Alicia suffered through her endless mistreatment with smoldering resentment. Presently, she experienced the nauseating G-forces of Charis’s rising and falling steps: words that wouldn’t normally be put together, but in this special case, the description served well. At her miniscule size, underneath the reeking toes of her former sex slave, even the slightest movements had vast repercussions for her body and senses. A twitching of the toes resulted in a battering ram of flesh knocking her had back into the revolting insole behind her; the confines of the boot alone led to unbearable heat and endless salty moisture; however, the suffocating stench was worse than both of those. Alicia longed for a breath of fresh air, but instead each inhalation brought more of the sour, cheesy stink.
Still, all of this paled in comparison to the pressure of her steps. With each stride came an inevitable redistribution of weight and soaring compression against her little body. While she could withstand the force coming down on her, especially since Charis’s toes seemed to fold over her like a gel, each step pushed the air from her lungs, leaving her sputtering and gasping for more of the foot-infused air. To combat this, Alicia had to time her breathing precisely with Charis’s footsteps. Couple this with the random vicious stomps and spiteful grinding sessions, and it was a wonder that Alicia hadn’t gone completely insane.
One thing kept her going: hatred.
Even the most extreme conditions become normal given time, and just the same for Alicia’s current predicament. As she endured the repulsive environment of Charis’s boot, Alicia tried her best to withdraw into herself, to numb her senses against her suffering. Instead, she concentrated on manipulating the environment around her, in whatever covert, small way she could. By bringing her Will to bear, she attempted to lower the temperature in the boot – so far she couldn’t tell if her efforts made a difference, which made sense, given her chaotic circumstances. Maybe it was a futile endeavor, but it’s not like she had anything better to do. On top of that, the possibility of using those abilities to get free and eventually exact her revenge on the pink-haired bitch provided unlimited motivation.
So Alicia stewed and fumed beneath Charis’s merciless, stinking, sweaty foot, quietly and angrily determined to escape this hell.
…
Charis wiggled her toes absent-mindedly, enjoying the way her little prisoner felt beneath them. Maybe it was her imagination, but she felt like that foot in particular wasn’t sweating as much as the other – she would have to rectify that right away. She began to fidget that foot ceaselessly, the rapid fire movement quickly warming up her toes and sole and undoubtedly giving that bitch Alicia more of what she deserved. While it seemed Rima and Gage were coming around to her, Alicia could stay in her stinking boot for eternity and Charis wouldn’t feel a drop of remorse. After what she had done to them, two eternities still wouldn’t be enough.
Presently, the three friends sat at a restaurant, just killing time and talking before they headed over to meet with Milan.
“So you’re still in college, right?” asked Rima between bites of a salad.
“Yeah, I go to Till University,” she replied. “I managed to put together a little scheme to take off for a while so that I could win this tournament.” She then proceeded to explain her preparations.
Rima actually clapped her approval, while Gage nodded – a little distractedly, Charis thought. “Nice job, Charis – but after this, you really should get back to the real world. You can’t spend all of your time with two losers like us.”
Charis arched an eyebrow. “Are you two trying to break up with me?” she joked. “Is something going on here that I don’t know about?”
Rima blushed furiously, but Gage didn’t seem to hear her. Aggravatingly, he had been more-or-less disengaged for most of the day. “That’s not it at all,” protested Rima, brushing her snowy white locks aside. “I just think… well, you have your whole life to live out there. You shouldn’t be playing this stupid game with all of your spare time.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” responded Charis firmly. “You two are my friends, and I want to hang out with you as much as I can. Besides, the real world isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, right Gage?” Once again, he ignored both of them. “Right, Gage?” Charis repeated pointedly, directing her relatively much larger voice towards where he sat on the table.
That seemed to do the trick, and the little man blinked a few times before swiveling his head from Charis to Rima and back. “Yeah, definitely,” he said, his voice low.
“Is something wrong?” asked Charis gently, trying to cover the edge of irritation. Here she was, taking a huge risk on his behalf, and for nothing in return – while he actively lied to her about his age – and he couldn’t even be bothered to pay attention to their conversation! “You seem kind of out of it.”
“Yeah, sorry,” he apologized. “It’s just that Willing definitely takes a lot out of me,” he explained. Rima nodded, while Charis gazed at him intently. “Not only that, but in order to get it to work… I don’t know how to say this,” he faltered. “Basically, I have to be really angry – seriously, seriously furious – to get it work. That’s basically the opposite of how I normally am, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.”
Charis’s irritation evaporated. In an instantaneous change of heart, she remembered how hard it was for her friend right now. She wanted nothing more than to snatch up her little friend and hug him tightly, but she sensed that he needed some space. “Don’t worry, Gage, I’m sure it’s just something you have to get through.”
“Yeah,” agreed Rima, “I’m sure that you can get past it. I never had that issue, but everyone does it differently.”
“All right, thanks for the encouragement,” said Gage, sounding every bit like a recent college graduate. Charis inwardly marveled at how well he pulled off the act. “And sorry I’ve been out of it – we’ve got bigger things on our plate right now.”
With that, everything seemed to go back to normal. Still, Charis couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going on with her little friend.
…
Not long afterwards, the three friends once again stood in Milan’s floating glass office. Impeccably dressed in an all-black suit, the man had an aura of unfathomable power about him. Charis couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew exactly what she was thinking at all times.
“Welcome back,” he greeted them. His tone and demeanor seemed genuinely welcoming, but that of course led Charis to suspect him, knowing his reputation of power and influence. Milan rose from his executive chair and walked around his desk. He shook hands with Rima and Charis, and gave Gage a nod. He gestured to two seats in front of his desk and returned back to his own chair. “So have you reached a decision?” he asked finally.
Gage, standing on an armrest, turned his head back and looked at her. Rima followed suit, and also gave her hand an encouraging squeeze, letting her know that the decision was hers and hers alone. Charis cleared her throat and said, “Well, we’re leaning towards ‘yes,’ but we need to know more about the situation. What are the risks involved? What are our chances for success? I think you’ll understand our concern.”
“Naturally,” smiled Milan. “In fact, your prudence encourages me – it means that you’ll make similarly good decisions in pursuit of our mutual goal.” Charis nodded, feeling both intimidated and empowered. “Unfortunately, for such clear-minded individuals I have no guarantees.” Charis breath caught in her throat, and she became very still. “I have something you want badly, and you have something I want only in a moderate capacity,” he said seriously, yet without malice. His tone was… reasonable. “Furthermore, there exists an information disparity: I know very well the associated risks, but there is no way for you to ascertain them. Ultimately that leaves you with only one small solace: you have my word.”
“So really you could be a lying, smooth-talking bastard – am I right?” cut in Rima viciously. Her words dripped poisonously; Charis had never seen her so fierce.
“Right you are,” replied Milan, unperturbed. “But as I said before, the incentives in this situation are aligned. I want you to win as badly as you do. I might add that you gain a certain amount of… exposure… for doing well in this tournament.”
“This is totally ridiculous,” spat Rima. “You could be lying through your teeth right now and there’s no way we’d ever know it.” She turned her gaze back to Charis, “Listen, let’s get out of here. There’s plenty of other ways to – ”
Charis quit listening to Rima’s rant. She tuned out her voice and her eyes wandered to where Gage stood on the armrest, his mind once again wandering elsewhere. He looked so… forlorn. It hadn’t been all that long since his original shrinking, but Charis could tell it had taken a toll on him. She remembered back to win her friend had been full of a quiet confidence – unshakable dependability. Now, he was just a shell of his old self, always brooding. Even if he wouldn’t show it, Gage needed her now more than ever.
“I’ll do it!” blurted Charis. Rima went into a stunned silence. Gage stared at her, wide-eyed. Even Milan looked taken aback. She took a deep breath, and repeated herself, this time more slowly, resolutely.
“I’ll do it.”