Ople was exhausted; after a long day at the office, the young blond’s feet were killing her.
“Fuck today was a long one!” She said to no one in particular. Stretching from the strain sitting at a desk all day put on her spine. Thinking about nothing except getting out of her gray dress suit and spending the rest of her night watching late-night talk shows under a blanket. That is until her stomach started growling.
“Well… I need gas anyway… And if I happen to find I’ve bought a box of boneless buffalo wings and a fourth tub of ice cream, I deserve it for working so hard.” Ople said. She had grown quite skilled at justifying getting food out when she had a full fridge to herself, a skill that has and would continue to result in the weird smell never leaving her apartment.
It was a relatively quick drive to the gas station. She had gotten gas, then went inside to pay and order.
“Hey, I know this is a stretch, but is your kitchen still-” Ople stopped dead in her tracks. Two guys were wearing generic hockey masks. One of them was holding a handgun up to the cashier, and everyone had their eyes on her.
“What the fuck!? Brent, you were supposed to be keeping a lookout for-” The gunman was cut off by the cashier lunging over the counter to try and get the gun away from him. But his courage was only rewarded with three shots through the chest. Everyone in the station was horrified, the shooter most of all. “Fuck man, was nine fifty an hour really worth it?” Ople moved to try and leave the way she came, but the moment she turned, she felt the worm gun barrel to the back of her head. “Be smart, miss. I didn’t come here to kill anyone, but I can’t let you go squealing either.” The gunman then grabbed her by the collar of her dress suit and pulled slash shoved her into the arms of his compatriot. “So you’re going to come with us, so we can figure out what to do with you.”
“Oh, I know just what to do with her!” The other robber said with a laugh, chilling Ople to the core of her being. This can’t be real, she thought. Even as she struggled in the grasp of the pervert covering her mouth and dragging her out the back. This can’t be happening, please God, don’t let this happen, she tried to scream through the hand covering her mouth. They were almost halfway down the dark alley when they heard a voice.
“Didn’t your mothers ever tell you not to pick on girls?” They turned to look at the source of the voice, and walking down the alley toward them was a relatively short and slim man in a green hoody.
“Not another step, punk! Or I’ll-” Then it happened. The stranger in the hoody stared at them intensely with his almost glowingly vibrant green eyes. That same kind of green began to fill the corners of Ople’s vision, and she started to get dizzy. It seemed the robbers did too; the one holding her let go, and all of them seemed to have trouble standing up. She was on her ass when her head stopped spinning, and everything strangely went dark. Looking up to see what was blocking the street light filled Ople with a new horror.
“Now I know I’m dreaming, no, having a nightmare,” Ople said to herself in a half-whisper. The skinny guy, who couldn’t have been more than five-two, was now a towering colossus, his bright green eyes looking down at the now minuscule people at his feet with disgust and hate.
“What the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK!?” The second robber said right before getting up and trying to run, the gunman following close behind. The green giant then began to walk forward, passing over the stunned office worker. Ople didn’t look behind her; she didn’t need to, as the loud wet crunches accompanied by the rumbling under her told her exactly what happened to the men who tried to run. She wanted to run too. Every fiber of her being told her to run as fast as she could, especially when the shadow of a hand came over her. But she didn’t, frozen in terror like a rabbit in the claws of an eagle. He moved his titanic hand to make her at eye level, and those dazzling green eyes took up her entire field of vision.
“Are you ok?” The question caught her off guard and made her notice a few things. First, the hate was gone from his massive eyes, replaced with concern, maybe tearing up at the edges. And the way she was being held, cupped in his hands like one would hold a bird or baby animal, secure but not constricting.
“Y-Yes, I’m ok.” Ople started blushing, the way he held her, the warmth of his hands that cradled her entire body. It was making her feel things, she didn’t understand it, but it was happening.
“Whew! That’s a relief.” He said with a rather disarming smile. Getting a better look at him, the green weirdo looked like a stereotypical pretty boy. He looked like the kind of guy you would see getting topped in a porno or who could pass as a woman if he put effort into it. “Sorry this happened, by the way. I would have just shrunk them, but you were all close together. It really couldn’t be helped.” Ople should be terrified of the man, of anyone who could go from the brutal executioner, killing two men right behind her, to a happy green ray of sunshine so quickly. He had to be some kind of insane! But the way he spoke to her, held her, and smiled when he found out she was ok. Despite every good reason she had to be scared to be in his hands, she felt safe, safer than she ever remembered being.
“So… What happens now?”
“Now, you go to sleep. You’ll wake up in bed, and this will all be a bizarre dream you had from eating junk food before going to sleep.” He then breathed out a cloud of sparkling green smoke. Ople felt dizzy all over again and passed out. Feeling like she was melting into the warmth of his mattress-sized hands.
…
The subway station was as busy as usual, but Ople didn’t notice, lost in her thoughts. What happened a week ago felt like it should have just been a dream, but her car was at the gas station. But she couldn’t just tell the cops what she remembered happening. They would have had her in an asylum. Lucky enough that they didn’t have anything linking her to the murder, but she wanted answers as much as they did.
After being cleared of charges, she began looking into shrinking and found more than she thought she would have. About half of it was porn, but the other half was pretty cute, and what started as a search for answers turned into her joining the SW community in earnest. She tried going on five different size-chatrooms, describing the green-eyed stranger, but it all came up empty. Most folks thought she was trying to start an ARG, either dismissing her or playing along, but no one believed her.
So finally, deciding to clear her mind of green giants, she spent the day shopping, even finding the shoes she really wanted for the last month and a half on sale. But just as she got off at her last stop, she spotted the last person she expected to see.
“Ya! Play that funky beat!” Said the same green-eyed stranger who had saved her life only a week ago. Dancing like a dork in a tank top and jeans to a street performer playing the drums, his awful dancing attracting just as much attention as the performer’s drumming. Ople felt almost cheated, the one day she wasn’t actively looking for the shortie, and here he was, grooving like he was the only one in the entire subway. “Take all my money, ma’am!” He said as he emptied the contents of his wallet into the drummer’s hat on the ground. They gave each other the peace singe as he walked off. Ople decided to follow him. This would probably be her only chance to get answers about what happened that night. He then spotted her while moving some of his curly brown hair out of his eyes. From the shocked face he made, he must have recognized her too. He then tried to lose her in the crowd.
“Oh no you don’t, you magical twink!” Ople said as she began to follow him at a faster pace. She was going from a brisk stride, to a powerwalk, to full-blown sprinting. She was not going to let him get away! He then heel-turned into an alleyway. Ople quickly followed him in, only for the deceptively strong man to grab her by the arms and pin her to the wall.
“Why are you following me? Did someone send you?” He said in a tone that seemed too severe to be coming from someone so jovial mear moments ago. The intense glare from those green eyes held Ople in place just as easily as his surprisingly firm grasp.
“No one!” She half shouted, feeling scared of the being she was chasing mear moments ago. “I just wanted answers about what happened last week. What you did, how you did it.” He glared into her eyes for a few moments longer, then let her go.
“Sorry about that, but you tend to make enemies when you live as I do.” He then held out his hand, a friendly smile replacing the scowl he had only a moment ago. “The names Caster; who are you?”
“Ople, nice to officially meet you.” The two shook hands, alleviating the awkwardness a bit. “So, can I ask some questions?”
“Sure thing. I can’t guarantee you’ll like all of them however.” Caster snapped his fingers, and two chairs appeared deeper in the alley, where few could see them. Ople was a little cautious, but followed him and sat opposite him.
“So… What even are you? How were you able to shrink me or summon these chairs? How can this be possible?” Caster moved his hands to his chin, thinking hard about his answers.
“How I can do it would be too complicated to explain, and you’re better off not knowing details. Let’s say it’s magic. And I’m a sorcerer, a master of the mystic arts.”
“Wait, so magic is real!?”
“Yep.” Ople sat back in her chair. She needed a moment to let that sink in. “I’m going to need you to forget this conversation when we’re done. We magic folk aren’t really supposed to expose ourselves to normals. Honestly, I broke like fifty laws by saving you.” Caster smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head as he did.
“Then why did you? Why not just let those men take me?”
“I’m still human, miss. I couldn’t just let that happen when I had the power to stop it.”
“Well, thanks again for saving me.” She blushed a bit as she remembered how she felt in his grasp that night. “One more question… Can you…” Ople felt so embarrassed by what she was about to say, but she had to ask at least. “Shrink me again?” Caster went wide-eyed momentarily, looking her up and down, then his face went stern again.
“This conversation is over.” He then got up and started to walk away.
“Wait!” Ople said as she got up and followed. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I just… I want to be small again, just for a little bit. I have money if that means anyth-”
“I’m not a whore!” He said sharply, a green fog surrounding him, scaring Ople a little. “And I’m not about to waste my time or power just to help some bored white-collar secretary get off using my wang as a stripper pole.”
“What, ew, no! I don’t want to it for that I just…” Ople then turned around, unable to look him in the eyes when saying what she needed to. “I felt something… When I was small… And I wanted to feel like that again.” There was a deafening quiet for what felt like an eternity. But then Caster sighed.
“Give me a time and place, somewhere you feel safe being shrunk, and I’ll be there.”
“Really!?” Ople turned around sharply, startling Caster a bit.
“A-And have three hundred dollars ready. You said you would pay, and I’m not letting you back out of that.”
“DEAL!”
…
Ople’s apartment was not what one would call unified. She didn’t care if things matched so long as they functioned or were comfortable, leading to a confused and ragtag look with a noticeable lack of art or decoration. She had laid out some objects on her coffee table to interact with after shrinking, including a coffee cup, her purse on its side, some pencils, and a few other minor nicknacks and some candy.
KNOCK KNOCK
“That must be him.” Ople checked herself over one last time, her white button-up shirt and black skirt being within acceptability, she opened the door. “Right on time, come in.” Caster entered as instructed. He wore what seemed to be the same pants as yesterday, but he had on a full t-shirt with a broken green heart on it. “Would you like anything to drink?”
“Not right now, thank you.” He gave her apartment an exaggerated look around. Ople knew her not caring about esthetics put some people off, a reason she bearly invited anyone over. “And I thought my place was a mess.”
“Oh, enough of that.” She said dismissively; she felt odd standing before him, looking down at a man three inches shorter than her, knowing that her perspective would change drastically soon. “So, um, how are we going to do this exactly?”
“I would close my eyes if I were you; much less of a headache, literally. But if you wanna watch the world grow, just be ready for some vertigo.” Ople didn’t dare look away as he gave her an intense glare, not filled with hate like last time, more of a wily look to him this go round. The same green shimmer in Caster’s eyes appeared in the corners of her vision, just like last time. Slowly those enchanted eyes leveled with her own, and Ople’s jaw dropped as he gradually outgrew her, no, as she diminished before him. She started to get dizzy and would have fallen over if he hadn’t caught her. Ople blushed, her breathing becoming heavier as she got smaller and smaller in his arms. She had no idea that shrinking would be so erotic! Slowly but surely, she shrank out of his grasp, his hands to either side of her. Not holding her diminishing frame but being close enough to hold onto as she got smaller and smaller.
“Aaaaand done!” Caster said, pulling her support away to make jazz hands. “How do we feel?”
“I-I… Oh wow…” Ople was speechless. Even crouching down, the previously short man was now a towering titan of soft masculinity, his smile friendly, but he couldn’t hide that hint of smugness. He was enjoying himself just as much as she was.
“Well, I can’t blame you for being overwhelmed. I have to admit; this is new for me too. Most of the time, when people find out I’m magic, they ask me to make parts of them bigger, not smaller!” Caster began to laugh hysterically. At his new size, or more accurately, her new size, it hurt Ople’s ears somewhat. And yet, his delight was contagious. “I noticed the stuff on the table. Want me to help you get up there to play around?”
“YES! I mean, if you wouldn’t mind.” Ople was embarrassed by her enthusiasm, but she couldn’t help it. It was all so much! Caster laid his hand flat on the floor, making it easy for her the get on it. It was such a bizarre feeling walking onto someone’s hand, the warm flesh surrounding her like a carpet. The rush of air as she was effortlessly moved from the floor to the coffee table was terrific. Guys had picked her up before, but it was nothing like actually being in the palm of a titanic hand.
“I didn’t move too fast, did I?” The massive man asked, looking her over with a worried look. “Cuz you look a little off.”
“S-Sorry, it’s just…” Ople covered her cheeks, ashamed at how their blush betrayed her true feelings. “This experience is just affecting me more than I thought it would.”
“If it becomes too much, just say the word, and I’ll get you back to normal in a snap.” The giant said with one of those dorky smiles he always seemed to have on. Comforted by that safety net, Ople climbed off of Caster’s hand, looking over the regular-sized objects on the table, thinking about what to interact with first. “Mind if I get something out of the fridge? I forgot to bring something to drink with me.”
“Oh, sure thing.” As the now gigantic skinny guy left the room, the little lady walked over to her purse. She immensely enjoyed crawling into the now vehicle-sized bag, imagining lying in it as someone carried her around. Then she remembered the money she owed Caster, turning her head to see three one hundred dollar bills folded neatly together and separate from the rest of her money. But when she tried to pick up the folded bills, she found it difficult, not because they were heavy, but because they were wide. It would have been much less wonky if she had bothered to fold them one or two more times. When she made it out of her purse, dragging the money behind her, she saw Caster on her couch—scowling as his feet were on her coffee table; one of her alcoholic grape sodas was in his hand.
“Feet off my table, jumbo!”
“Yes, ma’am!” The mountainous man said as he did what he was told, even sitting up straighter too. Ople giggled a bit at how he jumped, but her amusement seemed nothing to his as he did his best to choke back a loud laugh.
“And what prey tell is so amusing?”
“Seeing you have so much trouble with just three bills!” Caster laughed hysterically, making the tiny lady on the table go red from embarrassment. But not just embarrassment. Something about a usually short unintimidating guy now towering over her and laughing at her meekness was somehow appealing. Ople didn’t think she had a sham kink, but she also didn’t know she liked being small until it happened to her. She had to compose herself, they were in her home, and she had to be in charge!
“Oh, shut up! You try carrying three wide wobbly sheets of thin cardboard and look graceful and dignified!”
“Sorry! Sorry! I’m not used to interacting with people I’ve shrunk.”
“Well, that’s no excuse for bad manners,” Ople huffed. She Dragged the money to the table’s edge, only for him to lean over, pick it up, and count it one-handed. Something about that added to her feeling of being insignificant, small, and weak in the presence of a man who looked like strong language would bruise his cheek. And what was worse, she now knew for sure that she liked feeling like that. A shiver ran up her spine when a wicked smile grew on his face. “What are you smirking about?” She tried to fake an ora of superiority as she spoke but couldn’t tell if he had bought it.
“Oh, it’s just that I like drinking out of cups better than bottles. But the coffee cup is all the way over there!” He said in a melodramatic tone as he pointed to said cub, well within his reach if he just leaned for it. “But alas, I strained myself laughing and can’t get it. If only my hostess was strong enough to get it for me, but she could bearly handle folded paper! Woa is the sorcerer who has to drink his beverage from an unsatisfying vessel!”
“Why you arrogant big- I’ll show you!” Ople screamed before stomping over to the mug, grabbing it by the handle, and bearly moving it as she pulled with all her might. It was so humiliating to struggle so much doing something so simple. And as she moved to the other side of the cup to try her luck pushing it, she could see he was enjoying it too. That condescending grin he wore while tricking her into making a fool of herself somehow looked rather cute on him, but she couldn’t let him know that! After five minutes, which felt like five days of struggle, Ople finally got the cup to where he could reach it. “See. huff Easy. huff” She said before falling to her knees, never feeling more exhausted. Sweat stains formed on her clothes as drops of it dripped off her face and made her hair wet.
“I’m impressed,” Caster said, placing a bottle cap full of the spiked soda in front of the worn-out tiny. “I expected you to give up after two minutes.”
“Shows what you know, ass.” Ople picked up the bottle cap and took a deep swig. The drink had a very low alcohol content, so she didn’t have to worry about getting drunk.
“Sorry if I’m teasing you too much. I don’t know how I should act in situations like this.”
“If you go too far, trust me, I’ll let you know.”
…
“Is this the right place?” Ople asked herself as she parked her car in the gravel parking lot next to a well-weathered singe, Humphry Wild Gardens, it said in worn-out orange letters.
“Caster! You said you would meet me at the entrance! Where are you!?” The young blond yelled at the top of her lungs. This had been the sixth or seventh time they had hung out. One time he shrank her down to sneak into a movie, and another time he just carried her around window shopping in his shirt pocket. This was the first time he had been the one to pick a location, so Ople was a little nervous. She justified her choice of dress by how hot it was, but it would be a lie to say her short shorts and tight t-shirt with a heart-shaped boob window were not for Caster’s benefit as well. She had been considering it only recently, but she was genuinely falling for the sorcerer. She considered making her move but kept second-guessing herself, wondering if being friends would be better.
Then all of a sudden, the sky began to darken, and the wind started to pick up. Ople would have been a little scared by the sudden change in the weather until she saw the green lightning overhead. Then, a bolt of green lightning struck the ground, splitting it open, and a great green fog cloud erupted from it; the silhouette of a twenty-foot-tall giant formed within the cloud, a billowing laugh accompanying it. “Who dares to summon me!?” The obscured figure shouted, making Ople roll her eyes in annoyance.
“Oh, shove it. Just because you can show off doesn’t mean you should.”
“Sorry about that. I just don’t get the opportunity very often.” Caster said as the sky and fog cleared up, his awkward and slightly embarrassed smile becoming visible. And when she saw what he was wearing, she couldn’t help but get a little annoyed with him. Here she was, putting in the effort to look appealing for him, and he showed up in tattered jeans that were bearly holding together and a lime green shirt with a cartoon unicorn vomiting a rainbow while crying. Why was she infatuated with this dork? She screamed at herself in her head. “Is something the matter? You have that face you make when I do something stupid. My entrance wasn’t that bad, was it?”
“Why, for all that is good in the world, do you always dress like a beggar?”
“What? It’s my style. It’d be weird if I didn’t. Also, your one to talk, little miss cover girl.”
“Just pick me up already, jumbo.” Caster did as he was instructed, moving one hand to serve as a seat and the other wrapped around her abdomen. She blushed slightly as she noticed the thumb of the hand she was sitting on was touching the thigh, but she allowed it, for now anyway. He held her up to be just a regular-sized head or two under his chin, giving her a great view of the treeline as he started to walk. As lovely as it was to be shrunken, something was just as magical about him growing. It made not just her, but the entire world feel small compared to him, like a living god descended from above, and out of all the puny little things he could have snatched up, he chose her. She tried to hide how flustered she was when she next spoke. “So, where are you carrying me off to?”
“You can probably see it if I move you to my shoulder. Just a second.” He then, not as gently as he could have, moved the little woman to sit on his shoulder like a bird. The view was even better from there. The treetops made an almost never-ending sea of green, just a few shades of from Caster’s eyes. In the distance, Ople could see a clearing with what looked like a small one-room cabin, smoke rising from the chimney.
“What are you plotting, you big goof?”
“Nothing nefarious, I assure you. I just put a casserole and a few pies in the oven.” Ople had to hold onto his hair as the titanic twink started half skipping. She thought about yelling at him for not warning her, but he seemed happy, and she didn’t want to spoil that. They eventually reached the clearing, and Caster put Ople down at the cabin door. “You might want to get those out of the oven before they burn.”
“You’re not coming in to help me?”
“Hey, I did all the cooking. You just have to get it out. And besides, I think you will get a kick out of me looking in on you through the window.” She just rolled her eyes as she walked in. It was a very cramped little place, bearly enough room for one chair, small table, sink, and stone oven. She had barely gotten the casserole and four pies onto the table that only had just enough room for them when Caster moved his eye to the only window. Ople had to turn away. She was blushing so hard, the sight of the window frame around his gigantic eye like a square eyepiece was just too much, and she couldn’t keep her composure.
“See, I knew you would get a kick out of this!”
“Sh-Shut up!” She turned her head only enough to his that big green eye taking up the entire window. “I didn’t see a picnic table on our way in. Will you come in after you’re done being a big goof?”
“I would, but sadly, I can’t fit. So you’re going to have to feed me through the window.” Before she could say no, the ground shook as he adjusted himself. Now it was his massive mouth taking up the entire window, opening wide, his big tongue lulling into the room just a little.
“Get that gross thing away from me!” Ople screamed as she smacked the tongue. Forcing the giant to recoil while pulling it back into his mouth.
“OW! Those nails hurt! Also, did you even wash your hands before touching it?”
“You start tonging the inside of a cabin! And you’re worried about my hand being dirty!?”
“Well, I don’t know what you’ve been touching recently!”
“Humph” Ople crossed her arms and looked away, a big blush on her face. “I would have been more open to feeding you if you asked first.” The ground shook as he moved his eye back to the window.
“Pretty please.” Ople couldn’t give in to the gigantic puppy dog eye looking in on her. But the longer the sparkling green orb locked onto her, the more her iron will begin to rust and falter.
“Fine! Just keep that gob outside the window! AND NO TONGUE!” Caster then moved his smiling maw back to the window, keeping a respectful distance as he opened up. Ople moved the chair to the window, setting the casserole pan on the windowsill, flinging a serving spoon fill into the open mouth.
“Boo, I wanted pie first!”
“Stop your crying, you big baby. No dessert until you have your meal proper.” There was something playful in her voice as she mockingly scolded the giant. They continued the meal, Ople taking a few bites between tossing in some to the hungry giant. They soon went through the casserole and all of the pies, emptying entire tins onto his luling tongue by the end. “Satisfied?”
“Not really. I could use a little more to eat. How about…” Caster then got onto his knees and ripped the roof off of the cabin. “…YOU!” The giant then snatched the tiny blond out of the cabin and started to play nibble at Ople.
“Oh, you stop that this instant, you brut!” Ople giggled as she kicked and shoved at the giant lips pretending to bite at her.
“But your so sweet, much sweeter than those pies. I have to have a taste!” The two laughed as they played a bit more before Caster lay down under some trees, setting Ople down on his chest. “Sorry if that was a bit much.”
“No, I had fun… I always have fun with you…”
“Th-Thank you.” The both of them blushed awkwardly. Neither really knew what to say. “I like hanging out with you too.”
“I would hope so!” Ople said with a laugh. She then gathered her courage, got to her feet, and walked up to Caster’s face. “And… I think I want to keep spending time with you.” Caster moved his hand softly, holding Ople in as close to a hug as he could at his size.
“I want that too.” Ople allowed herself to be moved closer to those giant lips and reciprocated when he kissed her. They didn’t need to say anything to each other. No grand declaration. From that moment on, they were together, and that was it.