Getting her hand treated had been less involved than she had feared, and Eden was grateful for it. Splints had been applied to her pinky and ring fingers, and she had been told they would come off in a week. The nurses had also generously helped her clean the blood off of her face, out of her hair, and generally anywhere it hadn’t already set in to her clothes. Through the whole process, however, there was one thing Eden hadn’t been able to get out of her mind.

The receptionist was tiny.

She sat in a small plexiglass box at the front of the waiting room, with what appeared to be an intricately-designed intercom system, allowing her to page throughout the building, as well as project her voice from a monitor installed just above her. A camera in the booth with her also fed into the monitor, giving patients a bigger representation of herself to behold, so they didn’t feel as though they had to squat to speak to her.

Of course, Eden had done so anyway. She was more than happy to bring her face just beside the little booth, her bloody grin eliciting a genuine shriek of fright from the little woman. It had taken her the better part of a minute to compose herself, and gather her nerves to approach the intercoms just close enough to speak through them.

Since that exchange, Eden’s need to own that woman only grew. The problem was this was a small clinic; currently there was only one other patient, and it wouldn’t exactly be difficult to figure out who had taken her. They had Eden’s insurance information, meaning anonymity wasn’t a shield here either. Collecting herself in the waiting room, getting ready to leave, Eden had all but given up hope for this one when a pretty blonde woman entered, approaching the counter. She wore a tight green sweater, blue jeans, and wiggled her hips as she leaned over the reception booth.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah, just a... s-second...” the receptionist replied. Eden glanced up at the monitor, catching the receptionist giving her an uncertain glance. The other woman looked back at Eden as well, giving her a once-over. Hitching her purse over her shoulder, she gave a little wave to them both.

“Thanks again for the help~”

She stepped outside, squinting against the brightness, and pulled out her phone. Moving to just beside the door to the clinic, she leaned back against the building and started browsing her Twitter. There were always simps happy to clutter her inbox with confessions of affection and lust, and Eden found these to be a good morale-boosting time killer on occasion.

Not five minutes later, the blonde woman emerged, carefully holding something in front of her with both hands. She glanced at Eden as she walked past, then did a double-take. “Sorry, do you need something?” the woman asked of Eden, stopping and turning her body defensively, putting herself between Eden and that which she was carrying.

“Just checking my phone,” Eden shook her head, shrugging. “Cute pet you got there.”

“She’s a grown woman with a job.” The other woman sneered at Eden, turning again and muttering under her breath, “Fucking child.” She followed the concrete trail around the building, towards the small parking lot in back, and Eden slipped her phone back into her purse. Her boots made loud, obvious noises as she walked briskly behind the other woman. The blonde turned again, a more seething hatred in her eyes this time, but Eden spoke first.

“Sure I can’t take her off your hands? I can pay.” She smirked, her hands clasped loosely behind her back. The blood still in her clothes didn’t show too well in her goth ensemble - long black dress with a belt secured around her waist - but the blonde woman still seemed wary of Eden. She could only assume the little one had told her bigger friend everything. “Five thousand bucks.”

The other woman’s mouth was open, tongue poised to mercilessly deliver invictives... and there it remained, hanging open. She studied Eden’s expression, the way Eden held her gaze like she knew she could get away with whatever she wanted. Marching forward, the woman threw a slap at Eden’s face, only for it to be caught by the younger woman.

“How dare you?” Eden could see the woman doing her best to mask her horror with righteous fury. “How dare you? They’re people, you little fuck.” The two women stared at one another, and Eden seriously considered shrinking her. It would be so easy, she still had the woman’s wrist in her hand. But of all the things that were legal, actively shrinking a person was not one of them, and she couldn’t be certain who was watching or where the clinic’s cameras happened to be.

“Are they? Because they crunch like roaches under my boot when I step on them.” Eden shoved the woman, sending her stumbling back a few steps. “And that pretty little bitch of yours is going to end up a stain one day. It’s inevitable.” The blonde woman scowled at Eden, but the stumble seemed to have rattled her morale. She clutched her companion close and spun around, hastily returning to her car. Eden let her go this time, smirking as she watched the woman shoot her another glare from the safety of her car before pulling away.

Eden watched as she drove off, pulling her phone out and calling a ride for herself. She hadn’t expected the blonde to go for the offer - though she had been willing to keep her word. Shortly, a car pulled up along the sidewalk she was waiting at, and she climbed into the passenger’s seat.

“Hey, Shannon?” The driver was a thin guy with more hair on his goatee than on top of his head.

“That’s right,” Eden said, flashing him a brief smile. The interior was nice, with an inoffensive jazz track playing.

“How’s your day been so far?” he asked, glancing at her briefly before tapping his phone, starting up the route. “Get up to anything fun?”

“I got kidnapped, killed one of my captors and shrank the other, then burned their house to the ground.” Eden watched his expression in the rear view mirror, noting with delight the moment he registered what she was saying. He did a double-take towards her, struggling to keep his eyes on the road.

“Wait, really?”

“No, of course not,” she laughed. “But I did try to kidnap a tiny just outside of that clinic. There wasn’t a good opportunity, but I still scared the shit out of whoever she was with.”

The driver half-smiled, laughing nervously. “...Kidding again huh?”

“Not at all. I reminded her that her little friend is nothing more than a bug in society’s eyes.” Eden turned in her seat, facing the driver, and laid her head against the chair. “Have you ever squished a tiny?”

“N-no, no of course not!” His laughter was nervous this time. Eden smiled.

“Would you ever? What if someone you really hated got shrunk, wouldn’t you want to just crush them?”

“No, I...” He glanced at her again, his smile gone. “...I don’t really want to talk about this, if that’s okay.”

Eden stared at him coldly, her silence eliciting a few more nervous glances. Finally she rolled her eyes, sighing and turning back in her seat. “Fine.” They rode for some time after that in silence, save for the smooth jazz lightly covering up the sounds of the engine and the road beneath the wheels. The buildings that rushed past slowly became more and more familiar to Eden, giving her a frame of reference for where they were. What this meant was-- “I just think people should be more open to the idea that tinies exist to serve and splatter, and anyone who opposes that ought to join them down there in the dirt.”

What this meant was she could walk home from here, if for some reason she got kicked out.

“...H-have you ever stepped on one?” Eden’s head snapped towards him at the question. It certainly wasn’t what she had expected, but it was the most interesting he’d been so far.

“Of course. I go out of my way to crush them.” She watched his face as she spoke, noticing the tightening of the features. “Anything to keep the others in their place, don’t you think?” He didn’t respond to this right away, instead staring straight ahead. Eden shrugged and rolled her head once more, watching the world pass by. When he spoke next, his voice was dry and cracked.

“I’ve always... w-wished I was tiny.”

Taking a long breath, Eden considered this carefully. She was eager, certainly, but she wanted to play this correctly. “Oh really? How come?”

“It just... always felt like where I belonged.” His eyes remained steadfast on the road. “I’ve never, um, heard someone talk so... openly about this sort of thing before you. Not in person, anyway.”

“It’s ridiculous how personal people take it,” Eden agreed. “It’s just a fact of life now, there are going to be people who get shrunk. The best we real people can do is live our lives to the fullest.” She paused, considering. “What do you see your life being like as a tiny, anyway?”

“W-well hopefully I - I mean... I’m not sure, exactly, but it would depend on where I was shrunk.”

“Right here, right now.”

The driver laughed. Eden didn’t.

“Uhm... w-well in the case that I just, uh, h-happened to shrink right here...” He glanced at her chest. Typical. “You said tinies are meant to serve, right?”

“And splatter.”

“Right - right of course, but... if a tiny was willing to serve you...”

Oh my god, just say it you fucking bottom. “Go on?”

“If you were w-willing... I think it would be really nice to serve you. You’re pr - you’re gorgeous and your eyes are like ice a-and your voice is - it’s like listening to you talk makes me feel like I’m being spoken down to. And you really, um, you get me about, like, tiny things.” He looked over at her again, his gaze landing on her eyes, then her chest, then her eyes again. “It is my proper place to serve, I think.”

“Or splatter.”

“R-right,” he repeated. The car slowed to a stop in front of a building two blocks from Eden’s home, and the two exchanged a look. “Well... anyway, here we are. Thanks for, um... well, thanks.”

“Aren’t you going to come with?”

The noise that passed the driver’s lips was something between a laugh and a wheeze. “What do you mean?”

“You want to be shrunk, right? If you come with me right now, I’ll do it.” Eden opened the door and started to hop out when she felt a hand wrap around her arm, keeping her in the car. Her head whipped around, fixing the driver with a stare.

“A-are you seri-”

“Hands off.” The man released her, displaying his palms apologetically. Eden removed herself from the car, standing on the curb with the door still open. Breathe, girl. “The offer’s still on the table. Get out right now, come with me, and I’ll shrink you.”

“Of course, I’m sorry, of course,” he babbled, quickly tapping through his phone to complete the ride, then turned his car off. As he stepped out, Eden gestured to his hands.

“Leave your phone in the car.”

“Why?”

“Because I told you to.”

He laughed nervously at first, then fell solemn as Eden’s expression remained neutral. “Of course, sorry, let me just...” He leaned down and fiddled with the glove compartment, trying to conceal his phone. Above, Eden rolled her eyes. You’re going to be shrunk, what do you think you still need your phone for? He pulled himself back out of his car and slammed the door shut. “So this is your place?” He looked up at the house they’d parked in front of. Eden shook her head.

“No, it’s not. Come.” She had already begun walking up the sidewalk, snapping her fingers as she gave the command. Obediently, the man fell in step beside her, jogging just a little to keep up.

“B-by the way, I never told you my name, it’s-”

“It’s whatever I say it is,” Eden corrected. “Stop having ideas. Fall silent and do as you’re told.” The driver blushed furiously, but kept his mouth shut. Easy to control, Eden noticed. She looked down at her arm, briefly straightened out the sleeve of her dress. Still.

The rest of the walk was short, with her newest toy keeping pace admirably. Eden led him up the steps to her home, then around a small walkway into the backyard. “We’re going to do it outside,” Eden explained as she unlatched the gate. The man just nodded quietly, his face having grown considerably more pale. “You’re not getting cold feet, are you?”

“I-I just...” The sound of his dry tongue peeling off the roof of his mouth was audible at five feet. “...f-fuck, I didn’t tell anyone about this, m-my mother or-”

“Shhh,” Eden stepped forward, taking his hands gently in her own. With her boots she stood just a little bit taller than him, but she softened her expression to compensate. “Listen, I understand how scary this is. It’s a big decision, but it doesn’t come around often, does it?” He swallowed, shaking his head. “C’mere, little one.” Stepping closer, she wrapped her arms around him and gently laid his head down against her chest. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll tell them together, once you’re all mine.” Eden could feel him nod against her chest, carefully sneaking in a soft nuzzle. “All right,” she said, patting his back and stepping away again. “Let’s go.”

Leading him by the hand, she brought him into her backyard. High bushes surrounded the space, lending them immediate privacy, and she noticed his attention easily captured by the various colorful flowers and plants Eden had in bloom. “Are you a gardener?” he asked. She smiled and shook her head.

“No, a crush streamer.”

“A cr-” Having grown bored of his existence, Eden twirled on her sole, jamming the prongs of the shrinking device through his shirt and into his arm. One soft beep! later, and the driver’s reaction speed caught up with him. “Wait, is that-”

“Oh my god, shut up,” Eden rolled her eyes, pushing his chest as he took a step forward to get a better look. Her shove caught him just as he started to diminish, and he tripped backwards on his own feet, falling to the ground. In a matter of seconds, he reduced to nearly nothing, his clothes gently deflating against the grass. “Fucking finally.”

Eden crouched by his clothes, picking through his shirt ‘til she discovered the pale, naked little thing within. “Well, you got your wish. Is it everything you hoped it would be?” she asked as she plucked him up by an ankle, dangling him in midair.

“H-help! Put me down, please!” He cartwheeled his arms uselessly, spinning and squirming like a worm on a hook. Eden smirked.

“Y’know, I might have actually let you serve me. I have a couple dozen in there who do everything I say, you might’ve fit right in. ...But you had to fucking touch me, didn’t you?”

“What do you mean!? Please let me down!”

“You want to ask the last bitch who tried to restrain me what happens?” Eden pulled the small white cube from her purse, popping it open with her thumb. Inside, a disheveled blonde woman covered in blood stared out with wild, manic eyes and let loose the most animalistic howl the driver had ever heard. Eden grinned down smugly, making sure to catch Natalie’s eye, before sealing the container shut again and just like that, her scream was muffled to nothing. “But since you only grabbed my arm, I’m willing to let you off easy.”

“Please, it was a mistake! I didn’t mean anything by it! What the fuck is going on?!”

His squirming had caught the attention of a few other things nearby Eden. Three cats, two tabbies and a calico, had sauntered over to Eden, looking at the little thing wriggling in her fingers. One of the tabbies walked up to her shins, rubbing her face against it and mewling plaintively. Eden dropped the cube back in her purse and scratched the kitty on the head.

“Hey, dears~” she cooed. “Are folks hungry, hmm? He looks kinda tasty, doesn’t he?”

“No please... please what the fuck, I-I said I wanted to serve!”

“It’s not my fault you had your cock up your own ass so far you couldn’t hear what I was telling you,” Eden spat. “Annoying, self-centered little fucks like you don’t get what you want, you get what you deserve. And so do these precious little angels, yes you do~ Yes you do!”

“Wh... why the fuck did you even bring it up!? Why couldn’t you have just left me alone?”

Eden rose to her full height, pulling her purse over her shoulder, and shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I was just bored.” She gave him one last stare. “Anyway, have fun~” With that she flicked him away onto a patch of bare grass, where the cover of foliage would serve him the least. The three cats immediately pounced forward, following the screaming tiny through the air, and descending on his landing spot. Eden chuckled, gathering his clothes up, and headed into her home.