Working in Lab 30-C actually had Yvette on her feet and working more often than not. As an apprentice it was her duty to handle more mundane tasks about the lab. Namely, feeding the test subjects, filling out health reports, observing lower priority habitats and so on. There was actually a lot more necessary in human care than she’d expected. At the end of the day she was generally left tired and slumping back on her small little bed in the back of the lab.

“Humans.” Cordelia had said on Yvette’s second day. “Are rather intelligent creatures, despite what you’ve been raised to believe. Most aren’t going to just sit by and wait to be bred and stuffed and served on your plate. That’s why it’s important we understand them. To better dominate them.”

Domination described it alright. Yvette had seen human tamers at work before, but none of them made as much of an art of it as Mistress Cordelia. Humanity truly was her plaything. It was breath taking how she could reduce a defiant and fiery tempered man into a broken shell that lapped at her feet. Of course, as she put it, it wasn’t about breaking one human. It was about breaking the entire race. A challenge and the reason her research was considered well worth the funding.

Yvette was currently handling a squirming and screaming young woman as she tried to set her in her cage. The elf bit her lip as she kept catching the human’s legs on the sides of the entrance. “Hey, tiny, give it a rest alright? We get it, ‘ahhhh, scary giant elf!’” The apprentice grumbled.

The human didn’t understand her, of course. This language barrier was really irksome. She’d need to ask her mistress for some instruction on their language. No, her handful of tears and squirming limbs refused to make her life any easier. “Come on! You’re going in the cage one way or the other, so seriously just stop!” Yvette exclaimed in exasperation, her voice loud and booming to the tiny woman.

She’d remembered thinking six inchers were cute. She now no longer thought that. Why did Mistress Cordelia even keep them around? “Ok, that’s it! No more miss nice apprentice!” Yvette growled.

Without any restrained the elf shoved the human past the entrance. Unfortunately for the tiny woman her leg got caught upon the side and promptly let out a rather sickening snap. Yvette would be lying if the resulting howls of agony from the lesser being weren’t oh so very satisfying. She promptly shut the cage with a huff and let the tiny woman howl her lungs out. Dumb primate.

The apprentice swept her way out of the storage room, her smooth bare feet slapping loudly upon the floor as she did. “Well, that probably could have gone better.”

Mistress Cordelia’s rather light tone didn’t mask the silent rebuke her words held. Yvette turned her gaze towards her and crossed her arms over her lacking assets. “They always fight me! It’s like they are trying to make their lives difficult! I mean, seriously, you’d think they’d just accept their new existence.”

The mistress of the lab was leaning on the wall next to the door a wry smirk upon her lips. “They fight you because you don’t handle them correctly.”

“Well if it’s so easy why don’t you show me how then?”

“Sure. If you can fix that insolent tone and stop whining.”

Yvette bit back something she was very certain to regret in the face of Cordelia’s amusement. More than a little irksome. Instead she tucked her bangs behind her triangular ear and let out a long and heavy breath. “Yes, Cordelia. I’m sorry. Can you please show me the proper method to handling new subjects?”

“Gladly! See? The power of please.” The mistress said, her tone chipper as she patted Yvette’s shoulder and started leading her through the winding halls and side rooms that made up most of her lab.

The power of something alright. Yvette was careful to keep her thoughts to herself. She wasn’t this mouthy to instructors but something about the laid back Mistress had her forgetting herself. It was irksome. Her eyes turned and played over Cordelia’s ample bosom, bouncing slightly with each step. What she wouldn’t give for a rack like that. Her own was lacking enough that she remembered the jeers of her schoolyard bullies. Flatty was the kindest of the insults. Unfortunately for her the mistress caught where her eyes were and chuckled slightly even as Yvette immediately forced her gaze away.

Mercifully Cordelia didn’t bring it up instead settling into instruction. “So why do you think that female kept fighting you?”

“Because she was a stupid primate?”

A sigh left her mistress. “No. Not as such. Remember what I’ve taught you. Humans aren’t stupid. They aren’t content to just become slaves or plaything or food. No more than you or I would be.” She paused as she turned a corner before giving Yvette a half glance. “She fought you because you handled her like you would a pet or slave bred and raised here.”

Yvette lifted a brow. “I don’t understand. What’s the difference?”

Cordelia took out a ring of keys as she came to a door and turned to lean back against it, crossing her arms under her ample assets. “Hmm… think about it like this. Let’s say the situations were reversed and it was you being handled by a human. You’ve been torn from your home, robbed of your size and autonomy, and captured by a race rumored to regularly eat your own like you might a pig or lamb.” She paused and looked at Yvette. “I’m being serious, close your eyes and imagine it.”

The younger elf blew air out of her cheeks at length as she closed her eyes. Seemed like a pointless exercise. She imagined herself stripped of her magic, her home, her family, and even the comfort of clothing. A frown crossed her lips as she further imagined herself in the hands of some strange woman who didn’t even speak her language. Her handling was rough, uncaring and she looked irritated at her simply for making her job annoying. There was something else that swam beneath the surface of emotions however.

A sense of helplessness. Like she couldn’t do anything to stop this from happening. What bubbled from that was immediate rejection of that idea, resistance. It was a disquieting thought. Likely the emotion showed upon her face for a low chuckle came from Cordelia. The younger elf opened her eyes.  

“It’s the nature of both human and elf to fight against helplessness, to not just roll over and die. It’s easier with humans we breed here naturally since they know little else other than subjugation. Ones from outside however do have something else. Do keep in mind just under half of humanity remains free. It therefore falls to my research to figure out how to make the transition easier. To create a method by which humanity can be brought to heel mentally. Do you understand better now?” Cordelia explained at length.

Surprisingly she did. Yvette didn’t exactly know what to do with this newfound empathy though. She was used to thinking of humans as primates, lesser beings. It was the natural right of any elf to do what they pleased with a human. They were the superior race after all while humans were some manner of sub-form.

Cordelia waved a hand before her face casually before turning to fiddle with the lock on the door. “It’s true however that we’re superior as a race. This is proven through our longer lifespan and more extensive access to magic. Among other things. However humanity isn’t such an easy thing to, for lack of a better word, stomp out as one might think initially.”

Yvette shook her head slightly. “Why bother with this though? Why bother learning more about their behaviors? If they are all destined to end up tiny it shouldn’t matter right?”

The mistress gave that pause. “It’s not for this generation but rather for the next as well as the one after that. There are many that probably think like you do. However understanding them better will help us to control them completely. It’s the difference between buying a pet and actually owning said pet. If that makes sense.”

With that Cordelia opened the door at last and swung it wide open. The pair stepped inside a small chamber. Yvette vaguely recalled this place. The mistress had called it her ‘Hard Nut to Crack’ room. Was where she put the most resistant humans in her stock for observation and experimentation. Apparently most were some form of royalty or nobility though there were more mixed in. All of them were one to three inchers.

The mistress received wary and hateful stares from the occupants of various cages as she eyed up one after the other. There was an analytical edge to her eyes as she observed and weighed each one in their turn. This was her thing after all. Yvette was honestly disappointed she didn’t attempt to stare each one down in their turn. Instead she smiled as she apparently found what she was looking for.

She picked up a cage with a rather tall and buxom brunette human, her features as graceful and noble as any elf. “Katherine is this one’s name. Noblewoman from an icy human nation. She’s also…”

“Let me out this instant, you giant whore! I swear I’ll tear out your eyes and bite you if you so much as touch me!” The tiny human screeched in rather heavily accented elven.

“…Kind of a pain. Your first big project is going to be to care for her. You’ll feed her, wash her, and handle her with firmness but fairness. You aren’t to kill her or cripple her no matter how much you might wish. This is on top of your daily chores. Keep a running record of your schedule with her. After a month we’ll see how far you’ve come with her.” Cordelia stated, holding the cage out for Yvette to take.

Yvette stared at the tiny human screaming at her from within the cage for a long while, the profanity laden words of the woman taken at length before she sighed and took the cage. Nothing was ever easy was it? She *already* wanted to squish the loud human for daring to scream so loudly at her betters but alas it was not to be this day. Orders were orders, no matter how strange they were.

“So, what is the point of this exercise exactly, Mistress?” Yvette asked.

Cordelia laughed, the sound clear and pure like the toning of a small bell as she regarded her apprentice. “I’ll let you be the judge of that, my dear. Just know this is your task. If you fail it you’ll be cleaning every cage and human in this lab for a week. So I’d suggest you be careful.” The mistress stated.

With that rather high price causing a shiver to course its way down the young mage’s spine she lifted the cage up and gazed inside at its occupant. Her face had turned purple from the continuing profanities. Yvette let out a weary sigh. A month without crushing or hurting her. Truly her mistress was the most cruel elf in the whole of the magical community.