Not A Toy 117

Maisie swung her legs up onto the doll's bed, concerns around modesty faded since her makeshift bath. The younger brunette pondered the teacher's question. 'What was Sophie doing?'

The graduate shrugged. "Finishing off the bottle of wine? Watching TV? Falling asleep on the couch? What does it matter?"

Jenna peeled herself off the bedframe, whirling on her younger 'roommate'.

"What if this was all part of her plan? What if she's texting some buyer of shrunken people and we're just the next purchases?" Her voice sounding frantic, but it carried of note of coercion - as if trying to instil Maisie with the same anxieties.

Maisie couldn't help but smirk. "God, your brain." She said, almost amazed, as she leaned forward. "Does she really strike you as someone with a grand plan? So, what you're saying is she intentionally left the device for me to find - knowing I'd be going for the job interview - that I'd shrink myself, and that you'd shrink yourself, and that we'd be unable to..."

Jenna cut her off. "Okay, okay, I get it." She said flatly, realizing the dread narrative she was concocting held little weight in reality. "More tired than I thought, I guess."

Maisie's more optimistic position was driven by a kind of self-preservation by contrast. She found refuge by trying to off-set Jenna's frustration and panic. All that considered, the shrunken woman had no desire to stay this way, nor did she have a great deal of trust in their giant-sized captor and would-be saviour, especially after their treatment.

Maisie continued. "Besides, once we're back to normal we can probably take Sophie or whoever for quite a bit of cash if they want us to stay quiet."

"Thinking ahead, are we?" pried Jenna.

"Well, I'm sleeping what I assume is a shoebox and a plastic bed so what else am I going to do?"

The teacher glared at her younger companion, deciding not to voice her fear that trying to blackmail someone who owned a shrink ray could be a very dangerous game. The older woman decided she was finally tired of this back and forth.

"...Is that thing comfy?" She motioned to the bed.

"Oh, this?" She patted the object, the sound of plastic escaping into the quiet. "Not even a little bit."

Jenna groaned and began slowly disrobing the stiff garment from her dwindled form.

Maisie grinned at the sight. "You know, when we spoke on the phone - I didn't expect to eventually be seeing you strip down in a doll's dress, Jenna."

The teacher glared, abandoning her own modesty as well. "Very funny." She threw the dress over the rim of the box, happy to be free of the rigid attire. "Keep up those jokes and you won't be getting the job."

Maisie was glad to see the older woman not entirely bereft of a sense of humor. "So... this is all part of the interview?"

Jenna had her limits though. "Would you move over?"