Sasha Cradled the shrunken boy in her hands nervously, her left hand under his back with her right under his thighs,  watching Nadine take notes, Watching her carefully and examining carefully each movement and adjustment she made, Baz was getting antsy in Sasha’s grip, the hold was fine, Sasha was definitely passing the test Baz just wanted to get his Lamington, it was the only reason he agreed to be the homunculus she’s evaluated with, (actually it’s the reason he always volunteered). 

Nadine flexed her eyelids a tiny amount, it was barely enough for most people to notice, but Baz had been waiting for it.  With no warning or prelude he began wriggling around in Sasha’s hands, causing her to flinch and try to re-establish his stability. “What the...?” she whispered as she attempted to mauver her hands back into a serviceable hold on him, after a ten second struggle that felt much longer, she was holding him one hand under each arm with his legs dangling below, facing away from her.

“What was that?” Nadine asked, knowing full well it happened on her cue.

“Yeah, I thought you were a professional,” Sasha commented, Looking closer at Baz.

Baz just laughed at her deflection attempt, “She wasn’t asking me, cunt”.

“Language, Barry!” Nadine reminded sternly.

“What?” Baz responded incredulously, “Rules say she can’t swear at me not the other way ‘round.”

“Technically you are correct” Nadine conceded, “but hear me out.  Stop swearing or no lamington!”

 “You can’t do that the only reason I let her hold me is for the lamington” Baz argued, “And why I started squirming at your request”.

“You, what?” asked Sasha.

“Holy shit I forgot you were still here” Baz said turning his face to her.

“How… I’m still holding…” Sasha stuttered.

Nadine wrapped her fingers around Baz’s waist and gently removed him from Sasha’s hold, “Barry is used to being held, it’s not special to him so he pays it very little mind. You Pass by the way”

Sasha sighed in relief as she got the job, she’d been wanting to work at a homunculus shelter since they first started opening when she was a girl, she remembered seeing how struggling people were losing the little they had simply because the government deemed them “unproductive” then feeling disgusted that once shrunk the government just et them loose on society expecting their friends and families to take them in not even offering benefits for taking a homunculus in.

“Good on ya,” Baz congratulated, giving Sasha a thumbs up, smiling like he hadn’t just risked his life for a small cake.

“Thanks” Sasha said to the mouthy miniature teenager, “he has to have been born that size” she thought to herself shrinking usually only happened to adults, but nothing stopped them reproducing once small, so the population control method quickly backfired on the government.

Nadine beckoned Sasha closer, motioning for the additional paperwork to be signed, “Just a reminder that this is a volunteer service, and as such you will not be receiving payment for the time and effort you put into taking care of our residents”.

“Yeah, I got that the last five times you said it” Sasha answers with a little cheek.

“I could tell some people a hundred times and they’d still expect to get paid,” Nadine explained, happy that Sasha seemed to understand, just two more signatures and then Barry here will give you the tour.”

“Nah worries” Sasha answered grabbing the pen eagerly and scribbling her name and initials on the dotted lines.

“I’ll file these right away, please take Barry here and let him lead you around the building” Nadine smiled straightening out the paperwork, “by the way, his parents don’t want him going outside so no matter what he tells you don’t leave the building with him”.

Baz flipped off Nadine’s turned back before facing Sasha with a smile and raising his arms, asking to be lifted as a toddler would.  “Let’s go new girl,” he said waiting to be lifted by Sasha.

Sasha hesitated before lifting him again, remembering his squirming from minutes ago.  “Alright Barry,” she started leaving Nadine’s office, “tell me this place’s secrets.”

“It’s Baz!” Baz said firmly, “only the old hag calls me ‘Barry’ everyone else calls me Baz.”

“Right, that’s no worries, soz Baz,” Sasha said with a wide grin.

“Yeah righto,” Baz said rolling his eyes before pointing the door, “through here and we’re off”.

  Sasha gave Baz a light squeeze, “that’s the exit Baz, did ya really try that straight up?”

“Worth a shot,” Baz mumbled before pointing the other way, “we’ll start in the cafeteria.”

“This better not be a ploy to make me feed you?” said Sasha, now suspicious of the reduced child’s intent, “You were born reduced, weren’t you?”

“Yeah,” answered Baz not too enthusiastic to have been asked that, “in this very building.”

“Sorry,” she apologised realising she’s stood in it “I didn’t think that’d upset you”.

“It’s fine” Baz shrugged trying to distract himself, watching the cafeteria doors slide open, “All the internal doors in the shelter are sliding door’s much less likely to launch one of us across the room that way.”

The cafeteria was in two parts, half was elevated a metre above the ground and was covered in small tables and chairs designed for the reduced residents, all made in vibrant colours, the walls were adorned with tiny pictures, presumably drawn by the reduced young’uns the shelter was known to have a fair few of.  The other half had tables and chairs sized to Sasha’s scale, each table though had a smaller table placed on top of it, she knew that friend’s and families of the reduced were permitted visitation if they wanted, so it made sense to her that it’d be arranged like this.

“Where is everyone?” asked Sasha surveying the empty room with her eyes, she’d been at a facility known to hold almost a thousand reduced people for literal hours at this point yet the only reduced she’d seen was in her arms.

“Well, I can tell you where they’re not,” offered Baz gesturing the empty room only to see his joke hadn’t impressed the giant girl holding him, “they’ll likely be in the recreation area’s or their private quarters, some will be trying to contribute where they can with the Reduced Employment Program, but there’s no reason any would be in here more than an hour before the next meal time.”

“Oh,” said Sasha, a little dissatisfied that she’d asked what now felt like a stupid question.

“Behind that roller is the kitchen, you’ll likely be expected to clock a few hours cooking for us” Baz started trying to hurry the tour along with, “now, if you wanna see some more reduced resident’s our next stop should be full of us,” He claimed pointing to another door on the opposite side of the cafeteria than the one they came in through.