Shopping with her friends- by Hedin -

„I knew the idea was bad. I just knew!“

Kim was balancing on one high heeled mule while she was trying to fit her other foot into an intersection. The traffic lights came down, then some lamp posts and then there was a cacophony of screams. shattering glass and crumpling metal. A final thud silenced the screams but produced the muffled crackles of rupturing tarmac.

„Then why didn’t you say before?“ Jona knew she should’ve worn her flip-flops even if she would’ve stepped on even more people and things than with her stiletto sandals. Once again her heel penetrated halfway into the road and what felt like a subway tunnel running underneath - before she remembered to keep her calf muscles tensed.

„I liked the thought of going shopping together“, Kim answered. Putting another foot fortward she touched a façade, causing glass shards and concrete crumbs to fall into the street below. A multitude of screams followed, more than usual, and they silenced with a wet noise, telling Jona that Kim must’ve stepped in a place where a lot of little people had thought she wouldn’t.

„I’m no longer sure Lilly will like it.“

Looking at Kim for a moment Jona saw Kim’s mule clad foot through the gap between two skyscrapers. As her foot progressed through one of the wider city streets it was trailed by several flattened car wrecks that peeled off from underneath her pink shoe.

„Oh come on, we both know that she really needs a shopping trip with good friends who'll make her wear something fashionable to make her get noticed by the boys.“

Jona just nodded and tried to minimize the body count. But it appeared that people where just too stupid to keep out of an area with a giant foot hovering above. Someone always fell, severeal people couldn’t decide what was the best direction to get out from under her shoe and a few were even too confused to run at all. Unnerved she brought her foot down with a little more momentum than necessary. The resulting footfall was louder than usual and Kim looked a little irritated when she noticed.

„I hope we don’t step on anyone she knows“, Kim mentioned one of her concerns.

„She was at home when I called and I told her we would pick her up.“

Kim started to scratch the heel of her mule against a building to scrape off a city bus she had pierced. The pink of the shoe couldn’t completely hide the bloody smears it left. But the two giantesses were not squeamish about tiny people in general.

They wouldn’t have entered downtown at all but Kim had feared that she wouldn’t find the right neighbourhood without identyfying the citys financial tower.

The white of Jona’s stiletto sandals had already received a lot of red smears around the thin sole and on the heel when Kim finally identified the logo on the skyscraper. From there it was just a matter of a few more steps until they could pick up Lilly. Leaving the skyscrapers behind however they also lost the option to use multi lane roads for their enormous feet. But to a giantess that was a negligible problem. Their feet easily freed enough space by crushing front yards and car ports and also a few homes that had the bad luck of getting in the way. A supermarket made a big mess as it got flattened under Jona’s sandal. One wall split open and everything that had been inside squirted out of the gap and splattered across the parking lot.

Both friends sighed when Kim eventually pointed at the right little home. Finally getting sick of balancing awkwardly through the narrow streets both giantesses alike stood comfortable at the expense of about a dozen homes becoming flattened under their feet.

„Hi Lilly, it’s us, like promised, Jona announced and looked at the matchbox sized home Kim had pointed out. Nothing happened.

Nothing happened for a few seconds more.

“I really don’t want to push the bell button”, Kim mumbled and Jona grinned broadly.

“Guess what?”

“What?”

“She’s just late.”

“Trying to refine her outfit.”

“Do I hear a hair dryer?”

“OK. We’ll just wait.”

So they stood still for a moment. Jona started tapping her toes. Her strappy stiletto sandals were a bit less comfortable than Kim’s open toed mules. The ruins next to her foot sagged somewhat and a tiny man made a dash from the debris. Kim watched him flee down the road.

Eventually she shifted her stance. The ground under her right foot sagged and a house leaned over, cracked and collapsed against her shoe, strewing debris and a twitching body onto the lip of her shoe.

“Eww…”, she made, lifted her foot. Her mule slapped loud against her barefoot as she shook it all off. Putting her foot back down she sure hadn’t noticed that the debris and also the struggling little figure had landed in her footprint. Just were she put her foot back down without a second thought.

„Hey, I… I… I just never imagined you two to be...s-so b-big“, came a voice from below. It was  Lilly who stood in front of the door and could only stammer.

“Hey Lilly”, both giantesses said and squatted down. Lilly swayed and rowed with her arms and the two giantesses wondered if she maybe wasn’t used to wear high heels or if she was maybe a little shocked by their big move.

“So great we can finally meet”, Jona said and reached out for her friend. But before she came close to touching her she pointed her index finger and started coaxing it, not knowing which side to offer for a greeting. Lilly also flinched and Jona realized that she needed to be a little more careful to get her finger close without scaring or even hurting her tiny friend. But with a fingernail as big as a parking lot it was next to impossible – until she bent her finger and offered her the nuckle. Lilly still flinched but understood and after a deep breath she stepped forward and kind of high-fived the giant  digit. Lilly staggered again when Jona removed her finger. Her hair flew from the whoosh of air.

“Sry”, Jona mumbled but Lilly waved up that she was OK.

Kim was a little more careful. Squatting next to Jona she had a better angle to offer a finger. But her pink fingernail bent the mailbox post aside without her even noticing before her finger hovered in the driveway and Lilly could touch the side of her finger pad next to the nailbed. Kim just hoped Lilly saw now flaw on the thick gel nail and its polish. She removed her finger slower than Jona had done and Lilly could stand her ground. All three of them looked up each other but Lilly was impatiently tripping around.

„Please pick me up already, the neighbors mustn’t see me!“, she muttered.

„Huh?“, Kim made a little puzzled.

„It’s because of her outfit“, Jona made an explanation that really missed the point. Kim however wondered what would be the best way to pick her up – after all they had promised her just that, but obviously never thought about the implications of that promise. When Lilly started to fume over their passiveness Kim once again reached down and offered the underside of her false fingernail. She was just glad she had used the nail brush before she went out. Lilly climbed aboard and walked up the nail, stepping over some globs of glue and onto Kim’s real fingernail. Then she leaned against her finger pad – which was much higher than her head. Kim felt more than uneasy with such a delicate load.

“C-Can’t you just… sit down, please?” - was she really pleading with a tiny to be more careful? But this was of course Lilly. Their friend. Not just any tiny.

To her relief Lilly complied and sat down, resting her back against the finger pad. Kim waited for another second before she lifted her finger. As soon as she got clear of Lilly’s home she moved the palm of her left hand under her finger and breathed out. Her palm actually glistened with sweat. Before Lilly could move she got up from her squatting position – which was a little wobbly while she couldn’t use a hand for support or to balance herself. Lilly slumped down a little and produced a small yelp of surprise. After all she’d been lifted to skyscraper height within less than a second.

“Maybe you’ll stay upon my nail for a moment”, Kim mumbled. “My palm’s a bit sweaty… really sorry for that. We actually didn’t think of anything to carry you.”

Poking her high heels into some spots of nail glue Lilly propped herself up again before she looked up. Kim saw that there was still a little bit of doubt and disbelief on her face. She looked very vulnerable and Kim had to suppress the urge to curl her fingers around her to offer even more protection.

“You’re save with us”, Jona mumbled. “Hey, ever saw your town from this angle?”, she offered and Lilly shook her head. She struggled a bit to get to her feet – Kim’s hand was not shaking but there were always some small motions she unwittingly made to keep her balance. Ignoring the glistening sweat Lilly stepped off her fingernail and onto her palm. It should’ve been softer than the fingernail but Lilly was so utterly weightless that she made no indentation on Kim’s skin. The giant girl felt her tiny feet padding against her skin while Lilly kept her arms outstretched to keep her balance on the uneven surface. She yelped when her heel got stuck in a branch of two friction ridges. She almost fell but could tear it out.

“My heels must be like needles” – a question, a fearful remark or a statement? Lillys words were all of it together.

“Don’t worry. I can barely feel you. Your stilettos are hair thin to me. Do they even penetrate my skin?”

“N-no… not a bit.”

Kim realized that it would possibly feel like walking on cobblestone to Lilly.

“Come on, give me a stomp with your heels. I’m sure it won’t do a thing – Ouch! Nah – uh – really just kidding!”

Lilly had dropped herself on her butt when she heard it. She felt – and actually was like an insect within the giant palm.

“Kim!”, Juna accused.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. You can pretty much do what you want. You won’t hurt me. You can just walk casual on my palm – but please stay clear of the edge!”

Lilly didn’t have to be told twice. As soon she she could see the horizon she really got aware of how high up she was held by her friend. More than a thousand foot above the ground and without any railing to keep her from falling off.

“Maybe on all fours?”, Juna suggested as she saw Lilly taking a step back long before both giantesses considered it to be dangerous. Lilly looked up at them and saw that they weren’t mocking her. So she got to her knees and then crawled on all fours until the point were the edge of the palm curved downwards. She saw her city down below. Juna's white sandals – and what they had destroyed. The enormous footprints. Tiny cars fleeing down the many roads – and cars that would never again move as they had been pressed flat within those shoeprints. She gulped. What did they do? They had not even thought about it. Even if they were careful – but it appeared as if they hadn’t been careful at all.

“I can lift you some higher”, Kim offered and Lilly instantly felt the accelleration.

“No, please”, she whimpered – and the motion instantly stopped.

“OK”, Juna suddenly said and Lilly’s eyes widened as she saw her turn, stepping on even more homes and dozens of cars. Due to the turning motion her pinkie toe slid off the lip of her sole and a car that had just crashed into the edge of her sole got pressed to half of it’s former height. Still one of it’s doors opened but before anything else could happen Juna finished her step and the bending foot pressed the pinkie toe all down. The car disappeared under the friction ridges. Half a second later Juna’s foot raised and Lilly saw the flattened dollop that remained of the squished car, tumbling down from her toe and crashing into several cars that had been spared such a fate.

Jona had already taken two more uncaring steps with similar disastrous effect when Lilly scrambled backwards.

“OK?”, Kim asked, not even suspecting that the sight could’ve disturbed her tiny friend. “Ready to move? Where’ll we be heading? Downtown I guess”, she bubbled and Lilly remained on all fours as she felt the accelleration and then the jolt of her first footfall.

While she had been looking down Kim had removed her finger. But Lilly felt better to scramble back towards the middle of her palm. She heard the booming footfalls of her friends, crunching noises from things that got in their path and also screams that left no doubt that many unlucky people got stepped on.

“Once again: Where to go? We can take you anywhere but we should know before we would step on an interesting place, Okay?”, Kim urged for directions.

“Yes...n-no”, Lilly stammered completely upset. “Can’t you be… a little more careful”, she finally dared to say.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be save up here. Just tell us where to go.”

“Hey, she can’t even see anything”, Juna reminded her.

“Oh, err… right. Um… maybe you’ll take another look down and… point it out to us?”

Lilly couldn’t believe her ears. She got up and looked up turning towards Kim and then Juna. She was actually very upset but seeing that her friends were all calm and obviously completely indifferent of what happened to the rest of her city she felt that she could no longer backup from the trip. After all they were giantesses and tiny people always knew that there was the risk of meeting one.

“What do you think she needs most”, Juna threw in.

“Summer dress”, Kim stated. “Short and cut out nicely. Lilly’s got legs and boobs as well. No need to hide herself.”

“Shoes?”, Juna asked.

“Are those pumps? They’d be OK in fall. But it’s warm. She’ll need to show more of her feet. She even needs to show off her feet. So heels of course. Don’t know if she’ll prefer the comfort of mules or if she’d feel better with some straps around her ankles.

“Beach wear?”

“A bikini definitely. We could take her with us – though she could hardly go swimming with us.”

“Brilliant. She could sit on a shoulder and if the water’s calm why shouldn’t she take a plunge while we are around to protect her?”
“So most definitely a bikini!”

“Some wrap and beach shoes.”

“Flip-Flops”, Lilly added mostly to make them realize that they were talking about her outfit.

“Nah”, Juna made, “what’s sand to us would be rather coarse to you. Better some wooden slides with low heels. More sturdy, get it?”

Meanwhile Lilly had once again crawled towards the edge of Kim’s left palm and was staring down. Something smoked down there. A few blocks towards downtown she saw many parking lots on both sides of the wide streets. But she had never tried to identify her favorite mall by the shape of it’s roof and the hue of it’s parking lot.

“Couldn’t you…”, she didn’t know if she could ask, but Kim realized her problem. “You can’t tell what’s what, right?”

“I’ve only seen them from below. Can’t you lower me somewhat?”

“OK, no problem, but brace yourself”.

The wind whooshed past Lilly’s face when Kim once again squatted down. Holding her palm out in front of her Lilly saw that she was now at the height of Juna’s ankles – including her heels that is. She was still held maybe fifteen storeys above the ground but at this angle she could see over the roofs and at the different labels in the middle of each parking lot.

“Macy’s?”

“Eww! Old fashioned…”
“Heels point”

“Sounds better. What is it?”

“A shoe store and several small boutiques.”

Kim looked at Jona, thinking of Lilly’s taste for pullovers and long shirts.

“Give it a try”, Juna decided and Lilly pointed somewhere.

Kim bent her head to be sure where her short arm was pointing. She was a little more than ant sized but Kim needed to see where an arm pointed that was as thin and short as a ladybug’s leg.

Lilly looked up with a question in her face.

“OK, I guess I know what you mean. Just a couple of steps. I’ll stop before we get too close.”

Lilly couldn’t reply as she was breathless while Kim once again stood to her full height.

“Ow”, she made, when she saw Juna stepping squarely on a DIY market.  The steel structure put up less resistance than a soda can as it flattened under the sandal – and once again the metal building squirted it’s contents out through the different entrances. The parking lot was instantly turned into a mess. Vehicles were blown over by the blast of squashed stuff. Arms and legs stuck from it, some survivors struggled among the mess of crushed wares. In one area the remains of countless hues of paint created some abstract street art wich embedded several sets of distorted outdoor furniture as speciall assets.

“Watch your step”, Kim’s voice boomed, “You almost sprayed my shoes with that stuff!”

“Ugh”, Jona made, “that popped like a tube of paint. Almost ruined my sandals.”

“You know wearing white and short thing’s in tiny town’s always…”

“… quite risky, I know”, Jona muttered. The giantesses were walking down parallel roads and Lilly thought that it seemed to double the destruction they caused. She saw that the little incident didn’t change Juna’s careless attitude when her high heel pierced into Macy’s and shredded through half of the store before the sole of her sandal pressed the parking lot down into a ten foot deep imprint. When she stepped off the place dozens of red splotches told the story of what had happened to those who had been trying to reach their cars. Lilly was glad the she couldn’t look under the sole of her friends shoes from her perspective. But the rectangular metal sheets that tumbled through the air in the wake of each swinging foot told her enough.

At their size – Kim was rather tall and had once told her that she stood 1500 foot tall – it was really just a couple of steps until Lilly’s giantess friends stopped again and Kim lowered her to point out the final directions.

The “Heels Point” mall was actually just half a step in front of Kim.

“Just fine”, Kim said, “wait, I’ll put you down.. errr… Jona? Could’ you just...?”

“Oh, I see”, Jona said, while Lilly really had no clue what they were talking about.

The warehouse of “Miller Storage Inc.” spewed dust and splinters of wood as Jona trod on it. She squatted down next to the backside of the mall. Then her hand shot forward and lowered into the parking lot.

“Everyone out, please, the next hour’s been exclusively booked by Miss Lilly. Please also leave the parking lot”, she boomed while she was already brushing her hand across the tarmac, sweeping away what had to be more than a hundred cars, together with the metal tower holding the different store brands. Her reckless move pushed the wreckage into the road and many cars were simply squished by the edge of her palm. Metal that was grinding across the tarmac provided more than enough sparks and the wad of fuel sprayed metal instantly ignited.

A few two legged torches ran from the mayhem and for the first time Jona showed some affection to the terror she caused.

“Didn’t…”, she started but then pursed her lips and blew down with the full power of her lungs. She managed to blow out the flames but also caused the people to be blown across the road.

“Didn’t mean to burn you alive, actually”, she mumbled. Kim also shook her head in gentle dismay.

“Here… let me fix it”, she said and rummaged through her purse.

“Got these wound cleaning tissues”, she mumbled and was already tearing open a giant plastic bag. Pulling out the tissue she realized that it was way too big and started to tear it up into small shreds which she then dropped around the smoldering wreckage and into several parking lots.

A few people actually made use of the offer.

“Could we at least go on with a little more thought from here on?”, Kim complained.

“Sorry”, Jona said. They both weren’t squeamish about killing tinies but knowing that Lilly was watching changed things a bit, they realized.

“I’m really not talking about stepping on them or something. They’re really hard to avoid. But that was gruesome. Look at them writhing down there.”

Jona looked at them with guilt and wet eyes.

Meanwhile the horrific incident had had a not unwanted effect on the mall. Everyone who was still able to run had left the place. Only a few stragglers were left in the parking lot. Some had been caught by Jona’s gigantic hand and tried to limp away with badly mangled bodies. Others, the majority even, had been trampled by the stampede of people that left the stores.

“You can stay there”, Kim adressed them as she lowered her hand into the mall, “we mean no harm. Just a shopping trip for our friend”, she said without even realizing the irony in her words.

It was a twenty foot drop from Kim’s palm down to the tarmac of the parking lot. Lilly backed away from the edge, got to her feet and looked up to kim, shaking her head.

“Oh. Understand”, the pink dressed giantess boomed. “Don’t move”, and just as she said it she gently lowered the upturned fingernail of her other hand into her palm just in front of her friend. As her fingertip was bigger than a locomotive the motion in front of her was uncomfortably close to Lilly – but she stood her ground despite her fear. The fingernail had hardly come to rest when she already stepped up on it. Together with the thick layer of Gel the nail presented a two foot tall step. Lilly was wearing heels – but Kim had also depressed the skin of her palm so far that Lilly had to make a big step over a trench of skin to get up on the makeshift lifting platform. Once again she stepped over the residue of glue and sat with her back against the warm finger pad.

“Perfect”, Kim commented and with a swirl of motion Lilly found herself in the parking lot where the edge of the fingernail lowered with a thud and pressed a small dent into the tarmac. Stepping up to the edge she bent over it and decided to get her heels off before she jumped off.

“Sorry”, Kim mumbled – next time I’ll just crush the tarmac some more. But Lilly had already slipped her feet back into her pumps.

“So what’s first?”, June asked, quite obviously trying to make them forget her previous misdeed.

“First the dress then the shoes”, Kim boomed down with a tone that brushed any objection from Lilliy’s mind. Obediently she turned towards the store fronts and wandered along the splintered windows until she found one with lot’s of beachwear and summer dresses. She waved up to her friends and headed inside.

The store was completely empty. The cash register had been left open and was beeping an alert demanding to be closed. All the money was still inside. They had really run for their lives, she noticed. A few stands had been toppled. One with a lot of bikinis. She picked a yellow one but then remembered that Kim had asked for a summer dress.

Lilly was used to wear jeans and T-shirts all of the time – a habit that had effectively lead to today’s events. There were summer dresses on every wall of the small boutique. Flower print, polka-dot, black and blue, red and yellow, even checkered. One looked like a school girl uniform and black platform pumps were standing on a shelf next to it– nah! She admitted that she could dress up somewhat, but she was no slut!

The windows rattled when Kim’s voice boomed outside. “Choose flower print on white”, she suggested. “And don’t forget to show your curves, babe”, June added.

Lilly shrugged. Simply not knowing what to take she grabbed two flower dresses from the wall and headed for the door. The burglar alert sounded while she was waving with the dresses.

“Put them on already”, Kim urged.

Lilly headed back into the store and without even thinking about the fact that no one was there to watch she headed into a cabin and closed the curtain. Kicking off her pumps and peeling her jeans off she slid the dress over her head. Tugging here and there until she thought everything was in place she left the cabin and ran for the door.

Two booming giggles rattled the windows and drowned out the burgler alarm.

“Girl”, Kim said, “you must wear it without a bra!

Lilly blushed when she looked down. They were right, of course. The black bra was looking ridiculous under the v-neck. Without a word she headed back into the cabin, pulled the dress off and unhooked her bra. Her tits slapped audibly against her body as she ripped ir off.

A booming “ugh” came from outside, then a rumble and finally a booming thud that threw Trish off balance and into the cabin wall.

“You’re right”, Junes voice could be heard and after another similar rumble there was another thud  that was just as booming but less ground shifting than the one before. A bit afraid of what she might see she made her way through the store, forgetting to tug the dress in place and ignoring the burglar alarm. When she got out she found Kim sitting with her legs straddling the mall. Turning around she saw Jona had done almost the same but she had stretched her legs down the road.

“We just got a little more comfortable. Just take your time”, Jona reassured.

“Definitely,” Kim stated, “and first of all things get rid of that dress. It’s been cut for a fatty, don’t you see that?”

“No, umm… actually”, Lilly stammered

“It’s got no hips. Hanging from your shoulders like a sack.”

Lilly sighed and returned into the store. Where’d she put that other dress?

Calming down somewhat she took it to the counter after she found it and disabled the security marker. She thought she heard something while she put it on and when she came back into the sunlight she saw Kim looking at something on her fingertip. It was black and white and until she rubbed it against her thumb it could’ve resembled a flattened police cruiser. Turning it into a little ball the giantess just flicked it off.

“Say, will you pay cash or by credit card?”, Jona asked.

“This one?”, Lilly wanted to know.

“No, certainly not, just in general…”

“I got cash and if it’s not enough I can always pay by card.”

“That’s what we told them”, Kim nodded.

“Did you say something? I thought I’d hear every…”

“No, err, no need to talk, actually. We kind’a told them, though. And Jona’s right, this is not the dress you want.”

“Looks like we should help some”, Jona suggested.

“That’s why we’re here, actually”, Kim affirmed. “So stand back, would you?”

Lilly’s eyes widened and she ran out of the way as fast as she could when Kim’s gigantic hand came rushing down. It enshrouded her in shadow and even before she could turn around she heard glass shattering, things breaking, a cacophony of crushing noises. Looking at the boutique she saw Kim’s gigantic index finger digging into the store. The same gigantic fingernail that had safely transported her before was now not just scraping along the walls but ripping through them as the giantess curled her finger.

„I always thought these nails would be just pretty and cumbersome, but toady they’ve actually become useful!“, she commented with obvious amusement as she pulled out her gigantic finger and spilled all the boutique’s contents into the parking lot. Then, like a gigantic excavator, she pointed it with the tip down and was just about to dig through the debris, when she thought better of it.

“No… we’ll still need a little help from you, Lilly. Come on, show us what they’ve got.”

Kim retracted her giant hand and Lilly stepped forward. Dresses, trousers, jackets, coats, underwear, and of course lots of debris from the interior were spilled across the parking lot. Lilly saw some flower print and pulled some dresses from the heap.

“No… nah… ugh… maybe?”, Kim commanded as Lilly kept digging out things. She even found the yellow bikini she’d noticed before and left it on the remains of the counter.

“Put that aside to be tried on”, Jona added and they discarded most of the stuff until she held up a yellow dress.

“Oh, that’s one fine looking piece”, Kim boomed and when Lilly looked up at Jona she saw a wide smile on her face.

“Put it on!”

Lilly looked into the store – the cabins were completely gone. Maybe she would’ve dressed inside but Kims fingernail had not just shredded the carpet but also crushed the floor into rubble.

“Forget about the cabin”, Kim suggested, ”We’d get into the cabin with you anyway, if we could. I promise nobody will dare to look”, she said and ominously pointed her finger down on the road. Lilly looked around. It was true. No one else dared to be close to the mall and even the injured people had limped away, obviously fearing that they could like befinished off by another casual act of her gigantic friends. She knew that she was matter of factly just another tiny. But their friendship was obviously bigger than their different size and heritage.

So Lilly had no fear putting on the yellow dress while standing in the sunshine in the middle of the parking lot. The thing was quite short with a slim waist and a deep cut halter top. It actually flattered her, showing off her well formed legs and was also a little dangerous as it hung loosely around her nice tush - if the wind caught under it…

“You could even wear it sans panty”, Kim added smugly.

“Guess you’ll take it”, Jona suggested. “Any mirror around?” Kim’s unconventional way of rummaging through the boutiques offers had also affected the ones next to it. In the corner Lilly saw a shoe store where she found a mirror – but the door was closed.

“Wait, I gotta key”, Kim said and by now Lilly knew how her giantess friend would use it.

“Just don't", she snapped and made a repulsing move with her and as she turned – and indeed Kim’s gigantic finger stopped just a few foot in front of her.

Being able to stop her friend from another giant scale silliness felt wonderful and both the giantess and the tiny woman paused for a moment. Then they both grinned and Kim took her finger back.

“Look’s like she just grew”, Jona chuckled.

“I just mean I still want to be able to use that mirror after we open the door”, she explained and Kim’s expression reflected that Lilly's intuition had been just right.

“Now, could you please open the door for me, and… just - the – door?"

“Umh… got it, actually”, an obviously subdued Kim assured. Lilly didn’t even stand back while Kim carefully navigated her fingernail past her and moved it through the door. As the door was too small to accommodate a parking lot sized fingernail both adjacent shop windows shattered, too and the door exploded into shards and got ripped out of it's hinges while the pink fingernail moved through them as if it was popping a soap bubble.

Kim actually flinched. She had obviously tried to stick to Lilly’s word but didn't manage to push in the door alone. But Lilly was content with her.

“Thanks, big one", she laughed and stepped forward to pat a part of Kim’s nailbed that was in reach. Kim waited for her to step back before she retreated her finger.

The mirrors she’d seen from outside had remained intact. Lilly’s pumps crunched across shards as she stepped up to it. The yellow dress was indeed like made for her. She wasn’t used to wear things that could be best described as plain sexy. But with her friends as a backup her secret wish to get more attention was greater than her fear to look slutty. She wondered if she would really dare to wear it without any underwear at all. The thought was naughty, even lewd, but - in a wonderful way.

“Shoes?”, she asked when she got out into the sunlight again.

“Oh, forgot to pay”, she remembered.

“Oh, ah… we actually didn’t mean it", Jona commented.

“No, we can’t break your promise", Lilly said in earnest and walked to the debris of the counter to pay for the dress. As she deposited a bill and picked some change from what was strewn around she saw the yellow bikini. She hesitated – she had selected this one. But then she took it and held it up.

“What d’you think of this?”, she asked, much less confident than she’d been seconds before.

“Wow”, Kim made.

“You selected that thing? If it… you better put it on, won’t you?”, Jona nodded.

Reliefed not to be laughed Lilly pulled the dress over her head and started to put on the bikini.

“With your G-string still on?”, Jona wondered.

“I'm just trying it on. We might have stirred up some people’s stores but we're not loathsome."

Perplexed about Lilly’s attitude neither Kim nor Jona said a word. But all three of them started to giggle after a few seconds as the irony sunk in.

“It really looks sexy.”

“Boys won’t know where to look first”

“Definitely a keep."

“Yes."

Lilly beamed up happily.

“You still need heels.”

“For the dress.”

“And like I said: Wooden shoes for the beach", Juna reminded her.

Lilly paid the same way she had before. When she was done Kim’s pink fingernail appeared like a billboard next to her and urged her towards the shoe store that had just been opened.

“Hey", she complained, and Kim chuckled.

“Just kidding", the giantess added.

Still wearing her pumps Lilly balanced through the mess in the parking lot and returned into the shoe store.

“Guess we can’t help her in there", Jona mumbled.

“Why, Lilly, can’t you maybe pick some yellow ones or whatever you think will match, put it in a shopping cart and come out to… to… kind of try them on together with us?”, Kim asked.

They heard Lilly answer something and looked at each other but neither one had been able to understand the tiny woman’s words.

But they remained calm. Jona reached for her feet and kneaded her toes. Kim slid a barefoot out of a pink mule and put it down int the street. A few people darted away from it, screaming and the giantess actually wondered if it was about her sweat and maybe some odour. It didn’t occur to her that the sight of her bare sole was telling the story of a few victims who got lifted up by the lip off her sandal and skidded in between shoe and foot. Kim and never felt their bodys pop and while she was sitting around peacefully she couldn’t understand why anyone would see her as a threat.

“Didn't you two hear me?", Lilly asked and both giantesses jerked their heads around to look for her. Despite their carelessness with tinies in general they felt the need to watch out for their friend.

“We didn’t understand you talking in there", Jona apologized.

“Well, I said that I’d go into their storage and look for these in size nine.”

“You wear size nine?”

“Well, I must...", Lilly shrugged.

“Never occurred to me that you’re that big", Jona commented and all three of them giggled.

Some more time passed and the giantesses could only look around. Some firemen had dared to drive a fire truck up to one of their nearby footprints. Several squished cars had been burning and the sprayed fuel had ignited others that stood parked along the road. For a moment Kim tried to figure out some prance she could play on the handsome men – but when she couldn't think of an appropriate phrase to say while she'd flick them away or squish them under her thumb the men stayed alive for now.

“I almost think I’ll take these with the dress.” Kim’s face lit up as the wait had been boring enough.

“Do we know the brand?”

“Kiara”

“Never heard of it. They look pretty high – can you walk in them?"

“Sure”

“I wouldn’t be able to take a single step in them”, Kim mocked, when Lilly – still wearing her bikini - strode elegantly across the parking lot.

“A buy”, Jona commented.

“I think I love them.”

“How comes", Kim wondered, “you never bought things like these before.”

“Oh... but I did. I just…", Lilly was hemming and hawing.

“Huh?”, Kim made.

“I would wear them secretly…", Lilly finally admitted.

Jona’s laughter forced her to quickly cover her ears. Kim just sat there perplexed with raised eyebrows.

“So you've always been buying sexy stuff - and just never dared to wear it?", Kim finally said, when Jona had eventually realized the need to breathe again.

“I… I…", Lilly stammered on, "It’s something different with you around. I had no one to go out with and wear something sexy.”

The sad statement silenced whatever comment any of the giantess had in mind.

“Well”, Jona mumbled after a while, “guess this isn't in vain, then.”

“I wouldn’t want to miss the oportunity”, Kim bubbled out her first thought.

Lilly was meanwhile changing into another pair of mules. They had almost no heel and were like exercise sandals. But they were quite exactly what Jona had suggested.

“For the beach”, she added.

“Well… they'll do. But they do nothing for you", Kim mumbled.

“Sexy like… well… exercise sandals”, Jona frowned.

“Anything else?"

“I though high heels would be inappropriate…?"

“Well, not exactly”, Kim answered. "We often wear them just for the attention of anybody. We'll just keep sinking in with heels, platform and all. But no, can’t think of you stumbling around and break you neck on what we'd call sand.”

“What about getas then?”

“Getas?”

“You don’t know them?"

“Never heard about it. Got a pair?”
”Here!” Lilly held a pair of black geta sandals up to them.

“Oh… that might work out. But are they sexy?"

“Showing much foot at least.”

“They're a bit uncomfortable to wear on tarmac but I think they’ll work fine on gravel or something.”

“Come on", Kim urged Jona who still looked critical.

“With you two around no one will look at my shoes, actually", Lilly mocked and Jona smiled a little.

“Well, guess it’s the best we can do. I still thought of some high heels even on the beach. But it’d really be more than impractical. Just promise me to wear something better if you'll show up on a local beach around here.”

“Promise!”

It was Lilly who first made the high five gesture and  Jona looked perplexed at her but as she kept her arm raised the giantess carefully lowered her palm and allowed her to slap against her wrist.

“Okay, I’ll just return these and leave some pay", Lilly said and took the shopping cart that still held a few pairs of shoes they had not seen. Her blonde mane blew around her head as Jona breathed out instead of laughing. The parking lot was a complete mess of bend and crumpled clothing stands, clothing that was at least wadded up but sometimes also shredded but Lilly was heading back to put the shoes back in the shelves and pay the ones she’d bought.

“Anything else to buy?", Kim asked when Lilly got out of the shop.

“An evening dress, maybe”, Jona tried to persuade her.

“Thanks, but actually not now”, Lilly assured.

“Oh, but at least we’ll go for some window shopping”, Juna declared and Lilly realized that neither plea nor protest could change that decision.

With that they got to their feet – Kim and Jona as they had been sitting and Lilly because she fell when Kim made a little stomp to adjust her mules.

“Climb aboard?”, Jona asked as she offered her upturned fingernail just like Kim had done before.

Lilly trusted her the same way and propped herself up with the back against her fingertip before she was lifted into Jona’s palm.

“Maybe you could show us around”, the giantess suggested to her tiny friend. Now that she stood her height quickly made her forget about the predicament her presense meant to the tiny population.

Kim looked down at the mess at her feet.

“Do you have these in black and size 5981 and a half?”, she asked when she stepped into the parking lot and slid the lip of her pink mule into the shoe store. Curling her big toe all it took was a flick with the edge of her nail to pry the roof off the tiny store. It crashed into a car dealer on the other side of the boulevard. The interior of the shop ad already been piled up and crushed by the tip of her shoe and hundreds of shoes lay strewn on the pink insole. Lifting her toes and pivoting her shoe on the high heel she watched the shoes sliding down like dust. She could only imagine what happened to them when she put her toes back down and rubbed them slightly against the insole.

Giving her foot another push forward the remaining walls of the shoe store and all other stores on that side of the mall got bulldozed under her mule. After adding a twist and some gentle pressure she left the place and followed her friends who were already waiting in or rather on the avenue – Jona standing relaxed with Lilly safe in her palm, of course.

“So what’s next? Any other outfits?", Kim asked when she stepped next to Jona without even looking at the buildings she stepped on.

“I thought Lilly would show us some nice places in her town.”

“Sight seeing? I thought this was a shopping spree especially for Lilly.”

“Not that we thought we could find something… But OK, what do you think Lilly? Anything you're hot for? We could also make a trip to the next town – it’s just a couple of steps."

Lilly was a bit perplexed. On the one hand buying a dress, a bikini and two pairs of shoes was far from a shopping spree even for her standard. She had actually imagined to rummage through tsome boutiques and show them things she'd never dare to buy and even less to wear in the hope of being urged to do both. But she also had the urge to show her friends where she lived. She wanted them to know that living a tiny life was not at all sub standard.

“Umm”, she made and both giantesses giggled.

“Will you let us be part of your ideas?”

Lilly looked up at her friends. “Really, you can tell us”, Kim gently assured her.

“It is… don't be mad. I really want to show you where I live and how it is. And I really imagined to make a great shopping tour with you to.”

“But?”, Jona asked gently.

“Well, shopping was a bit…different then what I thought. I thought I could show you things… thing's I'd never dare to wear, you know?”

“Really? I really think it’d be big fun to see some of these..”

“And I’m afraid that once you visit a place I like to go it’d end up underfoot somehow…"

Lilly gulped now that it was out.

“Oh.”, Kim made and Jona remained completely silent.

Looking up at them Lilly saw now anger in their faces. Not even the trace of it. But there was neither remorse or guilt. They were in fact giantesses. Their kind never cared much about tiny lifes. Everyone big or small – literally - knew about it.

“Guess she’s got a point there", Kim commented and Jona nodded and they once again remained silent.

“How about this”, Jona eventually spoke up. "We'll continue our shopping spree over there. See that town? It’s even bigger than yours. We don’t have to take too much care and have fun while you can snoop around in some more places and show us what you like. We'll keep our fingers out of the interior...”

“We might just open up some doors for you!", Kim threw in.

“... yeah... and if we think you've been completely re-dressed we’ll of course head back.”

“Get you home safely!”

“Then you’ll show us the places you like the most and we'll be extra carefull and won't step too close.”

“Oh, please say yes”, Kim urged almost like a little girl.

Lilly looked up at them with a little doubt.

“I’ll even go barefoot if it helps”, Kim offered.

The thought made Lilly laugh. Of course they both left serious and overdimensioned pottholes with their high heels but their barefeet were hardly less dangerous and destructive. Still their offer flattered her and she smiled.

“Oh, look, she's about to say yes!”, Kim jubilated.

Lilly just nodded with a broad grin. “But you two promise to be extra careful.”

“With your town”, Kim added.

“Yes”, Jona approved and they both started to scan the ground for the most comfortable way out of the city.

There was in fact little choice. The avenue they were standing on – or in Kim's case next to – crossed a large freeway that was leading to the other city.

“Go ahead”, Kim suggested. “I'll follow behind as long as we’re in Lilly's little burg."

Their decision was just practical and other than walking in line instead of next to one another Jona and Kim moved just as unconcerned as before. Their gigantic high heels soon met countless citizens who had meant to use their shopping distraction to flee from their city. The roads around the freeway were full of vehicles and running pedestrians and on the freeway itself traffic moved outbound even on inbound lanes but as slow as dough. At first Lilly was oblivious to it because the atmosphere didn’t change much. There had been honking and screaming all the time. But after a few seconds she felt not only the report of Kim’s steps through her palm. At about the same time she could notice lot’s of screams that got silenced. They and their screams of terror literally got squelched under Jona’s gigantic sandals. What she did not notice or think of however was that those who got out of the way or were just happy to be passed over had not yet met Kim. Following past her friend her consideration went not so far that she would've bothered to walk in Jona's footprints. Sauntering along, looking left and right at the tiny city, Kim was still without care for them. Her pink mules were just as deadly as Jona’s white sandals and if Kim happened to tread on Jona’s footprint the reduced death toll was still no lower because those who’d been able to safe their life from a grisley end underneath Jona’s foot with a desperate jump or dash where then laying prone and unable to get out of the way of Kim’s sexy shoes. It didn't help either that the concussion of a nearby footfall sent people tumbling to the ground. It was just that there was less screaming under Kim’s pitiless feet as Jona’s passage left her survors winded.

When they made their turn and stepped on the freeway the sound of splintering glass and crumpling metal became dominating while the screams of people in their cars were barely audible were Lilly sat in Jona’s palm at about the height of the 120th floor.

“Maybe you’ll look at the landscape to get some distraction", Jona suggested. Tiny lifes were nigligible to her. But at least she noticed and cared for the feelings of their tiny friend.

With only a few of their five hundred foot long steps the giantesses left the city behind and as promised Kim came to Jona’s side. Looking into her palm at Lilly she made sure that the tiny blonde dot was all right – as far as she could tell. They kept following the freeway which meant that they followed it’s general direction. While the road made small curves around bumps the giantesses didn’t even notice as an obstacle the gigantic women walked casually and so it happened that either of them found the brittle tarmac giving in underfoot while the other barely felt when she was stepping on the tiny estates that were build just a little off the important road. A settlement that had grown to almost village size around a roadstop dissolved into splinters when Kim’s mule passed low over it as her foot swung forward. While it was about than half an hour to go by car it was a matter of not much more than five minutes when travelling with the giantesses. The death toll had quickly reduced when people found that they were following the freeway. Both giantesses noticed a few stragglers who had maybe hesitated too long to leave their car or their home and make their run into the fields. Maybe it was just bad luck for them to wear the wrong colour of clothes today as those who were seen kind of tempted the giantesses to step on them - at least if all it took was merely a small shift of a foot.

For Lilly the ride in Jona’s warm palm was warm, comfortable and save except for one moment when the stiletto heel of Jona’s sandal pierced deep into a place that was much softer than she had expected. The giantess swayed and let out a small yelp. Instinctively she cupped her palm with her other hand and at the same moment Kim had already grabbed her arm and steadied her.

“Sorry, Lilly”, she boomed when she removed her hand, “just hit some quicksand with my heel. Won’t happen again!”

When the noise of crunching homes once again could be heard over the muffled cracking of bedrock under the giant women’s shoes Lilly had crawled somewhat closer to the edge of Jona’s palm and was looking down at the landscape. Jona was just crossing and crushing the suburbs. The only places that looked like markets could only be local super markets or somthing. The places they were looking for would be closer to downtown. Holding her tiny friend however she was just as wary as Kim had been. Maybe she was even more careful as she felt that she better stopped while Lilly would look down.

The tiny girl looked up when she felt her giantess friend stop. Kim came into view and stopped, too. Curious she crawled ever close to the edge of Jona's palm and Jona had a bad feeling about it. Yet they both didn't stop. Kim just stood and watched. Slowly Jona opened her other hand just below the one Lilly was on. She really feared for her life. The wind that gently stirred her hair was sure a forceful gale for their tiny friend – what if some turbulence threw her off balance even though she was on all fours?

Lilly looked up.

“Could you please… remove your hand?", she asked. Her voice betrayed some annoyance but couldn’t hide that she felt even more fear than the giantess.

A second passed. Reluctant, very reluctant Jona moved her empty palm further up. Just enough so that Lilly could see the ground but not an inch – and Jona meant an inch on Lilly’s scale - not an inch further away than necessary to be ready to catch her fall if it got necessary.

“Lilly", Kim mumbled with a shiver in her voice when the tiny girl still moved closer to the edge.

“I really… really appreciate you take care of me”, Lilly said - but made no move to retreat from the dangerous edge. She was already on the curve and laid on her stomach with her feet above her head.

Biting her lip and unable to do something Kim nervously changed her stance. The giantesses couldn’t see it but Lilly watched the move. The height sure changed her perspective. Kim’s feet no longer looked all that humongous. The tiny buildings would look small and flimsy instead. Making a sidestep and draggng one foot across the ground Lilly saw hundreds of homes turning into splinters. Most of the debris got ploughed under to be ground up. Some however piled up at the edge of the sole and got bulldozed aside by the moving shoe. Maybe it would’ve been better not to look as Lilly saw things she knew she better had not. It wasn’t her city and whoever built a home in this world knew that this could happen. Cars crumpled and got flattened like metal foil – wich they were to Kim. But Lilly could also see the tiny bodies. One moment still alive and struggling to run or already flung helpless into the air. She saw them adding splatters to the thin black edge of the rubber sole and she even saw them tumbling over the insole at the tip of the mule before they turned into gorey spots under the curvature of Kim's toes.

It felt good to know that she could trust her friends and that they cared, even feared for her. But she also realized that for the gigantic two the destruction was rather small and irrelevant. Just as the tiny lives they constantly snuffed out with or without taking notice. She was the only one who knew the perspective from the ground.

“I wish I were that mighty”, Lilly said. The moment she said it she realized she had said it loud enough to be heard – or had they overheard it?

Jona’s hand didn’t twitch and for a few seconds it seemed as if no one had heard it. Kim looked down and allowed her heels to sinkhalf their length into the ground then she flexed her calves and raised the heels of her feet but the heels of her mules remained stuck. Cracks had appeared in the ground and obviously the ground shuddered under her when her calf muscles lifted her weight. The quake made tiny people stagger and some stumbled into the cracks.

Lilly heard Kim breathing out. There was some emotion in it. She wasn’t sorry but Lilly noticed that she was somewhat afflicted. She first raised the toes of her right foot against the strap of her mule and lifted her foot, effortlessly pulling the shoe out. The heel rose from the ground but  an enormous chunk of land got ripped out with it before it broke up into enormous boulders wich fell back into the crater and also spilled big rocks across the neighbourhood. Of course not a single house was more than a heap of trash after the giant heel had penetrated into the ground like a gigantic chisel. Lilly however was in awe of so much power and destructiveness which Kim had wrought with so little effort.

“Neither of us can change the way we are”, Kim’s voice suddenly boomed before she pulled out the other shoe in the same way and with no less destruction. The words sounded stern but her voice was soft despite the volume that was natural for a giantess.

“And now, please stand back from the edge. It’s getting hard to keep my hand that still", Jona added softly.

Lilly complied – or at least she intended to. Pushing Herself back with her hands however failed when her hands slipped in the sweat that had gathered between her body and Jona’s palm. She got up about a foot before her hands skidded along two of Jona’s friction ridges and she slumped down on her face.

The fall itself was just a bit of unwanted slap-stick comedy. But the resulting jerk of Jona’s gigantic hand was more substantial. Lilly produced a shriek when she felt the palm pushing against her body. Instinctively Jona had moved her palm in the direction of the edge. It was meant to shove Lilly back and up onto her palm. But as Lilly was lying so far down on the curvature the uncontrolled jerk just accellerated her and flung her off.

In a blur of motion Lilly thought clear and expected her life to be over. An enormous mass whooshed past her and her fall got a different angle as displaced air blew her aside.

“Damn!” The curse was so loud that it seemed to displace Lilly's own thoughts.

She produced a muffled sound when the air was forced from her lungs. The darkness she fell into was ripped apart by bright sparkles and each hurt in it’s own way when it flickered and disappeared.

“Oh my gosh-oh my gosh-oh mygosh”, Jona made and din’t dare to touch the sprawled little thing. Was it still her tiny friend Lilly or already her corpse?

“What are you doing!”, Kim yelped. The words should’ve been scolding but they were rather a bawl as they got over the tongue of the worried giantess.

Jona had been right to fear what might happen and kept her other hand nearby just to be sure. She had reacted quickly and moved her other hand down to catch her. But gust of wind it caused had blewn Lilly not only aside but also out of sight under the hand she had just fallen off. Jona had to readjust her hand while Lilly was falling further. By sheer luck, so she thought, she had guessed right where her tiny friend would be. But she had felt the tiny smack through her giantess skin which worried her more than she fel relieved about catching her even without seeing her.

Lifting her palm she wanted to look closely but Kim’s face was there first. She had already risen her hand to help Lilly.

“Don't touch", Jona warned and Kim realized that she had in fact been about to do just that. She froze with her index finger poised over Jona's palm.

“Hold still”, Kim pleaded, when she noticed that Jona was about to withdraw her hand to protect Lilly from more thoughtless deeds. But the shock had focused Kim’s mind.

“I’ll blow", she said and looked up at Jona. “Gently!”, she added. “Squat down!”

Jona complied and Kim did the same. Then Kim reached once again for Jona's hand but this time she put her hand down on on Jona’s palm to form a wall that would protect Lilly from being blown off if Kim underestimated her breath.

Kim pursed her lips and carefully blew out some air – not with her lungs actually but solely by deforming her lips. She didn’t like the thought of a breath from her throat washing over poor Lilly.

The tiny blonde mane streamed with the gentle wind she produced. But Lilly remained laying there.

Jona produced again. With just a bit more force. Lilly’s clothes fluttered and her purse tumbled across the friction ridges of Jona’s palm. Still not enough.

Kim inhaled – and then exhaled. She wouldn’t dare to become impatient and use too much force. She closed her eyes for a second, then reopened them and then used just her tongue to push some more air through her pursed lips. Did she hear a moan? The little puff of air had slightly jerked Lilly’s body.

Kim waited – but nothing happened. She did it again. Just like before. Just a little bit of air.

Lilly’s body made a half turn but then rolled back. But this time she was sure she had heard a moan.

“Hear that?”, Kim whispered as tears blurred her vision.

“Yeah", Jona breathed.

Kim sat back. Several neighbourhoods disappeared under her butt – she didn't mind that all the grease and oil of the cars she squished might leave a stain on her dress.

“Lower your hand. We’ll get someone to help her”, Kim commanded. Jona was glad she made the decisions. In situations like these she trusted Kim who could simply think straight despite any anger, grief or whatever.

As Jona knelt down to be able to lower her hand to the ground she saw Kim pointing her index finger at the ground where it was still covered with countless family homes.

“Nu-uh”, she boomed and put her fingernail down in front of the driveway of a house. “You better don’t move", she suggested when an SUV bumped into the siny surface of her nail.

“This is your one chance to get out of this with your house intact and even your car in good shape – if you don't turn it into scrap by tring to drive through my fingernail!”, she mocked.

The car doors opened and four tinys got out. "I warn you", Kim boomed down, actually pissed about the escape attempt. "I'll just squish the whole place if you try to escape from me”, she scolded and saw that all four tinies fell to their knees in despair.

“Better. Her’s what you can do to save yourselfes", Kim anounced. Her anger was still audible.

“The kids can get back into the house. But you two will get on my fingernail. I’ll used it to lift you up into Jona’s palm here. Is it true that tinies have a med kit in each car? Take it with you. Now get going, this is already taking to long.”

The driveway got ripped apart when Kim simply turned her finger and crushed her nail through the tarmac to make it easier for them. Indeed the two adults complied. Their kids however did not reatreat into the house. Instead they hid under the roof of the carport.

“Sit down. Lean against my finger”, Kim ordered but didn’t even wait for them. The woman wailed somewhat when they wer recklessly lifted up. With a swift move they arrived in Jona’s palm where Kim just dumped them off her nail.

“Look over here”, she directed the horrified couple."That’s Lilly. She made a bad fall. See what you can do for her!"

Kim even managed to soften her voice with the last sentence. The couple stumbled across the palm to Lilly. The woman stood back but the man knelt down and turned her over.

“No blood", he yelled up louder than necessary.

“No. No blood.”

The man was so startled that he jerked back from Lilly. He didn’t see Kim's scowl but at her growl his wife cowered in fear and started to sob with her hand in front of her face.

Lilly however sat up without help.

“Lilly! How do you feel?”

Lilly didn’t answer promptly. Instead she checked herself, then groaned and stood up.

“I was just winded", she mumled. "Where’s my bag?"

“Are you really OK? No bruises? You’ve got your purse right with you.”

“Not my purse. My shopping bag with that dress, the bikini and two pairs of shoes", Lilly insisted in a sharp voice. Now even the man stood back from her and hunched down, obviously expecting a brutal, if not deadly response.

“Um… it might still be in my other hand", Jona softly tried to calm her down. “Kim, can we get that tiny couple off my hand?”, she added with unmistakeable displeasure. The woman tried to make herself even smaller.

“Well”, Kim said and stepped closer, “seems this task was easier to you than expected”, Kim commented wihtout forgetting her anger.

“What do you think?”, Jona asked and simply bent her thumb which meant that a digit bigger than a tank came rushing towards the tiny people. The woman shrieked and the man struggled away from it.

“Nah!”, Kim grunted and Jona’s thumb remained hovering a few feet above the couple. "I'll return them the way a lifted them up”, she said and offered her finger to them but lowered it unceremoniously fast. The couple sensed the threat in her rude treatmeant. Though they didn’t know what they had done wrong. Kim didn’t wait for the woman to be seated in her nail. Instead she bent her finger which tilted the nail like a shovel and send them slumping into her finger. With a quick move she lowevered them to ground level.

Kim lowered her finger somewhere at her feet and for a moment she pondered if she should just dump them off her nail. She felt that the man had treated Lilly worse then Jona and Kim had, despite her size.

“After all they didn’t run, didn’t they?”

Kim raised an eyebrow. But Lilly was right. They could’ve maybe even should’ve run. Tinies and giantessses usually didn’t mix for obvious reasons.

Kim breathed slowly. The scorn disappeared from her face but she still remained unaffected about the couple's fate. She wanted them to remain what they were. Just tinies.

Still she felt it befit her to stick to her word. So she lowered her finger and moved it in front of the house she thought to be theirs.

“Is this your house? I don’t quite remember where I picked you up”, she admitted. The frightened man rose on shaky legs and looked over the edge of the upturned fingernail.

“Y-yes…” stammered, obviously afraid that something bad would happen once she knew it was theirs.

Kim looked at him. “At least you said the truth”, she said when she noticed a tiny running out of the front door – a son in fear for his parents.

“Careful down there”, she warned before she lowered her finger and as she did she noticed the mark her fingernail had left earlier. It had been unnecessary to ask – but who cared?

“Get back in”, Kim said grudgingly. “I will kind of mark the place. You better close the windows.”

The woman once again shriekd and all three tinys were too afraid to hug under the giantess eyes. They ran to the door where the second kid was waiting. As soon as they had disappeared inside Kim slid her purse of her shoulder. With a quick grip she pulled out a bottle of the same neon pink nail polish that matched her tonails, her shoes, her dress and also her scrunchy.

Jona let out a giggle that made the windows rattle in the neighbourhoods around.  Kim opened the bottle and pulled out the brush. First she dabbed a drop of paint onto the roof.

“Maybe it’s a little glary”, she commented, “but it’ll never rain through!”

Jona giggled again and Kim wondered that she already new Lilly's voice good enough to her hear fine laughter over Jona's comparably droning voice.

She added some more nail polish to either side of the house but was considerate enough not to paint every window and every door opening.

“Guess in a minute it’ll be the sturdiest house in the neighbourhood", she added and dunked the brush into the nail polish once again. Pulling it out without skimming the drop that hung from it she returned the brush to the backyard. As soon as the drop touched the lawn it spilled all over the yard, turning everything from green to pink.

“For you, err… Mister", she said, hesitating to adress a worthless tiny like that. “ As I am grateful to both you and your wife you will never again need to mow the lawn in the backyard and she will never again be upset about you forgetting to.”

Kim stood to her full height as she spoke and Jona did the same. Looking down on the house she was content. It really stood out from the neighbourhood – but there was more to it than just a joke.

“How lucky they were”, Kim mumbled. “I really forgot about their house as soon as I got them on my fingernail”, she admitted – without the slightest regret that they could hear every word.

Meanwhile Lilly had climbed from Jonas left hand back in to the palm of her right where she had actually found her shopping bag. Jona had put her right hand under her left to keep from shaking and so the bag was still where she had left it. Right in the middle of Jona’s palm.

Kim gently nudged Jona away from the place and the other giantesss complied – and while they left the pink house behind their feet crunched unscroupulously through several neighbourhoods before Kim stopped.

“And now for you”, she said. Her voice wasn’t loud. It wasn't even hard. But she was speaking in earnest. "I have rarely felt so scared. So worried.”

“I warned you", Jona added, “I even pleaded.”

Lilly stood in Jona’s palm and looked up. She didn’t flinch. She didn't have to. But she looked up at both her friends.

Jona lifted her hand until Lilly was at eye level. She felt it was unfair to scold down on her. "I am sorry for the jerk. But remember: You slipped in the first place and I was so incredibly helpless.”

Lilly nodded.

Jona shook her head. “And you have really no pain? No bruises?”

Lilly shrugged. “I thought it was all over when I slipped”, Lilly admitted. “I still thought I would die when I noticed you trying to catch me. I fell on my stomach and it left me winded.”

“Girl, you were out cold”, Kim corrected her. "And now – just look at her", she said to Jona with disbelief, "she's tougher than I would be. Not even a bruise."

“It’s like Kim said before", Jona warned, “Neither of us can change the way we are. We are doing this for the joy of us three spending time together. But it’s also pretty dangerous.”

“Guess Jona and me were more aware of the dangers than you”, Kim summed it up. “One should’ve expeced the exact opposite.”

“Yeah”, Lilly said calm, "I'm sorry."

Kim and Jona nodded. “I’m glad you're safe", Jona said.

“Let’s not make the day end like this”, Kim suggested. “Still ready to go?", she asked both her friends. “Whohoo", Lilly made and Jona had to giggle.

But it had tought them a lesson. Jona didn’t move until Lilly had sat down in the middle of her palm and Kim was waiting next to her.

“Can’t we do anything to let her enjoy the view?”, Kim wondered.

“Yeah, really”, Lilly spoke up, “no need to be overcautious with me.”

Jona sighed and Lilly’s hair was blown back and she staggered a step backwards on her high heels before she could lean in against the storm. Just as she noticed Jona held her breath.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry… that was… see what I mean?”

“Oups”, Kim made, but Lilly giggled and couldn’t stop.

“Tough girl”, Kim mentioned. “Guess it would be really bad if she was the big one.”

Lilly only giggled some more and even Jona couldn’t suppress a chuckle.

“OK, whenever you want. But wait until I stand firm on the ground – and stay away from the edge.”

“I know”, Lilly said, now suddenly very serious.

“Why have you been so careless?”, Jona urged.

Lilly looked up at her, then at Kim.

“Envy, of course”, she admitted after a long moment. “I just wanted to see what’s going on around your feet. I want to be just as powerful”, she said and looked down. “I wish was able to be so careless about other people. Step on them if they get in  the way..”

“Yeah…” Kim sighed. “We wished, you were. Ever since we realized you are tiny”, she admitted.

“Uh-huh”, Jona made with a lump in her throat.

“You’re tiny”, Kim suddenly bubbled out, “but you’re tougher than we are.”

“What if we rather take you to the beach?”, Jona suggested. “The weather’s fine! We’ll find a save place with calm water and enjoy ourselves.”

“But…”, Lilly made. She was obviously disappointed. “No other outfit?”

“Must’nt be the last time we went out shopping with you”, Kim reassured her.

“What if we just go to a tiny beach? We don't have to make any preparations or precautions. Just walk to the beach and have fun", Jona added.

“Err… I coincidentally have a beach outfit in my bag – but what about you two?”

The two giantesses looked at each other with a naughty smile.

“How could I ask”, was Lilly's only comment.

The trail of gigantic footprints lead straight from the place of their conversat across the city. The two giantesses no longer saw the need to spare any malls or other businesses and as they hadn’t got close to downtown the streets around were too narrow anyway and the low buildings were just no obstacles. So their feet paved their way with ease, flattening buildings or just brushing them out of the way. Standing about 1500 foot tall in heels they had a great overview and could see as far as aabout fifty miles. The coast however was a little farther than that but Lilly knew the general direction and the three sauntered lazily across the country. From time to time Lilly was offered a view around and despite the traumatic experience before she enjoyed the occasion.

After a while instead of letting Lilly look around from high up, Jona lowered into a squat. Both her and Kim had noticed their tiny friend staring at their shoeprints. Now Jona held her palm close to one of Kim’s prints and Lilly took in the view.

A highway had been severed by the enormous depression. The tarmac was still visible on the bottom of the footprint but was corrugated by the fine ripples of the tread under her mules. Two cars had been caught underfoot. The little squares of sheet metal had been mangled into the asphalt. Several trees had been mashed flat. Just outside the footprint was a farmhouse. Or rather it’s remains. The trees had remained standing but lost a lot of foliage. The building itself had partially sagged. A pickup had crashed into a crack radiating out from the imprint and crossing the driveway. The family who had obviously lost most of their property in an instant had preserved their lives. They were crawling out of the pickup and started to run off as soon as they were all out – a pathetic attempt. Jona stood again and left them behind. A giantess was used to leave her victims behind – alive or dead.

Just when Jona moved on after this stop Kim pulled her right leg up to her butt and pulled off her mule before she caught up with them, seeming a bit smaller but light footed.

“Oh, you're so right, we’re no longer on a shopping run", Jona sighed, "get a grip on my skin ridges”, she suggested before she squatted down and stripped the ankle straps down before she got up again and kicked her sandals away. Kim handed them over and after that both giantesses were comfortably walking barefoot.

“Wow", Lilly mentioned, "smooth ride from here on.”

While taking some four hundred foot strides twenty miles was a matter of a minute to the two sauntering giantesses. The shore came into view after about three minutes and shortly after that they could also see a nice, sandy beach. Lilly knew the place. Endless sand, tanning people, surfers to watch – would the giantesses like the idea?

Maybe even Lilly had thought that they would choose a kind of secluded part of the beach. Maybe the dunes where only a few young couples sought refuge to be able to play with each other. But Kim and Juna didn't disturb those lovebirds. They unceremoniuously strode right across the parking lot into the middle of the beach.

As they had been visible for more than two minutes their approach had been noticed and the beach was in a state of panic when they arrived. It didn’t help that Jona had stepped on and interrupted the access road. Kim however stepped right into the parking lot an when she rose her foot all the fuel and oil that had sqirted out of the cars she’d flattened ignitted and produced a low double bang as it exploded. While it did nothing to her thick skin it was strong enough to be noticed and Kim looked down to check what she had stepped on.

“Oh... didn’t mean to", she mumbled at the sight of the flaming parking lot.

Jona had also stopped and that way got a closer look at the beach before she stepped on it.

“Err...", she made. Even she was kind of touched by the turmoil their appearance had caused.

Looking over at Kim she saw her friend looking back. They weren’t squeamish about squishing tinys but this was beyond what they thought to be casual death and destruction.

“Just calm down everybody!", Kim demanded but couldn’t tell if it changed much. A mass o people was fighting against one another as they ran densely packed through the narrow paths through the dunes towards the parking lot. It was jungle law and wherever they directed their giant eyes they saw things they’d not thought to be possible.

“Hold your ears”, Jona whispered and kept her palm upright as she moved it behind her back.

“Stop it!” Even Kim flinched.

Part of the effect was coming from the deafening volume. Most people where so shocked by the onslought of volume that they fell to their knees and held their ringing ears. Others simply complied, unable to act against the command of someone so much bigger. Whatever it was it broke the motion of the stampede.

“You will now leave slowly. All of you. Once again slowly”, she ordered.

A few of them started to run again. “Slowly”, Kim added to with her deepest voice. “I step on the next one I see running.”

“Wouldn’t sit on the beach with that many of them around", Jona mumbled after a while.

“I'd never get rid of the stains in my dress”, Kim meant.

“Can’t admit you did something nice to tinies?", Lilly asked, truly reading their minds. Her voice was barely audible as the leaving people still made so much noise.

After five minutes however people had cleared most of the beach. Kim took a step over countless stragglers and even before she had put both feet on the sand she was already pulling her dress over her head.

Her revealing move actually slowed the evacuation as men and women alike looked at her, some mesmerized, some stupefied. Jona was used to both the sight of Kim’s enviable rack and her boldness to put it on display sometimes. Undaunted she also stepped on the beach but unfortunately she neither dared to take a giant leap with Lilly in her palm nor did she have enough patience. Feeling she had waited long enough she unceremoniously stepped forward without even trying to avoid casualties. She simply stepped comfortably in order to provide a save ride for Lilly. It happened so fast and came so unexpected that the unlucky victims couldn’t even scream before Jonas giant barefoot flattened them. About ten simply couldn’t avoid death but half a dozen more barely escaped by diving out of the way. Among them was one who did it with so much energy that he actually somersaulted and landed on his feet. He even stood upright while the sandstorm of displaced air washed over him.

Jona, who had watched her step , which also included the heedless crushing, saw it and produced a sound of positive surprise. Kim heard it and with her pink dress still in her hand she looked and Jona and followed her eyes. She saw her looking at the loes of her left foot. A lot of people were still struggling to get away from the foot and Jona could hardly mean them. There was also a pair of legs sticking out under the ball of her foot and a spreading blood stain told that he didnt make it.

So she could only mean the single man who was still standing in the vicinity of Jona's big toe. He was well tanned, wearing red swim trunks and was so muscular that Kim could even notice from above.

“Hi there”, she suddenly made, blinked her eyes and waved down to the little fellow.

Now it is one thing to be a muscular, self confident man. But after just escaping death under a two hundred foot long barefoot a nice gesture from a 1500 tall woman might feel more than a little disturbing. And so the little man turned on his heels and started to run for his life, along Jona’s toes and away from Kim - who stood rather abashed for a moment. She had not expected to be turned down like this.

“Hey”, she made, and the tiny man did a jump at the stern sound of her voice. “That was not nice!"

She had to wait for a moment until the tiny man had dashed far enough from Jona’s foot but as soon as he had Kim stepped forward and squatted down. The tiny man even increased his speed but he obviously struggled against the deep sand. Kim lowered a finger – but the tiny man doged even before she but her fingertip down.

*

He was panting as he tried to get out of the deep, dry sand and ran towards the waves. He didn't wait until the finger came down, he already made his turn when he noticed the shadow coming. A giggle left his ears ringing. He was running for his life and she was just amused. The ground shook from an impact. But not the violent jarring of a footfall. Just the tremor from an impacting fingertip. He was still in her reach. Maybe she would be too lazy to get up and let him go if he –

This time the shadow appeared just when an enormous mass came down right in front of him. He stopped before he recognized that it was an upturned finger and it had come down dangerously close. The momentum had driven the nail deep into the sand so that it made a step down instead of a headhigh wall. The sand that got squashed aside formed a small dam around the nail and he used it to make a 180 degree turn. But pink! It wasn’t a wall of pink but a whole hemisphere of pink. His eyes widened. Then it hit him. He couldn’t tell which bodypart was hit first but it was like running full speed into a wall. At least the surface was kind of slick and didn’t rip off his skin as he slid across it. He even felt it shoving him where he did not want to go. He yelled, then parted from the pink and instantly bumped backwards into another surface. Still able to fight he struggled to  remain upright to escape from the upturned fingernail – but he already felt the rough surface tilting when his feet landed on it. The motion threw him off balance. He landed on all fours. In a blur of motion he thought he saw the edge and crawled towards it - but an upwards accelleration was so powerfull that it kind of smacked him spread eagled down on the rough underside of the fingernail. He wailed, realizing that she had vanquished him with just two fingers.

“You shouldn’t try to resist me, tiny. Did you notice I’m bigger than you, small brain?”

Still not believing what had happened he scrambled to the edge – and stopped. He was held many storeys above the ground already. Would she kill him like all the others she had stepped on moments ago?

“Aww! Is it too high to jump?”, she mocked him. Her booming voice was so loud that it drowned out his own thoughts.

“Got a toy?”, another booming voice asked.

“He looks kinda hot. I just had to try to make a move on him."

“How does he think about it?”

“Oh, he thinks he’s too high up. He doesn’t have the guts like Lilly.”

A booming voice and that of a woman laughed.

“Put him down”, the other giantess suggested.

“As you say”, th giantess holding him said and lowered her finger – but not to the ground as he had hoped. The finger lowered quickly down the huge pink dress but changed direction when it had passed the hem of the short dress. He screamed when he saw it. A pink thong and it was held open by her other hand. The finger dumped him onto the pink fabric and he slid down the fabric that was bigger than a sail. But what he was sliding on was not so terrible compared to what he was sliding to!

“Kim!”

“What? They all want into a girls pants, right?”

The light disappeared and he heard elastic snap against her skin. At the same moment he hit the warm pussylips. The impact was painful. But what was worse was the pressure. The fabric was pushing him so hard against the skin that he could harly breathe. Stemming his arms against the flesh he tried to relieve the pressure on his ripcage. It did help buthe quickly realised that despite his muscular body he didn’t have enough strength to hold on much longer. So he did the only thing he could think of and started to climb up. When he no longer had the strength he allowed his arms to buckle and felt the fabric pressing him against the warm skin. From the short glimpse while slidigng down he knew he was struggling against her labia wich protruded between the outer lips. The wrinkled skin squeezed into his body and forced the air from his lungs. He couldn’t recover without air. Already desperate he stemmed himself against the fabric hoping to get enough freedom to breathe once he got his knees up and between her skin and the pressing fabric. He produced a groan as he pulled up his knees, buckled his back against the fabric and also pushed as much as he could with his arms. It worked! But only for a moment. One of the wrinkles he put his knees against was forcing them apart. He tried to resist but his adductors started to quiver, then cramped – and he was once again plastered against the labia. Once again the air got forced out of his lungs and he produced a graon of pain and despair.

“He’s struggling”, her voice boomed and he felt the vibrations of her voice through her skin. “But not enough.”

The comment drove him mad. How could she enjoy that? How could she demand more? Without thinking he mobilised his last strength to defend himself – but the lack of air had weekened him to the point when steroids no longer had an effect. His legs only twitched. At the same moment something rattled his body. An impact. Something had hit her flesh – but due to the lack of air he couldn’t think of what it might be. Once again he tried to struggle – but at that moment an incredible force squeezed him into the labia and – his body broke, then popped and the red smear got spread into the crevices of the giant labia.

“Oh… guess I asked too much of him”, her voice boomed.

*

After a few minutes the three friends found themselves in the water – wich was shallow for the giantesses. They all had pulled their summer dresses over their heads and dropped their panties. Now they were in the water and the giantesses held still so Lilly could take a swim. She wanted to jump in. So Kim had lowered her knee somewhat to make the jump less dangerous and Lilly got some cheers from both giantesses for her elegant jump that barely rippled the water as she dove in headfirst. She resurfaced and swam like a tiny dolphin. Just for fun she splashed some water towards Kim’s and Jona's face.

“I dare you”, Kim chuckled, “you wouldn’t want me to answer". Of course Lilly splashed some more. Like that some minutes passed. Lilly swam and the giantesses enjoyed the water.

“I can see your navel down there!" Lilly swam slowly over Kim’s body. To Kim it was almost unnerving slow but she realized that Lilly couldn’t go much faster even if she swam for her life – and this was for fun after all. Maybe it was also about pride. The thought came to her mindwhen she noticed Lilly becoming ever slower. She was heading for shallow water which meant the shallow bay between Kims breasts. As she was resting with her elbows on the seabed the angle wasn’t too steep. But the distance between Kim’s knees and her navel had already been a fair distance for someone who wasn't use to swim long distances in free water. From her navel to the water’s edge on Kim’s breastbone it was easily a double swimlane and Lilly was obviously tired without admitting it. Kim knew how she felt. She didn’t want to show her weakness once again so Kim didn’t offer help. After all she could safe her easily if thing’s got out of hand, or so she thought.

Lilly however made a turn. Heading for Kim’s breast she obviously wanted to shorten the distance. Though it saved her about half the distance Kim's enormous knockers rose like steep walls from the water. The tiny waves washed against her smooth skin and Kim wondered if she could get a hold – she was sure that she wouldn't be able to climb them. But they were warm and she sure could rest there for a moment. Lilly got slower and slower and even Jona couldn’t hide that she was a bit worried.

“Made it”, Lilly finally panted when she put her hand on Kim's left breast close to the inlet of what she could’ve called Cleavage bay. But she couldn’t get a grib. She tried and her fingers slid of. She used her fingernails but the next wave broke her grib.

“Try my nipple. I don’t mind", Kim offered and Lilly swam panting around her breast. Kim new her breasts were big. But as she watched Lilly floundering about three and a half inches which was about a quarter of her breast’s circumference she realised for the first time how incredibly big they appeared to tinys. To Lilly it was another fifty foot of swimming and she was really desperate when she found it just as hard to get a grip on Kim’s huge areola. To make matters worse the wrinkles deepened and she could feel Kim’s hearbeat through the water as it pumped blood into her inflating nipple.

“Don’t think anything of it”, Kim muttered, actually a bit embarassed of the unwanted reactiong of her body. "Just get a grib wherever possible and get out of the water."

Unnecessary words as Lilly was just trying to do this. But the creases and wrinkles of the giant nipple were too big, too rounded and to smooth. She could hardly dent the inflated skin and whenever it seemed that she got a foothold to push herself up she would be washed down by another wave and also by the puckering of the hearbeat inside the nipple.

When she slipped down about the tenth time and her head sunk under the waves Kim couldn’t hold back any longer.

“It hurt’s me to see you struggling there. Hold still! I’ll get you out."

That said Kim reached for her with her left hand. But despite doing it slow her upper arm still moved through the water and pushed against her left breasts which each created a big wave that moved towards Lilly. The tiny woman bobbed up and down and got smacked into the wrinkled surface of Kim’s hardened areola. Then Kim’s hand dove into the water and caused another wave but worst of all as Kim reached for her she shoved enormous amounts of water towards Lilly who got helplessly washed away from Kim’s left breast and then got sucked under in a violent swirl.

Kim’s eyes widened and Jona gasped. But haste made things worse. Kim spread her fingers but realized just in time that Lilly might hit her head on her giant digits if she got forced through the gaps between them. She flinched and made another attempt. This time slower and with her hand cupped until she enclosed the submerged and struggling Lilly in a handful of water between her breasts and her hand. Disoriented Lilly struggled to swim somewhere – but it wasn’t up. But then Kim used only the index finger of her left hand and managed to get close to Lilly with her fingernail. When the tiny woman saw the bright pink she moved towards it and Kim had finally learned that moving herself was easy but unrewarding. She held still until Lilly had a grip. Then she slowly moved her finger up and  once again used her fingernail as a shovel upon wich Lilly lay sprawled, twitching and coughing when Kim got her out of the water.

Very carefully she released the water from her right hand and held her palm under her fingernail to allow Lilly to crawl off.

 “Did you know I trust you?! I would’ve swam into hand by myself. You didn’t have to drown me, trying!”

The tirade hit Kim, even more so as it was interrupted by coughs and sputtering. Jona sat next to her and looked sad and worried at Lilly. She remained silent, feeling just as guilty as she would've done the same.

“I’m sorry", Kim sad after a while. Lilly was squatting in her palm, coughing down, trying to get out the water she had swallowed. Her hair was tousled as she'd lost her hair tie and while she was panting and coughing she was combing it with her fingers.

“Are you okay", Kim asked really worried. “I’ve heard salt water can be dangerous in your lungs even after some time.”

“Guess I’m OK”, Lilly said, still staring at her feet. Then she looked up – she couldn’t really look into Kim's eyes. She had to choose one. "I forgive you. If you forgive me coughing into you hand.”

“Thank you", Kim just said. She was really affected. Friendships to tinies were rare. So rare no one talked about it and there were no do’s and dont's around.

“It was too far. I just couldn’t admi it”, Lilly said. “Thank you for getting me out. But… just talk to me, next time you'll try to help me. I know I'm weak. But working together still makes the difference."

That was so true that the three of them just said there for a while and nodded.

“You could swim in my navel instead", Jona offered after some time.

Lilly giggled. “I’t big, I know. But not that big. But it’ll be a nice place to relax with my feet in the water, she offered. “But what's worse is that I’m really hungry now.

“Uh, I’don't know", Kim said. "Maybe I sat on the snack”.

“Nah, silly, there it is”, Jona said.

“Maybe they left the deep fryer on?  Or there’s something on the hotplate", Kim said and reached out past Jona to allow Lilly to have a look at the little food truck.

“Next time we'll be better prepared”, Jona mumbled. “I’m hungry, too.”

“I think they left some. Would you give me a lift down?"

“Sure”, Kim replied to Lilly's request. When she offered her fingernail she wondered why she didn’t do just that while Lilly was struggling in the water next to her breast. Better think twice while around a tiny you like, she thought to herself. Setting Lilly down next to the foodtruck was easy. She even thought of putting her finger down leeward to keep the sand she stirred up out of the food.

With nothing but her bikini on Lilly's guideline about stealing seemed to be momentarily suspended. She returned with some fries and a bratwurst. She was already chewing when she leaned back against Kim’s fingerpad. When she arrived in her palm she brushed a few fries of her fingernail and mumbled “sorry”, when she gathered them from her palm.

“Pffft”, made Jona when she saw Lilly standing there with a handful of sandy fries in her hand while Kim offered the same fingernail she had just brushed them off from.

“I know, I know, I know… yes it was silly", Kim muttered when Kim disposed the fries by just flicking them away.

“I don’t think so", Kim made. "I appreciate some respect while eating in my hand.”

She said in friendly without an undertone. But she really appreciated that Lilly wasn’t careless. It was kind of mutual, Kim thought. Little things they did for one another.

“I don’t know”, Kim said. "I'd like to go for a swim, too. But I just can’t leave Lilly here alone on the beach. What if we cause waves?"

“We will", Jona confirmed.

“But I really want to got for a swim.”

“What if…”, Lilly said and hoped they would hear her suggestion. Of course they did and when they realised that they were once again looking down on her in Kim's palm, Kim lifted her palm headhigh.

What if you don’t go all the way in? One of you can still stand on the seabed and hole me while the other one can swim. You would just have to do without splashing.

“Not exactly”, Jona smugly said, "the one who has to hold you can still splash the other one."

“Not fair!", Kim replied in a mocking tone.

“Life isn’t, in general”, Jona confirmed, got up and unnoticedly squashed the foodtruck when she sprinted into the water. Kim actually cupped her palm when Jona hit the waves and the water splashed miles high.

She waded out after her and much slower. Lilly sat in her palm and dried her hair in the warm wind the giantess slow walk produced. At one time she stood, spread her arms and leaned forward against the wind. Kim had a tear in her eye when she heard her tiny friend letting out a wolf cry into the wind.

Jona was swimming backstroke and causing enormous waves and splashes as her paddling feet broke the surface. A red flare got her attention. She had already sunk several yachts with her fun but this one wouldn’t go down unnoticed. Putting her feet on the ground she cupped her hands around it and lifted it out of the water. But when the yacht fell dry as the water rinsed between her fingers there was not a trace of the crew.

Taking it to Kim she wondered if someone hid inside the swamped little boat. The sails were torn and hung wet all over the hull.

“I don’t like the idea", Lilly said when she looked down on the wreck from the safety of Kim’s palm. "If somebody’s still in there he might not be too fond of me.”

“Huh?”, Kim made, but then understood. “Oh. Didn't think of that."

“You didn’t see anybody?”

“I don’t know. No...”

“They should’ve worn neon red lifewests.”

“Oh, I know. I’ve already seen these. They stick to the surface. Can’t miss them from above. There was none.”

“Then I won’t take the risk. How about yout two change roles and Jona and I will take it to the beach?"

The giantesses nodded in agreement. Jona even blew her other hand dry for Lilly. After the usual lift on a fingernail Kim slid into the waves and swam out with much less turmoil and splashing. Lilly and Jona watched her move.

“Wew! She's an elegant swimmer”, Lilly commented. "Yeah, beautiful", Jona confirmed. But then she turned and made her way back to the beach.

“Must be a nice experience to sail on those yachts. One thing we can't do at our size."

“You can’t? Why?”

“It’s been decided that it would use up too much resources.”

Upon Reaching the shore Kim squatted down and lowered her hand to the beach. She tilted her palm – but the yacht wouldn't slide off. It was stuck and wouldn’t slide off. She didn't want it to tumble down. So she sighed and used ther thumb to pry it loose with her thumbnail. She could hear several cracks as it rolled over. The mast and booms snapped and and maybe the hull got damaged, too. But except for some harsh tumbling about anyone hiding inside would get away with their lifes, she found when she gave it another push that caused it to bump over the edge of her hand into a patch of dry sand.

“There you go. Could’ve been easier for you if you had the guts to show yourselves”, she somewhat scolded.

Then she got up and returned to Kim without taking a single look behind.

*

The bath had been refreshing but left both giantesses seriously hungry. Lilly could hear the stomach growls like thunder.

“Well,” she made herself heard, when both giantesses sat on the beach and were wringing out their hair. They had put her on the sand between them but where well aware of her location. She didn’t even need to raise her voice and they imidiately made eye contact with her.

“I can hear that you two are suffering. And before anyone of you will burn too much fat – imagine it would be taken from your breasts - you'd better bring me home and get yourself some food, will you?”

Kim had a warm smile for her. “As I said: Next time we’ll be better prepared. But the day's been long enough. What do you think, Jona?”

“Oh, the day could just last somewhat...", she was interrupted by a very audible stomach growl. “…longer”, she meekly continued her sentence.

“I would’ve loved to sit on the beach with you two and enjoy the rest of the day until the first stars would come out. Then we’d bring you home in twilight. But our stomachs really speak against my wish.”

“Will you hop on? I won’t eat ya!", Kim joked as she once again offered her fingernail. "We got to pick up my shopping bag”, she reminded.

“Oh, almost forgot!", Kim excused and turned her head to look for the place they had marked. The beach was still deserted. Their shoes that had remained on the beach were kind of imposing monuments but Lilly wasn’t sure if they could also be a tempting place to conquer for some daring tiny men. But with the two giantesses stil around no one had dared to come back and so the bag was still resting up on the padded heel rest of Kim’s mule.

“Care to climb”, Kim mocked and lowered her finger in front of the slightly darkened imprint her big toe had left on the insole. Lilly just laughed and got up.

“No, ah, stop, I didn’t mean it!”, Kim quickly reassured her. It was almost a hundred foot climb and the slope was as long as a ski jump. Kim didn’t like the thought of Lilly slipping and tumbling all the way down without her being able to help. Better think twice when you are dealing with a tiny you like, she once again remembered. Lilly easily got her bag when Kim lowered her fingertip next to the bulge of the heel pad.

Seconds later the four high heels were dangling their fingers as the giantesses returned along their well visible trail of footprints. Some places were still smoking and some places that had made it through the initial passing were unintentionally left flattened or burning as the giantesses made their passage.

“While we’re still far enough from your town", Kim said with dampened voice and waited for Lilly to look up.

“Your thougts about that tiny boat made me think.”

Lilly just looked up.

“We knew we would trample a lot of your town", Kim continued.

“And I still have no second thoughts about it”, Jona put out.

“Me neither", Kim confirmed and they both waited for Lilly to say something. They took a few more steps. The honking of a car got terminated by a footfall. Lilly realised that they expected her to speak.

“These are my kin, not my family. But you are my friends.”

Kim just nodded. “I know some things we did may rise some guilty thoughts later. Just keep in mind that this is the way we live. But that’s not what worries me."

Kim paused once again. Some screams could be heard from below. The continued as the giantesses moved on.

“I’m worried that you're no longer safe in your town. I know you thought we’d be joking when we said we would come and pick you up. But some people might think you asked us to come.”

“Oh”, Jona made.

“They might think that they should make sure that we’d have no reason to pick you up for another day out.”

Lilly looked up and her face distorted. The day had been so nice but there was a painful truth behind Kim’s words. She should’ve thought of it, she realized. But the day had been too beautiful for dark thoughts like these. A sudden fear for her life and the painful realisation that this wonderful day would remain a once in a liftetime opportunity drove tears into her eyes.

“I’m sorry Lilly. We meant it as a prank actually. A prank that would also mean a lot of fun for all of us. But as pranks go sometimes: We liked the thought so much that didn’t think it through", Im said and gulped.

“Now I can’t think of any solution.”

“We could take…", Jona blurted out but was instantly interrupted by Kim.

“No we can’t. I've already thought of our options she said and stopped, never noticing that her right foot was resting in a small town where it had demolished several houses.

“We are already hungry and I know that I'm getting touchy when I'm hungry. Lilly had not time to gather at least a few things - and if we left anything behind I’m sure it would burn before we were able to return.

We can’t just take the whole house with us. We would destroy more than we would save! We can't leave her there either."

They fell silent. A daring little man was trying to free somebody from a half crushed car that was wedged into the gap between her pinkie toe and the next one.

“What are you talking about?”, Lilly asked.

“Kim thinks we should better move you to the resort.”

“Yeah", Kim confirmed, “I sure think so."

“The resort is a place for people like you. Who’ve been kind or orphaned among tinys but who are loved by some of us.”

“Or just people who are too nice to be left among the tinies were some careless twat may squish her any day", Kim added another reason.

“Guess we'd really like you to move in there", Jona suggested.

“But aren't there any formailities?”

“Like with you tinies? Fill out applications for a place to live, food and a special red form for a stritly rationed volume of air to breathe?”

Jona had to laugh about Kim’s mocking.

“We don’t live that way. Once we deliver you there you’ll be welcomed and others like you will see that you get along well. The same will be expected from you once you call the place a home. That’s our way to live. We don’t applicate for visiting a tiny town. We’d just march in, you know. Two sides of the same coin, understand?”

“The place is guarded”, Jona added, “by one of us but not against anyone of us. We rather guard it against your kin."

“There have already been cases", Kim mumbled. “I really don’t know what to do. But I think it'll be best not to return you home the longer we speak about it."

She never got aware that a twitch of her toes ended the little man’s efforts as it squished him before also pressing the car wreck completely flat. Someone started to pound her foot with the sharp edge of a shovel. He went berserk at the giantess even more so as she didn’t even notice his outbreak of rage. The thick leathery skin at the edge of her sole was too strong to be cut or suffed by any effort he could make.

“But you forget about one thing”, Jona said and smiled reliefed, “we are two."

“Three", Kim corrected a bit annoyed.

“Three friends, yes, but two giantesses”, Jona suggestively put out. But this time Kim was not bright enough to follow her. Maybe because the hunger was already getting to her. Jona explained before she could get mad.

“One of us, me exactly, will stay wit Lilly while she will arange everything to leave this evening. We'll just require help from people who wish to keep their homes. And meanwhile you’ll go and get some food. And a new bottle of water, please," she added as if there was nothing that Kim could say against it.

But Kim wasn’t convinced that it could be that easy.

“Well, that is kind of a plan - but it's worth nothing without you consent, Lilly!”

Lilly sighed.

“I like the job I have. But after today I think it’d be the job I jad, anyway. I also liked the house – but you couldn't imagine how it fared as you two stepped up to it.

“Oh”, Kim made, "this is... oups... we really thought we were careful."

“I know you were. I felt your footfalls before you got close!”, Lilly clarified.

“But matter of fact is that most of the furniture got pushed off the walls. A cupoboard fell over, some shelves got dislodged from the walls. Did you know that tiny homes usually have a safe room? Since today a know that it’s only a farce. Meant to leave people at ease about giant incusrions. That thing broke first. The door wass flung out of it’s hinges as the whole room distorted. Did you know they claimed it to sustain being stepped on? Bloody lie.”

Kim just let out a humph.

The man witch the shovel was sweating and cursing but had still not been noticed. The shovel was bent at a ninty degree angle but he kept on hacking it against the giantess foot in front of him-

“So what does that mean to us?”, Jona eventually asked.

“That house is done for. I guess my job's already history. Thinking about it you tore some facades passing between the skyscrapers, right?  Guess there's not much left that would be worth to stay for."

Both giantesses still heard the undertone. Lilly was afraid. More afraid than she’d ever been of them. So they did not cheer but instead treated the matter businesslike.

“Then I’d better head off this moment instead of returning with you”, Kim anounced. Both Jona and Lilly nodded. Kim lowered her finger into her palm and Lilly climbed onto the hot pink lacquered lift. As Kim turned towards Jona the man with the shovel got knocked off his feet and had a brief moment to wattch acres of friction ridges pass over him. He still held the shovel up and it splintered when the friction ridges lowered once again and squished the man into a pulp.

Neither Jona nor Kim took any notice of the houses that turned into splinters as they casually brushed aside with their moving feet. Lill hopped into Jona’s palm and Kim nodded down.

“Like I said. We didn’t really think it through", she excused once again, "I'll be back in an hour or so. Rater one and a half"- and with that she headed off, a little fast than necessary. Lilly knew she wanted to hide some tears.

Jona stood still for a few seconds. Then sighed and resumed walking. "That prank, you know…”, Jona started but obviously pondered if she should tell Lilly or not. But she finally decided that being honest among each other was the most important thing in a friendship between giants and tinies.

“The reason for that prank is actually because we were worried."

Lilly looked up but knew that it was not the time to interrupt Jona.

“We were actually talking about asking you to move into the resort. Und we were thinking about how to convice you. So we had the thought how mad it would be to just anounce we’d come around and pick you up. We forget about our worries. But in the beginning we really were afraid. I'm sorry to call you weak, but you really are and we were so afraid of the thought of some… giant twat coming around and accidently stepping on your house, on you, and everything.”

Jona gulped. Her voice had gotten shaky as she remembered her fear.

“I know it was always kind of unlikely. You lived in a save place - before we showed up, that is – and according to your government the probability of a giantess encounter in your town is less than one in a hundred years. But thinking of statistics – guess that's already the third visit of a giantess in one day and a fourth is impending, right?"

A tear was actually running down her left cheek – but while it ran there was more desperate honking on the ground and a crash that gave testament that the footfall had demolished part of another town. Jona blinked away another tear.

“I know that it's self-rightuous, even kind of pharisaic. But over the time it lasted our friendship has become so precious that we just couldn’t risk it to some accident. And whenever we tried to talk to you about giantess encounters you’ve always been so without worries. I don’t know whom of us is more heedless. I as I constantly keep stepping on tinys who happen to get in my way or you as you don't fear to be stepped on by some indifferent giantess.”

Lilly just sat in her palm, hugged her knees and looked up kind of puppy-eyed. She wondered if Jona saw her tears.

“Guess none of us is really guilty. It’s just that life isn't fair. Some are weak, some are powerful.”, Lilly explained.

“You never asked”, she continued, “but you never realized why I was so content with my life. Why I endured the danger of being tiny and weak.”

Lilly looked up and made sure that Jona was listening.

“I always thought that giantesses who walk over people without a care are kind of honest. For what can they do against her? What power would allow them to claim an excuse?"

“When I learned that you two are giantesses I was farely surprised. I’d never thought you could be so… so... natural.”

“I remember”, Jona spoke up. "We were just as surprised. Guess that was what kept us from cutting the connection. There were other cases – and they tried to pretend until we found out. In your case you found out and you never pretended. That’s what impressed us. And in that way you’re stronger than us. We tried to imagine what it would be like to talk to someone so much more powerful, so big, so easy about everything - like us. We could never live with that brutal injustice of being tiny and weak while others are so big and powerful.”

“Any protest wouldn’t get me anywhere. In the end it’s as simple as this: If there’s trouble ahead you can’t fend off or weather out you’ve got to avoid it or you’ll be done for.”

“Only that most people neither can’t get out of my way or sustain my step once I’m passing through their town.”

“Like I said: It’s only honest. That way people know to get out of your way.”

Jona didn’t know what to say against it. She only knew that she couldn’t leave Lilly behind with that risk.

When they got back to Lilly’s town Lilly heard Jona navigating through the strets while she put her dress on. At some point she had put on her sandals again. Cars crashed and crumpled. Honking and screams got silenced under Jona’s sandals.

With a sigh Jona relaxed somewhat. “It’s still there”, she explained and Lilly understood that she’d been worried to find her house burned down.

“Maybe you’d be gentle with the neighbourhood? We’ll need some hands.”

“Got it”, Jona said but Lilly couldn’t say that the cries of horror or the crashing that accompanied every footfall got any lesser.

So she was indeed surprised to be lowered to the sight of a neighbourhood that looked quite similar to what she remembered. The family next door was rushing to their car.

“Them!”, Lilly ordered when she was already on Jona’s French manicured nail. They heard it and screamed even before a fingernail of Jona’s other hand cracked the tarmac in front of the car. Just a moment later her thumbnail blocked the car from behind.

“Where’d you want to go? Promise: It’s much safer to stay here. Your boy’s old enough – yeah you sure are! I noticed that look at my boobs, little one! Your wife may stay with your daughter. But you two get into Lilly’s house at once.

Meanwhile Lilly had hopped off Jona’s fingernail. The sun was already low and the yellowish light made her mood even more melancholic. But she also saw that the house had suffered more than she had noticed when she left. The walls had leaned to one side and the boards had cracked in several places. If the other homes were in a smiliar state the hole neighbourhood would have to be rebuilt. She sighed and opened the front door. Her neighbour and his sixteen year old son feared for their lifes as they made their way up her front yards. They yelped and flinched as the giant hand moved. But Jona was only withdrawing her hand.

“You can as well get out. Watch from your house, stay in the car or go over and help them. I mean no harm. But the gentlemen will do the work we’ll ask of them”, Jona explained. Then she realised that her legs hurt while she was squatting on her heels and after the long day. So she groaned and leaned back. Her fine but tired but thumped down accompanied with the resounding crunch of a dozen homes she sat on and obliterated. Several homes collapsed while others got even more cracks. The gigantic feet with the white high heel sandals moved up and then down again as the giantess rammed her stiletto heels through the tarmac of the road to keep her feet from sliding.

At least Lilly’s home and those around it remained upright. But the incident was without doubt the reason why the neighbours daughter and his wife chose to stay in the car.

“OK, Lilly, what’s the plan?”

That was indeed the question. How to get a whole household ready to move within a few hours? After Jona’s question Lilly reappeared in the doorway and looked up at her.

“Got none? But I have”, the giantess said with a grin.

“And?”, Lilly asked provocatively.

“Well, there’s some string attached. It contains the demolition of your house.”

“Sure… just finish it off, it’s a miracle it’s still standing.”

“That bad? Didn’t notice that. Oh… I know what you mean. But my legs just hurt. Couldn’t remain squatted any longer.”

“I’m moving anyway. So will you explain?”, Lilly asked impatiently.

“OK, here’s what I think. The men will help you getting everything down from under the roof. Anything that might get dirty and mustn’t. The bath is upstairs? Bedroom too? Then you’ll have to get the matress down, blankets and so on. In the bathroom put anything sturdy into the bathtub. When that’s done I’ll help. I’ll just flip off the whole roof in one piece – so I hope. Or maybe I’d better use my fingernails and lift it away. With any luck Kim will be there already. Then we’ll help. We’ll move anything we can grab without causing too much damage and place it into the box. The bathtub for example – not matter if we dent it. You won’t need it. But it can carry a lot of things.

Use some strings and tie them around the cuboards. Stuff them with clothing, ah you might use the bedsheets, so things inside can’t tumble around. Then we’ll just topple each cupboard on a fingernail and move it that way. The ones you wish to keep – well these have to be moved onto our fingernails by you tinies. The one’s you don’t like anymore – Even if you don’t like them I’ll be gentle with my claws, promise.”

Lilly sighed. “In lack of any better plan…”, she agreed.

“To have access with our nails we’d have to break off all the walls. Sorry, that will look pretty rough but will be inevitable. When the floor’s cleared we’ll just remove it. I’ll try to pry my nails through the walls to get it off in one piece – but I can’t guarantee. So everything below should already be in cupboards, too. Once the upper storey is off we’ll do just the same. Break off the walls and put stoff on our fingernails to carry it over into the box. This will be easy work for Kim and me.”

“OK… we’ll do it that way”, Lilly agreed somewhat steamrollered by the giantess’ suggestions.

“And while the boys do the heavy work you should go around and collect anything too precious to be handled that way. Got a box or something?”
”A loundry bin? More than one.”

“Perfect. Wrap delicate tings up with some towels and put the bins out next to the door. I’ll watch over them.”

So the action started. Lilly could be heard from within as they instructed the neighbour and his sun – and the two didn’t dare to say anything against it. Jona once heard the boy making a suggestion – and Lilly accepted it. From time to time Jona let out some ideas she had. Lilly was to busy to be creative about emptying the house.

Some time had passed when Lilly appeared in the door. She pointed behind Jona. Jona’s eyes widened.

“Oh! Understood. I’ll tell her.” Did she actually feel Kim’s tread before Jona heard her? Being tiny really had it’s hardships, she realized once again. Turning around Kim was still a few steps away from the city. Instead of deafening everyone around Jona gestured at her. Pretending to slap her hands on the ground she scared a few tinys shitless. They fled from their houses that they had refused to give up. But while they did not at least Kim understood and stopped. She was still wearing the same hot pink outfit and appeared a little clumsy as she elaborately put the promised box down before she once again pulled the mules off her feet. Picking up the box she walked slower than before but it was only a matter of seconds before her barefeet and crushed, mowed and kicked another swathe into the city.

“Oh”, she made when she took her last steps with extreme care, “seems it got banged up a little more than I remembered.”

“Good to see you. Lilly’s busy inside. The neighbour and the boy are helping her and his wife and daughter are right here in their car.”

“You’ve held them captive? Was that necessary?”

“Err, actually they choose to stay in there rather than within the house. Guess I… sat down a bit too fast.”

“That’s why the neighbourhood looks all roughed up!”

“Better roughed up than roughed down.”

“Literally!”

“Well, got some more hands with me”, she said and carefully lowered the box into the street. “Good thing you told me about the neighbours”, she said and Jona realised that the neighbours car was in the way and could’ve had some ugly fate had she not known. The mentioned car however was suddenly revved and jumped forwards with screeching tires. Despite the concealment the meaning of her words it didn’t get lost on the neighbour’s wife.

“Thank you”, Kim said without the slightest undertone and put the box down where she had originally intended – it included flattening the neighbour’s fence, postbox and most of the front yards flower beds.

“Allright, people, meet Lilly. I guess she can really use a few more hands. Looking into the box from above Jona saw about a dozen people, most women but also a few men who now opened a tiny door on the side of the box and got out. Looking up Jona pointed at Lilly’s house.

“Lilly?”, Kim softly called, “would you come out? I’ve got some hands to help with the task.”

“Coming!”, it sounded from somewhere inside but almost a minute passed until she appeared at the door.

“Hey, Kim!”, Jona said panting. Then she noticed the – compared to Kim’s presence - less obvious group of people in her front yard.

A woman from the group stepped forward and with a few calm words introduced herself and the others. After that she simply walked in through the door and returned with the first chair she found inside. She put it down on the lawn and forced Lilly into it.

“We’ll ask if there are questions.”

Inside the rummaging got significantly louder but despite Lilly’s fear she couldn’t hear any glass breaking. After a few minutes the neighbours came out. The woman, Mary-Anne, accompanied them.
”Guess they’ve done enough. They look worse than you”, she said and Lilly just shrugged and nodded.

“OK, you’re done so far. Just wait a second”, she said and whispered a few words with Lilly. Then she rushed back into the house and came out with an envelope.

“Here, she said to the neighbour and handed him the envelope. There’s more than a few bucks in side. It might not be enough to fix the house but sure enough for some vacation for your family. Now listen! We will be busy at least for another hour. You saw Kim and Jona coming from the South. So you’ll be heading north. It’ll be hard to find a hotel. Got some relatives or friends in that direction? Lock the doors and stay away at least two days. I assume if you’ll return after that time everything will be allright – and if your house got burned down it was not with you inside.”

With that she gave him a shoulder clap and left him standing.

“Kim?”, Marry-Anne’s voice could be heard from somewhere inside the house.

“What is it?”, the giantess boomed.

“Who will lift the roof?”

“I, err…, guess Jona would be the one.”

“OK, Jona”, Mary-Ann said as she appeared in a bedroom window.

“You’ll use your right hand, please. We already cut the posts far enough. So you can lift it in one peace. But please but your thumbnail under that edge and pull it up first. As soon as it cracks lift it straight up for a few feet – about the length of your thumb – and then move it over into the street. You may drop it there. We just don’t want things to fall off and damage things we want to keep. OK?”

“OK”, Jona confirmed.

“With your thumbnail under that edge see that one fingernail is under the opposite two edges. And when you lift there will sure be a lot of cables. Just pull straight up and snap them. Don’t move the roof aside before they all snapped. You will barely fell them. But if you move it sideways before they snapped they will pull off lot’s of plaster and boards.”

“Understood.”

“OK, then wait, we’ll all get out”.

Lilly stood in the front yard and looked up at Jona’s enormous hand when it happened. Despite the damage it was still her house and she wasn’t absolutely sure if she did the right thing. But before she could object Jona lifted and with a ugly crunche the half cut posts cracked. Cables rattled out of the walls and cracked like whips as they snapped. With the ease of a giantess Jona lifted the roof ever higher.

“What about those cables?”, she asked when she held it more than fifty foot high.

“All gone”, Mary-Ann loughed and waved her to move it away.

Jona complied and carefully put it down in the street on the other side of the block. It was still in one piece.

“Good work!”, Mary-Ann complimented. “Ever thought of making a profession out of it?”

“Let’s just hope the floor will be just as easy”, she replied.

After that it happened just like Jona had suggested. Lilly lost a few tears watching as the same fingernails that had been so careful with her roof brutally scraped and ripped off the remaining walls. Like Jona had suggested the cupboards got shoved onto upturned fingerails and got moved into the box where people strapped them to bolts. The bed got lifted out by jona. They had some ropes ready and all she had to do was to hook her fingernail under them. If felt like lifting a dustbun with a crane when she gently put it down in the box.

Like she had feared the upper floor wouldn’t come off in one piece. But Mary-Ann had foreseen that.

“Just hook your fingernails under this edge, pry through the outer boards, they’ll give in. Then pull it will either come off in one piece or break somewhere. If it breaks just be quick and flip it over onto the part that stays in place before it slides of and down into the rooms below. That’d be devastating.”

So Jona gave it a determined push as it broke off around the staircase and it landed crashing on the remaining part of the floor.

When it had come to rest Jona left her hand over the house expecting directions to pull off the rest. But Mary-Ann waved her away.

“We’ll leave it that way. The part you broke off is big enough to reach every room. She was right. More walls got crushed. Just for the fun of it Kim asked if she could give it a try and at least if it came to the job of crushing something her pink nails were quite effective.

Lilly had entered the box. It was easier to receive well handled loads of her belongings and unload them from Jona’s fingernail than to watch her house being crushed.

It was a matter of minutes until the ground floor was empty.

“Now,” Mary-Ann came into the box and asked Lilly, “Is there still anything inside? A secret trap door, or a loose floor board? But I suggest you should watch the end. It’s just like loosing a relative. You won’t believe someone’s dead until you saw it. It’s the same with the place you lived in.”

So Lilly had to leave the box and stand in the front yard.

“I’m sorry”, Kim said, “I know it must hurt. Any way you want it to be done?”

Lilly thought for a moment. “Maybe you could step on it. That’s quickest.”

“Uh… I could but that way I’d get yours and also crush the neighbour’s on either side.”

Lilly looked up and Kim grew sad.

“OK, I’ll just use my big toe. That’ll still be quick enough.”

Looking around she made sure were to tread before she stood. She looked at the neighbour’s house. The car was gone. She couldn’t remember if she saw them leave. His house was on the left so she choose to do it with her right foot – and she was right to. Mary-Ann waved up clearance and Kim didn’t hesitate. But as she had suspected she felt the ground giving in under her left foot. As a result she had to put more weight onto the big toe than she had planned and it crushed the debris of Lillys house ever deeper into the ground. The windows of the good neighbours house shattered as her toe squashed the ground aside. But she registered a soft touch under her other toes. It took only half a second before she regained her balance and withdrew her foot.

“The ground sagged under my left foot”, she excused and wondered if the other neighbour was still at home. Two of her small toes had crushed the roof. Shingles and then a crushed bed fell off her toes as she wriggled them.

“Oh, well, I’ve seen worse”, Mary-Ann commented. She embraced Lilly and lead her into the box. The tiny people strapped into some seats and Jona finally pulled her high heels out of the ground to get up on her feet again. Squatting down she picked up the box.

“Strange thing, to know I can carry Lilly’s whole existence with one hand. If we had a way to pick up homes…”

“We already did this”, Mary-Ann called up. “But the damage was too severe. It would’ve fallen apart.”

*

It was already dark when they arrived at the resort. The way leading in was marked with a row of lights. In a well lit reception zone Jona lowered the box. Lilly hugged both index fingers of her friends.

“Mary-Ann?”, a voice boomed and Lilly’s head snapped around in some fear of the unknown voice.

“Are you unhurt?”

“Hey Jane! Everything’s fine and none of the others got hurt.”

Lilly realized that the latter half of the sentence was kind of a reminder.

“It’s OK. I’ll be stargazing. The night will be warm. Will you come?”

“Sure”, Mary-Ann said and Lilly noticed that she didn’t like to confess that while she was around.

“We’ll come around, tomorrow”, Kim promised and Jona nodded. They had already risen to their feet and stepped out of the reception zone when Jona turned back and added “Late afternoon. We got to work.” Lilly waved after them. Kind of happy but also feeling more alone than she’d ever had in the last years.

“Two sides of the same coin”, she sighed.

“What?” Mary-Ann asked looking stupefied.

“Once you got friends you’ll miss them as soon as they leave.”

Mary-Ann blushed and looked up at Jane.

“Well, uh… Jane and I.. see we love stargazing. I’ll spent most of the night in her palm. You could take a blanket and sleep there too. She’s moving really soft… like a ship on the waves…”

“Yeah”, she said after thinking about it, “yeah I really would like. If it’s OK for you, Jane.”

“Hey, your bold for a tiny. I like that. Guess that’s what got you here, right? You’ll sleep fine, I promise.”

“Give me a minute”, Mary-Ann excused, “I’ll get you everything. Don’t rummage through your stuff now. Ah Jane, could you put a lid on the box? Everyone’s out and we don’t want the dew to creep into her things.”

“Will do”, Jane softly said.

Lilly stepped back from the box. Then she looked at the other people. Her high heels clacked on the hard surface of the reception zone when she ran over to them. “You’ve been so great, thank you so much everybody”, she said and shook hands and embraced most of them.

They had walked off into a town Lilly had already noticed behind a red lit borderline. The people had been nice - but Lilly had not expected to move. Matter of factly she had rather been moved. Would she ever feel at home there?

Mary-Ann reappeared with a bedsheet and cushions. There was a thud behind them and when Lilly looked around she saw Jane’s hand. The giantess had lowered it next to a pedestal with some stairs that allowed to board a hand more easily. Jane’s hand was warm and softer than Kim’s or Jona’s. But she only trusted her because of Mary-Ann.  Trying to make the best of it she stepped onto the palm and walked away from the edge. There she sat down and patted the thick skin. “You’re really soft, do you know that?”

“Thanks”, Jane said. “Most tinys don’t seem to notice.”

Lilly looked  at the pedestal when Mary-Ann hopped on, still carrying the bedsheet and cushions. When she snuggled into the warm blanket Lilly realized that she welcomed the additional warmth of Jane’s hand.  The clear night after the hot day would be cold. As the giantess lifted her hand the wind felt chilly. The light vanished and Lilly heard Jane’s muffled footfalls. Two steps only – but she knew it meant a respectable distance. With the light suddenly gone she was all in blackness and a sudden feeling of lonelyness overcame her.

“Why did they leave?”, she asked despite becoming very sleepy.

“They had to leave”, Jane’s voice came out of the night. Though she had a friendly was and spoke very soft she was still an unknown giantess to Lilly. Only her exhaustion made her stay. Better than spending the night all alone. “People in the village don’t know them and they’ve not been instructed and tested to handle tinys well. That’s why they had to leave after sunset”, Jane informed her.

Lilly thought about her friends. Instructions, handling, testing… That pedestal was a nice invention, right – but she’d never exchange that kind of comfort for the thrill of a ride on either Jona’s or Kim’s fingernail.

*

The End– for now –

Written by Hedin in June 2022