap open and I'm breathing hard.

Oh god. What am I doing?

I drape an arm over my face, covering my eyes as I grit my teeth. And I curse under my breath.

What is wrong with me? What am I thinking? I feel incredibly dirty. I just got so caught up… How could I let myself do this? Evie's my friend – my precious, precious friend…

And then I finally acknowledge it. I have feelings for this girl.

Our chemistry was obvious from the moment we met. We have just enough in common that we bonded quickly but enough differences to be able to share and learn from each other too. Every day has been a new joy as I discover the parts that make her her. The way she organizes things so meticulously, how eager and excitable she gets, and especially her sweet and caring side in my regard. We’ve gotten so close so quickly over the past few weeks - I’ve spent more time with her than anybody else this last month.

But it’s never enough. If I could have my way I'd be spending every waking moment with her. I love our friendship, so much. But it's gone beyond that. I've begun caring about her on a much deeper level.

And I lust after her. Even before she got shrunk I thought she was gorgeous, with those big, brown doe eyes, her smile that even now can light up the entire room, her incredible body that curves in all the right places. And my brain is wired to enjoy her stature right now. I can't help finding her even more beautiful when tiny. Her size is just… absolutely intoxicating. And there’s a sick part of me that likes the fact that it makes her helpless, keeps her stuck here, keeps her dependent. Dependent on me.

I can't push my feelings onto her. A part of me wonders if she might care for me in that way too, size difference be damned, but I can't risk finding out. It can't come from me. Our situation is just too complicated - what kind of position would I be putting her in? She has no one else to turn to right now. I wouldn't dare compromise our current relationship. I care about her too much, I don't want to ruin what we have.

Don’t screw this up. Don’t you fucking dare screw this up, Aiden.

“Never again,” I whisper to myself, “This ends now.” I repeat it into the air again and again and again and again.

This.

Ends.

Now.



~ End of Part 1 ~
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Sat Dec 24, 2022 6:50 pm

And there’s that! Thank you so so much for reading thus far~ Lots more adventures still to come for these two. I’m currently working on the second part so it might be another couple of months or so before I start posting it, but I do have other little projects that I plan on posting in the meantime.

Take care and happy holidays!
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

User avatar
Flippity-Floosy
Shrink Aprentice
Shrink Aprentice
Posts: 36
Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2023 8:25 pm
Location: Earth: The First Frontier
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by Flippity-Floosy » Sun Jan 15, 2023 10:05 pm

Finally have an account to respond to this, but I absolutely LOVE this story! It's a great slow burn with a very natural progression to it. Despite it's rather terrifying beginnings (at least for poor Evie) it definitely goes on as a very wholesome romance with Aiden and Evie getting closer and closer by the chapter. It might be just me, but it feels rather rare that we have a lab experiment style story end up so... well, cute! I definitely like it and can't wait to see the next part! :D
Little lady. Big weeb. Normal-sized writer. What's on the menu?
Image

littlest-lily
Shrink Adept
Shrink Adept
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:09 pm
Gender:
Contact:

Re: Out of their Element

Post by littlest-lily » Mon Jan 16, 2023 10:10 pm

Flippity-Floosy wrote:
Sun Jan 15, 2023 10:05 pm
Finally have an account to respond to this, but I absolutely LOVE this story! It's a great slow burn with a very natural progression to it. Despite it's rather terrifying beginnings (at least for poor Evie) it definitely goes on as a very wholesome romance with Aiden and Evie getting closer and closer by the chapter. It might be just me, but it feels rather rare that we have a lab experiment style story end up so... well, cute! I definitely like it and can't wait to see the next part! :D
Thank you so so much!! I guess I kinda did play with that lab experiment trope but I just wanted to do a lot of cutesy fluff (and a little bit of angst...) I've really been enjoying writing it so I'm always happy if someone can enjoy reading it!
If you’d like to support me and my work, please feel free to leave me a tip and I will be so grateful! https://ko-fi.com/littlestlily

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests