"So, I'm sure you've guessed already, but I wanted to be the first to congratulate you…" the woman at the records office was almost as excited as Chie. "Everything was processed and approved!"

The two women shared a brief moment of elation that earned the sideways glances from some of the others in the banal, beige office. Their unrestrained enthusiasm clashed with the office's default of boredom, resentment, and malaise, but neither of their squeals of glee were diminished by the glaring from without the tiny cubicle.

Chie's glee was born from finally resolving a life long goal, or at least, making that goal official in the eyes of the government and society at large. The county adjuster's glee was born from being able to file some genuinely rare and esoteric paperwork. Both were very excited.

"So, all of the requirements were filed appropriately, and were subsequently approved." the county adjuster outlined, spreading paperwork out on the desk. "Most everything was taken care of in advance, but there's one final thing to resolve…"

One sheet of paper was shuffled to the top of the stack, an extremely formal looking document with initial lines scattered throughout, a clear signature line at the very bottom and two adjacent boxes for stamped verification. Everything was in a sans serif font, with many bold lines.

"I can't wait!" Chie exclaimed, picking up a loose pen from the desk. "Let's do this!"

"Great, you'll need him for this page." the county adjuster noted before pressing her index finger down on the first short line. "Initial here confirming that you are taking ownership…"

"Oh, okay, one second…" Chie reached into her kangaroo pocket of her hoodie and produced the 'him' in question.

Smaller than even her pinky finger, stark naked, and clearly distraught, the tiny man couldn't affect any escape from Chie's hand wrapped around him as she set him on the desk, next to the stack of forms. He looked for a moment like he might bolt from the top of the table, but a quick glance from Chie buckled his legs from under him. Chie quickly penned out her 'CSF' on the short line next to the adjuster's orange-painted, almond shaped nail.

"Next, initial here to attest that no one else has made any claim on him." the adjuster instructed.

Chie obliged and initialed the second line, as the adjuster moved ahead of her to the next line.

"And initial here, confirming that you found him, as a stray, in the wild." the county adjuster continued.

The tiny man, turned on his knees to watch the paperwork proceed, instinctively clutched his neck where the needle had pierced. He looked up at the adjuster and shook his head, but neither woman paid him any attention, focused as they were on filling out the form. Chie's pen scrawled her three initials a third time, just as quickly.

"Great! Almost done!" the adjuster noted, her finger sliding down to the next line. "Initial here to confirm his new name of 'Toy'."

Crawling onto the paper, he tried to obstruct Chie's pen from making in to the final initial line, but his size was insufficient to completely block it. Chie simply started the initials slightly to the left as both women giggled at the display of the tiny man splayed out over the paper.

"He's an eager one, isn't he?" the adjuster chuckled. "Okay, sign here, at the bottom, and all that's left are the stamps!"

Chie quickly scrawled her names out in flowing script, an unbroken black line that had one rising loop in the center that briefly encircled the tiny man who scurried out of the way in a panic. With a horizontal stroke, Chie chased him from the page with the tip of her pen by crossing her 't's. The tip caught him under the rear and sent him tumbling before coming to a panting rest, spread-eagle off the page.

"Okay, now you'll need to thumb-stamp here…" the adjuster noted with a chuckle. "Press down evenly, and firmly, into the pad, and then roll your thumb print onto the left box here."

The adjuster presented a black ink pad, seemingly new, from the drawers of her desk and set it down, open, in front of Chie. With a concentration Chie reserved for little else, Chie coated her right thumb in ink, and transferred the print to the form. As her thumb came up from the paper, briefly sticking, Chie was pleased at how clearly the semi-spiral lines of her thumbprint shone in glistening, black ink on the page. After quickly wiping her thumb clean-ish with a wet wipe offered by the adjuster, Chie looked over the form, filled out, save for one box next to her thumbprint.

"Is that it? Are we done?" Chie asked eagerly.

"Last thing! We'll need a print of Toy, himself here!" the adjuster said, her finger pointing to the final box. "Same process, but make sure it's clear, or we'll have to do it again."

"You hear that, Toy?" Chie asked to her tiny man. "If you squirm too much, we'll have to do it again, until you get it right."

Chie didn’t wait for the veiled threat to set in and reached down and picked up Toy. She used her thumb to press his whole body into the inky pad, rolling her thumb to get a good coating of ink across his body and limbs. She lifted the tiny body up into the air to inspect the coverage, chuckling at the white eyes that opened against the ink-black coating every other part of him.

She maneuvered him effortless back down to the form, where he obligingly spread his arms and legs out. Her thumb pressed him into the paper, squarely inside the box next to her thumbprint. She felt his bones creak under her thumb’s pressure, making sure to roll her thumb over him and get a good, even print. She peeled Toy off the paper and marveled at the clear, almost perfect silhouette of Toy that had been left in his place, like a permanent shadow, and a clear, indelible stamp of ownership.

"How's that?" Chie asked. "I can do it again if you need me to!"

The adjuster pulled the paper back and reviewed it from behind cat-eye spectacles before looking above the paper at Chie’s anxious face with a grin.

“Everything’s good!” the adjuster beamed. “Congratulations, you are now officially the owner of ‘Toy’!”