Part 7 - Radiant Dawn

Troy walked.

Troy walked some more.

Troy kept walking.

He did not know where he was or where he was headed, but something compelled him to keep moving forward.

He was not alone, not by any sense of the word. All around him were hundreds of men, filed into five lines, all mindlessly walking in the same direction that he was. Like him, they all wore dull brown robes, and combined with the featureless grey sky and barren dirt road, it was easy to say that this realm in which he currently trod through had been drained of all vibrancy.

They all marched at the same pace; each step was loud yet uniform, with not one man out of sync. Troy too kept up with the pace. He could barely see ahead of him past the heads of the hundreds of men, but from what he could decipher, there was no particular destination in sight.

The blank army pressed on. Aside from the sounds of their footsteps, there was no other sound; no birds chirping, no bugs buzzing, not even the wind brushing against his ears. In fact, Troy could swear that the men around him were not even breathing. It was as if they were automations all programmed for a sole purpose. The question was, what was that purpose? Where were these men headed? What beguiled Troy so much that his very being was drawn towards wherever this army was going?

After what seemed like an eternity, Troy noticed that the men far ahead of him had disappeared. Continued observance revealed the five men currently at the very front of the pack fell suddenly. The same was true for the group that followed immediately after them, and of the following group, and so on. It was as if they were walking off of an edge, of some sort of cliff. Did these men all have a death wish? Had he been wrapped up in some sort of suicide cult?

More and more of the men fell, and it was nearing time for Troy's group to follow suit. His heart raced with nervousness as the line of five men three groups ahead of them plunged forward. Next was the following group. Finally, the group immediately before his.

As Troy reached the edge of whatever landmass he was on, he was given the opportunity to look below the cliff.

What he saw shocked him.

The gigantic face of a female youth, her amber locks framing her face and her bright blue eyes providing some much-needed color to this dull world. More importantly, her face was turned upward, and her large mouth was opened wide, revealing her pink tongue and pearly-white teeth within.

At this point, it became clear what was going on. These men were all throwing themselves inside of her gaping maw.

"No!!" Finally regaining control of his body, Troy frantically backed away from the cliff. However, the men behind him started to push against him and impede his escape. Troy turned and attempted to shove them aside, but--in a first sign of any emotion--every single man there glared at him. All of their angry eyes locking upon him sent a shiver down his spine.

Then, they bunched around him and began to shove at him. Troy attempted to fight against it, but to no avail. Before long, he was teetering right at the edge of the cliff, seemingly with nowhere else to go but down. He nervously looked downward at the beautiful woman's face, who had not budged at all. Turning back to the men, Troy attempted one last advance against them, only to be completely pushed off from the land.

Troy fell, right into the darkness of the redheaded woman's mouth, and he was lost to her body's digestive process.

~~~

"What was up with that?" Troy wondered as he laid in his bed, reflecting upon the dream that he had. It certainly was a strange one, though "strange" and dreams did often go hand-in-hand.

Was it his subconscious' way of telling him to give up and go with the flow of public opinion? Troy did not want to believe so.

Turning to his side, he looked towards his digital clock, which read 8:11am; still pretty early, especially on a Sunday. Seeing no point in getting out of bed just yet, Troy closed his eyes once again and soon dozed off.

~~~

The day was rather uneventful, other than Mitch giving Troy a hard time for "abandoning" him at Ethan's party. Furthermore, there was still radio silence on part of Jeane; at that point, he had pretty much given up on a response. Aside from that, Troy spent the day playing video games and browsing the Internet.

That night, Troy sat before his PC monitor, its screen displaying the MacroMeet page. Or, more specifically, it was displaying the account settings page, and the cursor of Troy's mouse hovered over the "Deactivate Account" link. He stared at the text, the cursor making slight movements leftward or rightward, and his index finger lightly but anxiously tapped at the mouse. He wondered if he should go through with it; after all, he did not appear to be having any ounce of luck finding someone on the site. It truly seemed as if everything was stacked against him: the owners of the website, the tastes of its members, and the overall opinion of macro by the general public. Such a site was not a place for people like him, who were interested in being torn asunder underfoot by women. Perhaps it was best to cut his losses and spare himself the stress.

On the other hand, deactivating his account would essentially be admitting defeat to Vince Vane, the man who caused all of this in the first place. There was a part inside of Troy that, above all else, wanted to stick it to Vince by finding his dream crusher despite the outspoken celeb's best efforts. For that to happen, Troy needed every avenue available to him, even Vince's biased matchmaking site.

Troy pondered over his options for several minutes, his room absent of any other noise aside from his breathing and the hum of the fan inside of his PC.

After a rather lengthy internal debate, Troy decided to keep his account, if only for a little while longer.

With it already being rather late, Troy closed the browser and headed out of the room to brush his teeth, and then retire for the night. The long work week awaited...

~~~

"...So yeah. That was my weekend," Troy concluded of his summarization of the events that transpired on the previous two days of his life.

Standing with his backside against one of the breakroom's tables, he took a bite of the Butterfinger bar in his hand and began to chew the crispy chocolate-and-peanut-butter sweetness.

"Sounds like you had a rough time, my friend," said Bill, sitting down on a plastic chair near the second table in the room.

"Yep. It's like all the stars aligned just to screw with me. It's actually kinda funny, when I think about it." He chomped off another piece of his candy bar.

Only Troy and Bill were presently inside of the breakroom, so he felt more comfortable talking about it in the open. However, he still tried to keep it discreet and avoided getting too detailed in what he spoke about. Far to his left were the rather large windows, its glass being beaten upon by the sudden downpour outside.

"...And as if things couldn't get worse, I didn't pack an umbrella," Troy said.

"Hate to say it, but that one's your fault," Bill told him. "They've been saying for a while that rain was coming."

"Maybe it'll clear up by the time the day ends. I hope it does."

"I wouldn't count on it, but I can give you a ride home if you need it."

"I might have to take you up on that. Anyway, how was your weekend?"

Bill relaxed back into his chair. "Oh, the same ol', same ol'. You know what I'm talking about." He winked cunningly.

Troy chuckled. "Yeah, I get it. Lucky you."

"We met up with some other people, too. My wife had a lot of fun, but she always does. You know, there's still an open invitation for you. I'm sure she'll love having you around."

Troy knew that he was getting desperate, because his mind was actually considering Bill's offer. However, he quickly tossed such thoughts aside.

"No thanks, but thanks for the offer," Troy responded.

"Well, it'll be there if you change your mind. She can play a real mean giantess. It's really something you gotta see to believe."

"...I wonder if she could beat out Dorothy...?" Troy muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Bill curiously asked.

Troy was somewhat taken by surprise. "Hm? Oh, nothing. Just talking about my ex. ...Even though I told myself that I wouldn't."

"Yeah, you told me about her before. A shame that ended for you. She sounded like a real fine catch."

"You're not helping with the whole moving on thing." Troy sighed. "But it is hard to not think back on what was and what could've been, you know?"

"Yeah, I see what you mean. Don't dwell on it too much. I know there's another girl out there who will be your perfect match."

"I want to believe that, too."

"You have to. Otherwise it won't happen." With an exhale of air, Bill pushed himself from his chair and stood up. "Well, my break's just about over. I have to get back to work before Mrs. Gilles lays into me. She says I'm on 'thin ice', so I can't really afford to screw around anymore. How long do you have?"

"About seven more minutes," Troy answered.

"Alright, when you get back, I wanna go over the Henderson account."

"You got it," Troy said.

Bill sauntered out of the room, walking past a trio of workers as they entered into the room. Troy watched as two of them, a male and a female, took their seats at the other table, while the third approached and opened up the refrigerator further away from them. The woman was a young strawberry-blonde who had just recently been recruited by his department. In fact, Troy believed that she was hired right out of college. She was a very attractive lady whose youthful face had rosy cheeks and a rounded chin, along with an overall slender build, fair skin, and a perky bust. Needless to say, she turned heads wherever she went in the office, and she often found herself at the center of attention of many of the males there; even Troy was guilty of fraternizing with her beyond business needs.

Furthermore, Troy noticed that she tended to wear revealing sandals quite often, even when taking the seasonably-warm weather into account. Today, she donned pink thongs with a kitten heel, the straps hugging her lovely size 8 feet rather tightly and exposing her toes painted a similar shade of pink to the world. It would have been a lie to say that Troy never fantasized about her crushing his shrunken form beneath those sandals or any of her other ones.

Even now, as he watched her speak with her coworker, in his daydream his pathetic one-inch form scurried across the floor, fleeing the towering titaness as she looked down upon him with scorn. Then, she would lift her foot and move it over him, covering him in its shadow and offering him a full view of her sandal's sole, and--to spice things up--the flattened remains of other victims plastered in its treads. It then quickly fell upon him, adding him to its morbid collection. With a wet crunch, he was crushed underneath the beautiful ped, and she twisted and grinded her foot for good measure.

Back in reality, Troy felt the blood rush to his nether regions below, and thus cut his little fantasy short before it caused possible problems. It was then that he decided to leave his break a bit earlier than expected.

If they were not in the same department, he definitely would have tried to make a move on her, but as he had told Bill before, he did not mix business with pleasure. Especially not with the rather cushy job that he held. However, it seemed as if the other men did not have the same inhibition, as her male companion held a clear attraction towards her as he listened and talked with her. Same with the second male, as he sat down to join them with his bottled drink in hand.

Tossing his candy bar's plastic wrapper into the trash bin, Troy exited the room and made his way back to his cubicle.

~~~

The week went by rather fast, and before Troy knew it, Thursday afternoon had arrived. Just one more day before he could kiss the office good-bye for a couple of days. Though all things considered, his workload had been lighter than normal, something that he was particularly thankful for.

In fact, his load was so light that at present, he had no tasks to complete, so he simply sat at his desk and browsed the Internet. He was careful of what he looked up, though there was not much he could do regardless due to the filters placed onto the network. After checking the corporate emails for anything crucial, he went to YouTube to watch whatever he found interesting on the site.

As the time eventually ticked past 3:40pm, he knew that at that point, it was only a matter of riding out the rest of the day.

Soon after, he heard a series of knocks upon his cubicle wall, the source of which was Casey standing at the entrance. She waved whimsically before entering into his space.

"What're you up to?" she asked.

"Nothing much," Troy answered as he paused the video on his computer screen. "It's been pretty quiet today, so I've just been sitting here watching YouTube videos until my next assignment. But since the day's almost over, I might as well pack it in."

"Yeah. Ever since we got the Rhodes contract settled, things have been kind of quiet around here. Not that I mind, but I fear that this might be the calm before the st-"

Her words were interrupted by a rather loud crash of thunder. The flash from the accompanying lightning emanated throughout the office even with most of its ceiling lights on.

"Yeah, that's what I meant," she said with a sheepish chuckle. "Glad I brought my raincoat and umbrella. ...And my boots."

Troy glanced down towards the floor, his eyes locking upon said brown leather boots upon her feet. He recalled feeling somewhat disappointed earlier when he first saw her in them as opposed to her usual open-toed shoes. "Well, weren't you prepared, eh? All I have is my umbrella. I was banking on the storm coming earlier, so I could avoid the worst of it."

"It's been a really rainy week, but I guess we were asking for it, since it's been sunny and hot for a long time. ...Anyway!" She pulled the second chair in the cubicle closer to his desk and sat down upon it. "I have a surprise for you."

Troy was rather curious. "Oh? And what's that?"

"Remember last week when I said I'd see if any of my friends would be up for a date?"

Troy did indeed remember, though he hadn't put too much thought into it since. "Yeah."

She displayed to him a wide smile. "One of them is up for meeting with you."

"No way, seriously?" Troy was almost stunned to hear this from her.

She nodded. "Yep! Her name's Dawn, and she's been looking for someone to date for a while. Don't know why she's had such rotten luck. Guess that's one thing we both have in common right now."

"I'm sure you'll get Heads this time," Troy reassured. "I mean," he said before leaning in and talking more quietly, "He can only turn you into kimchi so many times, right? ...But Dawn, huh? I don't mean to sound shallow, but you got a pic?"

"Uh-huh." Casey pulled up her phone and, after a few taps and swipes upon its screen, turned it towards Troy to show him an image of the woman in question. Troy's eyes met with the smiling visage of the pale-skinned blonde that was displayed on the screen, her hazel eyes staring back into his. Only the top part of her torso was present in the image, but he could still tell that she was of an average if not slightly thin build. Compared to Casey, she was rather plain-looking, but not homely.

"She's not bad," Troy said.

"Also, she's a size 6," Casey added. "...Her shoe size, I mean. That's not too small for you, is it?"

Troy shook his head. "My ex was a size 4. Besides, when you're tiny, even the smallest feet would still make quick work of you."

"Good point," Casey concurred.

"But is she actually into macro play?" Troy asked.

"She's open," Casey answered. "She's not really, well... INTO into it, but she's not opposed to squishing people on the floor."

'Good enough for me,' Troy thought as he briefly mulled over the prospect of establishing relations with Dawn. "Alright, I'll meet her."

"Sweet," Casey said with a smile. "I'll let her know, and you two can meet up at the Downshore Diner tomorrow after work."

"It's a date, then. I hope it goes well."

"Well, you have a whole day to prep, right? Oh, and I'm gonna send you this picture so you don't forget what she looks like."

In a matter of seconds, Troy's smartphone buzzed and vibrated, and upon picking it up and swiping at the screen, he was met with the very same photo of Dawn that Casey had introduced him to. He stared at it for a few seconds, and his mind wandered on to what his outing with the blond-haired young woman would hold.

~~~

"You got a date with this girl?" Mitch asked as he examined the picture of Dawn on Troy's phone. "She's... not bad. I guess you could do worse."

"Hey, she's not ugly," Troy said as he pulled his phone back, "and we could go the distance if we really click."

Mitch leaned back on the couch he was sitting on inside of their apartment. "Yeah, I guess. She has nice lips, though. I'd like her to-"

"No, Mitch," Troy interrupted. "You have plenty of girls already. This one's mine."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Chill out. I already got an outing of my own planned for Saturday, you know."

"When are you gonna pick a girl and stick with her?" Troy asked.

Mitch laughed dismissively. "Not anytime soon. Too many cute girls around that I want to digest me for me to commit to one. See, I can afford to do that because girls LOVE eating guys like me. You pretty much have to settle with whatever you can get."

Troy sighed. "I guess so... Still, there's nothing like macro with someone you really click with, you know?"

"Well, it's not like I'll never settle down, though," Mitch said. "I think I'll be ready to go steady in, like, five to ten years."

"Maybe sooner if this vore fad dies out by then."

"I hope it stays around for decades," Mitch plainly stated. "People should be able to experience the joy of being swallowed by a hot girl."

"...Well, all that aside," Troy said, changing the subject back to his date, "I'm hoping this girl is receptive to the stuff I like. My coworker said that she was open to macro, but I dunno... Plus, all I know about her feet is that she's a size 6. ...You think she's one of those girls who has a plain face, but her feet are immaculate?"

"Shit, hell if I know," Mitch answered, before grabbing the TV remote and pressing a button on it, the LCD screen lighting up in response. "You'd probably know better than I would."

"Well, if her feet were ugly, I feel that my coworker would have mentioned it, or maybe she wouldn't had set us up in the first place."

"Speaking of your coworker, is she hot?" Mitch asked.

"Well, she's really attractive, and believe it or not, she's into crushing."

Mitch bore a slight expression of surprise on his face. "Really? But I guess you're not going for her because you're in the same department?"

Troy nodded. "Yep. And that aside, she has a boyfriend. He's into crushing too, she says."

"Sounds like a perfect match. ...Maybe this Dawn chick will be for you."

"Yeah, I hope so," Troy mused, just as a flash of lightning illuminated the room with bright white light, followed by a loud crash of thunder.

~~~

Booming thunder resonated throughout the air as Troy practically rushed into the Downshore Diner. Now sheltered from the downpour outside, Troy folded his wet umbrella and then looked around the diner. This being a late Friday afternoon, there were already quite a number of people seated inside, all of them likely enjoying the leisure of the end of their individual work weeks.

Troy had studied and practically memorized Dawn's features by that point, so his eyes scanned the area for her. According to Casey, his date would have beaten him there, as her workshift ends a half hour before his does. Other patrons sat and stood around the area, some obscuring his sight in some parts. He focused towards the windowside tables, where people sat in their booths: a quartet of men and women talking with each other, a man sitting alone as he read the news, and a duo of men chatting and eating their food.

Then, he saw her. Two empty booths behind the two men was a blond young woman with a pink and white head scarf tied on her head. She wore a white jacket over what looked like a purple shirt, and below the table were her pale bare legs likely from a skirt and--to his delight--her feet in flat white sandals. Even from where he stood, he could see the bright red polish on each of her toes. Her legs were crossed at the ankles, and her toes wiggled impatiently as her attention was locked onto her smart phone.

Despite being rather calm, Troy took a deep breath and began to approach her. In his mind, he wondered if she would be the one, if his long search for his perfect crusher would finally be over. Already, he was imagining himself being rendered into nothing more than a red stain on the bottom of her sandals. However, he did not have much time to linger on on those thoughts, as he had finally reached her table. She was still focused on her phone, however.

"Hi, are you Dawn?" Troy asked the young blonde.

She turned upward, and her green eyes met with his. Her eyes widened a bit, as if in shock or surprise, and her mouth looked as if it let out a silent gasp. "...Are you the guy Casey hooked me up with? Troy?"

"Yeah," Troy answered.

"...Oh." There was an air of disappointment in her tone. Troy wondered of the reasoning behind it. "Well, it's nice to meet you."

"Yeah, same here," Troy responded, before sliding into the seat opposite of her. "You already ordered?"

"Nope," she replied. "They're pretty busy right now, so I guess they haven't gotten to me yet."

"That's convenient for them, at least. They can get both our orders at the same time." Troy pulled a laminated menu from the metallic holder on the table to his right. Downshore was a diner that he was unfamiliar with; he passed by it on several occasions, but never actually visited it before that day.

"What are you gonna get?" she asked.

"I don't know... I've never been here before, so I have to see what they have."

"Really? ...Their chicken is pretty good. I think you'd like it," she suggested.

"Is that right?" Troy looked through the menu and his eyes zeroed in on a crispy chicken strip platter, served with fries. The photo used for it definitely made it look appetizing. "...Alright, I'll give the chicken strip meal a try."

Dawn gave him a thumbs up. "Cool. ...I guess we can talk until they come and take our orders. I know you work at the same place Casey does, but what do you do?"

"Well, I'm a technical accountant," Troy replied. "It... has its moments, but it's a pretty good gig. What about you?"

"I'm an attorney with Kirk & Associates," she answered.

"An attorney? That has to be a rough job."

"You have no idea. Some of the cases we take are... Ugh. But the pay is nice, and since I went to school for it, I might as well stick it out."

"That makes sense. Otherwise it would've been a waste of time and money, right?"

"Yep."

As heavy rain beat against the large window to their side, the two of them conversed about various things: more about their daily work tasks, their hobbies (they had little in common), and so on. Eventually, the waiter would take their orders, and soon after their meals would be delivered. As he chomped into the crunchy yet moist chicken, Troy found that Dawn's assessment of the joint's food had hit its mark: it was delicious, so much so that he fought the urge to completely snarf it down. Dawn, meanwhile, had ordered a rather hefty burger and was chowing into it. Between bites of their food, the two continued on with their idle chatter.

As they spoke, Troy noticed that it seemed as if she was not as enthused about the outing as he had expected her to be. Sure, she was able to keep him engaged in conversation, but there was something in her tone and body language that suggested that she was not fully enjoying herself. Troy wondered if perhaps he was not the type of man that she was looking forward to. Her initial surprise upon first seeing him did imply such a thing.

Or perhaps Troy was overthinking it, and that she simply had a long and tiring day. He wanted to hope that that was the case.

Lightning flashed from outside, and a rumble of thunder followed after.

"God, this storm," Dawn complained. "It's been like this all week. I can't wait for the sunny weather to come back."

"I'd had my fill of it, too," Troy concurred. "I didn't seriously expect it to rain all week. But I guess it's good for the plants and all that." Troy decided to go at a different angle. "Too bad for the worms, though. They're getting stepped on all over the place."

"Yeah, I stepped on a few of them this week. ...Sometimes on purpose."

'Innnnteresting...' Troy thought, as his mind briefly wandered off to her trodding on those helpless earthworms in the same sandals she currently wore. "You like stepping on things?" he asked.

"Sometimes," she answered. "Mainly if I need to. But I know some guys are into that. You know, the whole macro thing."

"Yeah." Troy tried to play it cool for the time being, even as he started to imagine himself in place of one of the previously-mentioned earthworms, completely powerless to stop her foot from coming down and crushing him to bits on the pavement.

"Like Casey and Gus. Every Saturday, they cut off all contact with the rest of the world to smash each others guts out."

"If you had a guy who wanted you to do that to him, would you?" Troy asked.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "If he wants to."

'At least she's not completely dismissive of crush,' Troy thought. 'That's far better than what I've had so far.'

Dawn took the last bite of her burger, and then sipped the Sprite soda from her glass. "But I would be more willing to swallow him, really."

'Of course you would,' Troy deadpanned internally. "Really?"

She nodded. "I mean, that's what most guys really like, right?"

"There are exceptions to every rule," Troy said. "There are probably more guys into crushing than you'd think, but they're afraid to speak out about it because they'd get crucified."

"I can understand why. It's seen as unmasculine, which is probably why there's not really the same stigma when it's a woman who wants to be crushed by a man."

"You'd think feminism would have prevented that."

Dawn shook her head. "Feminism isn't as popular as you think it is among women. We're all about equal rights, but feminism is something else entirely. ...But I don't want to get into that right now."

"Good call," Troy commented as he grabbed his own glass and began to ingest the Pepsi inside.

"The truth is, many women--probably most--want to be dominated sexually. Not rape, of course, but they love when the man takes charge and shows his power. ...Myself included."

'I wonder if she expects me to be the crusher,' Troy wondered inside of his mind.

Their young waiter approached them, displaying a friendly smile upon his face. "Are you two doing fine?"

"Yes," Dawn answered to him as she finished up her drink. "Could I get my bill?"

"Coming right up!" he replied, before turning to Troy. "What about you, sir?"

"Yeah, I'll take it," Troy answered.

"You got it!" the waiter said, before departing.

"Well, in any case," Dawn said, turning her attention back to Troy. "It was nice meeting with you. I guess today wasn't a total drag."

"Yeah, same here," Troy said. "Maybe we can meet up again sometime?"

"Um, yeah... About that..." Her eyes anxiously looked out towards the front of the diner, before meeting his again. "...I don't think it'd work out between us."

Thunder rumbled with a loud roar as those words left her mouth.

"...Oh..." Troy was demoralized. "Any particular reason?"

"I... just don't think we have enough in common to make it work out," she answered. "You seem like a nice guy and I'm sure you'll find someone you click with. I can't offer that to you, though."

"I see..."

The waiter returned, with both of their bills in hand. He placed both in front of each one, and gave them a smile. "You two have a nice day," he said, then leaving to service another customer.

Dawn took a hold of the bill, as well as her purse and phone and stood from her seat. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you. Hope you have a good weekend."

"Yeah, same to you," Troy responded, his mood dampened.

She nodded, and walked away from the booth. Troy watched as she walked to the front desk to pay off her meal; once the exchange was completed, she quickly exited the establishment and was soon out of sight.

Highly disappointed that the blind date had been a bust and left with just the beating rain to keep him company, Troy turned back around and looked down at the table, specifically upon the white glass plate on which naught but brown crumbs remained upon it. He sighed drearily, before focusing on his own tab and picking up the sheet of paper the waiter had left him with. It read $15.59.

"...Goddamn." As if in response to his blasphemy, a bright flash of lightning lit up the diner as the crash of roaring thunder sounded throughout.

~~~

Hours later, having long since gotten comfortable by changing out of his workclothes, Troy sat in the living room in his apartment, playing on his Playstation 3. He was alone; even when he had arrived home, there was no sign that Mitch had stepped foot into their apartment at all. In a way, he was almost thankful of the quietness of the apartment. Aside from the occasional rumble of thunder, that was.

At present, he was playing Saints Row IV, a game similar to the infamous Grand Theft Auto series. What made this particular entry stand out was twofold for Troy: First, being able to design his character as he wanted, even down to the sex; and second, the introduction of superpowers alongside the vast arsenal of firearms and other weapons available. In this game's case, the superpowers were explained by the fact that the main setting took place in a type of virtual reality.

Most significantly, one of the superpowers was the ability to shrink anyone close by, and even better, the shrunken victims could be treaded upon in a gory fashion. It did not matter if they were random pedestrians or the game's alien antagonists; the game placed no limits on whom was the target of the player's wrath. It was for this reason why Troy designed his player character as a young dark-haired woman, and dressed her in a tanktop, shorts, and flip-flops.

Perhaps to get his mind off of the disappointing end that his date was, he decided to lose himself in the game, making his femme fatale character shrink and trample as many people and aliens as she could.

In actuality, the shrunken victims were bigger than he would have liked, and the stomping and crushing effects were rather crude. But at present, there was no other commercial game that even gave him half the options that this one did.

"Still think I'm just a pretty face!?" his character shouted as a shrunken alien burst into bloody chunks under her feet.

Troy continued on with his ingame massacre, even as his character's notoriety rose and much tougher enemies appeared, eventually reaching a point where his enemies were immune to the shrinking power.

"Guess it's time to take out the trash again," Troy commented, as he prepared his character's much more destructive abilities.

However, his smartphone started to buzz with a tune. He paused the game and picked the device up, looking at the caller ID as he did so. It read Casey.

Accepting the call, he brought the phone to his ear. "Hey, what's up?"

"Hey, what're you doing?" Casey asked on the other side.

"Just sitting here playing the game. Why, what's up?"

"Well, I heard about your date from Dawn. I'm sorry it didn't work out."

"Yeah, it's a shame. She said we didn't have much in common."

"That's what she told you? ...Huh."

Troy found his peculiar. "Wait, was that a lie?"

Casey sighed. "Kind of, but... Well, how do I say this? When I told her about you, I didn't have a picture of you. She asked me if you were 'tall, dark, and handsome', and I said you were. I mean, it's technically right, right? I didn't think it'd be a big deal."

"'Tall, dark, and handsome'? That's her type?"

"Yep."

"Well, I'm six-foot-even, so I'd like to think I'm pretty tall, but was she expecting taller?"

"No, that's not it... It's because..." She sighed again. "I am SO sorry, but it's because you're Black."

Troy was rather surprised to hear this, but upon thinking on it, it seemed the pieces had fallen in place. "I see... I guess I'm not the type of 'dark' she was looking for. You didn't know it'd be a problem for her?"

"No. I mean... She always dated White guys and Latinos, but she never ever said to me about not liking Black guys before now. But she made me promise to show her a picture next time I try to set her up."

"Well, I guess it is what it is," Troy said. "And I think it explains why she recommended the chicken to me."

"Ohmygod, are you serious!?" Casey sounded flabbergasted.

"To be fair, it was good chicken, so maybe she didn't mean to stereotype. Oh well."

"Honestly, you're taking this pretty well. I mean, her rejecting you only because of your race."

"Don't get me wrong, it does sting," Troy said. "But if I let it drag me down, then it'll just hurt me in the long run. Guess I'll keep looking for someone who won't make it a big deal."

"Glad to hear that," Casey said. "You're a pretty headstrong guy, Troy. I'm sure any girl would love to have you if they could. ...Anyway, I just wanted to let you know. Gus and I are about to have an outing ourselves. It's not raining as bad as it was earlier, so we should still be good."

"Think he'll get Tails again tomorrow?" Troy jokingly asked.

Casey let out a short laugh. "Knowing my luck? Probably. But the instant it's Heads? Ooh boy! I'm really gonna give my feet a workout!"

Troy could feel the blood rushing to his nether regions as he imagined Casey trampling and crushing her tiny boyfriend over and over again with her bare feet. "That'd be a sight to see," he said. In his mind, her boyfriend was crushed flat, embedded upon the creamy white sole of his girlfriend in a crimson mess.

"Yeah, well too bad! Members only!" She teased.

Troy chuckled. "Yeah, I know. I'm visiting my barber tomorrow, anyway."

"Sounds good. Well, I'll let you go now. You have a good weekend."

"Yeah, you too." With that, the call ended, and Troy placed the smartphone back on the couch besides him.

As he resumed his carnage inside of the video game, he wondered what it would have been like if Casey was his girlfriend instead. The two of them got along very well and had just about the same tastes in macro, though he wondered if he could bring himself to playing the role of a giant for her. Her size 8 feet were very alluring, and every so often he would fantasize that it was he instead of her boyfriend who would be flattened underneath them. Barefoot or in her sandals, it did not matter; the end result would be him reduced to a bloody mess regardless.

Alas, it was not meant to be, and Troy was not deluded enough to believe otherwise.

His search would have to continue.

~~~

Later that night, Troy once again logged onto MacroMeet to see if fortune would shine upon him for once. Unfortunately, there were no responses to any of the messages that he had sent in the past week, and no one new seemed to appear in his search results.

Furthermore, he noticed that Jeane, the woman who cancelled on him at the last minute the previous week, had deleted her profile. The initial message he sent to her, which was in his Sent folder, simply had "Deleted user" as its recipient. It seemed that any hope that she wasn't a lost cause had been quashed. Troy wondered just what her deal was, and why she suddenly backed out of their date. Perhaps it was a mystery that would never be solved.

With nothing else to do, Troy logged off of the site and went web-surfing elsewhere.

~~~

Early the following afternoon, Troy sat in a barber seat inside of the barbershop that he frequented on a semi-regular basis. As it was a Saturday, the place was rather busy, even with the rain outside; a number of men, young and old, were already being serviced, while several more awaited their turns. Luckily, the widescreen television, their own smartphones, and magazines and newspapers kept them occupied until there was a free seat.

As the shop was located right on the line between the city's midtown and one of its poorer neighborhoods, most of the patrons reflected those demographics. However, said neighborhood was a relatively nice place with no major issues or incidents that Troy could recall. Good, he thought, as he likely wouldn't have bothered with this place if it was a dangerous area.

Troy himself drowned out the noise of the TV, it playing sports highlights, and that of the other men talking with each other and discussing and even debating on various things, from sports to politics. He instead focused on his own smartphone; specifically, he was once again on Tinder, searching for someone to connect with on the service.

While there were a number of attractive women on the site, Troy found himself swiping left more often than not. A brief look at their profiles showed to him that they were not worth wasting his time with.

"You always on your phone, huh?" said Mr. Brown, the man currently trimming Troy's hair with his black-and-white clippers. He was a portly Black man in his late-50s, whose hairline had already receded to the back of his scalp. He himself was a rather nice fellow, and was considered the best in the shop, a reputation that he fought to maintain. "What is that, anyway? Somethin' to meet ladies with?"

"Yeah," Troy answered. "It's called Tinder, and it's a matchmaking service that matches you based on your profiles. It's not perfect, though..."

"Man... Phones can do so much stuff now," Mr. Brown mused as the blades cut on the hair on the back of Troy's head. "Too much, really."

"Phones have basically become computers now," Troy said. "I mean, you have the Internet, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, music, games, and planners, and more, all in one small package, and all that on top of being able to make calls. It's crazy, really."

"Sometimes I wish they just kept it simple, but you kids want convenience. I can't barely work my own phone."

"With the way tech is progressing, phones are going to be doing some insane things not even five years from now."

Mr. Brown scoffed. "Oh I can't wait. But getting back to before... You looking to get with someone?"

"Yeah," Troy answered. "It's not going too well. I had a date yesterday, but it was a bomb."

"Really? She didn't like you?" Mr. Brown sounded surprised to hear this information.

"I talked to her friend who set us up, and it was because I..." Troy decided not to share the true reason. "...Basically, I wasn't a match for her."

"So, you back on the prowl?"

"Yep."

"Hmm..." He sounded as if there was something inside of his head that he was mulling over.

Troy resumed his browsing of his Tinder app as Mr. Brown continued working on his scalp. On the screen was a smiling redhead, but she was rather overweight; swipe left. Next was a blonde woman showing off her elaborate tattoos on her arms and neck; swipe left. After her was a picture of a brown-haired woman who looked attractive enough... except in the photo was a young child, likely her own; swipe left.

"I was thinking," Mr. Brown suddenly spoke. "If you want, I can hook you up with someone."

This got Troy's attention. "Really?"

"Mm-hm. My niece's been single for a while now, and she asked me if I knew anyone who was also single. How old are you? Twenty five, twenty six...?"

"Twenty-six," Troy answered.

"She's thirty-one. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all," Troy said.

"Alright, and don't worry. She ain't fat or ugly or nothing." Mr. Brown asked. "When're you free?"

"I don't have anything planned for the rest of the day, so... tonight, I guess. Or tomorrow."

"Alright, I'll get in touch with her and see if you two can meet up later today. I'll also give you a picture of her if she says yes. Then you can look out for her wherever you decide to meet up."

"Alright, cool. You got my number, right?"

"Memorized!" Mr. Brown bragged. "That's one thing us oldies have over you kids: we actually take time to remember phone numbers and not be too reliant on just clicking names."

"Yeah, you have a point. Hmm..." Troy began to wonder about Mr. Brown's niece, and what kind of person she was. He did not know what she looked like, and he would not until she agreed to the blind date. Until then, he could only imagine if it would go well, or if it'd be another disaster. Beyond that, he also wondered what her feelings on macro were.

But first, she had to say "yes".

~~~

Mr. Brown's niece did indeed say "yes".

Upon getting confirmation from Mr. Brown, Troy received a photo of her and her phone number. He spoke briefly with her to set up a time and place to meet up later that day, and also sent her a picture of himself. Dressing himself in a sweater vest over a long-sleeved shirt with a necktie and slacks, he headed out to their meeting place: a rather fancy restaurant named "Clemont's".

It had since stopped raining, but clouds still lingered overhead and the ground and pavement were still wet. Even so, Troy was glad to finally have some reprieve from the downpour that occurred all week.

Eventually making it to the establishment, Troy opted to wait in the main lobby for his date. He let the front receptionist know of his plan, and she was understanding of it. Sitting on one of the chairs, while he did fiddle with his smartphone, he kept a constant and anxious watch on the entrance. Occasionally, other people would come in, usually a couple or a larger group. This being a Saturday, Troy knew that the place would become rather busy in only a matter of time.

Speaking of time, it had just passed 7:30pm, the appointed time of their meeting. Troy wondered how much longer he would have to wait before she showed up.

He didn't have to wait long.

Minutes later--just as the sun broke through the clouds and shined through the doorway with an almost-blinding glare amplified by its light reflecting from the wet ground--his date had arrived. His eyes took in her physical appearance: that of an African-American woman with black curly hair, dark eyes, thick lips with matte brown lipstick, and a milk chocolate skin tone. Her slim yet curvy body and her youthful face almost defied her early-30s age. Carrying a black purse on her elbow, she donned a light tan jacket over a knee-length, form-fitting red dress and wore red strappy heeled sandals, showing off her rather large yet stunning and slender feet with each of their toes donning a french pedicure.

This ebony beauty was his date: Dawn.

Troy found it amusing that she had the same name as his date from the day before. He hoped that, unlike that one, this outing would go well for him.

He stood up, and Dawn immediately spotted him. She smiled as the two of the approached. With her heels, she was just as tall as he was.

"Troy, right?" she asked.

"Yep," Troy responded. "It's very nice to meet you, Dawn." He extended his hand.

"Same to you," she said as she grabbed his hand and gave it a firm shake. "I'm really looking forward to getting to know you. You're a pretty handsome guy."

Troy was flattered. "Thanks. You're quite beautiful yourself. And you walked in just as the sun came out. I could have sworn that there was an angel chorus playing," he joked. "I wonder if that's a sign?"

"Wow, that's a bit much," Dawn responded. "I'm certainly no angel. ...Because I'd give them a run for their money." She laughed.

"Oh, is that right?" Troy said with a chuckle. "I guess we'll see about that. But first, we have to get a table."

The couple walked the receptionist, who after booking them hailed a waitress who led them further inside of the restaurant. There was a mishmash of red and golden colors between the carpet, the tables and chairs, and the light fixtures that hung from above, and the windows offered a great view of the nearby river. High-class music also played through the speakers from the ceiling. This fancy establishment was bustling with activity, from both the busy workers and its customers. Some had already received their meals and were eating them, while others simply talked amongst themselves as they waited for their own food to arrive.

Their waitress led them to a table on the opposite side away from the window seats, which had all been occupied.

"Here are your menus," the young waitress said as she handed the couple the laminated menus. "I'll be back to take your orders."

"Thank you, miss," Troy said, garnering a smile from her in response before she departed. Being the gentleman, Troy pulled out the seat nearest to Dawn, and she sat down in it and placed her purse onto the table. Troy made his way across the table to his own seat as Dawn removed her jacket and hung it on the back of her seat.

"This is a really fancy place," Dawn noted of the establishment. "You come here often?"

"This is my first time here, actually," Troy answered.

"Really? So I guess we're both going in dark, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Troy said as he grabbed his menu, while Dawn did the same. Troy's eyes drifted downward as he studied through it. Lots of fancy names, some of which were French.

"What're you getting?" Dawn asked, her eyes still locked onto her own menu.

"Uh..." Troy glanced upon a picture of a juicy, tender steak. "I guess the steak. It looks pretty good."

"...Alright, I'll get that as well." Dawn nodded, and then placed her menu onto the table in front of her. "In the meantime, we can get to know each other a little more."

Troy put his own menu onto the table as well. "Yeah, you're right."

"My uncle says that you were having trouble finding someone. ...That's surprising, because you're a pretty good-looking young guy."

"Well..." Troy did not want to tell her of the actual reason--that no one he met matched with him when it came to his macro interests--at least not right away. "The girls I've been on dates with, we didn't really click. Guess because we didn't have much in common, or I wasn't the kind of guy they wanted."

"That's too bad," Dawn said, somewhat sympathetically. "What are you into? And no holding back; be honest."

"Uh... Well, I'm a bit of a techie, since I like computers and tablets and stuff. I like playing video games whenever I have the time, I watch stuff like Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Arrow, and so on. I used to watch anime, but I've lost interest in it. Too much stupid stuff out nowadays."

"Wow, you're a bit of a nerd, aren't you?" Dawn stated bluntly.

"Well, yeah," Troy admitted, a bit flustered. "But-"

She laughed. "Don't worry about it. I'm a nerd, too. A big one, actually."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh! I'm really into computers, but I kind of have to be, because that's my career."

"What do you do?" Troy asked.

"I'm a programmer," Dawn answered.

"Whoa, seriously?" Troy was genuinely surprised to hear this. "What's that like? I was seriously considering making that my major back in college."

"It has its ups and downs," she said, "and looking for even one tiny mistake that could ruin the whole code is a pain, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. What about you?"

"I'm a technical accountant," Troy answered. "I manage the accounts of several clients, and there's a lot of go-between with us and them. It's a pretty tough job when it wants to be, but it's a pretty solid gig."

"Sounds tough," Dawn said. "I dunno... I'd rather keep away at my desk and write up code. ...Or watch Doctor Who."

"You're into Doctor Who? Same here. Tell me, which Doctor is your favorite?"

"Oh, that's easy. The Tenth one, David Tennant," she replied quickly.

Troy grinned. "I think I'm liking you already."

Dawn smiled bashfully. "Oh really?"

Troy and Dawn conversed throughout their dinner together, so much so that they made somewhat slow progress on their respective-but-identical meals after they had been delivered. The two had a number of shared interests and hobbies, which provided great conversational pieces, and they also talked more of their jobs and significant events that occurred there. Dawn was very attentive and engaged him, and the two shared many laughs together. Troy was exuberant that he had so much in common with her, and that she seemed to clearly hold an interest in him as well.

Of course, there was still the matter of her thoughts on macro. Even with them getting along so well so far, a negative opinion on his interest in crushing or even macro itself could sour the whole thing. On the flipside, he was enjoying himself with her so much that he didn't want to take that risk.

"There's one thing I need to ask, though," Dawn said as she prodded the remaining third of her tender steak with her fork. "...It's kind of important."

With how much they had in common, Troy wondered if she had read his mind. "Oh? What's that?" he asked, his tone one of concern.

Her eyes looked right into his. "Your religion. Are you a Christian? And again, be honest."

"Oh..." Troy should have seen this coming. He recalled a conversation he had with Mitch the week prior about how it was very common for Black women to be hardcore Christians, which as a non-religious apostate made it difficult for him to get into a relationship with them. He wondered if it would be this that would break the camel's back, so to speak.

Yet, she wanted honesty.

"I... don't really believe in that," Troy calmly answered.

"Really?"

"I was raised a Christian by my folks--my mom, really--but I decided after going to college that it wasn't for me. In my eyes, science explains away too much of the stuff that the Bible says. I mean, Jesus himself was a good teacher, but as far as it explaining how the world works and all that, I think it's... nonsense, to be frank." Troy wondered if he had been too honest.

"Hm." Dawn mumbled as she picked at her steak. Troy became anxious for her response, wondering if it would be downhill from here on out.

He was already preparing for the date to be deemed yet another failure.

"I agree," she said after a bit of a pause.

Troy was taken aback by her response. "Wait, what?"

She smiled slyly. "Surprised?"

"Kinda, yeah."

"I don't blame you," Dawn said. "Black apostates aren't exactly common. But I think there's more to life than what the Bible says, so I haven't adopted it into my worldview. Like you said, science explains pretty much everything instead of just saying 'God did it'. Of course, I don't go around telling people they're stupid for believing that; it's only when they try to get at me about it when I go off on them. Plus, I hate when people use their religion to judge or persecute other people."

Troy sipped on the lemonade from his glass. "You sound just like me. ...Except I just try to avoid that argument as much as possible. It's not really worth it, and you won't change any minds."

"Hah! Very true." Dawn finally pulled off a piece of her steak with her fork, and shoved it into her mouth.

This woman so far did seem like a great match for Troy, even before getting into the rather murky subject of macro. He wondered if he should bring that up as well; after all, it was better to get it out of the way early and spare himself the possible heartbreak later if they did start to get serious.

On the other hand, it was so rare for him to find someone that he truly clicked with that he wanted to play things carefully. If they did go steady, perhaps he could introduce her to his macro interests and ease her into the idea of squashing him. Even just being able to suckle her toes would be more play than he had gotten since... Since Dorothy, actually. That probably may not have been the case if Vince Vane had not have said what he did.

Troy decided to keep the subject under wraps for the timebeing.

"This really is some good steak!" she raved. "Give my regards to the chef!"

"It is delicious, isn't it?" Troy said. "But I have a question for you. Out of curiosity, what do you think about Tyler Perry?"

Her face contorted into a disgusted expression. "Gutter trash!" she proclaimed.

Troy laughed. "I'll toast to that!" He picked up his glass and held it towards her. She did the same, and the two glasses clanged against one another.

The two continued their banter as they finished off their meals, long after night had fallen. When their bill had finally arrived, Troy offered to--more like insisted upon--paying for the whole meal himself. It was a rather hefty tab, but Troy felt that it was worth it. Once the payment went through, and then realizing how late that it had gotten, he and Dawn decided that it was about time to call it a night.

After gathering their respective belongings and leaving a tip for the friendly waitress who served them, the two stood and departed from their table and headed out into the lobby.

"You know, I had a really good time," Dawn complemented, stopping in front of the entrance. "You're a sweet guy, and I'd love to get together again. ...But next time, let's do something less fancy."

"I have no problem with that," Troy said. "When are you next free?"

"Well, tomorrow I'm pretty busy with a friend's baby shower, but next week, I'm open for the whole weekend."

"Sounds good. I'll give you a call soon."

Dawn smiled. "I look forward to it," she said with a friendly nod. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you, Troy. I hope you have a good night."

"Same to you, Dawn," Troy replied, with a bashful smile.

She leaned in and the two hugged each other. After which, she walked through the glass doors and, after waving at him, she walked to her right and was soon out of Troy's sight.

Troy stood there momentarily, reflecting upon the date. It was easy to say that it was a success, considerably so. It seemed so long since he was able to get a second date out of a woman; he was almost at a loss of what came next, but he figured that he would handle it as it came.

He wondered if the result would have been the same if he had mentioned his tastes in macro. Or if the subject would tear them apart if he were to bring it up the next time they talked. He wondered if she was yet another "vore-poser" or if she even had interest in macro at all. Those were some rather crucial questions that he felt that he needed to know as soon as he could.

But for now, he took solace in the fact that he would have at least one more date with the beautiful and alluring Dawn.

~~~

Entering his apartment, Troy was met with loud chatter and laughter. Making his way further inside confirmed not only Mitch's presence in the living room, but that he was currently in the company of Ethan and two women; one with shoulder-length sandy hair and a slim build who sat on Ethan's lap, and the other chubbier one who wore red-rimmed glasses and had streaks of blue dye in her black hair. Of note, Troy recognized the sandy-haired woman as Ethan's companion from the macro party the previous week, who had carried him out of the room when the shrinking had started.

The TV was displaying a film onscreen, and on the table in front of them were several beer bottles, two empty, two partially full, and the last two unopened. There were also two boxes of pepperoni pizza, the opened box on the top with only three large slices left.

"What's all this?" Troy asked as he walked into the room.

Mitch waved. "Hey, dude."

"How's it going, Troy?" Ethan greeted. "I heard you had a date tonight."

"Yep." Troy nodded. "But I'm surprised to see you all here. I thought you'd be out partying or something."

"Nah, we decided to take it easy tonight," Mitch said. "So, we got some grub and decided to chill here with Netflix."

"I'm sure you all are gonna start eating each other too, right?" Troy teased.

"Probably," Mitch answered, "but for now, we're just gonna take it easy. Oh, and these two ladies, the girl with Ethan is Sandra, and her friend is Harriet. Ladies, this is my roommate Troy."

Both women smiled at him.

"Nice to meet you," Harriet greeted.

"Didn't I see you at the party last week?" Sandra asked. "I thought I did."

"I was there," Troy stated.

"That's what I thought. I didn't spend too much time downstairs, since me and Ethan went off to... Well, we did our own thing for most of the night."

"I wasn't able to make it," Harriet said. "Maybe next time."

"Yeah, you should totally come!" Ethan told her. "But I don't know when I'll throw the next one. I'll let you all know."

"But enough about that," Sandra said, before focusing back on Troy. "How was your date?"

"Oh, uh... It went pretty well, actually," Troy answered.

Mitch was flabbergasted. "Get out! You seriously had a good date?!"

"Yep. We had a lot in common, and we got along pretty well."

"Even with macro?"

"Uh... That subject never came up."

"...Oh... Well, is it too early to celebrate, then?"

"We'll see," Troy said.

"Lots of girls like macro," Sandra commented. "Or at least, they're open to it. I don't think you have anything to worry about."

'That's what you think,' Troy thought. "I hope so," Troy said, not wanting to delve further into his worries, at least not with her.

"Oh, Sandra?" Harriet called as she stood from her seat. "Can you come with me to the bathroom for a minute?"

"Sure." Moving herself from Ethan, she accompanied her friend out of the living room, and Troy watched as the two walked into the hallway and disappeared into the bathroom, the sound of its door closing confirming that they had reached their destination.

"I wonder what they both have to go in there for?" Mitch wondered as he paused the movie playing on the TV.

"Girl business, I guess," Ethan surmised. "...Anyway, Troy. I talked to Rebecca a few days ago, and she told me that you like crush. Like, 'stepping on' crush."

Troy winced. His previously great mood had been somewhat soured by Ethan suddenly bringing that up, and that Rebecca had told him that in the first place. It seemed that the both of them were lacking in tact.

He sighed. "Why did she tell you that?"

"Rebecca's never been good with keeping secrets," Ethan said. "She's a gossip. That's why I don't tell her anything."

Troy was annoyed; he wondered how many people she had told. "Dammit, Rebecca. ...And the thing is, I didn't even outright tell her. We were talking in her car, and I went on a bit of a rant about Vince Vane, and I guess she got the hint."

"That's what she told me."

"Don't beat the guy up about it," Mitch interjected towards Ethan.

"I'm not," Ethan said. "I don't get it myself, but I'm not gonna act like you're some kind of freak for it. You like what you like, and as long as you're not hurting anyone, it's not really my place to judge."

Troy was surprised and delighted to hear this from Ethan. It seemed that he had misjudged him. "Thanks, man."

"No problem. But my point in bringing that up was: you know how people feel about that. I'm wondering if your date will play along. Seems like that could really shut things down between you and your girl."

Troy knew that Ethan had a point. "You're right. It is a pretty important thing that I need to find out. I'll have to find the best way to bring it up."

"Yeah," Mitch said. "You didn't meet this girl on MacroMeet or anything, so you're gonna have to be tactful about it."

Troy nodded. "Uh-huh. It's only been one date, but I really like this girl. I hope that it doesn't go all Hiroshima on me. At the very least, I could ease her into it if she's neutral about it."

"Well, whatever happens, I'm hoping for the best," Ethan said, before reaching for one of the beer bottles.

"Same here, dude," Mitch added.

Troy could not help but hold back his smile. "Thanks, guys."

"No prob," Ethan said. "If Sandra and Harriet hadn't've left, I wouldn't have brought it up. Those two aren't exactly open-minded about it, either."

As if on cue, they heard the bathroom door open, and Sandra and Harriet both returned to the living room, retaking their previous seats. Ethan wrapped his arms around Sandra as her bum met with his waist.

"What did you both go in there for?" Mitch asked Harriet.

"Ladies' business," she sternly replied.

"Are you gonna join us, Troy?" Sandra asked him.

"Maybe later," Troy answered. "First, I'm gonna get out of these clothes."

"Alright, if you do come, we still have plenty of pizza left," Mitch said. "If you're hungry, that is."

Troy nodded. "Got it."

Leaving the group to their own chatter as the film started back up, Troy exited the living room and headed into his bedroom. It was dark inside, due to no light having been turned on. He made his way through the darkness and switched on the lamp on his shelf. Then, he sat on his bed and kicked off his shoes, before lying back onto the mattress.

Many things went through his head. Mainly thoughts of Dawn, and their potential future. Perhaps he was getting ahead of himself, but he truly did get a great vibe from her. They connected on so many levels that it was almost uncanny. Even the age difference, albeit somewhat minor, did not prove to be an issue. She was a beautiful woman with a very nice mind, a very nice figure, and even a very nice pair of feet. His mind even wandered off to the idea of being mashed up underneath them, or being squeezed between her brown toes.

On that note, he realized--and Mitch and Ethan agreed--that macro was something that he had to bring up as soon as he could. There was no guarantee that she would be into it, or if she was, if she would be okay with the idea of crushing him underfoot like he would have wanted. As much as he liked her so far, he was unsure if he would be able to continue things with her if she was not receptive of his tastes. He acknowledged the selfishness of that mindset, but at the same time, a relationship should be about compromise. To wit, he put up with Dorothy's increasing desire to eat him while they were together, and even outside of macro, he indulged her in the kinks that she had.

If it came down to it, Troy was even willing to play the giant himself if it meant that he would also receive the same from her.

Troy exhaled deeply. Whatever the near future held for him, he was rather eager to see it through, one way or the other.

Deciding not to let it bother him for the timebeing, he sat up and began to undress himself and ultimately unwind.

~~~

The following week seemed to breeze by. At work on Monday, Troy spoke to Casey about his date, and she too found amusement in the shared names of both of his dates on the preceding weekend. Troy also teased her about her getting Tails once again with her boyfriend; it truly did seem as if Lady Luck was out to get her. Casey, as well as Bill, also echoed Mitch and Ethan's sentiments; that Troy should find out "Dawn #2's" thoughts on macro as soon as he could.

Throughout the week, Troy and Dawn talked and texted each other whenever they could, and even made time to have lunch with each other on Thursday. She considered it a "mini-date", and the two chatted about their work day thus far and even talked about their respective coworkers. Between talking and eating, Troy's spirits for the day were lifted, and it gave him the energy to get through the otherwise busy week.

However, Troy still did not find an opportune time to bring up the subject of macro. He knew that the longer it went on, the worse it could be for both if they were incompatible in that regard.

Soon, the weekend had finally arrived, and by then, Troy had decided where their second official date would take place: the annual county fair.

Even as they arrived late in the evening of that Saturday, the fair was bustling with human activity, both young and old. There were various game booths set up all over the place, many food stands, petting zoos, and rides such as a marigold-round, a ferris wheel, and even a haunted house. The sun had already set, and the air was filled with both upbeat music and the smell of food.

"So, what should we do first?" Dawn asked, seemingly overwhelmed by the atmosphere.

"The haunted house?" Troy suggested.

She shivered. "Oh hell no..."

"What's the matter, scared?" he teased.

"Yes, actually," she admitted.

"C'mon. It's a county fair. How scary could it be?"

Turned out, it was extremely frightening. There was little light inside, and it seemed as if screeching ghouls, goblins, and demons jumped out at them with every turn they took. Often, what would seem like an innocent corridor or room would reveal itself host to a specter leaping right at them. Even Troy found himself screaming like a schoolgirl, even as Dawn clung tightly to him and buried her face into his shoulder. Between the scares, Troy noticed that some of the gimmicks were operated by tiny people wearing black. Using the Minimizer Program to terrify people was rather ingenious, though they were far from floor level; rightfully so as one especially-terrified patron could easily trample one of them out of fear or malice.

Troy thought about mentioning them to Dawn, and perhaps using it as a jumping-off point to the macro conversation he needed to have, but he did not find much opportunity to do so, as more terror awaited the couple within.

"I need to learn to keep my mouth shut," Troy commented as the two finally exited the manor. "Shit, that was scary."

Dawn still clung tightly to his arm. "Tell me about it. Brr... You were screaming like a little girl."

"I was not!" Troy responded, half-jokingly. "That was the ghost."

Dawn chuckled. "If you say so, Mr. Soprano."

"Cute..." Troy deadpanned.

Not letting the terror of the haunted house bring them down, the two spent their night with much more light-hearted festivities. They played the various games at the booths, visited some of the stranger attractions such as the house of mirrors, danced at the small concert that played, and ate the food and sweets that were being offered. Through it all, they enjoyed each other's company; Troy was very happy to have had so much fun with a woman again. It was something that he sorely missed.

He truly hoped that she was the one.

The night went on, and eventually the festivities began to wind down for the night. People had started to leave, especially those there with their children. Troy and Dawn decided to follow suit. By this point, the two had taken to holding hands with each other; in Dawn's case, her left hand was clutched firmly in his, while her other arm was wrapped around a large plush doll modeled after the Pokemon Fennekin that Troy had won her in one of the game booths, while in Troy's other hand was a bag of other souvenirs from the fair.

"You know," Dawn said as the two walked towards her car in the lot, "I haven't been to that fair in years. I think the last time I was here was when I was in middle school."

"Really? Damn. That was actually my first time ever. But it was fun. I'm glad I had someone to go with, though. I couldn't imagine being here by myself."

"Same here. Everyone was having so much fun with each other, so I'm glad I wasn't left out."

As they walked, Troy took occasional glances down towards the ground. In particular, he was sneaking peaks at Dawn's feet, illuminated by the lights they passed by; still donning the French pedicure from the week before, they were clad in turquoise thong sandals, the color matching the short-sleeved shirt that she wore. Her feet were quite alluring, he thought. Once again, his mind began to wander, fantasizing about her sandaled feet trodding upon his shrunken form as if he was nothing more than a pathetic bug to her, over and over again.

"...Here we are," Dawn said as her hand pulled from his.

"Oh!" Troy was snapped out of his daydream. Indeed, they had reached her white 2008 Ford Fusion. "We're here already?"

She turned to face him. "Well, yeah. Wow, you were out of it, weren't you?"

Troy chuckled nervously. "Sorry. I was just thinking about something."

"About what?" Dawn curiously asked. "I did notice you kept looking down, like right at the ground."

"Oh..." Seemed as if he had been busted. "I didn't mean to make it so obvious."

"Mission failed," she teased. "Alright, out with it."

With a slump of his shoulders, Troy exhaled. "I was looking at your feet."

"My feet? You have a foot fetish?"

"Yeah..." Troy admitted.

Dawn smiled. "Okay."

Once again, Troy was surprised. "You're okay with that?"

"Why not? I take good care of my feet, as you see. What do you think about them? And, again, be honest."

Troy looked down at her brown-skinned peds. "They're beautiful."

"You think so?"

Troy nodded and smiled. "Definitely."

Dawn blushed. "Well, thank you! It's great to finally have them get some attention."

"They definitely deserve the attention."

Dawn giggled. "I was thinking... Why don't we head back to my place, and see if we can't get these beautiful toes into your mouth?"

Troy became excited, though he tried not to make it obvious. "Sounds great."

"Alright, let's go."

The two entered into her car, and they soon departed from the state fair grounds. As they drove and talked during the ride, Troy's mind began to anticipate what was in store for him that night. That she was so accepting of his foot fetish was a big step forward, and even thinking about playing around with her feet got him hard below his waist. Despite that, he knew it did not necessarily mean that she would be open to crushing him. Even so, while he wanted to contain his excitement, he could not help but feel gleeful that he had gotten further than any woman he had dated in the past months, even taking his various one-night stands into account.

Perhaps there was hope after all.

~~~

The two had arrived to Dawn's one-story brick house, located in a rather nice, somewhat forested part of the city. Not quite suburban, but there was a notable difference between her neighborhood and that of some of the surrounding areas. The neighborhood was quiet, with most of its inhabitants inside their own homes winding down for the night; however, the neighborhood was still well-lit, thanks to the pole lights lining the street as well as the illuminated porch lights on a number of the homes.

Having tossed aside the souvenirs onto the living room couch, Troy and Dawn practically began to make out with each other as soon as they entered her bedroom. They stood in the middle of the room--locked in their passionate embrace--for some time, until their lust led them to her bed. She fell back onto it, with Troy on top of her, while their lips remained locked on the other for quite some time, even Frenching each other as their tongues danced with one another.

Troy then pulled back from her face slightly, and began to pecker her neck with kisses. She moaned as she stretched her neck as he did this, and all the while, he started to unbutton her shirt. Afterwards, he moved downward, his lips marking a trail from her neck, to her bosom, and then down to her navel, which he noticed for the first time was pierced with a small emerald ring.

Before long, he turned his attention towards her delicate feet, still clad in their sandals. Moving towards them, he took her left foot into his hand, and began to kiss on her instep and toes, focusing primarily on the latter. Dawn's toes flexed and wiggled as his lips met with them, and his tongue began to slather onto them, from the flesh to the nails. He took her other foot and did the same to it, kissing and licking it in the same manner as the previous one.

After a while, he unbuckled her right sandal and slipped it from its foot, dropping the shoe onto the floor afterwards. He grabbed ahold of the foot, and after repositioning himself on her bed, brought her foot to his mouth and began to suckle on its toes. Starting with the biggest toe, he took in each of its digits one at a time, his tongue rubbing against the underside of them and between each one, taking in the slight saline taste of her foot. Dawn moaned as he continued on with this, as well as planting kisses onto her cream-colored sole and licking it. After several minutes of relishing in this foot worship, he grabbed her other foot and after removing its sandal, he did the same to it. Meanwhile, Dawn pressed her free foot against his crotch, and against his long-since hardened manhood.

Troy was extremely excited and happy that he was finally able to do this once again with a woman, and one with whom he had enjoyed her company. Both of them were completely immersed in his oral foot service, and their passions were at a high.

"You really have beautiful feet," Troy complemented. "So big and so beautiful. What size are you?"

"Ten-and-a-half," she answered.

"Awesome," Troy purred as he rubbed the soft sole of her foot against his cheek. "Nice and big."

As he continued to play with her foot, Troy wondered if now would be the time to bring up the burning questions he had for her regarding macro. But would such a think kill the mood? Even a simple "no" could ruin everything that he had built with her, and no doubt she could be heartbroken and feel betrayed if he dumped her just for that. On the flipside, since they had such a strong connection with each other, perhaps he could work to turn that potential "no" into a "maybe" and even a "yes" down the line. She was such an attractive woman, and they had so much in common, that it seemed to let all of that go to waste.

He decided to go for it.

"I have another question," Troy said as he began to massage her foot with both hands.

"Hm? What is it?"

Troy's heart began to race with trepidation. "What do you think about macro play?"

"I have no problem with it, like, at all."

'Jackpot,' Troy thought, though he knew it was too soon to celebrate. That was only just one part of his inquiry.

"Actually, I've been wanting to do it with a guy for a long time, but I haven't been able to find one who's willing," she said.

"Why's that?"

"Most guys are into being eaten, swallowed alive. Or they want me to smoosh them under my ass, especially Black guys. But there's something I'd really like to do."

"And what's that?"

"Promise me you won't freak out?"

"Promise."

"Okay." She took a deep breath and exhaled. "I... want a guy who will let me step on him. Like, splatter his guts all over the floor."

Troy's eyes widened in shock with this revelation. His heart skipped a beat, and the movement of his hands upon her foot ceased immediately.

"What's wrong?" Dawn sounded a bit concerned. "Don't tell me you're turned off."

"No, not at all," Troy said. He wanted to sound cool and calm, but if one were to look inside of his head at that moment, they would find that he was jumping and flipping off of the walls in jubilance while Kool & The Gang's "Celebration" played as confetti fell all over the place.

"Since you brought it up, I'm guessing you're into macro? What do you like? And like I keep saying, be honest."

"Same thing," Troy answered as he resumed his foot rubbing. "I mean, shrinking and having a lovely lady such as yourself stepping on me."

"REALLY?!" Dawn exclaimed in shocked exuberance; so much so that she jerked her foot and quite nearly kicked Troy in the face by accident. "Oh shit! Seriously!?"

"Yep." Troy kissed her foot.

"Oh my god..." Dawn laid down onto her bed. "I can't believe I finally found you. You're like the perfect guy: young, fit, handsome, and we like carbon copies when it comes to stuff we like. Where have you been all this time?"

"Dating other girls," Troy said. "But none of them clicked with me. But you... I think I finally hit the cosmic jackpot." He planted another kiss on her foot. "I would be honored to be your first victim for your lovely feet. They deserve it."

Dawn giggled. "Oh, I can't wait. ...But let's do it tomorrow. Tonight, I want to get to know you better."

"You got it." With one last kiss on her foot, Troy moved back over to her upper body. Wrapping his arms around her torso while she did the same, the two began to make out once more. Flipping him onto his back, Dawn sat up and pulled her arms out of her unbuttoned shirt before throwing it onto the floor. Then, she moved downward to Troy's waist and began to unzip his pants.

Watching her, Troy's mind wandered off again. He was excited for many reasons, not the least of which was that he had finally found a woman who was not only willing to crush him underfoot, but was very eager to do so herself. With everything else in consideration, it also seemed as if she was too good to be true, and yet, she was right there in front of him. Perhaps the universe had finally had its fill of screwing around with him, or perhaps it was a momentary reprieve? Whatever it was, he was going to get as much enjoyment out of it as he could.

His thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of Dawn's warm and wet mouth taking the tip of his erect member into it, and stimulating it with its sensual tongue.

~~~

Troy awoke, still lying naked in Dawn's bed. Though the window curtains and shades were still drawn, some light from the sun outside still broke through and provided a bit of illumination inside. The smell of breakfast, specifically bacon, wafted into his nostrils and caused his stomach to growl in hunger.

Putting on his boxers and socks, he exited the room and walked through the hallway, his nose following the scent of the food that it sniffed. To his left were black shelves with a number of books and photos on them, on the wall was a generic framed photo of a tulip in a grass field, and there were a couple of other closed wooden doors. To his right was the entrance to the living room, and directly ahead was the source of the aroma that he pursued: the kitchen.

Upon entering it, he was met with the sight of several plates and bowls of food set upon the wooden table in the middle of the room. In addition to the bacon he smelled, he spotted waffles, sausage, pancakes, scrambled eggs, grits, and sliced apples, plus a pitcher of orange juice and a half-full bottle of maple syrup. Troy was mesmerized at such a big breakfast; Dawn had clearly put her soul into preparing it all.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Dawn warmly greeted with a smile. Wearing just a white bra and panties, she sat at the same table, in front of her a plate with her own food on it in which she had already made a respectful dent into. "You were sleep for a while."

"Yeah, I usually sleep late on Sundays," Troy said. "Of course, I was really tired after last night. You were a real workout."

Dawn chuckled.

"But damn, you made all of this? It's like... a breakfast for kings!"

"Help yourself," Dawn said. "I knew you'd be hungry- In fact, I was really hungry myself, so I woke up early to make this big breakfast."

"All that in just a bra and panties, huh?" Troy teased.

"You know how hot it got in here? I'm glad I wore so little!"

"Yeah, I can see what you mean." Troy stepped closer to the table to get a better look at the meal that she prepared. Such a delicious sight did no favors to his hunger pangs, and he wanted nothing more than to get his own plate and silverware and dig in.

However, there was something more he wanted at that moment. Something that, after falling asleep with Dawn in his arms, he had even dreamed about that night.

"Hey, I was just thinking..." Troy started. "The food's nice and all. I mean, really, really nice, but I'd like to work up a bit more of an appetite."

Dawn tilted her head in curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"I mean macro." Troy smiled craftily.

"Now? ...Actually, I've been thinking about it too, to be honest. But I thought you'd want to do it after you've eaten."

"Nah. I might have to run, and running on a full stomach is never a good idea. At least by the time we're done, I would have worked up an even bigger appetite to fit all of this food in."

Dawn placed her fork onto her plate, and then stood up. "I see. I guess this will be an appetizer before the main course, so to speak."

Troy nodded. "Yep."

"Alright, I'm game."

Troy was happy to have her onboard with his little plan. "Sweet. Well then, let's get this little teaser started."

Dawn watched as Troy brought up his left hand and, with the other, touched the back of it. With a small bluish glow, the control panel of the Minimizer program protruded from his hand, and its screen floated in midair right in front of Troy's face.

"How small are you gonna make yourself?" Dawn asked.

"One inch," Troy answered as he made the adjustment to the size setting by touching the glowing blue screen. "It's my favorite size to shrink to. I suppose I could go smaller, but then you'd barely feel me."

"Oh my..." Dawn seemed to be in a tizzy just from hearing that.

"And I'll set the respawn time to... Five minutes. Oh, and I should also set the location to right here." Troy made those changes as well. "I don't want to end up coming back halfway across town. And pain nullification? ...I think I'll go with medium." He made that final adjustment.

Dawn interlocked her fingers on both hands together, as her feet stamped with anticipation. Troy's own hand hovered over the "shrink" button, his heart racing and his mind eager for what was to come next.

"Alright, here goes," Troy said, as he touched the button.

The bluish screen retracted into his hand, and almost immediately after, Troy's vision carried an equally-bluish tint as his surroundings--the kitchen, its appliances, the table full of food and its chairs, and Dawn herself--rapidly enlarged. The process was almost dizzying, but in only seconds, the tinge in his eyes completely faded away, and the growth around him ceased.

Troy took a brief look around at his new gigantic world, but his attention was soon taken up by the very massive pair of beautiful brown-skinned feet before him. Craning his neck upward, his eyes followed from those feet to her long brown legs, then to her toned brown torso, past her round brown breasts restrained by white her bra, and finally to her attractive brown face. Her dark eyes beamed right back down at him, and her mouth was slightly opened in awe.

Troy completely took in the ebony titaness that stood over him. What a beautiful sight to behold! It was nearly overwhelming, as if he was in the presence of a goddess. Part of him felt himself unworthy to even gaze upon her.

"Oh my god, look at you!" Dawn said, before kneeling down to bring herself closer to her minuscule man.

"Yep!" Troy shouted up at her. "I love being this small! It really drives home just how vulnerable I am!"

"No kidding," she said as she reached down and prodded his tiny form with her index finger, its nail hitting his chest with enough force to knock him over onto the floor. "You're so tiny, so fragile, so completely, utterly helpless..."

Withdrawing her hand, she stood back up to her full height, as Troy pulled himself back to his feet as well. The two of them stared at each other for several seconds, with nothing but the silence of the kitchen and the smell of the food inside. It was as if both of them were waiting for the other to make the first move.

"I think I'm really gonna enjoy this," Dawn finally said, before slightly lifting her right bare foot from the floor and moving it towards Troy.

"I am, too!" Troy eagerly shouted.

Dawn's foot had Troy engulfed within its shadow, and after a brief pause, it began to descend. For Troy's part, he did nothing. Nothing but stand there and grin and giggle as he watched the wide ceiling of flesh come down upon him. Time seemed to slow down, but he did not care; he wanted to enjoy this for as long as he could. After all, he had spent so much time searching for someone like her, and at last--at long last--his efforts had finally paid off.

He had finally found his crusher.

Her foot met with his minuscule body and pushed him into the hard floor. Pressed between it and her soft sole, the pressure slowly but assuredly increased by the ton, and Troy could feel his body compress and break underneath it. With a shot of mild pain, his legs flattened under her, followed immediately by his torso, which ruptured under the pressure. He could feel every one of his bones breaking, and blood and other fluids started to come up from within, but they barely had time to escape through his mouth before his head gave in under the force, its skull completely and utterly shattered in a burst of red.

Dawn's foot completely settled on the cool tiled floor. A shiver went down her spine as she kept looking down at her foot, the very one she used to literally crush the life out of Troy. She breathed heavily, watching her toes flex slightly down below.

As she kept her foot placed on the same spot, feeling the sticky wetness of his blood beneath it, her mind was still attempting to process what she had done. What she had finally been able to do.

"Oh god... Oh my god..." she moaned as she placed her hand on her chest. "So that's what it feels like... It's better than I imagined. And he just... crushed, just like that. With no effort at all."

She let out a loud celebratory squeal. "Where have you been all this time, Troy?! I could have been squishing you all this time!! When you come back, I'm gonna stomp on you again for making me wait!!"

She regained her composure, and finally lifted her foot from the sticky spot on the floor. Reaching down, she balanced on one leg as she grabbed the foot's ankle and turned its sole toward her. On the ball of her milky sole was a small red splatter of blood and viscera, and right in the middle of that mess was Troy's pulverized body, crushed completely into her sole.

"Wow, look at you," a mesmerized Dawn said as she poked at his corpse with her finger. "Smashed completely flat into my foot. Completely flat..." She let out a dreamy sigh. "Ah, Troy... We're going to have so much fun together...!"



[TO BE CONTINUED]