Not A Toy 120

The force of realization could have knocked both women off their feet.

Sophie was dumbfounded. Not a sensation she often dabbled in, a carousel of emotions, anxieties, questions, answers all spun into a blur.

Nathalie was experiencing a similar kind of whirlwind. The suspected adolescent that had answered the door was none other than Sophie Shaw! Albeit different than she remembered her... Nathalie had expected a lot when she decided to go to her co-worker and friend's home but this was not among them.

The carousels in their minds came to a grinding halt.

"Sophie, you're... small!" Came the now-taller woman's shocked voice.

"Nathalie, your hair!" Sophie exclaimed; her own mind was so startled that this was what she blurted out.

The shrunken scientist almost winced at her absurd comment, and Nathalie reflected that same sentiment - moving past it, the dwindled woman reached out, panicked, and took hold of Nathalie's arm - her fingers not able to wrap around its entirety.

"Hey!" Nathalie stammered.

Expending more force than she expected, the redhead dragged her friend inside - it was bad enough she had sleepily forgotten about her self-imposed reduction, but opening the door onto the street in such a state was less than ideal. Plus, Nathalie was here! Sophie had questions.

Nathalie stumbled inside, now doubly surprised and spun on the spot. Sophie didn't hesitate and slammed the door behind them, nearly collapsing against it.

The redhead looked up at her friend, trying to ignore their new height difference. Her heavy breathing filled the silence before Nathalie broke it.

"Sophie... What the fuck?! Look at yourself! I'm going to need an explanation!"

The disgruntled scientist felt irritation rising in her - stoked perhaps by the fact that she was looking up at her co-worker. "Listen, it's not anything for you to worry about. What're you doing here anyway?"

Nathalie shook her head. "Oh no, no way. You're not making this about me. I covered for you, for crying out loud. I did that because we're friends, and I was sure you had some kind of plan - was using that thing on yourself to end up kid-sized part of it?!"

Sophie's anger grew - in part because she knew Nathalie had a point, last night was an indulgence to be sure. Faced with someone who made her aware of that, made the redhead feel even smaller than she was.

"Well?!" Nathalie said, looking down at her colleague, confused and angered.

Sophie groaned through gritted teeth. "I just wanted to see... No, forget about it, okay? You covered for me, that was very kind, but now you don't need to worry. I'm going to take care of things, got it?" Her tone was impatient. The shrunken scientist pushed herself off the door and stormed past her friend.

Nathalie rolled her eyes at Sophie's insolence. "Oh c'mon, I didn't exactly pay for your lunch or buy you a coffee, I put my job on the line!"

The shrunken woman kept walking, and the taller woman kept talking, following the dwindled redhead. "I never expected you to do something so rash, Sophie! If I had known you had taken that thing so you could do this with it, I wouldn't have helped you! I thought you were doing this for a good reason - we both know what's at stake here! You seriously think you can take their device and..."

That hit a nerve, Sophie's impatience and frustration was rising - rising taller than her small size. "Its not their device!" She yelled, whirling on the spot. So overcome with anger, she forgot her size and expected to be looking down on her dark-haired friend.

Instead though, she was face to face with Nathalie's chest. The little woman's eyes trailing up her friend's much larger form. This was the first time Sophie had been forced to reckon with her stature in such a way. It had been one thing to gallivant about her home in the dark of night, but another entirely to be 'face to face' with an adult. Her anger suddenly felt less potent, her conviction less realized. Was this how the two much smaller women in her study felt...?

Nathalie could see the shift in Sophie's eyes, and the bigger woman stood there, looming over the scientist. At work, the redhead was a higher rank, but Nathalie was suddenly finding her superior's anger less than intimidating.

There was a pause, and Nathalie continued. "You realize you look pretty silly, right?"

Sophie twisted her lips, they quivered unbidden. "...Yes."

Nathalie took a breath. "You seriously decided to use that thing on yourself? It's never been tested on a human, Sophie. Thats so unlike you... You were always the one pushing to wait for human testing..."

The dwindled woman's eyes darted, she swallowed nervously. She felt Nathalie's gaze boring into her, her brown eyes narrowing...