* Trouble in Paradise
With the current state of his house guest, Chris really didn't need the phone call he was having right now. "Yes. Yes. I understand Mr. Hatfield." The truth was he was having trouble at work before he'd taken his vacation. He half expected to come back to a severance check. As his boss raged on, he wondered how his career had even lasted this long. Almost ten years ago he had parlayed his it-crowd party attitude into a marketing career. In these recent years, however, he was beginning to wonder if he was getting too old for the game. His latest gig at Pink Ice Vodka was a longshot, and one that wasn't working out.
"Look, I've got something huge planned, and it's going to happen soon. Real soon. You'll be pleased." He held the phone away from his head as his boss barked something loudly. Chris looked around his living room, wondering how he was going to get himself out of this mess. He didn't need to hear his boss drill into him about unreasonable expense accounts and lack of results for him to understand his predicament. When the phone went silent he was glad to have been hung up on. Chris sat with his head in his hands for a moment just to calm himself.
When he looked up, he couldn't help but have his spirits lifted a little. His girlfriend Suzanne was bikini-clad and standing in the the doorway. Still over seven-feet tall, she had one hand casually hanging from the door-frame as if to illustrate how low it seemed to her. Nothing would take his mind off his little work problem like chasing her into the bedroom.
He almost did it too, but he had resolved to get her back to her normal size and her normal life. Having restraint wasn't easy. Not only had she not shown any signs of shrinking down in the last couple days, her attempts to rile him up and make herself even bigger were constant. At the moment he was thankful he'd been able to find an ill-fitting bikini to provide her at least some coverup.
"What do you have planned, Chris? I could use something huge about now. Or even just something average-sized." He glared at her flirtation, his look reminding her to stop making this so difficult. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry." She relaxed her pose, making her way to the couch to sit next to him. "That call sounded serious, what's the problem?"
"It's nothing." Chris sat up as tall as possible, but she still towered over him. Looking far up into her eyes, her determined stare said his answer was not sufficient. He wasn't sure what was harder to resist, aggressive advances from across the room, or her mere proximity. Even now he was finding it impossible to ignore her massively oversize breasts, insufficiently covered and jutting towards him. He wanted to touch her, and it didn't help that he knew how much she would welcome it. Maybe he'd mis-judged himself. Maybe he didn't have this much restraint
When they decided to abstain and get her back to normal size, he'd considered leaving the apartment. He could have compelled her to stay here and out of sight, and a few days later she'd be back to normal size. It seemed wrong though, to leave her here alone, especially when he was the cause of all this. He thought he could certainly control himself for a couple days around her. Right now he was dangerously close to failing. He decided talking about his work problems might keep them from having sex.
"I think I'm getting fired." Her face quickly shifted to shock. "It's okay. I'll be fine, I have enough put away, and I'll find another gig. It's just, I'm having more trouble delivering for these party brands. For almost a decade I've been making a killing partying it up and convincing young alcohol buyers that what I'm peddling is the new rage." Suzanne leaned back against the couch cushions, which he was thankful for, as it became easier to think straight. "I'm not exactly in my twenties anymore, and neither is my network. I've been doing everything I can think of to push Pink Ice Vodka, and the market is just not responding. Which is fine, it's really no big deal. It's just that this one is more than just a brand. It's going to be my reputation. I've made big promises to these folks, and I don't know if I can deliver."
"So what do you have planned? Something huge? or just something average sized?" Chris glared at her continued references to sex, even if this one was just a joke. "Ha. Sorry. Seriously though, what do you have planned? Anything I can help with?" Chris was distracted again, but not for the same reason. Suddenly her bikini top didn't seem so overstuffed. Was she finally shrinking? He looked carefully at her chest, watching to see if he could notice a change. She waved a hand between the two of them. "Hey mixed signals, if you are going to stare at my tits like that, I'm going to gladly bring them out to play."
"No no. I think it's happening. I think you're returning to normal." Suddenly both of their eyes were glued to her body. Not for the sex appeal, but looking for signs of change, and they got them. It happened much faster than he realized. One moment the fat-lady bikini was barely big enough to provide coverage, the next she was swimming in it. It almost looked like she was deflating and being swallowed up by the couch. Less than a minute later, she looked positively small, though he realized it was mostly an illusion because of how big she had been moments before.
"Joy. That's a sexy look." There was more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice, as she looked positively silly in her now oversize swim-wear. "At least I can finally go to work now." She looked back at him, and he struggled to re-remember that this was her normal size. "So what do you have planned?"
Chris receded into himself and responded, "absolutely nothing."
* Expansion Plans Interrupted
Simon Foley was knee deep in validating the model for their new resort expansion. Despite the resort having quite healthy margins once underway, the initial development costs were substantial. Recent events demanded increased security, and fitting those into a profitable five year plan was turning out to be challenging. He was so deep in the numbers he didn't notice Cheri enter until she was right next to him. Which was quite a feat, as she was nine feet tall and her lab coat didn't nearly hide her Rasjha enhanced curves.
"Simon. Are you listening? Simon. You have to see this. Right now." He realized she had been trying to get his attention for a minute or two when he pulled himself away from his work. Finally having his attention, she reached in for the computer, navigating to the resort's computerized television feed. A moment later he was watching some kind of CNN news program, with a ticker tape scrolling on the bottom.
"...so you see, what I'm offering can bring out a new type of peace; one where leaders, diplomats, and citizens can all be protected from terrorists to a degree never before possible." The voice was somehow familiar to Simon, but it obviously wasn't just the speech that had Cheri interrupting his work. The shapes cut off on the sides shifted, and Derek started to realize what hadn't been obvious at first. Those were huge arms, coming from shoulders well above his head. Was this man flanked on either side by giant amazons, on worldwide television? Was this really happening? Rashja was going public right now!
"Let today mark the day that the Protectorate arrived to rid us all of terror." The camera panned out to show the full size of the amazons, both about three feet taller than him. Simon thought it smart, to make them big enough to prove his point without showing the full extent of the Rashja's capabilities. But wait. This wasn't Chris Rothchild. Who was this man? Simon recognized him, but from where? He puzzled as the speech continued. "We will begin by offering the Protectorate to major world leaders. Soon after, we will make them available for private protection services, and finally we may find a middle ground for peaceful military service." The man held his hands wide as dozens of camera flashes snapped off near simultaneously. "Now, now. I'm sure you have many questions...."
Simon muted the volume, and started rummaging through the clutter on his desk. It wasn't that he found the speech unimportant, he simply knew he'd be able to watch it later in it's entirety. He just had a nagging feeling he knew where he saw that man before. Having shuffled the papers on his desk around, he turned, and repeated the gesture on the bookshelf behind him.
"Where is it? Where is it?" He murmured to himself. Then he found it. A Time magazine issue from a few months back with the very same man on the cover. He produced it and triumphantly held it out to Cheri just as the man's name was titled onto the newscast. He read the title on the cover, "Wendel Varden. Billionaire fallen. This is the guy!" He tapped the magazine cover. "This is the investor we turned down. He had some issues with our secrecy policies, wanted full disclosure with investors. We suspected he was out to steal the Rashja."
Cheri pointed at the screen as an overhead helicopter shot made the proportions of the amazons even more apparent. "Looks like he got it anyway."
* First Comes Disbelief
After having missed half of the previous work week held up at Chris' apartment, Suzanne hardly had time to be skipping out at 7pm to meet the girls. She hadn't even had time to see Chris again, but she just had to have someone to talk to. The whole thing had been like a weird, twisted, amazing dream. Even now she could hardly believe it had happened. And it wasn't just the feeling of growing several feet taller than humanly possible, it was also how strong she had become. Crushing and twisting the metal of a doorknob in her bare hands. Despite being under strict orders not to say anything to anyone, she just had to talk to them.
As she approached the door of the bar, she reveled in her excitement, the lightness in her feet. Pulling at the door, she marveled at how easily it flung open. She wasn't exactly bending metal anymore, not that she hadn't tried. But somehow, ever since her transformation, everything just seemed lighter and easier for her. She waded through the crowded bar. It was by no means upscale, and she felt a bit out of place in her lawyer dress-suit. This was a middle ground for her and the girls, as they would undoubtedly be out of place in some uptown scotch bar. She spotted her friends, and as she made her way, she found pushing through people just that much easier than she expected.
When she reached them, she could see Drew had come right from work without so much as an outfit change, her DDDs popping so far out of her white blouse it was clear there was no way she could button it up even if she wanted to. However, Suzanne was more focused on how short Drew seemed. Drew noticed it too. "Next time I'm staying in my hooker-heels, tall bitch," Drew's language was affectionately colorful, but she didn't know how right she was. Suz had measured herself, and somehow even after shrinking back to normal, she was still a whole two inches taller than last week. She had measured it twice. She crounched down for the hug, making those extra inches less noticeable.
"Hey Allison," Suzanne turned and gave her a quick greeting squeeze, glad at least she knew how not to dress like a harlot. Her little black dress would fit in anywhere. Only if you looked closely would you notice the sexy edge of a size 0 too short for her height, and the telltale signs that her perky tits were staying there all on their own. "Listen up you two. The most amazing thing happened to me. Astonishing. Like you're not going to believe it crazy." Allison peaked up in interest, Drew had already turned back towards a guy across the bar who had been staring at her.
Allison swatted, "please Drew. Don't tease the animals." They all looked over. He was sharp looking, dark hair, mature but not old. What's more, it was clear he had her number. He was casually holding a folded hundred-dollar-bill in his fingers, tipping it in a way that most wouldn't notice. Obviously Drew had, she was already teasing at her collar, drawing attention to her rack as she stared back at him. Allison swatted harder. "Drew. Down girl. You can work another night, Suz came all the way down to meet us."
Drew broke off her sexy stare in a huff, "whatever. I was just having some fun. What's this big news of your's Suz? You finally found a guy that can make you come? We know, he's delicious. We're both jealous." Despite her response, Drew clearly hadn't stopped flirting with the man waving the hundred dollar bill.
"No. Well, yes, but... That's not the big news." Suz was caught-off-guard by being tricked into Drew's question unexpectedly. From her stammering, the girls could tell Chris was giving her what she needed, which peaked both of there interests. She began again, "Last week, I. Something amazing happened. I. This. Chris." The closer she got to spilling it out, the quicker she found her words disappearing. She tried again, found herself mute, and let out a frustrated grunt. "Arrrrh!"
Allison dove in this time. "Don't tell me he proposed to you!" Suz shook her head, still frustrated and confused about where here words had gone. "Phew. Not that we wouldn't be happy for you. I mean. It's just," she was now covering to hide her jealousy, "it's just you two have only been together a little while. That would be way too soon."
Suzanne took a deep breath, "I do not know what is going on with me. I'm trying to tell you what happened, and then the words just won't..." she hadn't even finished her thought when a loud whistle and shout interrupted the noisy bar scene. Someone turned up the TVs to make them the center of attention, and the bar started hooting and hollering. Suzanne figured it was a sports team. She was deep in thought trying to figure out why she couldn't tell them. Chris' words rang in her head. He hadn't told her she shouldn't tell them, he said she wouldn't. As if it was an indisputable fact. She tried to blurt out something about getting bigger, and again nothing came out. Now she didn't have free will anymore? The realization kind of ticked her off.
"Now there is a movie I'd like to see." Drew was watching a TV mounted across the bar. Suzanne took one look at a screen and realized she wasn't the only one getting a transformation recently. A man on screen was dwarfed by two huge women, easily three feet taller than him. It was impossible to hear the TVs over the clamor of the bar, but the subtitles flashed words across the screen... '...METHOD ARE A TRDE SECRET, BUT RST ASSURED, PROTCTERATE IS A FORCE FOR GOOD."
Despite the newscast titling on the bottom, despite the familiar anchorman, the images on the screen were simply unbelievable to anyone who noticed them. Every except Suzanne. Somehow this public disclosure made the events she had experienced that much more real. She somehow expected people in the bar to hush in shock as their world changed, or clamor in panic. Instead they practically ignored it. The news segment ended.
Drew turned back from the screen, "that is some kick-ass girl power." Suzanne wanted to tell Drew it was no stunt, no ad-campaign, no movie preview. She wanted to them it was real, tell them it had happened to her, but somehow she couldn't. "What I wouldn't give to be just a couple inches taller. Now, what was it you were going to tell us Suz?" Drew seemed to be dismissing the whole thing as a farce. Suz wanted to shout at her. Tell her that the world as they knew it was about to change, but her lips just wouldn't move. It made her feel disconnected, like she was watching herself talk to her friends. She let out an exacerbated sigh. "Better yet, don't tell us. You're probably engaged or something. We're jealous enough of you already." There was just a little bit of truthy bite to Drew's sarcastic humor.
"No. I'm not even...Gosh, no." Suzanne's thoughts snapped back to Chris, as she professed a denial that some small part of her realized was overplayed. Allison and Drew were now staring at her with even more interest, as if they could see through her protestations. Truth was she did care for Chris, but at the moment, she was ticked at him. She would never let a man control her. The budding anger, her disconnection, and a bit of alcohol caused old Suzanne to surface. The Suzanne that wanted to get what Suzanne wanted. They needed to know the world had changed, that the news program was real. If she couldn't tell them, she'd just have to show them. It was time to bring the girls home. "Let's see Chris control that," she thought to herself.
"Well, you might be a little jealous, Allison. Turns out Chris and I had that little chat. The one about my former profession." She could see she had them interested now. "Turns out he doesn't mind at all. In fact, he thinks it's kinda hot." Allison had long ago given up any hope of finding a partner who would accept her profession. The suggestion that Chris could, brought out a mixed look of anger, envy, and disbelief. "Ohh and Drew, I think you got a little under his skin. Or at least those babies did." Drew knew which babies she was referring to and let out a little giggle. "Chris is the first guy I've cared about, basically ever. So I was thinking. Why not go all the way? I'd like to really hook him, show him how good it can be. You girls up for a little overtime tonight?"
It wasn't really a question. She knew how they would respond. Allison was still a bit bent, but she would be over it in a minute. Drew simply smiled and licked her lips. "It's about time the girls got back together."