"I want to ask you something."

            The words, like most spoken syllables over the past decade, thundered across the sky. Though the voice that uttered them was soft and enchantingly reserved, the nature of the situation dictated the result, as had been the case for just as long as he had known that thunder. It was a simple reality that words from such a person, no matter how tenderly spoken, rumbled and shook the air above.

            It was the simple reality of existence at half an inch in height - one of the facets of his life, and it was something he had learned to deal with long ago. It had been one of the easiest things to deal with, all in all, at the completion of his two year metamorphosis those ten years prior. When every real person in his life had transformed with him - not into the dependent little creature he was now, but into towering skyscrapers of flesh and blood.

            And over the towers of clear plastic that rested on the sprawling table top, themselves filled with iced coffee (half-filled now, technically), loomed the grandest of those skyscrapers. One that dwarfed all others, and not just in form. One that could provide him with everything he would ever need....that had already provided so much.

            "Oh? What's that?"

            More thunder, this time emanating more directly above. A thunder he knew better than any other at this point, as he should. Because it was that particular thunder that he listened to above all else, that commanded obedience even as it often directed itself at him cloaked with the sweetest of intentions - always the sweetest, that had always been the case. They were the words of his sister, booming with power and authority for ten years now.

            They were the words of his owner, a status that sat above all others. Because to the young woman that loomed behind him, a skyscraper just like the raven-haired titaness that sat across from them, Oliver Redding’s half-inch form was no longer a brother. The brother of Kaylie Redding had died over a decade before, as Oliver’s life had started the process of resetting into something that allowed no such respect. And while he had been permitted to retain that young teenager's name in respect to his memory - a teenager that had doted upon his little sister, tutoring her, taking her out for ice cream, sitting with her when she'd been woken up by nightmares, and who had been there by her side as she had battled life-threatening illness for months in a hospital bed at only 6 years old - he had not retained that young man's status.

            He wasn't a brother now - hadn't been in years. Now, he was a pet. Just like every other person stricken with the disease. And he was a well cared for pet. Beyond well cared for, truthfully. Even before he had been gifted to his current owner, his now former family had spared no expense and made no small effort in assuring his safety...assuring his comfort. He had the finest of little houses, custom-built for his pleasure and security. The finest little foods, the finest little clothes, the finest little everything. That determination for his life had been passed from parents to child upon his transfer to Kaylie on the day of her graduation from high school, along with he himself. And now four years later, as her graduation from college approached...for the first time in years, Oliver hoped to be something more again.

            All because of the wonderful goddess in the distance, her blue eyes cast down upon him with incomparable love...the love of one person for another, in all its beauty.

            "It's...about Oliver," Camilla Shepard replied in her wonderfully soft manner, her warm voice threatening to lift him from the table all on its own.

            "Yeah? What about him?" came Kaylie's questioning response, coupled with a sharp shake of the shrunken man's world. The result of a sharp tap from the ponderous, fleshy wall that rested directly to his side...his owner's finger, placed protectively close by, and he knew in an instant the response that one tap demanded. Looking upward, he was not surprised by what he saw. Two jade pools gazed down at him, plush lips curled in a delighted smile, all framed by long auburn hair. Delight at the cute little creature that sat upon the dining hall table looking up at her, following her commands. Being the prized little possession he had become.

            "I," Camilla started, and her natural reserved demeanor took over. Her beautiful eyes focused upon his minute form more intently in his owner's shadow, and in those oceanic portals he could see her resolve forming, see that pause that had stricken her begin to end. "I want him. I...I want you to give him to me. To keep. Please, Kaylie. Please. I...we would appreciate it, more than you could ever imagine. You would make both of us so, so happy. Please."

            Oliver's spine shivered as the love of his life issued her request, despite the weight that such a question placed upon her. The burden she was taking up in this profession of their shared desire...of the love she dared to have for a lowly pet. But it was love, in its purest form. The love of one person for another person, without care of status or of what the rest of society thought. A love kindled through years of co-habitation, as Camilla had joined Kaylie in her choice of sorority upon attending university. Kindled through what seemed now to be countless nights of being snuck away from his own little enclosure upon Kaylie's nightstand (though often with her knowledge), of cuddling close with the colossal beauty, of just...talking with her. Like people. And every moment of their shared time had...God, it had been so wonderful. And now...and now, it was all about to culminate.

            He had done a lot of thinking, ever since the day when the shrink gene had begun to manifest within him. It was about all he could do, truthfully. And for all his displeasure with his status, he knew that if roles had been reversed...well, it would be Kaylie on this table, not him. It would be Kaylie as the loving little pet, and it would be him as the doting, protective owner. It was why he still loved his sister, his family....he wouldn't behave any differently than they had. And in truth, he appreciated them and all the kindness they had shown him. But these last several months, he had thought about something else as this moment had approached. If his sister had found love while under his care...would he do what they now asked of her? Would he let her go, to be with someone who saw her as more than just a faithful little companion?

            The answer was that he would. He had thought it over constantly as this day had approached, putting in all the effort in the world to come to as close of an objective answer as he could manage. And he was beyond comfortable in saying that he absolutely would, even if it would probably have hurt him to do so. And if he would do it...well, he knew Kaylie. He had been hers for too long now to not have some sense of her personality, and his sister and owner was a wonderful person. An empathetic person, so much like he was before the disease. And being so similar...he knew she would let him go. She would give him to the woman that he loved, and he would be so immensely grateful.

            So as the two awaited that response, Oliver's heart began to flutter and he feared he might float away because of it. Yet even if he did, he noted with childlike amusement, he was sure his lover would simply pluck him out of the sky before he rose too far. He did nothing to suppress the giddy smile appearing on his face. It was just a matter of seconds now - no, even shorter! That thunder was already returning, in short little bursts, signaling the beginning of a response. Kaylie's breath caught in his chest, and he stared across the table plateau to meet Camilla's gaze. A gaze that showed none of his good cheer as she took in both his little form and that of his larger protector.

            "Camilla, you're kidding, right?"

            That single statement, said with all the humor of a person who had just heard the funniest joke in the world, lingered in the air, was surrounded on both sides by those bursts of sharp, girlish thunder. Laughter. No, giggling. Kaylie was...was giggling, like a little schoolgirl, at the whole prospect. At him.

            "Kaylie, no," Camilla's clearly shaken voice rang out in the distance, clearly as taken aback by this turn of events as he was. Though unlike him, her majestic face was now rather severe. That stupid smile still graced Oliver's own face, seemingly frozen there as he felt his stomach edge onto the precipice of a freefall. "I'm not...I'm not kidding. Kaylie, I love him. And he loves me. And I just..."

            "I'm sure you do," Kaylie cut off, and there was an almost sickening warmth attached to that. "And I bet he does. You're always so sweet to him, it would be hard for him not to. But come on, that's pretty much the case with all the girls. Everyone at the house loves him, and I'm sure he loves them, too. And...I mean gosh, Cammy, this just isn't happening, even if you've been my bud forever. I mean, I've had him for like half my life at this point. I couldn't bear the thought of giving my little Ollie away, or how much that might hurt him."

            It barely registered to the shell-shocked Oliver as two familiar pads grasped him on either side, putting just enough pressure on him to facilitate the short lift that followed. The world whizzed by, just a little bit, but Oliver didn't really care. He simply dangled limply from the vice that held him, still with that little smile, and crumpled almost immediately into a sitting position once more as he was carefully dropped into a familiar warm, bronze sea.

            "He's just my best little friend in the world, Cammy," Kaylie's warmly authoritarian voice exclaimed above, and it was then that Oliver's stomach went off the edge, tightening in defeat as the palm that held him began to rise. "I couldn't ask for a better one."

            Contact, suddenly, with another familiar surface - still warm and soft, but cartilaginous as well. All at once ten years of casual conditioning reared its ugly head, and Oliver's right arm rose with overpowering instinct to stroke gingerly and eagerly at the nose whose tip pressed lightly into his half-inch form. Another little giggle thundered around him, bringing with it a slight sense of satisfaction that quarreled with his despair. Enough to keep that smile on his face even now, as he looked up the bridge of Kaylie's nose and into her practically smiling green eyes.

            "I'll pay you for him." Camilla's statement was rife with a sudden desperation, enough of it to pull Oliver's attentions away from the soft protrusion he had found himself nuzzling into. That smile finally dropped, then, as he met Camilla's gaze beyond the fleshy plain of Kaylie's palm and her straightened fingers, and he shivered, just a bit. Those blue moons were locked upon him with nothing less than desperate horror, a feeling that he himself had magnified within her as he had so compulsively and so easily accepted Kaylie's affections. "Whatever you want. Six digits, even. You know I can and will. Daddy will give me the money if I ask."

            That giggling returned as Kaylie's enormous face parted from the open hand, while Oliver's stomach continued to be sent into tumult at the thought of his lover stooping to...to purchasing him. An offer he already knew the answer to.

            "God, no, Cammy. I couldn't. He's just...I mean, I told you already. He's been my best little friend for like 10 years now, and you just can't put a price on that kind of companionship. Not for all the money in the world."

            Kaylie's words were warm - glowing, even, and genuinely so. But Oliver found himself devastated by them all the same, in a feeling he hadn't felt since his two years of constant shrinking. Because while Kaylie used words like "best friend" and "companionship," she didn't mean them in the sense of an older brother. Of a real best friend. Of even just a friend.

            She meant them in the sense of a dog. A tiny, helpless little dog that was her beloved property by rights.

            "Kaylie, please-"

            "Sorry, Cams, it's just not happening," Kaylie cut off again, and as her fingers began to rise in the distance, Oliver could see the despair on Camilla's face, between the rising spires, her radiance gone and replaced with a sense of defeat with her resolve having quickly crumbled. The beautiful light in her blue eyes fading into nothingness as her words went in one ear and out the other. He could see the feelings of helplessness all over her gigantic visage, and he knew she wanted nothing more than to just take him - a futile gesture which would do nothing but ruin further chances.

            Because, Oliver lamented, as the fingers rose and began to fall onto him, he was property. A pet, owned completely by his former sibling, and there would be no "taking" him. Camilla mouthed something small as the fingers continued to curl inwards - a promise to try again. Oliver managed a light smile - he doubted she could see it, though, which defeated the point of trying to make the young woman feel better about her failure.

            "Anyway," Kaylie started again, the thunder now muffled slightly as Oliver himself became encased in darkness, surrounded on all sides by the authoritative flesh of his owner's hand. Restricting his movement, restricting his freedom in its careful, caring grip, "I need to get going, if you're done being silly." His owner's voice was still thick with that good humor, the conversation apparently bringing warm delight to at least someone. "I have class at 3, but I want to get to the store before then."

            "Someone's birthday is coming up," she continued happily, delivering an affectionate pulse of her hand to treat her pet to a playful sort of hug, "and I want his help in picking him out a new little home."