It was a slow day in the office. Linda quietly tapped away at her keyboard, filling in her monthly reports. Sighing as she finished with this latest document, Linda sat back in her chair, stretching her arms overhead, and averted her eyes from the strain of her computer screen, looking instead to the surface of her desk, where her adopted inchling daughter Penny lay napping on the folded piece of cloth that was her bed in this place. The cloth itself rested at the base of the computer tower, where Penny could be soothed by its soft whirring sounds and the slight warmth radiating out from it
The tiny young woman had lay there resting peacefully since lunchtime an hour ago, like she always did when she came to the office. Linda smiled. She looked so cute, so innocent. She was tempted to pick her little daughter up and cuddle her against her cheek, but it would have been cruel to wake her up when she was sleeping so soundly. Besides, Linda was content to watch her resting. Just the sight of her darling girl made the stress of the office melt away, and fill her up with enough energy to keep working.
After gently petting the inchling's shoulder, Linda turned back to her screen and prepared to start work on the next document. But just as she had opened up the format, her phone rang and she hurried to answer it.
“Hello?” she asked softly, hoping she could still avoid waking Penny up. Too late, though; the inchling was already stretching and rubbing her eyes by the time she got a reply.
“Linda, hi.” Her boss's voice came through loud and clear. “Listen, we're gonna need you to come over for a meeting today. Like, right now. Come quick, and leave your inchling; don't want her distracting everyone like the last time. Got it?”
“Ah, sure, I'll be there in a minute. Sorry but, any idea how long this is gonna take?”
“As long as it's gotta take. Sooner you get here, sooner you can go back.” The a clack came through as her boss hung up the phone. Linda put the receiver down with a sigh.
“Something wrong, mom?” Penny yawned, sitting up on her makeshift bed and smoothing down her lovely white dress. Linda smiled at her and reached to stroke her head, Penny eagerly receiving her mother's finger and hugging it while nuzzling her face against it.
“Nothing's wrong, sweetie, I've just been called to a meeting. Gonna be gone a long while, probably. And, Penny, they said I can't bring you along this time.”
“Oh.” Penny looked at her mother with disappointment and uncertainty, her eyes silently asking Linda what would become of her while she was gone. Linda carefully scooped her daughter up into her hand and brought her up for a quick yet loving kiss, then stood up with her little daughter.
“Don't worry, I'll make sure you're in good hands until I get back. Come on, I know the perfect person to take care of you.” Closing her fingers around Penny to hold the inchling safely in hand, Linda left her cubicle and walked past several others, finally stopping at one where a younger woman was sitting at her computer, not so much working as simply trying to look like work might be going on. “Kim,” she said, stepping into the little office. “Got a second?”
The woman turned around, and her pretty round face lit up as she saw Linda standing at the entrance.
“For you? Always! What do you need, Lin?”
Linda opened her hand, showing her daughter to Kimberly. “Sorry to ask but I got called for a meeting and I need someone to watch over Penny while I'm gone. Think you could do that for me?”
“Oh, sure, Lin! You know you don't even have to ask, I love spending time with your little girl!” Kim held out her hand, gladly receiving Penny from her mother. Her fingers closed around the inchling's body. They were tougher than they looked, not so soft as Linda's, but there was something comforting in that too, and they held her gently all the same, their dark skin contrasting sharply with Penny's lighter tone. “Hey, sweetie! You're gonna keep me company 'til your mama gets back; that okay with you?” Penny simply smiled and welcomed the other woman's pats.
“Thanks, Kim; you're a life saver. I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? Just please don't lend her out. Keep her with you at all times, okay?”
“Will do, Lin. Luck with your meeting.”
“Bye, mom,” Penny said, waving.
“Bye, honey.” Linda departed with one last wave for her daughter, leaving Penny alone with Kimberly.
Once she left, Kim swiveled her chair around and lowered Penny to the desk. Once the inchling was standing on it, Kim started petting her little body while she talked. “So, sweet pea, been a while since we talked. How's life treatin' ya? Got anything you wanna share with your auntie Kim?”
“I'm going to school now!” Penny proudly announced to the older woman, taking a seat at the edge of her desk where her legs dangled freely above Kimberly's lap. “With Nadia! And I already made a new friend there!”
Kim listened closely as the inchling told her all about her recent exploits. She smiled with Penny, laughed with Penny, expressed her support of the young inchling woman. She thought it cute how excited she was about something so simple as going to school and making new friends. You'd think she was a little girl, hearing what simplicity and sincerity she spoke with. Well, she was little enough, just in another way. But Kim supposed it was just that Penny hadn't had much life experience, spending most of her life all cooped up with the other inchlings in that pet store. It was heartwarming to hear how happy she was just having a family again, being treated with real love and care.
The two of them passed the time together, making idle conversation. Penny was happy to have ended up with one of her favorite people in the office, and Kim was happy to have something distract her from her work. But they hadn't been talking too long when someone came along to interrupt them.
“Ahem!” The noise brought Kimberly's attention to the entrance of her cubicle, where a short, dark-haired woman stood and looked disdainfully at her. “Having a chat with someone, Kim? Aren't you supposed to be working?”
“I was just resting my wrists for a bit. They get sore from typing for too long, you know?” Kim said, turning her seat around.
“Can't you rest your wrists without making so much noise? You know I've been getting complains about how loud you are. It's distracting people.” Kim didn't reply. Everyone knew that when Jill came around talking about noise complains it was just an excuse for her to give you a hard time. No one even filed that kind of complaints with her in the first place.
Jill's heels clacked sharply against the floor as she stepped into the cubicle. “And who were you talking to, anyways? You haven't been using the office phones for personal calls again, have you?” She looked over Kim's shoulder, where her eyes at once fell on little Penny.
“Um, you remember Linda's inchling, right, Jill? She had to go to a meeting, so I got stuck taking care of Penny,” Kimberly explained, and reached back around to cup her hand protectively around the little woman. Penny welcomed it, and sidled up to her hand, shrinking back from Jill's cold gaze.
Penny had never spent much time around Jill. She didn't know the head of HR very well at all. But almost from the moment she had first seen the woman, she had felt terribly uneasy around her. Jill reminded her of certain humans she had known back in the pet store. Very unpleasant humans. Maybe she was wrong about that, but the more she had seen of her, the more convinced she had become of her first appraisal. Linda seemed to feel the same way, too. She didn't like Jill at all, and always became very protective of Penny when she was around. But now she wasn't there for her.
“So it's the inchling again. I should have known. That thing's been bringing nothing but disruptions ever since Linda started bringing her in.” Jill moved towards Penny, but as she drew nearer, Kimberly pulled her back. Jill turned to her in annoyance. “You know, I'm pretty sure office rules forbid bringing animals to the office. Linda could get in trouble for bringing her in, and you could get in trouble for helping her. I could report the both of you, for that and for distracting your coworkers.”
“Penny isn't an animal. She's a young woman. And you know the boss doesn't mind Penny being in the office, or Linda would've gotten in trouble already.”
“Sure, he hasn't cracked down on her yet, but I hear the company didn't do too hot this quarter. He'll have to make some changes around the office, maybe even fire some people. You're not losing your job just for talking with that thing, but who knows; if layoffs are happening, maybe that could tip the scales against you. But, I suppose I could overlook all this, if you'll lend her to me for a while.” Jill held out her hand, motioning for Kim to hand the inchling over. Kim pulled Penny back again. “Is this really the choice you're making? You'll put her over yourself? And for what? What do you think you're protecting her from? You think I'm going to eat her up or something? Honestly, Kim, you're being ridiculous. The girl will be fine. Linda can pick her up once the meeting's over.”
Kimberly hesitated, but when she felt Penny tapping her on the thumb, she looked at the tiny woman. Penny nodded. “It's okay. You can let me go,” she said. She didn't look happy about it, but there wasn't a hint of doubt in her voice. Finally, Kim held her out to Jill.
“Fine. She can go with you. But if anything happens to her, we're calling Inchling Rights on you.”
Jill rolled her eyes and took Penny from the other woman, immediately closing her fingers around her. “Good luck with your wrists,” she said as she turned and strode away.
A brief walk later, she arrived in her office, letting the door close behind her while she went to her desk. There she held up her hand, fingers still closed around the inchling. She could feel the little woman growing impatient inside, fidgeting within her hand and pushing softly against her fingers. She smiled and gave a light squeeze. Penny started moving more insistently, until another squeeze made her settle down for good. Then, Jill opened her hand over the desk, dropping the tiny girl on its surface.
Penny landed with a soft thump and hurried to sit up, looking warily at her new keeper. She had agreed to come along because she didn't think Jill would do anything to really hurt her, but she still didn't trust that woman at all. The way she looked at Penny made her so nervous. It wasn't like the situation with Emily, either. The young woman's gaze had made her uncomfortable because of how unreadable it was, but Penny felt she could tell exactly what Jill thought about her. Looking into those brown eyes, she felt like the other woman's prey.
“Um... h-hi,” she said. Whatever Jill intended, she felt it was best to at least try to be on friendly terms with her. But after her greeting, Jill raised her fingertip and sharply tapped Penny on the face. The inchling fell over with a cry, and rubbed her nose as she looked meekly up at Jill.
“Quiet.” Jill prodded Penny's chest with a finger and pressed her to the table, driving home her word with a sharp twist of her fingertip. “Didn't anybody ever teach you? Inchlings shouldn't speak unless spoken to.”
Penny's thoughts flashed back to the pet shop; to those cold, long fingers pushing her to the ground as she was ordered to obey, punished for the slightest misbehavior, or simply for being around while the inchling “caretaker” was upset. She and the others had been nothing but stress toys to that woman, who took all her anger, all her frustrations, out on them all. It lasted three awful months before she was fired for unrelated reasons, and Penny had done her best to forget about those awful days ever since, but now it all came back to her. It felt like a punch to the gut, but at least it reminded her how to deal with someone like Jill.
Penny kept quiet while Jill punished her, until at last her finger moved away and Penny could sit up with her hands on her knees and look meekly towards Jill. “Hmph,” Jill grunted with a satisfied nod. “Better. Maybe someone did teach you after all. If not, I'll be sure to do it myself.” Casually she leaned back in her chair and kicked her legs up on the table. Penny yelped as her nylon-clad calves passed overhead to come down beside her, and scooted carefully away while Jill chuckled at her.
“You know, girl—Penny, was it?—I have a good deal of experience with inchlings like yourself. Maybe you didn't know it, but I love inchlings. I have a dozen of them back home, and they've all learned to love me too. But unlike certain overly emotional people, I don't fool around pretending they're my children. Inchlings are animals. Pests, usually, but a well-trained inchling is a wonderful thing. Affectionate with its master unlike any other animal. Even a dog doesn't grovel half as much as an inchling might, or debase itself as much for its masters wishes.
“But an untrained inchling is a travesty. Not only for the owner, but for themselves too. In all my years training your kind, I've learned that inchlings are always happiest once they've learned to accept their place beneath us humans. Unfortunately, I don't think Linda has ever even tried to teach you that. She's one of those sentimentalists who really think you tiny little things can be considered people. Ha! Isn't that hilarious? Who ever heard of a person the size of a human thumb?
“Only an idiot would ever think humans and inchlings are the same. And you know it too, don't you? Even if you like to pretend that woman is your mother, deep down I'm sure you know that she's nothing of the sort. You can't really believe that you and her are on anything like the same level. You're just a pet that she's grown too fond of. It'd be better for both of you if you were more honest about it, don't you think?”
Penny gripper her knees harder. Her eyes were watering. She wanted to shout at Jill, to tell her it wasn't true, but she didn't dare speak. She just sat still and listened to Jill's words in silence.
“Nothing to say, girl? You're supposed to answer when people are talking to you.” Jill slowly walked her hand closer to Penny, until her fingers were reaching out to touch her. The inchling winced as she sat it approach; she shut her eyes tight and leaned as far from it as she could until it brushed against her face, then meekly tried to push it away. “Are you really so scared of me that you can't say a word? I guess that's fair enough. Don't say anything, then, but don't complain about what happens to you either.”
With her thumb at Penny's front and two fingers at her back, Jill lifted the inchling woman to her face. Penny looked into her eyes, but couldn't stand how they looked back at her and she turned away before long. Jill's thumb slid up and down her body, pushing up her dress a little with each pass. “The others have played with you often enough. Not it's my turn to have some fun.” Her cruel gaze made Penny shudder, and the inchling steeled herself for what was to come.
Suddenly she pressed down on Penny's stomach, expelling the air from her lungs. Penny gripped her thumb and tried to push it away, but she was too weak and growing weaker. She started getting dizzy before Jill relaxed her grip just enough to let Penny take the shallowest of breaths.
“You're going to be doing whatever I ask of you, do you understand? You'll jump when I say 'jump', kneel when I tell you to, even run off the desk if that's what I want. Do all these things and I won't have to punish you or put a report on your owner. Got it?” When Penny nodded, Nadia relaxed her grip again.
Penny would spent the next hour serving as Jill's toy and servant, being tormented physically and verbally by the head of HR as she played out her cruel, sadistic obsession with lording what meager power she held over anyone too helpless to stand up to her. Penny thought about running away, but even if she could manage, she feared that Linda or Kim might get in trouble with Jill if she did that. She thought also about fighting back against Jill, and arguing against all those horrible things she said about Penny and Linda and everyone else, but she knew that if she did that Jill would just punish her for it. She could only let Jill do and say as she pleased, and obey her commands, no matter how demeaning they were. She wanted to cry for how helpless she felt, but she held back her feelings, refusing to give Jill the satisfaction of seeing her like that. She just had to hang on until her mother came around for her, however long that took.
She didn't know how long she'd been waiting in there, but at long last, while she was busy rubbing that woman's hands, she heard the door open behind her and turned swiftly around to see her mother stepping inside, looking furiously at Jill.
“Linda. How nice of you to join us. We were just...”
“Shut it, Jill. I'm not in the mood.” Linda marched up to the desk, where she reached for the overjoyed Penny and scooped her into her palms. “Are you okay, sweetie? I'm sorry I took so long, if I knew you were here I would have come out of the meeting for you.”
“You know, if you didn't want your pet running into trouble here, you really shouldn't be...”
“I shouldn't be leaving her anywhere near a heartless jackal like you. Yes, I know that now. Don't worry, I won't be making the same mistake again. Good bye, Jill.”
Linda didn't so much as look the other woman in the face before she stormed out of the office with Penny firmly in hand. A bit too firmly, perhaps, but then, after everything that had happened, Penny was glad to know that her mother didn't mean to leave her side anytime soon.
Back at her cubicle, Linda unfurled her fingers from Penny and held the little inchling up, cradling her in both hands. “Sweetie, are you alright? Did that woman hurt you? Tell me everything, Penny, and don't hold anything back.”
Timidly at first, Penny started telling her mother about what went down in Jill's office. She tried to downplay most of it, not wanting to alarm her mother, but Linda could tell that she was hiding things and gradually teased out everything that Jill had done. By the time Penny finished with Linda arriving to rescue her, her mother was furious. “Why, that woman! I should throw her out on the street for doing all that to you! Throw her out the window, even. I'd do it in a heartbeat if I could get away with it.”
“Mom, please. It's okay.”
“Okay? Of course it's not okay! I never would have left you behind if I knew something like this would happen. And all because Kimberly handed you over! I thought I could trust her to take care of you. Apparently not.”
“Mom, don't say that. I told her to let me go with Jill. I knew I could handle anything she tried to do to me, and I didn't want you or Kimberly getting in trouble with her.”
“You shouldn't have gone with her, Penny. You should have run away, or... or... anything else!”
“Did I... do something wrong?”
Linda looked at her daughter's face and tried to calm down. “No, you didn't do anything wrong, Penny. Sorry. I'm just upset.”
“Don't be, mom. I don't want you being angry over me. Just be happy I'm back, okay?”
Linda took a deep breath and sighed. “You're right. I shouldn't be thinking about that woman at all. Let's forget she even exists. Are you tired? Hungry? Thirsty? Do you want anything?”
“I just want to sit on your shoulder right now.”
“Whatever you want, Penny.” Linda raised her hand to her shoulder and let the inchling hop off. “Comfortable up there?”
“Very.” Holding on to some locks of hair for balance, Penny cuddled against her mother's neck, taking in a deep breath so the smell could reassure her that she really was back.
After petting her daughter one more time, Linda quietly got back to work, while Penny let her mother's presence soothe her after that horrible experience.
Still, she couldn't say she had forgotten all about what happened back there. Jill's words were still in her mind, even after all this time. Most of what she'd said was nonsense, and Penny wasn't going to let it get to her, but there were some things that had stuck a nerve. It was true, for instance, that Penny was still treated as much like a pet as like a daughter. She spent every day in the care of her mom or sister, and never did anything by herself. She wasn't independent like Nadia, and Linda didn't push her to be that way either. If she was really Linda's daughter, she would be going to college like Nadia and thinking about what career she might follow the rest of her life, or maybe getting married and starting a family.
Of course, she couldn't exactly do that as an inchling. There were no colleges for her kind, not so far as she knew, nor were there any jobs for them, and even leaving that aside, there wasn't much room for inchlings at all in society except as humans' pets. How could she even try to become more independent?
Penny thought about that a lot while she and Linda were at the office, and afterwards on the drive home. Even after getting back she couldn't get the notion out of her head. Much as she liked just hanging out with her mom and sister, she felt she did need to start doing more things by herself if she was really going to be a daughter and not just a pet. She didn't want to talk about it with her mom yet, but when she was alone with Nadia, she tried to broach the topic. Having been lying next to Nadia on her bed, she climbed onto her sister's back and walked over to her shoulders to sit close to her ears.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hm? What's up, Penny?” Nadia turned her head aside to look at her inchling sister.
“Do you really think I'm your sister? Or am I more like a pet?”
“Huh? Where's this coming from all of a sudden? Of course I'm your sister.”
“But am I really? I mean... you have to take care of me like a pet. I can't be independent like I could if I was your human sister. Even if you say I'm your sister, aren't I kinda like a pet too?”
“Well, no, you're more like... uh... my handicapped sister, or something.”
“Handicapped?”
“Yeah. Like, you can't do everything by yourself so you need someone around to help you, but you're still a person.”
“But I'm not handicapped. I'm perfectly healthy. I'm just not a human like you.”
“Look, I don't care about that stuff. What are you actually getting at? Why are you asking me this?”
When Nadia offered her hand up to Penny, Penny hopped on and lay down with a sigh in her open palm. “I just... want to do something so I'm more like a part of the family and not just a pet. I think maybe I should help out with chores and stuff.”
“You don't need to do that, you know. Mom and I... you'll be part of the family even if you just sit on our shoulders all day.”
“I know, I know. I don't want to do it for you, I want to do it for me. I want to be able to do something, not just hang out with you two. I want to have a life outside of you two. Like a real person.”
“Yeah, well... that's... not gonna be easy. You talked about it with mom yet?”
“No, I wanted to talk with you first.”
“Really? Guess I should be glad you trust me that much. Maybe...” Nadia looked up from her hand, fixing her eyes on nothing in particular and bringing a nail up to her mouth to nibble on it. Penny sat up, waiting for her sister to say something. Nadia was so much smarter than her; surely if anyone could come up with a solution to Penny's problem it was her.
“I can't think of any job you might do yet,” Nadia began, “but if you want to be more independent or whatever, I figure we could get you a phone. You could browse the net on it. Talk to people there. Make friends and stuff. I don't know, whatever you want to do.”
“Oh! Could I call people on it? Like Emily?”
“Emily? Sure, I guess. I have her number. I can give it to you once you get your phone, and give her your number too.”
“My own phone...” Penny smiled. “I love it! Thanks for the idea, sis. I'll tell mom about it right away.” She held up her arms, and Nadia brought her up to her face so the inchling could hug her cheek. Then, after quick peck, Penny hopped off her hand, jumped off the bed, and scurried away to find Linda, eager to tell her all about this new idea.
Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
Sequel to Penny's New Friend from earlier in this collection. Penny spends the day at her mother's office, but trouble rears its head when the head of HR appears.
RATING: PG
TAGS: Gentle, Maternal, F/f, Minikin, Handplay, Legwear
RATING: PG
TAGS: Gentle, Maternal, F/f, Minikin, Handplay, Legwear