26 pictures
Aina rubbed her temples. “…They really did it this time.” Coming back to the bar after growing herself to normal and finishing all her work, she saw Scherazard and Olivier, still collapsed on the table like defeated corpses, faces flushed, barely breathing through the fumes.
She spotted a small vial... the shrinking medicine lying on its side near the empty glass that had once held her. She remembered their smug little plot. She remembered how they’d giggled when she vanished into that glass.
And she remembered something else...
All that work she had to finish.
Work she’d had to rush through because of them.
Aina cracked her knuckles.
“Well then… fair’s fair.”
She uncorked the bottle, squinting at the measurement lines.
“…What ratio did they even use…?” She shrugged. “Eh.... I'm sure it will be fine”
A few drops splashed onto Schera and Olivier’s faces.
The reaction was instant.
The two of them blinked awake just long enough to let out confused, drunken protests before they began to shrink.... shrinking far, far beyond the scale they used on her.
They didn’t stop at doll-sized.... Or ant-sized... Or even crumb-sized.
They just kept going.
Aina leaned in, squinting, until she finally saw two specks flickering like dust caught in sunlight.
“…Oops,” she muttered cheerfully. “Guess the ratio was off.”
She pinched the air, feeling the tiniest hint of pressure, only just enough to know she had caught them. Their screams were inaudible, not that she was listening. She was too busy pulling off her boots with a long, exhausted groan. as she took a seat on a table and put her feet up.
Days of work in one afternoon had left her feet slick, steaming, and soaked with sweat.
“Well, you two,” she said, letting their microscopic bodies dangle over her glistening bare sole, “since I spent all day finishing the paperwork I missed thanks to your little stunt…”
She parted her fingers.
And they fell.
And they didn’t land on skin-
they landed in a single bead of sweat, a glistening drop nearly the size of a lake to them. Its surface tension rippled like a thick, shimmering sea as the two tiny bracers plunged in and immediately began sinking, unable to break free.
Aina giggled, wiggling her toes lazily as she watched them vanish into the bead’s quivering surface.
“I wasn’t exactly sure about the ratio of that shrinking medicine you used…” she said, voice playful as she scraped her damp foot against the wooden floor, spreading sweat across her arch.
“So it might have worked a little too strong...”
She smirked.
“But I hope you two are enjoying yourselves.”
The bead trembled as her foot flexed, sending waves crashing over them like tides.
Aina leaned back in her chair, hands behind her head.
“I’ll forgive your little prank,” she announced, sing-song, “if you two can clean up every single drop of sweat.”
Her toes curled, squeezing moisture between them like squeezed fruit pulp.
“And I won't be growing you back until you do...”
Schera barely had time to scream before the bead swallowed her. The liquid was thick, hot, suffocating and more like molten salt than sweat. She thrashed, but every movement dragged her deeper.
Olivier surfaced once beside her, coughing, eyes wide abd then a tiny ripple from Aina’s shifting foot rolled through the droplet, pulling him under again.
The heat, the sting, the crushing smell of skin and alcohol… it smothered everything. Their world churned as the bead trembled on Aina’s skin, each casual twitch reshaping the entire ocean around them.
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