The next day, a few minutes before noon, Joe walked into his work building, yawning. His parents had been proud to hear that he was still employed, and that the work wasn't something overly difficult. When it was time to go to sleep though, he had a bit of difficulty, as his mind constantly flickered back to images of Ann, keeping him awake.
He had to put his fatigue behind him for now, as he stepped through the metal detectors, got his belongings checked, and moved straight to the conveniently opening elevators. Their doors closed behind him, and he hit the third floor's button. Moments later, they opened again, and he stepped onto the work floor, moving to his assigned seat.
The fluorescent lights above Joe's desk flickered, and he briefly wondered if he should report them, before shutting that thought out of his mind. Ann had said he'd better be dying if he was going to annoy her, so it would be better to just deal with it.
Speaking of Ann, he found it unusual that he hadn't seen her yet. Was she in her office already? Perhaps it was just a fluke that he'd seen her the previous day? What if her presence was a rarity, and he'd only be seeing her once a month, if that?
As these thoughts ran through Joe's mind, he approached his chair, suddenly noticing how high it was positioned. He'd been dropped into it from above yesterday, climbed back on it while dizzy, and had left the building so quickly when leaving that he'd never noticed.
Dropping to a knee, he quickly found the lever that would adjust the chair's level for him. Wrapping both hands around the lever, he used a great deal of force for someone his size, and yanked it to the right.
Immediately the chair shot upwards, stopping once it had reached its maximum height, and nearly tipping onto him like a pile of books from the burst of momentum. Grumbling, Joe used all his strength to move the lever left, so it was centered again. After pausing a moment to blow on his sore hands, he grabbed the lever again, and pulled it all the way to the left. The soft sound of escaping air was heard as the chair's seat began to lower, and Joe stood again, dusting himself off.
Watching his seat lower for nearly a minute, Joe felt a small sense of satisfaction. He'd started the day with a problem a problem, attacked it head on, and won. Hopefully the victory over the chair was only the first of many for the day, and he hopped into his chair with a new zest for life.
joeybagofdonuts... He mouthed to himself, to help memorize his log-in details better. And... weakend8... I wonder how long it'll be until I can change that?
The sound of the computer processing his information filled the area again, and Joe glanced at the door to Ann's office. It was shut, as usual, and he had no way of knowing if Ann was even in today or not. At least, there was no way to check without putting himself at a massive risk, given his close encounter the previous day.
Though disappointed, Joe heard the chime of his log-in completing, and his cheerfulness returned. While there was still the tiny bit of uncertainty gnawing at the pit of his stomach, the few things that had gone right today were brightening his mood.
Like the day before, he opened the lone program on the desktop, retyped his credentials, and began his day of work. Moving things here, moving things back, clearing space, making sure nothing was overloaded, and making sure the systems ran smoothly.
It was tedious, monotonous, boring work. Joe could only take so much of it without a break, and after several hours, found himself browsing the various directories his user account had access to. Maybe he could find an employee handbook to read, or maybe find out what the company he was working for even did. Anything that could stimulate his mind beyond his menial assignments would be a blessing.
Unfortunately for Joe, the directories were doing little to keep his mind off the monotony of work. His account had access to very little information outside of his employed task, and the dozens of folders he clicked through had all given him the same error.
You do not have sufficient account privileges. Again. Joe sighed. Maybe the next will be different! He told himself, his enthusiasm waning.
Double clicking another innocuous folder, Joe was surprised to be greeted not with another error message, but with a few image files instead. They had no real name, aside from being in numerical order, and Joe right-clicked on the first.
...And it's a thumbnail. Joe sighed, his positivity draining. He'd been hoping for a giant banner, or something to admire.
Still, I wonder what it is. He added, closing the properties and double clicking the file. The computer loaded for a moment, then displayed the image to him.
Jumping back in surprise, Joe's hands frantically moved to his mouse, as he sought to remove the offending image from his screen. In his haste to do so, he accidentally closed the program he worked in, and could feel the blood rush through his ears as his panicky fingers logged back in. The log-in was slow, and the hairs on the back of Joe's neck stood in anxiety, while he prayed nobody came by.
Investigating his surroundings, Joe desperately searched for anyone. He could feel himself becoming lightheaded from the effort, but he needed to be absolutely certain nobody else had seen what just happened.
W-Why would th-there be a... He stuttered, feeling his sanity slipping. It was the last thing he'd expected to see, and though it was just a thumbnail, it was exceedingly clear what the image was.
It took several minutes for Joe to recover and feel confident enough to dig through the directories once more. He remembered the path he took to get there. Like a branding iron, it had burned itself into his memory the instant he opened that file.
After a minute, Joe was looking at the folder again. Minimizing it, he turned and made sure nobody was around this time. His heart pounded at the thought of opening the images again, but he absolutely had to look.
Double clicking the first image, he stared at his screen. Displayed boldly, and stretched to fit the window, was a photo of his boss's feet. They were both propped up, posing, suggesting that they were taken on purpose, and not through more secretive means.
Still, he wasn't sure why such a photo existed at all! Much less why it existed in the work directories as a thumbnail! Was there a full sized version hidden elsewhere that he could find? He shuddered at the thought.
It was a sign.
Minimizing the window, he once again ensured that the coast was clear, before pulling his car keys from his pants pocket. Attached to the keychain was a small, plastic rectangle. Joe carried a flash drive with him at all times, as it was useful in his previous job. Now it was showing its use once more, though for less pure reasons now.
He couldn't leave without it. Simple as that. He was going to take the image with him.
Inserting it into his computer, he waited a moment for it to recognize his drive. Then, without thinking, he dragged the entire set of images into his flash drive, his hands sweating profusely in fear of being caught. These weren't company sensitive documents, they were just a couple of photos!
The transfer completed quickly, and Joe closed the folder instantly. Ripping the flash drive from his computer, he stuffed it back into his pocket, wanting to minimize the risk of his perverse actions being seen.
His heart throbbing, Joe slowly and carefully looked around once more. Sudden movements might draw attention his way, and the last thing he wanted was people pressing him with questions.
Thankfully, no one else had appeared during his brief adventure, and he weakly breathed a sigh of relief. Given his knowledge of networks, he had a feeling his action could have easily been tracked, but it was a risk worth taking. If he wasn't going to see Ann's feet again in person, he'd at least have a picture for himself. It may have been just a small, low resolution thumbnail of a picture, but it was all he had. There was always the possibility that he could never get anything more, after all.
Joe sat in silence. He had the image safely on his flash drive, tucked away in his pocket. Nobody could take it from him. All he had to do now was work. Just work until his shift ended, then go home. He knew this, and knew keeping casual was important.
Then why did he want nothing more than to bring the image up again? It would be a huge risk if anyone saw him. Especially, especially if that anyone was Ann. It wasn't worth it. It would be like returning to the scene of a crime!
The hours flew by, and Joe found himself constantly checking the image anyway. His already weak self control had crumpled from the pressure of Ann's feet, and he viewed the thumbnail at every opportunity. Doing so put him into a state of perpetual paranoia, but he couldn't stop. The grainy, pixelated image controlled his mind, and he could feel himself falling for the massive woman.
Five round, splendid toes, spread purposely for the photo. The shameless manner in which these long, smooth soles were displayed. Like the facade of the building he was in right now, he imagined one of her feet towering hundreds of feet in the air, a great caramel wall that dwarfed the world surrounding it. Even the way the heel wrinkled at the bottom from the weight of the foot was endearing, and made him wish the foot were resting on him.
Suddenly shocked by his thoughts, Joe closed the image again. and waited in absolute silence. His eyes moved down to the computer's clock.
Less than an hour. He said seriously.
The remainder of his time at work was spent in silence. He didn't open the image again, but still found himself stroking the hard plastic of his flash drive. He'd have all the time in the world after work to study its contents, and Joe silently prayed he'd get to see those feet in person at least once more.
Come 8:00 P.M. Joe logged out of his computer. He simply climbed into that deep blue sedan once he was outside again, and drove straight home. He took no detours, he simply drove straight home, keeping one hand cupped around his flash drive the entire way. It was silly to think something could happen to it, but he had no intentions of taking any chances. It was just too important.
Giantess World
