Not A Toy 095

The scientist was delighted.

Staring upon her own success like this was beyond exhilarating. One of the most incredible breakthroughs in scientific history was standing right in front of her. Albeit wearing a doll's dress and looking less than pleased... Still! Sophie had clothed the tiny teacher just as she said she would, and now she had some questions of her own.

"Jenna, Iets talk." The scientist said gleefully, leaning forward as she spoke.

For her part, the eldest of the trio scrunched her face and rubbed her temples. Trying to imagine she was anywhere but here and wearing anything but this dress.

"What's the matter? Headache? Nausea? Dizziness?" Sophie prodded, sounding more curious than concerned. "I believe I accounted for most side effects, but I have a few theories around what would causing this, if you..."

Jenna groaned, interrupting the giantess. "I know exactly what's causing it - it's the fact that I'm sixteen fucking centimeters, wearing this stupid outfit and have been kidnapped by... by.. you!"

Sophie grinned. "Sixteen point four centimeters! And kidnapping is not the word I'd use..."

Maisie decided to ignore this exchange and padded around the relatively expansive table. Between Jenna's stubbornness and Sophie's 'enthusiasm' for her work, the graduate thought they could be going awhile.

"You... shrunk... me and stuffed me into your purse and drove me to what I assume is your home! How much more blatant can you get?!"

Even Sophie had to admit the optics of her actions this afternoon weren't particularly in her favour.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Leave you both trapped in that room? What if you had got outside and been snatched up by a bird? Or discovered by some giant... creepy... man?"

Jenna threw up her hands. She wanted to say she had been discovered by a giant creepy woman! Yet she thought better of it. "You could have just turned us back to our actual sizes?" 

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Are you forgetting the size restoration feature has been damaged?" The scientist lied.

Jenna turned away from the giantess. "Whatever. Ask your questions."

Sophie almost licked her lips. "So, no discomfort, headaches, dizziness? You're fine?"

The tiny woman just turned and glared up at the redhead.

The scientist continued. "I'll take that as a yes. So, tell me about the process itself. Did you experience any specific discomfort or pain?"

Jenna was trying not to remember these events. "Well, the discomfort I felt was me... shrinking into my clothes." She said flatly.

"Yes, it had been set to a very narrow field so at least your underwear was reduced with you. Have you noticed any change to your strength, endurance or metabolism? I am curious if you've noted anything on a biological level..."

Jenna was already impatient with these questions. "No, nothing..."

Sophie considered that. "I have to ask. Have either of you had any trouble breathing or found you became exhausted more quickly?"

Maisie was nearing the edge of the tdesk as this conversation happened, her own voice joining the pair. "No, I don't think so..."

"Why?" Came the firm question from the teacher.

"Well!" Sophie was delighted that the question was asked. "It would be slightly less of a concern given that you both haven't ended up too small..." Jenna scoffed at that, but Sophie continued. "But one of the biggest challenges - but not the biggest really, I'll come back to that - in creating this was finding a way to account for oxygen being unable to bind to shrunken haemoglobin. A large part of what the beam does when it hits a living being is actually make extremely minor adjustments to your physiology! It involves an upregulation of epigenetic modifiers, which then causes a cascade of shifts in your gene expression. It's a nanoscale manipulation of alveolar surfactants which enhance surface tension properties and allow for drastic changes in gas diffusion despite the expected discrepancies one might expect with miniaturization..."

Jenna didn't want to admit it, but she could barely keep up - Sophie was basically rambling at this point. "Wait..." The teacher interrupted to jargon. "Are you saying that your device has... changed our bodies?"

Sophie seemed unconcerned. "Only very slightly, and to be honest, you're likely rid of any respiratory issues you might have had as a result. You're welcome!" The scientist offered.

Maisie had zoned out pretty early into the redhead's excited rant and came to stand at the edge of the table. Nervously, she peered over the side and felt a minor swell in her stomach. It was surprising, if she had been her actual size then this was not even a drop, but her body and mind accounted for her new stature. The younger woman told herself to let Sophie know that...

For her part, the graduate figured that for now she was better served by not acting too out line around the scientist. She was quietly elated that whatever setting she had hit on that strange device had dwindled her attire down with her. Jenna looked beyond silly in her garment, and the graduate had let a giggle break through her lips at the sight. Still, maybe being tiny for a night or so wouldn't be so bad. Despite the weirdness of their current host - or 'captor' as Maisie was sure Jenna would prefer - she admitted that she felt safer here than she had when she was alone in that classroom.

The tiny graduate stepped away from the edge, moving elsewhere across the table, Jenna and Sophie's voice filling the room.

"So, nutrition is a question as well naturally. You haven't eaten since you shrunk yourselves, correct? Have you noticed you're more or less hungry than you would be if you were your regular size?"

Jenna sighed, weary of this. "I would say I'm... not any more of less hungry?"

"Fascinating. Now, we'll have to..."

The scientist kept talking, beyond engrossed in her conversation, absently she reached out to grab her glass of wine.