Chapter 7
Ryder’s still laughing softly as he lowers his hand away from his face so he can look at me. “Did you just start humping my tongue?” he asks incredulously.
I try to sit up but I end up slipping in the saliva, so I give up and just lay there as I look up at him. “Was I not supposed to?” I ask with a cheeky grin. I’m not even bothering to yell anymore, now that I know communication’s not an issue. “You were presenting it to me, what else was I supposed to do?”
“You are something else, Isabelle,” the giant murmurs, and he touches the side of my body very delicately with his fingertip, stroking me up and down. “You’ve got quite the endurance too, I gotta say. What was that, like, your third orgasm?”
“Fourth,” I titter, practically purring at the overwhelming touch that I’ve been learning to love. “And don’t act like you didn’t have anything to do with that! No way would I be able to get there so often normally.”
“Mmm, maybe you’ve just never given yourself the chance to,” he says with a smirk.
I start shaping myself to the curve of his finger, twisting my abdomen, rubbing my cheek against him. I give him my best seductive look, which is honestly incredibly out of character for me. I don’t really know how to be sexy, and if I had any more brain power I’d just be feeling self conscious and stupid. But with all my inhibitions gone I’m able to go for it, sighing and giggling as I rub my body up against him. He pets me for a bit longer before pulling his finger away, and I get onto all fours in the center of his palm as I look up towards his face. I smile, moving my shoulders like a panther about to pounce, and I dip my back to tilt up my rear.
Ryder looks very entertained and is struck by an impulse. It’s his pinkie finger that comes back, and with careful aim he attempts to lightly slap my raised up butt. But in reality it’s more like a rough shove that makes me crash onto my face into the folds of his hand.
He laughs, the sound of it lighting me up with shivers. “So pathetic. And I mean that in the best way possible, sweetheart.” He looks entranced, holding me up in front of his eyes as I push myself back up to sitting. “Damn, I just can’t believe how small I’ve made you… Let’s set you down for a second.”
I gasp from the vertigo of the sudden descent. I take a quick look around to figure out where I’m going and am disoriented enough to think it might be to the floor from the sheer distance that his hand is traversing. But quickly enough I’m jostled by a thump and realize he’s just setting me on his desk. His palm starts tilting, and I quickly crawl to the edge of it to try and hop off myself. At a little over an inch tall, though, that would actually require some climbing down if he’d just be patient enough to– welp, nevermind, I guess I’m just getting dumped off. I crumble to the wooden floor with an “oof” and look around wildly as I rush back to my feet.
“Take a break,” Ryder says, his form dizzying as it squats down in front of the desk. “Feel free to look around, do your little explorer thing.”
I do indeed try to take in my surroundings. There are some me-sized earbuds nearby, and a village of strange buildings surrounds me - laptop, phone, plastic cup, stray pens, a stack of business cards. But the nearby giant is rather distracting as I look around. He’s opening a drawer that’s just under the table, and when he shuts it I almost lose my balance.
“Here.” An immense white tarp drops in front of me that smells strongly of lemon. “In case you wanted to wash off the spit,” he explains with a smile.
“Such a gentleman,” I respond with a hint of sarcasm, though I do walk up to the wet wipe so that I can start rubbing the moist cloth against my skin. Being covered in quickly drying saliva isn’t the most pleasant thing, and I’d rather be clean for him, even if that means I’ll briefly be very cold.
Ryder takes a seat at his desk and just observes me for a while. I feel peaceful and content simply being in his silent presence for the next few minutes as I clean off and continue my circuitous patterns around the desk. Exploring such an intimidating environment might have been more unnerving if I wasn’t under his watchful gaze. I feel so safe, and I know I wouldn’t if I was with any other titan. Which reminds me…
“Are you not worried about your roommate walking in on us?” I ask, gesturing vaguely towards where I know there’s a matching bed and desk on the other side of the room.
“I don’t have a roommate,” he says bluntly.
Right. Of course he’d have a two-person dorm room all to himself. If anything, it’s odd that Mr. Rich Boy is using an on-campus dorm at all instead of some fancy condo somewhere.
“I like being close to everything here. The pool’s only two buildings down,” he explains, as if he’d read my thoughts. Actually, maybe he did just that.
“Sooo how does this whole mind thing work?” I ask curiously. I reach his hulking laptop and run a finger along the edge of a USB port I could fit my head in. “I mean, I can tell I’m not quite myself, but I don’t feel like I’m some kind of brainless husk right now. How much sway do you actually have?”
There’s a short pause as Ryder continues to watch me with a subtle intrigue, the corner of his mouth switching slightly. I don’t think he’s used to having this kind of conversation. But he quickly falls back into his confident demeanor.
“Oh sure, I could be a lot more forceful than what’s happening right now. I could control your every muscle if I wanted. I could force you to smile or cry or walk off the edge of a cliff.” He gestures towards the landscape I’m standing on. “Or a desk.”
I take a moment to process that, as fascinated as if we were discussing a workplace anecdote instead of the much more dire reality. Then Ryder leans in closer, staring at me with a sudden intensity that makes me focus completely on him.
“I could break into your mind,” he thunders softly. “I could track down any thought or memory I could want from you… and then make you forget any of this ever happened. In fact, none of my previous little victims have any idea about the adventures they’ve been on with me.”
I’m trembling from the booming voice and heavy implications, and he straightens back up and shrugs one shoulder. “And sure, sometimes coercing people more directly comes in handy, for logistical reasons. But being that heavy-handed is so boring. It’s way more fun to prod and entice and tease things out of you.”
I smile weakly, still shaking slightly. I’m feeling hung up on something and decide to ask, “Victims? Are people getting hurt?”
His eyes narrow. “Have I harmed you, Isabelle?”
“No…” I answer immediately with a shake of the head. At this point I’m not worried about the danger in all this, not really. I just feel so safe with him. It all feels so right. I’m struck by a sudden thought and add, “Wait, have you done this with me in the past and I just don’t remember?”
This gets more of a reaction out of Ryder than I was expecting. He looks a little taken aback. Enough so that I trust the fact that he’s not reading my every thought.
“No,” he says. “This is the first time.”
I believe him, and I’m grateful to know this encounter is as special as I thought it was. Our first. I want it to be the first of many. I wish I could reach him - physically, I mean. Even though he’s sitting right in front of his desk, he’s so far away. My hand twitches as if it wants to take his as I look deep into his eyes, praying that he’s able to see the earnestness in my expression despite my greatly reduced size.
“I don’t want to forget this,” I plead. “I don’t want to forget tonight.”
A slight frown creases his features. “You say that now…” he mutters in a low voice, shifting uncomfortably.
There’s a pause where we hold each other’s gaze. But then without warning, a hand vaults into view and settles onto the desk - beside me, around me, crashing into the wood and making it shudder. I instinctively hug my arms around myself before looking back up at the domineering titan. I’m positioned in the space between his thumb and forefinger, though he chooses to not make contact.
“Don’t think about the future,” he commands, leaning forward, “Stay with me. Right here, right now. Don’t look away.”
And I’m breathing hard now as I feel the familiar heat overtake me. Ryder’s form, already enormous, swells above me as I start shrinking again, dwindling ever further down. The process itself is disorienting enough, but I’m getting completely overwhelmed by the visuals as the giant’s massive head descends drastically until he’s surely kneeling on the floor, so that he can stay eye level with the desk and watch my progress.
"Are you feeling more like yourself, Isabelle?” he chuckles. “Such a long way from ‘too tall,’ don’t you think?”
"How small are you going to make me?” I wonder feebly, struggling to speak as I keep falling further.
"As small as it takes.”
My attention shifts to the thumb that’s resting just in front of me. The digit was practically the size of a car before, but it’s slowly growing more and more… and more. My heart races as I watch the width of the pad of his thumb overtake my height.
“I think that’s half an inch…” he mumbles, “This gets trickier, just a sec…”
There’s a storm of activity above me, and it’s so intense that I cover my eyes. This is a mistake, though, because I jump about a foot off the ground when something lands heavily just behind me. I whip around and am staring at a wall of silver that stretches into the sky, and as I zero in on the many black lines that adorn the edge of it, I realize it’s a ruler. Ryder leans in further, muttering to himself and hardly seeming to notice how I gawk up at him in shock.
“Metric’s easier at this point… Let’s stop at a centimeter.”
And just like that, the shrinking jerks to a halt. I’m gasping for air, less composed this time and failing to take any deep breaths. I could really use another dose of manufactured calm right now. I don’t have the proper words to describe how big everything looks. It doesn’t seem real - taking in the world is like gazing out at the ocean, or at a canyon, except for the fact that the scenery is fucking moving because the landscape that I’m looking at right now is actually a fucking person and my brain can’t fucking take it–
The giant’s thumb, which honestly reminds me more of a single-story house at this point, twitches and then starts sliding along the desk. You know, like a house on wheels, holy shit, holy shit…
I’m frozen in place as Ryder readjusts his fingers around me. His forefinger’s to my right and his thumb is to my left and they’re closing in on my cowering form between them. They stop a few relative feet away from me in either direction, hulking at such close proximity that I can feel their slight warmth in the air. I can’t even pay attention to that, I’m too busy staring straight ahead, into the terrifying beauty of his eyes, and I’m trying to communicate silently to him since I’m unable to form words. But my supplicating look doesn’t seem to be doing much - hell, I’m not sure we’re actually capable of eye contact anymore.
One side of his mouth raises up into a crooked smile. “I can still just make out your face. Want to see?”
I gasp, chest tightening even more as my wide eyes stare into space. He projects an image overlay onto my vision, showing me his view. Logic is telling me that I’m looking at a hand that’s about to crush a bug, a little beetle or something. But it’s standing upright. It’s flesh colored. It’s not at all shaped like an insect and it’s… it’s me. I recognize myself now, barely able to make out my expression of awe and overwhelm. Seeing how small I am in comparison to the building-like digits that surround me isn’t the least bit reassuring.
“Hold very still,” Ryder says, and the vision vanishes, leaving me in my perilous reality. With a subtle groan against the wood, the walls start closing in. Fuck.
For the first time this evening, I’m genuinely scared. The fingers are getting ever closer. There’s no way. He’s absolutely going to crush me. I need to move. But my muscles aren’t budging. The gap narrows and I should be too small to pick up and yet eventually there’s just no more room available and the walls make contact–
“There… I’ve gotcha…”
The pressure is intense, almost painful but not quite, as I’m pinned between two planes of flesh. And then my feet leave the ground. For once I think he’s trying to actually move slowly, but it hardly matters, any distance is going to be traversed way too fast. My breathing is getting shorter and I’m trembling with how tightly my muscles are clenched. I don’t even have anything to hold onto as I’m hurtled through the air.
Ryder holds me just in front of his face, cocky smile at the ready. He’s so fascinated and entertained that I don’t think he’s realized that his mental grip on me is slipping. I’m so close to panicking.
“Hello, my little lady bug,” he croons with glee, making my insides quake with every thunderous word. “So stinkin’ cute.”
Vertigo hits even harder. And yet I’m still just as close to his face… He must be getting to his feet. A glance towards the dizzying distance to the floor is enough for me to finally choke out a fervent plea.
“Don’t drop me!" My voice is barely audible, even to myself.
But he takes notice. With a blink, his pupils constrict as he seems to hone in on my face.
“Relax," he breathes, and finally I get what I need. Wonderful, soothing calm envelops my mind like a warm and cozy blanket. My muscles slacken and I suddenly feel so much more comfortable in the titan’s grasp. The tears that had started falling down my cheeks seem wildly unnecessary now. I let out a sigh and lean my head back as I close my eyes, feeling drunk with relief.
“Sorry, got distracted for a bit there," Ryder murmurs. “I can’t remember the last time I made someone so little… Just breathe, sweetie. You’re not going to fall. And I’m not going to squish you. Trust me.”
Of course I trust him. It’s not even a question. Clearly he’s some kind of all-powerful being who’s able to do whatever the hell he wants. And that includes keeping me safe. I could totally see him becoming an expert in picking up ant-sized people. It’s all good.
Actually, the pressure of his fingers pinching my torso kinda feels pleasant, the longer it lasts, like a snug embrace. I was picturing myself getting flattened as if between two walls of concrete, but I forgot how pliant his skin is, even at this size. His grip isn’t completely steady - I’m lurching with every micro movement. But it only takes me a handful of seconds to feel used to it, and I relax as if I was just bobbing over some ocean waves.
“I’m reminded of something,” I mutter lazily.
“What’s that?” Ryder asks, looking satisfied by how much I’ve calmed down.
I open my eyes and settle into recounting this memory. “When I was in middle school, my family took a trip to Machu Picchu. At that point I had already given up on wanting to be a paleontologist one day, but I was considering becoming an archeologist or anthropologist instead. And yeah, the Lost City was super cool to see, but… I realized something else about myself on that trip. Because that was actually the first time I ever saw mountains.”
My shoulders are just as pinned as the rest of my torso and legs, but my arms are otherwise a bit more free to move, and I idly crawl my fingertips along the lines of the giant’s thumbprint as I speak. The warm bumps feel nice and grounding.
“I’d never felt so small,” I continue, “But it wasn’t in a bad way. I was just in awe of something so much bigger than me… It was liberating somehow. All my problems felt insignificant. Like nothing really mattered, so I might as well just enjoy where I’m at.”
Ryder’s been listening avidly, holding as still as he can. Softly he says, “That memory’s way less sad than being miserable at school and wanting to shrink out of existence.”
I nod. “Yeah. Life has a way of sucking you back into worrying about every little thing, but ever since that trip, it’s always been my dream to live near mountains one day… Here’s hoping. In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy the mountain that’s right in front of me.”
We smile at each other and he quips, “Happy to be your mountain man, little one.”
I sigh contentedly, and for the next several moments I just pretend I’m on vacation again and quietly enjoy the view.
