Downsizing: Capsized by MXP

Ellis - Lost Puppy

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The air was motionless in the jungle. The trees, bushes, and hilly landscape trapped air inside the jungle like a bathroom after a steamy shower. I felt the condensation on my arms and torso, my shirt sticking to my damp skin like cellophane. My pace through the jungle was somewhere between speed walking and a brisk jog. I didn’t want to waste all my energy chasing the giant woman, especially not before I got some water, but I also didn’t want her to get too far.

The trees hung high overhead and provided so much shade in some spots that it became dark as night. I came to a distinct opening in the jungle where the sun shone through a fog of misty humidity. I jumped into the valley within the trees, which was long and narrow like a bus. As I walked, I noticed the ground was springy and made of mashed up trees and vegetation.

“Kiernan,” I said, my voice added to the symphony of bird calls around me.

The trees in front of me were broken and pushed backwards, growing at a forty-five-degree angle. I laughed at myself and shook my head. It’s a weird habit of mine when I get nervous. I force a laugh to fill the air and pretend I’m not bothered. Kiernan was here, and I was standing in her footprint.

She had crushed and compacted thousands of pounds of jungle vegetation into a springy mash. Some branches and leaves stuck out from the compact mass like hands digging out of a grave. The trees growing at an angle were caused by her taking a step forward, with her not attempting to lift her foot above the canopy but her kicking into the jungle as if they were long growing grass.

The surrounding destruction was like something from a battlefield, but I had to remind myself that this was a footstep from Kiernan. The girl I knew nothing about but had a strong desire to meet. Doubt seeped into my mind, and I wondered if I should introduce myself to the giant woman or not.

I kept moving forward. It would confuse many people, I know. Why race towards a giant who leaves behind such destruction? An idle walk wrecked this part of the jungle. What could she do if she tried being destructive? Further, I didn’t know if she was cool with downsizers or not. I wasn’t sure if she’d want to be bothered by one or do something harmful to me.

But I had to know.

If I didn’t talk to Kiernan, it would eat at me for the rest of my life. I wasn’t even in love with her or expecting anything romantic between us. A talk. That’s all I wanted. If she had a shit personality or was dumb as rocks, an insufferable valley girl, or an obnoxious sizeist—at least I would know.

-

I followed her footsteps through the jungle, and fortunately for me, the trees became sparser the longer I followed the trail. It came to the point where I could see the next destructive footstep through the inference pattern created by the trees in front of me.

Eventually, I reached a steep hill that I had to use my hands and feet to scale up. I really needed to find water soon, because my mouth became drier than the Sahara, and I was sweating an awful lot. I heard a few sounds that gave me hope: splashing water and soft singing.

“Red roses too.”

Holy shit, that voice was hauntingly beautiful. Kiernan sang to herself close to where I was. I felt a surge of energy help me crest the hill and stop at the peak between two palm trees. I caught my breath as I watched her from afar on top of this partially obscured hill.

“I see them bloom.”

She sat on her ankles at the shore of the lake. With both her hands together, her palms cupped, she scooped up a swimming pool's worth of water in her hands and brought it to her lips. After unloading a waterfall of lake water down her throat, she continued singing.

“And I think to myself.”

The sight of her left me in awe. Kiernan splashed some water on her neck, letting it roll down under the collar of her gray tank top and onto her cleavage. On top of her tank, she wore a khaki shirt that had two breast pockets and a row of buttons, something like you’d see an avid hiker wear. The top of her shirt was unbuttoned, and the bottom flaps of her shirt were tied together, high on her torso, showing off her slim, bare midriff.

Kiernan stood up. Her stature surpassed the canopy of the jungle. I tried thinking about the other giants on the island. That guy was the tallest, followed by the other giant woman, but not by much. Kiernan was far more petite than the other two but still gigantic in her own right. Kiernan put on a small backpack and adjusted it, rotating so I could see her profile better. She might’ve been petite, but her ass was not. She filled in her dark olive-green shorts to the brim.

“… what a wonderful world,” I sang to myself.

Kiernan hummed to herself as she set off again, walking alongside the shore before bulldozing into the jungle and heading deeper in. Fuck! I got so close, but she was already a five-minute sprint away from me in a second.

I raced down the hill, jumped, and cleared the toe section of the footprint she left behind with her hiking boots to reach the shore of the lake. I dunked my head into the water and drank deeply while also cooling down my red-hot face. With my belly full of water, I brushed my longish hair back and followed Kiernan back into the jungle, leading me deeper into the island.

-

It was sort of neat experiencing the different ecosystems on the island as I hiked. Some parts of the island were full of palm-type vegetation, while others reminded him more of a forest than a wet jungle. I stopped and rested on a huge tree root that stuck out of the ground and sat on it like a bench. Chasing a giant woman on foot was tough work. I also became concerned that her trail was running cold. I know, I know. How did I lose track of a giant plowing through a forest? It should’ve been the easiest trail in the world to follow.

When I walked a little further out, I made it out of the forest and onto a green field of grass blowing in the Pacific trade winds. It was a hilly valley surrounded by mountains that had a lot of trees growing on its slopes. I looked for any signs of Kiernan and found none. She either disappeared or I was lost. I guess my tracking abilities were shit.

I placed my hands on my hips and thought about my next move. With no signs of Kiernan, I thought about my options: wander around and hope I bump into her or turn back and return to the others. As much as I wanted to find the giant woman, getting more lost and possibly killed trying to survive the elements on my own seemed stupid.

So, I turned around to head back.

And that’s when I bumped into her.

Kiernan’s face was right in front of me, blocking my path. She was lying on the ground, belly down, chin resting on her folded hands, looking down right at me while wearing a smirk. I stepped back and stared up at her, awestruck.

She was so fucking huge.

Her face was like the side of a barn with eyes larger than those yoga stability balls. Kiernan’s eyes slightly narrowed as she focused on me with a smile hidden behind her subtly upturned lips. Her short haircut went just past her chin and framed her pretty face between bleached blond strands of hair that waterfalled around the soft features of her face.

“Well, well, well,” she said with a lilt in her voice. I could tell she tried to keep her voice down, but the shockwave from her vocal cords hit me like a truck. My ears tried adjusting to her volume. “My sixth sense was right. Looks like a little puppy got lost and started following me.”

My hands trembled as her voice sounded like speakers from a concert hall all pointed right at me. I didn’t sense any malice in her tone, but I couldn’t help getting all intimidated by the force of nature she was. The gusts of wind from her breath alone almost threw me off balance. When she noticed my shocked silence at her sudden appearance, I could tell she reconsidered both her word choice and volume.

“I’m sorry.” She closed her eyes and shook her head in shame. “Didn’t mean to call you a little puppy. That wasn’t nice of me.”

I took my shot. “Don’t be sorry. You’re kinda right, anyway. I was sniffing around for the sweetest thing on this island, and it led me to you. The nose knows, am I right?”

I could tell that my words surprised and intrigued Kiernan. She lifted her head from her hands and loomed high above me like a three-story building.

“Are you saying I smell?”

I held my ground despite feeling like I was standing beneath a redwood that was about to collapse on me. She tilted her face and forced a faux frown. Intimidating and cute—an odd combination that sparked something deep within me.

“I’m just saying it pays to have good instincts.” I tapped my nose. “And mine told me to follow the one human that’s exploring the island, instead of the other two at the beach that seem lost as hell. But anyway, if you’re self-conscious about the smell thing, let me just say your perfume beats anything I’ve smelled on this island.”

Kiernan grinned. Internally, I sighed in relief. It seemed like whether they were 5’2” or 186 feet tall, talking to women of different statures was the same. She rested her chin back down on her folded hands and really examined me with her radiant brown eyes. I heard the jungle snapping and crunching as she shifted her weight and lifted her feet up in the air. Behind her head, I could see the soles of her hiking boots swaying back and forth. I saw two-foot-wide tree trunks mangled and wedged into the treads of her boots. I couldn’t stop staring as she crossed her legs at the ankle and casually displayed the result of her apocalyptic walk with a gentle sway.

"Are all downsizers this charming, or did I just get lucky with my stalker?" One side of her lips rose upwards.

“Hmm, I’m more of an ‘adventurer’ than ‘stalker.’ And to answer your question, most downsizers like to lock themselves up in their community and never interact with a human. Me, on the other hand, would rather get out there and interact with humans. I find charming a human as exciting as taming a lion.”

“Don’t you mean lioness?” she asked with a tilt of her head and a mischievous gleam in her eye.

“Yeah …” Her cuteness overloaded my senses, and I just stood there, staring up at her, all starstruck. 

“So this smelly lioness has a question for you—what are you doing out here?”

“I told you—I came out looking for you.”

“Really? Not afraid my claws might pounce on a defenseless downsizer in the middle of nowhere?” Kiernan lifted her right hand with all five digits pointed at me like she was going to paw at me. She made a high-pitched rawr sound that only someone with her youthfulness and loveable personality could make. 

I stood my ground, giddy on the inside, but with a confident veneer on the outside. “I’m not afraid! Not when I got my trusty bullwhip by my side.” I felt around my hip and acted like I misplaced something. “Where the fuck did my whip go? Have you seen it?”

“Nothing to defend yourself with?” 

If my eyes were closed, I would’ve practically heard the smile in her speech. 

“Now’s my chance!” she said with another kitten’s roar. 

Her hands pounced towards me like a cobra strike. Her hands were large enough to comfortably palm an SUV. Having such a gigantic object come barreling towards me at the speed of a high-speed train made my heart pound in my chest like a madman in a padded room. My body’s instincts took over, and I jumped backwards, almost missing her fingers.

I guess she misjudged her gesture and my inability to react fast, like an insect or rodent. Her index and middle finger forked around my body. Her middle finger brushed against my side in slow-motion. I placed my hands on top of the first knuckle of her middle finger like I was taming a wild stallion and looked up at her. We locked eyes. 

The touch was electrifying. 

My God, even magnified thirty-six times over. Her creamy skin was smooth and yielding, but contained more strength than my entire body combined. I felt myself holding her finger in place by my hip. This moment lasted maybe a second? But it felt like time froze over. She didn’t remove her finger until I let go.

I wanted to ask if she felt what I felt, but she spoke up before I had a chance.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to touch you like that.”

Please don’t say that! “You’re lucky I was unarmed! If I had my whip, imagine the stinging pain you’d have on your hand right now!”

“Oh, I’ve been bitten by a mosquito before; I can imagine.”

I lost it and laughed loudly, her joining me a second later.

“We’ll have to find you a whip,” she said. “But you have to promise me you’ll be careful with such a dangerous weapon.”

“Well, if you behave, I wouldn’t have to whip ya, now would I?” I held out my hands and cocked my head. 

“Don’t threaten me with a good time.” I saw her bite her lower lip. I felt my face flush and my heart ache for her. “What’s your name, tiny adventurer?”

“Ellis.”

“Nice to meet you, Ellis. My name is Kie—”

“Kiernan. I know.”

“And you said you aren't a stalker?”

I laughed. “It’s on your nametag!”

She furrowed her brows in a confused gesture before looking down at her shirt giving me the briefest glimpse of her cleavage. 

“Ah! Made you look,” I said in an exaggerated voice while pointing at her.

She had that look that was between humored and embarrassed. When she noticed my eyes were looking down at her chest, she gave me a smug smirk. I swear she held up her upper-body a little longer than necessary so I could get a really good look before setting back down on the ground. 

“Nice one,” she said. “But c’mon, how’d you know my name?”

“The other giants mentioned it before I ran looking for you,” I said. “Hey, don’t get mad at me—I want to team up with you. Help you explore the island and stuff.”

“I’m not mad. But you do know a downsizer would slow me down, right?”

“Au contraire mon ami, I can be a gigantic help to you, Kiernan.”

She lowered her chin back on her folded hands and leaned closer to me. She seemed … content. Not annoyed by my presence but interested. “I’ll bite. Tell me how you can help me and not slow me down.”

Shoot. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I could sense Kiernan was having a fun time with me and wanted to hear more of what I had to say. She made it easy, after all. Talking to Kiernan was like talking to a friend I’ve known all my life. The words came out effortlessly earlier, with me almost—almost—forgetting I was the size of a shot glass to her.

“Well, uh,” I stammered as her eyes bore down on me. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she liked my slight show of jitters. “Well, you need me to come exploring with you. Don’t you know what they say about downsized explorers?”

“No, what do they say?”

“‘The smaller the explorer, the bigger the discoveries.’” 

“I’ve never heard that before.”

“Really? I’ve read it in a scientific journal. Or was it a book? … could’ve been a Tumblr post—actually, I remember! I just made it up, just now. But remind me to post this on my blog when we get off this island. My tens of viewers will love it!” 

Her smile was so fucking infectious. As her lips parted to show me her perfect rows of teeth as large as couch cushions, I couldn’t help but smile back at her. A pattering of soft giggles escaped her as she regarded me.

“Okay. Yeah, I am exploring the island. Maybe you could bring me some luck with your big discoveries.”

“Oh, for sure. Think of me as your lucky rabbit’s foot.”

“Ooo, I can tie you up and keep you around my waistband like a keychain.”

Bouncing against your short-shorts and your supple legs? Oh, fuck yeah, please, please. I’ll fucking do it! “I mean, I guess you could do that.”

“Other than acting as a good luck charm, what else can you help me with?” she asked, listing her head to one side.

“Wait, are you interviewing me?”

“Sounds like it.” She giggled. “I have a position opened for one adventurer. But I gotta tell ya—not looking so hot for you right now.”

“Ah, so you’re looking for some qualifications.” I cleared my throat and adjusted my non-existent tie around my neck. “Well, I work too hard. I have excellent attention to detail. I can see stuff that you, as a giant, can’t see. Also, I don’t mind working on weekends.”

“Good to know!” she said, her voice dropping to a softer, warmer tone. “Because I like to see just how much my little employees can … handle.”

“I see. Well, Kiernan, I have a few interview questions myself. One—”

She moved faster than I could react. Before I knew it, she set an index finger in front of me, her digit sinking into the dirt. Her finger alone was as long as I was tall. I looked at all the wrinkles and creases on her finger, each one telling a story. Her bare fingernails were pristine and reflective like a matte painting. I wasn’t sure what her intentions were with putting her finger down, but it shut me up. The simple gesture conveyed so much power that it had me wondering if I was downsized or if she was a giant.

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t finished asking my interview questions.”

“My apologies.” I bowed my head.

“So polite, thank you! Okay, okay, tell me … This tiny island isn’t challenging for me to explore on my own. So what can you do that I can’t?”

“Well, you just said it. Tiny island!” I paced side to side, her eyes following me like a portrait. “We find a cave that’s too small for you but big enough for me. You send me in, and I can report back what I find.”

“Spelunking?” She tapped her chin with a finger.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m sure I can fit into tight spaces that even your fingers can’t get into.”

Her face turned a shade of red from embarrassment. “You’re telling me … you can reach places my fingers can’t?”

“I like how you put it,” I said. “Spelunking. Like those wet caves, too. I don’t get claustrophobic, so I can crawl deep inside with no problem.”

She wiped beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Her lips looked parch with how much she was licking them. She looked away and tried to compose herself. Clearing her throat, she said, “That’s a … haha. That’s a really specific skill, Ellis.”

“Really?” I placed my hands on my hip. “But you think that could help you out, right? Like if you get in a jam or you’re trying to scratch that itch … of exploring a cave you can’t reach. I bet it would be maddening not being able to do it yourself—and then you’d wish I was around! Because I told you: tight, wet caves don’t bother me. I can hold my breath long, too! Look. Count when I take a breath.”

“Ellis!” She smiled from ear-to-ear. “I-I get the point.”

“You do? That’s awesome. Because I loved exploring caves as a kid. Stalagmites and stalactites are so cool to encounter. Bats and other creatures don’t bother me either.”

“Wait, are you really talking about caves?”

“Um, yeah. What are you talking about?”

She was beet red. She pursed her lips and looked so embarrassed that it took all my willpower not to burst out laughing.

“Nothing,” she said. “I was hoping you were—oh, never mind.”

Hoping? My next words were a gamble, but I went with my gut. “My skills are transferable, Kiernan. Buy me dinner and a drink, and I’m sure there are some personal caves I could explore with you.”

Kiernan’s eyes twinkled as she hooked her hair behind her right ear. She didn’t say a word as she looked down at me with playful curiosity. I no longer felt nervous, nor did I doubt myself. I trusted my gut, and I was rewarded with meeting such a wonderful woman.

“I think I’ll hire you, Ellis.” Her tremendous voice, which could rattle the glass windows on a skyscraper, no longer intimidated me but comforted me. “For a probationary period. It wouldn’t hurt to have a little downsizer with me, keeping me company, exploring stuff I can’t reach. … Maybe some other things.”

“You won’t regret it!”

“I don’t think I will,” she said with a tender smile. “Okay, but here’s the deal, Ellis.” Her tone changed to almost business-like. “You’re going to tag along with me, but I think I walk faster than you.”

“I’ll say.”

“Instead of waiting on you, I think I should carry you with me—but only if you’re cool with it.”

“I am.”

“Wait!” she said with a giggle. “You don’t even know if I have an MHIP or not.”

It was my turn to laugh. “I don’t think that matters on a deserted island! I give you all my consent, Kiernan. Snatch me up and tie me to your belt like you said earlier. I’m cool with that.”

“You’re not a little accessory. I’ll carry you in my hand. Oh wait, hang on, my back hurts from lying like this.”

She lowered her legs onto the jungle. Snapping timber and tons of earth being bulldozed under her filled my ears. I could smell the fresh bark and wet roots of trees fill the air as Kiernan pushed herself up to a seated position. Her bare right leg swung over my head and landed beside me while she bent her other leg so that the sole of her left foot pointed at her thigh.

Both her hands grabbed her shimmering hair and pulled it back, her fingers taking a moment to scratch her scalp. And I stood in the middle of it all. Her left ankle in front of me, her right thigh to my left. Her statuesque body rising above the canopy of trees like a lost ancient monument. Was I supposed to drop to my knees? Because to me, she was Aphrodite in the flesh.

In the background, tree branches fell after giving up from Kiernan’s destructive body. I felt a slight breeze, coated in her sweaty scent, hit me. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t affect me. I felt myself becoming … excited as her presence assaulted my senses.

“I’ve passed my MHIP with flying colors and I’ve held my old college roommate when I visited her downsize community, Little La Jolla, in San Diego,” she said. “I’ve been told I’m an excellent downsize holder.”

“The interview is over, Kiernan,” I said. “You don’t have to prove anything. I give you my consent.”

“I know, but without our phones to verify my MHIP, how can you trust me?”

I shrugged. “Going with my gut.”

She gave me a side-eye look while she fished for something in her backpack that she brought to her side. A mattress-sized red scrunchie appeared in her hands. She pulled her bleached blonde hair back and made a ponytail in a few moves.

“Your gut ever steer you wrong?” she asked. A single errant lock of hair fell over her right eye. A single hurricane-force puff of air pushed it over to the side of her pretty face.

“I got good instincts,” I said, puffing out my chest and giving her a smirk. “May I ask what you do, Kiernan?”

“I’m an environmental scientist,” she said, hunching over and resting her hands on her lap.

“See, my instincts were right about you! I could tell you care about others and the nature that surrounds us.”

She laughed. “You got that from my occupation?”

“Kinda like a doctor, no? Why become an environmental scientist if you didn’t care about things bigger than you?”

“Well, at the moment, nothing seems bigger than me.” She lowered her hand and placed it next to me.

I snorted.

“What?” she asked with a smile, wanting to get in on the joke.

“Environmental scientist … You just destroyed this ecosystem by lying down.”

She rolled her eyes and slightly shook her head. “Might seem like that, but it doesn’t hurt to promote new growth by taking out some of these older vegetations. New flora will grow, accelerated by the nutrients left over by their brethren, taken down by little ol’ me.”

“Nice.” I nodded and looked around me. “Hey, since this stuff is up your alley. Do you know why everything is small compared to you? Not like a downsizing machine did this.”

“Hmm.” She pouted as her eyes looked up and to the side.

“Do you think there are animals on this island?”

Kiernan lowered her right hand until it was by my side as an invitation. I looked at the massive whorls that made up her palm print like a pattern on an arcade carpet. At our scale differences, I could see invisible details like the nicks and scratches from the past few days. Over at the digit of her pinkie was a white line cutting through her lovely print like a river through a forest. The cut was in the later stages of healing and probably caused by something inconsequential but would’ve been a huge gash were it on me.

I guessed Kiernan had some sunblock in her bag, because of her hand’s scent profile. It was that unmistakable clinical smell of sunblock, laced with coconut and other tropical flavorings, topped with oils. But there was another smell. I looked up at Kiernan’s cute face as I took a deep breath through my nose. I began to recognize and pick out her scent from everything going on in my surroundings. It was uniquely Kiernan. A fire lit under my pants the more I looked and absorbed her scent.

The biggest urban legend I heard growing up is how disgusted downsizers get by humans because of how everything is magnified. Their appearance is grotesque, their smells are overpowering, and downsizers catch them doing embarrassing shit all the time like picking their nose.

None of those urban legends applied to Kiernan.

I placed my palm on her thumb. She let me push it back and examine it with my eyes. I couldn’t get past being amazed by her print. Baby zebras recognize their mothers through the black and white patterns on their coats. I thought I was already at the point where I’d recognize Kiernan just from her thumb print because of how personal I made it.

“I can feel your heartbeat,” I said to her.

Under my hands, I could feel the thrum-thrum, pause, thrum-thrum of her heart pumping millions of gallons of her warm blood. I never let go of her hand as I walked to her palm, like a car enthusiast feeling the curves of a red sports car on his way to the driver’s seat. She was so fucking big. Jumping onto her palm was like jumping on a stack of four mattresses. I rolled over until my ass was dead center.

It was like the anticipation you get before riding a thrilling roller coaster. I sat there with no restraints in the palm of a giant I—foolishly?—placed all my trust in. I gave Kiernan a nod, and she lifted me up to her face. It was a smooth elevator ride up, so smooth that I hardly felt any gravitational forces on the ride up.

“I can see you better now.” The blast from her breath swept my long hair back.

“I’m beating your expectations, huh?”

She scrunched up her face. “I was hoping you’d be taller.”

“And I thought you’d be shorter. I guess we both catfished each other, huh?”

“Yeah, but I feel like I got the short end of the stick.”

“You got the short end of the stick?” I asked with an exaggerated gesture. “Look at me. If you want to end the date, you can just throw me over your shoulder. If I want to end the date—I don’t. Unless I want to get stepped on.” I laughed, but she frowned.

“Ellis, I would never hurt you or any other downsizer. Wait,” she said, her tone changing, “You want to go on a date with me?”

“Absolutely. I know this nice place by the lake.”

“Bold of you to assume I’d say yes. As your employer, I’d say it’s a conflict of interest dating your big boss.”

“And I’d say nuts to that!”

“You got a point.”

-

Kiernan wore her backpack as she meandered around the island. Despite her being a giant compared to the miniature island; it was still fairly large. Just from my perspective and from what I could see, I’d say it was at least the size of three football fields to Kiernan. There were hills, mountain ranges, a volcano or two, forests, jungles, arid spots, fields, and so on.

Some mountains made Kiernan look small in comparison. The way they jutted out from the island and soared high as impassable cliffs gave them a look of beauty and danger. Kiernan had to walk around these.

“Put me down over there!” I shouted over the sounds of trees, ferns, and bushes crumpling under her hiking boots and pointed at something of interest near the tree line.

Kiernan squatted and set me down with as much grace as a duck gliding into a pond. I jumped off and examined some broken, low-hanging branches and bushes that were disturbed. I grabbed a stick and poked at the ground, my discovery making me smile.

“Kiernan, I found pig shit.”

“Huh?” She sounded so cute.

“Scat. Look! Actually, it’s really small, and you won’t see it, but it’s there! There are probably boars on this island. But—my size.” I tossed the stick down and scratched my head. “What the fuck?” I looked up at her. “Kiernan … I think you’re a giant.”

She shrugged, seemingly not caring about the revelation. “We don’t know that.”

“But … is this some kind of anomaly? Machines can’t shrink things and animals. They can only do humans.”

She lowered her hand back down for me. Without a word, I climbed back on, already feeling the immediate comfort of her presence.

“I think we can deal with all that later,” she said, standing tall again. “We found water and wildlife we can hunt. I think we should tell the others that surviving here is very possible.”

“Damn …”

“Whatsup?”

I looked up at her. She cocked her head and had her massive eyes trained on me. “How many do you think it’ll take?”

“What do you mean?”

“How many boars will it take to make your lunch?”

She giggled. “I might have to find a different food source. I’m interested in not starving, but I can’t wipe out a species on this island for my lunch!”

I don’t know why, but that statement from her hit me hard.

We walked towards the beach where all this began, with her making a quick stop at the lake to refill her water bottle. During the walk back, following her earlier footprints, I told Kiernan to freeze, which she did. She brought her palm close to her face when she noticed I was tracking something in the jungle, and she wanted to align her eyes with mine.

“There,” I said while pointing my hand out. “Do you see it?”

“Where?” She brought her palm even closer to her face. She looked down at my extended arm like the iron sights on a rifle.

“Wild boars. Right there! A whole mess of them that can help feed—”

I turned around to show Kiernan excitedly but misjudged how close she was. My face—my body—slammed into her lips. They weren’t puffed up or waiting for a kiss or anything like that; she was just that close. But when I felt her upper lip against my face, my lips, of their own accord, kissed her back.

They were the softest part of her body I’ve felt yet.

My face sank into hers. Her red supple lips enveloping my face like a cushioned mask. Her distinctive taste and smell overwhelmed me again, leaving me intoxicated. Essence pure de Kiernan, I repeated in my head. If it was a perfume, it would sell millions.

I broke off the kiss in a second. “Kiernan, I’m sorry. It was an accident.”

She made a cutesy frown. “I'd prefer it if it wasn’t an accident.”

“C-can w-we … umm. If you don’t mind, can we try that again?”

I hardly got my words out before she puckered her thick, juicy lips and smothered me again. I pushed back with my body, but her simply squeezing her lips together shoved me off my feet. On my back, her hand tilted, and she kissed me passionately. Lips larger than a doorway kissed every inch of my body. I fought back with my lips and face. Her parted lips released a dam of saliva that coated parts of me like syrup from a maple tree. I transferred some of my saliva onto her lips, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to her slathering kiss.

When she pulled back from the kiss, she was licking her lips and looked down at me with lust-filled eyes. I grabbed a glob of her spit that was on my chest and squeezed it between my fingers while I stared back at her.

“I gotta say, this is the weirdest first-day employee orientation I’ve ever participated in.” I said, leaning back in her palm with my hands behind my head. “Can’t wait for the ethics section of the orientation.”

“It’s right after the confined spaces safety brief,” she said, licking her bottom lip.

I laughed. “I hope you make that briefing entertaining, otherwise I might sleep through it. Practical examples go a long way, Kiernan.”

She blushed! She cleared her throat and said, “Maybe we’ll do it some other time.”

-

Kiernan told the other giants about the discovery of the lake and boars on the island. The hundreds of downsizers scattered across the beach seemed to be relieved by the discovery.

Sebastion, the male giant, said, “Good to hear. We found emergency rations in the downsizer transport carriers. It’ll only last a day, so this is good news. For us humans, I got like a dozen protein bars.”

“Gross,” Fleur said. She was immense, like the man. Maybe only five feet (in my perspective) shorter than he was. The black giant woman wore only jean shorts and an orange bikini top. “We need to find better food. I can’t live off those things.”

“We will,” Seb said. “But they provide the calories we need. He produced a vanilla bar for her in his hands. She begrudgingly accepted.

“Thanks!” Kiernan said, taking another bar from Seb.

The giant eyed me for a second, like he was trying to figure out who I was. I hated that fucking look. I also hated him looking at Kiernan the way he did.

“We’ll figure out how to hunt those boars tomorrow,” Seb said. “I’m sure it’ll be a lot easier to catch them ourselves versus the downsizers.”

“If they want to eat,” Fleur said, “they can hunt their own damn pigs.”

“C’mon, Fleur. It’ll take no time to help them out.”

“Then you do it,” she said.

Seb sighed and nodded. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

-

“What do you think about that giant woman?” I asked Kiernan.

We moved down the beach away from the riff-raff. They had a few bonfires going at the main beach, while Kiernan and I had our own. I sat next to the fire, close to Kiernan’s hip.

“Um, I don’t know. I’ve hardly talked to her.”

“She seems kinda … ornery.”

“Well, I know nothing about her,” she said. “But I always assume the goodness in people first before making opinions. She’s probably stressed about—oh, I don’t know—being stranded on a mysterious island and having to take care of herself and hundreds of downsizers. I’ll give her some more time before I draw opinions about her.”

“Holy shit.”

“What?” she asked, tearing apart her protein bar with her teeth.

“That’s just a really mature, observant thing to say.”

“Scientist, remember? Just my thought process.”

She took a bite of the protein bar and lowered it to me. I grabbed one end of the bar, its width longer than my torso, and took a bite. My face fit inside the groove carved out by Kiernan’s front incisor tooth.

With a chewing mouth, I asked, “And that dude? What do you think about him?”

She shrugged. “Seems like a natural leader to me, so far.”

“Do you like him?”

“Like him?” she asked, looking down at me with a cocked head. “Why would I—oh, wait … don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

“‘Jealous?’ Ha!”

She covered her mouth as she giggled. “It’s okay. You can tell me.”

“I’m not. But competing with a guy that’s over 200 feet tall …”

“There’s no competition! I’m flattered you think there is, but there’s none. Mixed-sized relationships are where it’s at.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course! You know how easy it’ll be to shut you up if you make me mad?” she asked with a huge grin before lowering the bar for me to take another bite. “And if you’re mad at me, one sniff of my shoes, and you’ll be docile as a baby turtle.”

“Ah. So you like the power you have over me.”

“It’s just a joke, Ellis.”

“What do you mean by ‘sniffing your shoes?’ You got a kink I should know about?” I grinned.

“Pheromones.”

“Phera-what?”

“Pheromones?” she asked. “You don’t know about pheromones?”

Was that one of those urban legends I’ve heard about? I tried running back through my memory, but I came up empty-handed. It made me wonder if Kiernan was trying to fuck with me.

“I guess not,” I asked. “What is it?”

“Oh. Chemicals that animals ‘smell’ in different ways than typical smells. Essentially, animals give off pheromones and animals in the same species pick up on the smell with another organ in their body. Notice how I say animals and not humans?”

“Sure?”

“Well, humans still have that organ to pick up pheromones in our nose, but it stopped working thousands of years ago. Thus, pheromones and humans aren’t a thing.”

“And this is the part where you talk about downsizers, huh?”

“Something about the downsizing process activates your ability to pick up on pheromones. That little dormant organ in your nose becomes alert and picks up on human pheromones. And it only works with the smells that come off certain humans and not other downsizers. Fascinating, huh?”

“You’re pulling my leg!” I said, not believing her for a second. “What do these pheromones do?”

“You want to find out?” She smiled.

“Will it hurt?”

She laughed. “No. But it will make you really attached to me.”

“You’re not saying the reason I’m attracted to you because of your smell, are you?”

“Oh, my God!” She looked up at the orange sky as the sun set on the horizon. In the warm colors of the approaching evening and the dancing firelight, she looked breathtaking. “If I stink, you have to tell me.”

I grinned. “You don’t stink, Kiernan.”

“Okay, good.” She shook her head. “But from what I understand, pheromones will make you instantly attracted to me—but like in an animalistic sort of way. You hiking through the jungle, stalking me, joking with me—that was all you. And to be honest, I don’t know if I have pheromones since it’s sort of hit or miss.”

Her massive body pivoted underneath her butt as she turned to face me. Her right boot came crashing down in front of me, with the toe-section only an arm’s length away from me. Sand from the beach mounded around her soles as she shifted her bodyweight. Embers from the bonfire floated between me and Kiernan’s foot, disappearing like fireflies as they illuminated her weathered footwear.

“Want to find out if I got pheromones?” Her smile lit up the night sky.

“How exactly?”

“Smell my feet.”

“Give you something good to eat …? I don’t get it.”

She laughed. “I’ve been sweating in these all day. If I got pheromones, they’re going to be most potent on my—”

“I knew it!” I interrupted her. “You’re fucking with me! You just want to trick me into sniffing your feet!”

She rolled her eyes.

“I’m not.” She removed her boot from me. “But I’m a little disappointed. I thought you were a brave adventurer. I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do, so just forget it.”

“Wait, wait …” I made a gesture with my hand to bring her boot back. “Did you just call me a ‘stalker’ earlier?”

“Kind of a delayed reaction.” She brought her boot back and set in the footprint she created earlier in the sand.

“I’ll do this highly scientific experiment with you, Kiernan, so long as you promise not to call me a ‘stalker’ again.”

“Deal!” she said in a giddy tone. She was about to undo her bootlace with both hands but stopped. “Hey, want to try untying my shoe?”

“Sure, why not?”

I climbed over the toe section of the boot and navigated around the laces like rungs on an obstacle course. She double knotted her laces, so I went to work loosening the first knot. I wasn’t out of shape, but I lost my breath trying to undo the outer knot. I think I would’ve had an easier time at the docks, messing with ropes that tied down ships.

Once I got it loose enough, I could shove the lace through the loop and pull it on the other side. Because of how small—scratch that—because how fucking huge she was, I found it easier to grab one-end of the knot and pull on it like a fireman pulls a hose out of a firetruck. I had the lace over my shoulder and walked the length of her boot, undoing the knot completely.

I ran back up and did the same with the other lace. While I struggled, Kiernan rested her chin on her knee and watched me from above in silence. I finished untying her boot, and I hoped that’s all she wanted for me. If she expected me to loosen—

“Okay, now loosen the laces.”

I sighed.

“Anything wrong?” she asked in a warm tone.

“Just need to catch my breath.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it.” Her index finger made a hook and then worked on pulling each pair of lace from her boots. I had to stand back as she loosened all the strands and then pulled back the tongue of her boot.

I jumped off her boot; a little stunned by how high that jump was. My ankles were not expecting that kind of fall. I turned back in time to see Kiernan pulling out her sock-clad foot from her boot. She wasn’t kidding about the sweat. Her white cotton sock was damp and adhered to her foot like a pair of stockings.

“I’m a little excited, are you?” she asked as she hooked a finger into the lip of her sock.

I shrugged.

She peeled off her sock all the way off. Floating bits of cotton getting mixed in from the embers of our fire. Once her sock was off, she brought it to her nose and winced.

“If this doesn’t work, I apologize in advance,” she said with a giggle. She balled her sock and stuffed it into her boot. “Now, take a big whiff, and don’t stop until you fill your lungs.”

“I swear, if this is an elaborate prank,” I said, “then bravo!” I clapped.

She brought her foot down so that her heel dug into the sand and formed a crater. She leveled off her toes, so they matched the height of my face. Wiggling them, I could see them glistening in the light of the fire. Cotton balls stuck to her toes littered her otherwise immaculate foot. I walked over and looked at her big toe intently. Again, those whorls that made up her toe print fascinated me. Tiny details I’ve never thought about when I was a human. With her toes splayed, I held my breath and walked between the crevice between her big and second toe. I leaned in, exhaled, then did what she instructed me to do. I breathed in until I filled my lungs.

-

The smell hit the center of my brain, fogging it and creating a new reality for me. I saw Kiernan in ways I fantasized about, but hadn’t even realized I’d been fantasizing about.

A Grecco white robe, golden arm jewelry, bracelets, rings, and necklaces. The robe was hemmed to show off her cleavage and split down her left leg, showing off her silky long leg.

She sat on a throne and had her legs crossed, her bare feet dangling high above. I say “high above” because she was big. Not 186 feet tall. I mean big. Fucking big. Thousands of feet tall, sitting in a throne with massive Greek columns around, supporting nothing. Were we up in the clouds? The ground was misty white and the sky bare blue. There was a single wall behind her, adorned with a painting of her and golden statues beside the throne.

Down on the floor, in front of her throne and bare feet, were millions of mortals. We were bowing and worshiping her as she regarded us with a tender smile. A red carpet that went down the center of this open-air concept throne room was the size of a sixteen lane highway. There were no worshipers on this carpet.

Except me.

“Come forward, Ellis.” Her voice rattled the marble columns, causing them to quake and make sounds like stones rolling down a mountain. Our ears would’ve ruptured by the tremendous volume of her voice, but somehow—by her will alone—they simply didn’t.

I walked down the red carpet towards her feet. The surrounding mortals were envious that I won favor with Kiernan. Out of anyone she could’ve picked—gods or mortals—she chose me.

I knew I was lucky. I won the jackpot, and I would not fuck it up. My feet carried me to her toe, which was twice my height. She stood up, giving all of us vertigo from the impossibility of her height. In a blink, she shrunk down to match my height. Well, not quite. She was still taller.

“I have one simple command for you,” she whispered in my ear.

“Anything.”

She licked my earlobe before continuing. The humidity of her voice filling my ear canal. “Make love to me—and don’t be gentle.”

A bed materialized behind her. She jumped back and pulled her white robe away from her legs, revealing she was wearing no underwear. I was harder than a diamond. I crawled over the bed on my knees between her legs and leaned in for a kiss.

She smacked my outer thigh. “Don’t be gentle!”

I obeyed my Kiernan. I grabbed both her shoulders and shoved her into the mattress. Her hands undid my pants and then pulled them down, freeing my cock. Without ceremony, I entered her excited pussy and fucked her with wild abandon.

I didn’t care that we had an audience, nor did I care what they thought. The moment was for me and Kiernan. My arms wrapped around her back as I pulled her close to my body. My hips thrusted hard into her, the smacking of my balls against her echoing in the throne room. Though she scaled done, her thunderous moans shook the ground and our bones.

I loved everything about her. The absolute power she had. The way she respected me. Her awesome personality and humor. She was too good to be true. And there was no one I wanted to ever be with, except Kiernan.

-

I humped, rubbing my penis against her. My arms holding her for dear life. Later, I would learn that my high from her pheromones was coming down at that moment. The fantasy world created around me faded to reveal I was back at the beach. One more hump was all it took to make me come. Over a week’s worth of cum shot out of me in countless ropes.

When I pulled myself back, I saw what had happened. I was fucking Kiernan’s finger. And I was naked.

“What the fuck?”

I pushed myself back and fell on my ass. There was a stain on her index finger where I ejaculated. My arms were wrapped around her finger, and that pleasurable sensation from earlier was me rubbing my cock against the wrinkly skin of her middle knuckle.

I was humiliated and ashamed beyond words. Naked and humping her finger like a dog humps their owner’s leg. I couldn’t bear to look up at Kiernan, but I did with a hopeless look of shame on my face. What I saw surprised me. She wasn’t angry, embarrassed, or shy. She gave me a wink and held a smirk on her lips.

Kiernan lifted her finger up to her mouth and licked up the mess I left on the knuckle of her index finger. She moaned Mmmm as her eyes never left me.

“Kiernan, I’m so fucking sorry.”

“Why?”

“I-I …”

“Did you have a good time?”

“I …” My words were stuck in my throat.

She giggled. “My conclusion is that, yes, I do have pheromones. Furthermore, my little hot subject is susceptible to them.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Far from it.”

Kiernan adjusted herself and laid her long body on her side along the beach, with her face in front of me. She rested her head on her arm and let out an infectious yawn that I mimed a second later.

“It was interesting to watch you,” Kiernan said. “Your tongue licking my toes tickled me. You then tore off your clothes like they were on fire.” She giggled. “What was it like for you?”

“Incredible,” I said, collapsing on the ground. I grabbed my discarded shirt and formed a pillow out of it. I didn’t care about hiding my nudity. The warm Pacific breeze coupled with the heat of the bonfire kept me warm enough. “Kiernan, did you want me to—”

“You’re tired, and so am I,” she whispered. Her finger came down and stroked the side of my leg.

“But I don’t want to leave you hanging.” I tried fighting against another yawn, but it won out and escaped my lips.

I didn’t need to look over to know she was grinning. “You’re not. And tomorrow is another day.”

My eyelids felt heavy and my vision slowly faded. “Oh, right.” I yawned again. “I need that confined spaces safety brief, huh?”

“Oh, yeah.” This time she yawned. “Something tells me I’ll get you spun up real quick.”

We fell asleep together to the sounds of the crashing waves and crackling fire.