Giantess Worship

Thursday, September 6, 2007

The Inescapable Guardian - Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

If you haven't read Chapters 1 & 2 yet, you know what you SHOULD do! I trust you will enjoy this story by "happiest in shadows"
Mistress Cassie


This story is meant for adults only if you’re a minor or are offended by sexual material or verbal depiction of violence stop reading now. If you aren’t a minor and such things interest you feel free to read on. Reviews are welcome if you wish to leave one I can be emailed at happiest_in_shadows@yahoo.com just be sure to mention the story in the title so I know it isn’t spam.

As Lucy made her way along the street she was rather surprised by how few vehicles and people in general she’d actually seen. During the day the street was so busy that it was almost impossible that there would ever be a time when it wasn’t being traversed by at least a few vehicles. While Lucy tried to reason out why the street was so empty a sudden crackle reached her ears. The sound instantly drew her attention and she quickly glanced down at her foot.

Upon looking down what Lucy found was that she’d stepped on a massive sheet of black ice. As she looked around herself for a moment an amused giggle escaped her as she realized why the road was so empty. A thick layer of snow covered the streets and under that snow there was most likely several patches of black ice. The fact that she hadn’t noticed the white powder was one of the more amusing reminders for Lucy of the difference between her and everyone else. Even the freezing cold temperatures didn’t truly affect her.

Tonight seemed to be an especially nice night for Lucy. She had managed to make it back before she had previously planned and thanks to the weather she pretty much had the streets to herself. The only down side she found with her timing was that if she’d known about the weather in advance she would have brought more of herself along.

For a moment Lucy looked over her shoulder and thought about going back only after a minute of debating with herself did Lucy give a slight shrug and continue down the road. While it would have been enjoyable to stroll through the city streets at her full scale so that she towered over every building the streets would most likely have been clogged with vehicles by the time she came back and she’d chosen her current scale to make getting through the city easier.

Even without traffic roads often limited the scale at which Lucy could venture into a city. She always had to be careful that the width of her body didn’t exceed the width of the paths or streets she intended to take though that was far from the greatest limiter. The primary limitation on Lucy’s scale tended to come from how much stress the streets could withstand. People didn’t tend to like waking up in the morning to find the roads covered with foot prints several meters deep and for her part Lucy didn’t like it when her foot went through the street into the sewers.

With so many limiting factors Lucy was quite grateful that she could at least enter the city with a height that put her a bit more then a head taller then her destination. Though, part of her felt it would be worth paying for the roads just for the thrill of walking around the city at her full scale or at least the largest scale that the width of the roads would allow her to use. If it weren’t for the fact that several people she was rather fond of lived in the area she might have listened to that voice.

There was one aspect of her smaller sizes that she truly enjoyed. They allowed her to move around more quietly then she could have at her larger scales something she found truly beneficial as she approached the apartment building. Upon making her way over to the building she proceeded to bend down and take a look into one of the windows.

Even though the lights in the room were all turned off Lucy had no trouble seeing through the darkness. The first thing that got her attention was an open text book and folder of notes left on a table. A few sheets of paper littered the table with various equations scribbled on them. Given the condition of the roads she had a fairly good idea why the work had been left out on the table. This was actually a bit of a disappointment to Lucy.

Had it been up to her the work would have already been finished before she arrived instead of being left out. So that even before she had climbed out of her pocket she had already resolved that she would help with it. Whenever visiting certain friends Lucy always made it a point to help them with whatever work she was able to. That way she could be both kind and selfish all at once because if she helped them finish early it meant they had more time to spend with her though most friends could refuse her help.

This person was something of a special exception though as she hadn’t granted him the option of refusing her help for years now. A sudden crunch and loss of her footing pushed these thoughts out of Lucy’s mind as she landed on the ground. When she’d jumped from the pocket of her larger body she hadn’t stopped to think about where she was going to land. Normally that would have been fine as jumping from such a height had no chance of harming her however she hadn’t expected the sidewalk to be slightly slanted.

Due to the slant of the side walk, the ice that rested under the snow and the velocity of her fall Lucy didn’t have a chance to get her footing upon landing. So the moment that she landed she found herself on her behind in the snow and having a far better appreciation for its depth.

An amused giggle escaped both the smaller and larger bodies as the larger reached down and helped the smaller back to her feet. Lucy even had her large body keep a hand behind the smaller as she made her way up the steps and into the front door. It had been several years since Lucy had learned to split herself into separate bodies and in that time she’d refined the ability a great deal though she tended to remain at her larger scales. Being able to separate into several smaller bodies was fun to Lucy but despite that she just didn’t feel comfortable in her smaller forms.

While her smaller form made her way through the building Lucy gathered up a handful of snow and quickly rolled it into a ball. She then held the lump of snow up to the window and began to quickly scrape away some of the snow so that it would fit through. It only took her a few seconds but that was also all the time her smaller form needed to make her way through the building and up several floors. So that as she was removing the last of the snow her smaller form was already reaching into her shirt pocket and getting her key.

Upon opening the door Lucy quickly reached to the side of it and covered the speaker on the small terminal that adorned the wall. Due to the density of her muscle structure she was able to keep the small device from even beeping as she disarmed it.

Carefully Lucy shut the door and made her way over to the window she’d been peeking through earlier, unlocked it and retrieved the snow ball from her larger body. An impish grin formed on her face as she quietly shut the window and made her way towards the back. Her grin was made to grow upon noting that the door to the bed room was already open.

“Ah how precious.” An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she stood over the sleeping form and lifted the snow ball over her head.

Adrenaline surged throughout Albert’s entire body as the massive ball of snow exploded upon impacting with him covering him in the frozen water. Even before a thought had passed through his head he had set up in bed and began scrambling to get out. As he was going to the edge though his foot got caught by the covers and he found himself falling face first towards the ground.

It had only taken a second for Albert’s frantic struggle to get out of his bed to cause Lucy to burst into a fit of laughter. However, even while she was amused by Albert’s franticly kicking legs and searching arms she’d been more then aware enough to notice his foot becoming wrapped up in the covers. So as he moved to the edge and the covers restrained his foot she moved quickly to catch him.

Before Albert could even extend his hands to attempt to break his fall he felt another pair of hands take hold of his shoulders. So that by the time his arms had been extended his fall had already been stopped. Adding to his surprise was the fact that his fall had been stopped so quickly that his arms couldn’t even reach the floor from the side of his bed.

“Good morning sleepy head.”

Quickly Albert glanced upward to see the face of the one that held him however he didn’t see her face. Instead he found himself looking up at the outline of the underside of breasts so large that each one rivaled the size of a human head. Fortunately he could recognize who was holding him by her laughter. “Yeah right, Lucy it’s still dark out!”

“So? It’s still morning.” As she spoke Lucy lifted Albert further up so that he was setting in his bed now.

Though Albert did appreciate Lucy helping him back up, he wasted no time in climbing out of his snow covered bed. As he started to make his way through the dark to locate the light switch he felt a hand take hold of his wrist.

“It’s this way.”

“You’re back early.” There was no use in fighting Lucy and Albert knew that. There was absolutely no way that he could resist her strength and he did trust her to guide him.

“Yeah, things got taken care of more quickly then I expected.”

“So did the deal go through?”

“Yes it did. There first shipment of luciom should be arriving by the end of the week. Hey what was that laugh for?”

“Luciom.”

“Hey! You’re the one that suggested the name to me.”

“I was a kid and you asked me to help you come up with a name for a new alloy you developed. I was just trying to name it after you.”

“Which is why it’s your fault that I named it luciom, so you don’t get to laugh at the name.”

“How is it my fault? I didn’t make you go with the suggestion.”

“You tried to name it after me. How was I supposed to say no? So yes, the name is your fault so no laughing or maybe someone would like to be led to the window instead of the light switch.”

“Okay. No laughing about the name.” Despite his words Albert couldn’t help but chuckle as he felt his hand press against the light switch and turned it on after shielding his eyes with his free hand. “You know Lucy even if I may chuckle about it. I do like the name. How could I not? After all it was named after you.”

Instead of verbally responding to Albert’s complement Lucy leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thanks. So I noticed you had some work left.”

“Yeah, crap Lucy how much snow did you hit me with!”

A delighted giggle escaped Lucy as she noted the expression on Albert’s face as he struggled to look at his bed despite his eyes having not adjusted to the light yet. “What? It wasn’t even a handful.”

“Lucy that snow ball had to be as big as my upper torso.”

“Like I said, it wasn’t even a handful.”

“You know Lucy it isn’t very fair that you get to hit me with a snow ball like that. After all, how am I supposed to retaliate?”

“Mm you’re not. You’re supposed to let me make it up to you.” As she spoke Lucy release her hold on Albert’s wrist and made her way over to the phone. “I’ll call room service and tell them to send someone up here.”

There was no reason for Albert to protest as Lucy dialed the number of the front desk as it wasn’t the clean up would cost him or his parents any money. Indeed the apartment he was currently staying in was a gift from Lucy. At one time he had planned on staying in a dorm room while attending college but under very strong protest from Lucy he had decided otherwise. He did have a reason to protest when he saw the clock though. “You woke me up at four thirteen in the morning?”

“I’d say more along the lines of four eight. You have been awake for a little while now. Is that a problem?”

“Yes I’m going to be tired again before the day is even half way through.”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she glanced over her shoulder at Albert. “Well when that time comes you can just take a nap. Now how about I help you with the work you left out as well as any other work you haven’t finished yet to make up for waking you up? One second. Yes I need you to send someone up to Albert Guarsen’s room. They’re going to need to bring some clean sheets, pillows and a comforter. Also hurry before the bed is soaked through or they’ll need a mattress.”

After a moment of listening to Lucy talking on the phone Albert gave his head a quick shake and made his way out of the room and into the kitchen. He then busied himself digging around in his freezers and cupboards as he decided what he wanted to make for breakfast. “Give me a few minutes to eat and I should be ready. I might as well get it over with while I have the energy to think.”

Upon finishing on the phone Lucy quickly followed Albert into the dining area and set down upon one of the stools. “That’s a good idea. So were you having trouble with the work I saw laying out or was it just tedious?”

“I’m having a bit of trouble actually. The notes I have from lecture haven’t been very helpful.”

“Ah. You know you should have called me when you started having trouble. I’d at least sent some of me over to help right away.”

“I didn’t want to distract you from your meeting.” As Albert settled on waffles for breakfast he slipped a few into the toaster.

“Albert I’ve told you before that you don’t need to worry about distracting me. I’m quite capable of multitasking and besides helping you tends to be far more enjoyable then some long winded meeting. Believe me when I say that I would have loved to have a distraction earlier.”

“Lucy, would you like something to eat as well?”

“Mm well, would you mind making some muffins it’s been a while since I had any.”

“Sure, what type would you like? I have strawberry, blue berry and black berry.”

Taking hold of the counter in front of her Lucy pushed off of it causing her seat to lean backwards. She then began to rock herself back and fourth for a minute. “Blast it I can decide. Hey, how about you try mixing them all together?”

“Sure, now you know my food is going to be done before yours is.” While he spoke Albert made his way over to the oven and set it to preheat as well as retrieved a pan.

“Don’t worry it isn’t like I get hungry anymore. You know what? I’m going to go and bring your homework in here.” Lucy was silenced for a moment as she heard a knocking on the door. “Right after I let room service in.”

“Okay.”

“Tell me is any of your work something you feel comfortable in already?” As Lucy spoke she made her way over to the door and let a young man in.

“Well there are my lab reports.”

“Okay, then I’ll go ahead and get started on those.”

“Thanks.” Normally Albert would have quickly protested the idea of someone writing his lab reports for him due to what would happen if the teacher believed someone else had wrote the report. He had no reason to worry about that with Lucy though. Due to the time she’d spent helping him, reading over his reports and her intelligence she could mimic his writing style so perfectly that even he couldn’t tell that he hadn’t wrote it. “Lucy, are you alright?”

Upon returning with Albert’s books and notes Lucy had stopped right in the door way and stood completely still. Only after Albert said her name did she seem to snap out of it. “Blast it.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No. I mean well yes something is wrong.” A slight sigh escaped Lucy as she continued into the kitchen and began to set up a work area for her and Albert. “I’m reviewing the progress reports on some of my employees. There is one in particular that is causing me problems.”

“What happened?” Turning around Albert quickly retrieved his waffles and some syrup from the fridge. He then took a seat in the area Lucy designated for him.

“Albert, what do you believe I should do? I have an employee whose work to date has been on time and above average. She very rarely misses work and all but a few of the days she did miss she sent warning ahead of time. However, she’s recently developed a substance abuse problem.”

“Ah, so you just got back the lab reports on your employees?”

“Nope, I’m looking at their work evaluation forms. Honestly, I was hoping that her performance had suffered so that I could fire her. It hasn’t though and I don’t feel right about firing someone if they’re still performing their job and not stealing from me. You know I don’t need a lab report to see if someone has something in their system.”

“Yeah I know. Why don’t you try talking to her about her substance abuse issue before you fire her? Perhaps you can convince her to attend rehabilitation.”

“For that to work the person tends to need to acknowledge they have a problem in the first place. Even then the success rates are far from encouraging.”

As Albert spoke he stood up and made his way over to the fridge where he retrieved a jug of milk and then a glass from the near by cupboard. “That is why you should make sure that there are a lot of you there whenever you speak to her. People tend to listen better whenever the person speaking to them is thirty meters tall instead of two.”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she gave her head a quick nod. “That is true. I hate this.”

“You know Lucy. If you’d like I could go over the progress reports of your employees for you.”

“Thanks for offering and believe me I’d love to let you. However, you have classes to attend and I don’t want to put anymore of a work load on you then you already have.”

“It isn’t that bad. I could at least give you some help. Besides it would make me feel like less of a free loader.”

“Now why would you feel like a free loader? After all you help me with the progress reports in the summer and I help you with your classes and housing while you attend college.”

“I know but I still feel like I’m getting the better end of the deal and need to balance it out a bit.”

“That’s good. In that case we both feel as if we’ve gotten the better end of the deal. I meant it when I said that I enjoy helping you out and you don’t seem to appreciate how much I hate handling progress reports.”

“Okay but if we get finished with my work early how about I help you with the progress reports?” As he spoke Albert watched as Lucy set up his laptop computer and brought up his lab data. The screen flashed briefly and Lucy turned the laptop around to face him.

“So what do you think of that?”

Instead of responding right away Albert gave his head a slight shake as he chuckled lightly. Lucy never used the keyboard to enter information into a system that had a wireless connection. While Albert didn’t know the details of how it worked indeed even Lucy hadn’t unwrapped that mystery whatever connection that kept all her bodies in contact with one another allowed her to interface with and even control machines with wireless connections. “Give me a few minutes to read it. So just what department is this employee working in?”

“She’s helping conduct studies on the prea tree. Yet another annoyance that I really wish I didn’t have to deal with.”

“Yeah conducting test whenever you already know what the results are going to be can be rather tedious. You’d think by now they’d trust you whenever you said something was safe.”

“The oven is going to ding in two minutes.”

“Okay, then I’ll get to mixing then.” As he spoke Albert stood up, picking up the milk as well. He then retrieved the packs of muffin mix and a bowl. As he began preparing the mixture he spoke up again. “So what do you say about me helping you with those reports if we get done with my work early?”

“No.”

“Why? You just said you hate doing them?”

“Because they are things I like doing even more then I dislike examining progress reports.” A low growl escaped Lucy as she shook her head. “I don’t understand. I can process more information then any computer yet to be developed and yet. Yet, you can make it through these reports nearly twice as fast as I can.”

“I wouldn’t say twice as fast.”

“Yes twice as fast I’ve timed you.”

“I guess regardless of how smart you are really disliking what you’re doing will slow you down. Given how quickly you tend to get your work done though you must really hate handling such evaluations. So what does that say about how much you care for me if you won’t let me help?” As he spoke Albert placed the muffin mix within the trey and shortly there after slipped them into the oven and set the timer.

An amused giggle escaped Lucy and a smile spread across her face. “I’m going to leave that up to you to figure out.”

Upon setting down Albert didn’t bother commenting but began to look through the lab report Lucy had prepared for him. He didn’t believe that anything would need to be changed but he also knew that Lucy would make him read over it regardless. “It looks fine to me Lucy.”

“Okay and here is the second report. Having two labs in the same semester must not be very fun.”

“It can be rather bothersome at times.”

“You know I would have talked to the school about rearranging some of your classes. I was going to until you stopped me.”

“I know, but I didn’t want to throw every other student’s schedule off just to suit mine.”

As Lucy spoke she waved a hand dismissively. “They’re collage students they are suppose to be able to adapt to schedule changes.”

“Well so am I.”

“No, you’re a collage student who I consider to be an exceptional friend. There is a big difference between the two.”

While he spoke Albert gave his head a quick nod. “Well yeah, you do tend to be a rather large factor whenever you’re involved. Still, I shouldn’t abuse that friendship.”

“Oh I wouldn’t have minded at all.”

Once again Albert was made to chuckle though this time he shook his head in the negative. “I mean I shouldn’t abuse the advantages your friendship gives me. The lab reports look good Lucy. Thanks for helping me out with them.”

“You make it sound like I’d be killing someone if I went and talked to them about changing some of the class times. I’m pretty sure that no one would make me actually carry through with the threat.”

It was impossible for Albert not to chuckle as he stood up and placed his dishes in the dishwasher. “I don’t know about that Lucy, people can be pretty foolish at times.”

“In that case natural selection says that they need to die. So are you ready to begin?”

“Yeah, I am. Hey Lucy, you said they were things you’d rather do then have me help you with the reports on your employees. What exactly do you have in mind?”

“I was thinking that once we finished up here we’d go and pick up the others. I want to unwind a little.”

“Oh, what do you have in mind?”

“You’re just going to have to wait and see. Now why don’t you tell me what you’re having trouble with?”

“Well I’ve been trying to solve for x and I thought I had the right answer. However, when I went to check my answer the values didn’t agree. I don’t believe that they are any errors in my method.”

“Albert what is x?”

“X is a variable.”

“What else there is something else.”

“Well in this case x is a vector.”

“Good now what does a vector have?”

At first Albert said nothing as he glanced down at his problem. A sigh escaped him moments later. “Magnitude and direction, blast it.”

“Now take the vector’s direction into account and let’s see what you get.”

************************************************************************

“Well you must like this.”

“I have to admit I do. I know I was only gone for a while but I missed having you ride around in my pocket.”

In response to Lucy comment Albert quickly turned around and looked up at her face. What he found was that while there was a smile upon her face there was no hint of joking on it. Albert felt his face heating up moments later and he quickly turned around to keep Lucy from seeing him blush. “Um, I meant the lack of traffic.”

“Oh that is nice as well. It isn’t really so different though. At this scale maneuvering through the city streets even during rush hour tends to be pretty easy.”

Despite Lucy’s scale Albert knew that she was being honest whenever she said she had no trouble maneuvering through heavy traffic. In all the time that he’d rode in her pocket he’d never seen her once accidentally step on a vehicle, person or even accidentally bumped into a large building as she passed between them. Even with the occasional errant driver it was rare that she had to break her strides. A fact that both impressed him and served to remind him that Lucy’s eyes were far from her only way of seeing the world around her.

“So Albert, what do you think of your new ride?”

Instead of commenting right away Albert quickly glanced down into the pocket he was currently riding in. Riding in Lucy’s right breast pocket was far from a new experience from him. Indeed he had found himself riding in Lucy’s shirt pocket nearly the day she’d reached twelve meters tall though at first it had been a single large pocket that covered the front of her shirt. So he knew that Lucy had to be referring to something about the material or the design of the pocket.

“Well?”

“Give me a moment. Oh wait. You managed to redesign it to distribute heat better!”

“Yep, I’m surprised you didn’t notice right away. If my pocket was made out of the same old material there is no way you’d been looking around like that in this weather.”

“Yeah, I’m surprised I didn’t notice it sooner but my mind was on other things.”

“Still trying to guess where we are going then?”

“Yeah, I believe I know where. After all they aren’t a whole lot of options with the roads in the condition they are in and considering the weather. I’m not one hundred percent sure though.”

“So are you going to tell me where you believe we are going?”

“I didn’t plan on it. Why do you want me to take a guess?”

“Of course, I do.”

“I believe you’re taking us to the Brink.”

“Nope, we’re going somewhere else.” As she spoke Lucy turned a corner and began to make her way down a circular road. Large houses lined all sides of the road though there conditions varied widely.

“Well I thought I had it.”

“Would you like to go to the brink? I doubt that there would be anyone there but that would really give me room to move.”

“No. I’m fine with wherever you chose. I am curious though.” Brian gripped the side of Lucy’s pocket as she quickly spun on her heels.

“You held on this time! Normally you end up in the bottom of my pocket whenever I do that. Am I getting that predictable?”

An amused chuckle escaped Albert as he shook his head. “No, I just realized where we are.”

A slight humph escaped Lucy as she shrugged her shoulders. “Darn it that means I am getting predictable.”

“So are we going to pick up the others now?” As he spoke Albert glanced down into the interior of Lucy’s pocket. While he had never said anything to her he had long ago came to suspect that she enjoyed feeling him struggling around in her breasts pocket. Of course that also meant that he had never admitted to her that he enjoyed it as well. A sigh escaped him moments later as he suddenly realized he’d done something very stupid by holding onto Lucy’s pocket.

There was no doubt in Lucy’s mind that people knew when she was approaching their home at any scale greater then thirteen meters. Her foot falls were rather hard to miss especially when they were coming up ones driveway. Yet she often ended up waiting far longer then most that simply knocked on the door or wrung a bell. Knocking on the roof or side of the house was unreliable as it could either delay or hasten the response of those inside. This was all due to the fact that it tended to take people a while to decide just who would go out to speak to her if anyone.

Even now such delays continued to be a frequent occurrence in her life despite her being well known. So she was grateful whenever the front door of a house opened and people came out to meet her even before she had tapped on the roof a bit or informed someone that she can hear them inside. Though, she did find their reactions to be amusing from time to time.

Tracy’s first instinct upon stepping outside was to jump back inside the house fortunately he had prepared himself mentally for this and was able to keep his legs stationary. “Hey Lucy, Brad and Phillip will be out in just a few moments. Is Albert with you?”

In response to Tracy’s question an amused giggle escaped Lucy as she reached up and pressed up on the underside of her breasts. “Are they really that big?”

“Yeah, I take that as a yes though. When you’re this close and that tall it’s hard to see more then the underside of your breasts.”

A delighted giggle escaped Lucy as she bent at her knees so that she could reach down for Tracy. This also allowed him to actually see her pocket. “Well that is nice to know. So are you ready to go?”

“Yeah” as he spoke Tracy held up a small bag he had with him. “Lucy, would you please pick up now? I’m freezing.”

“Sure.”

Even after having known Lucy for years now Tracy still wasn’t quite use to her massive fingers wrapping around him. The sight of those massive digits still triggered a slight impulse in him to run however he had gotten to know her well enough to keep it under control. At the moment that was exceptionally easy as the desire to get warm again far out weighed his desire to run from his friend. “So where is your” Tracy didn’t get to finish.

“Shush! Albert doesn’t know where we are going and I want to keep it that way.” Reaching to her side Lucy opened up her skirt pocket and easily slipped Tracy inside.

All of the pockets on Lucy’s larger sets of clothes were quite different from those you’d find on regular clothing. The material her pockets were made of had been designed so that it would not exert unreasonable amounts of pressure upon its contents regardless of how Lucy shifted her position. The positioning was slightly different from the norm and several supports also lined her pockets to further protect passengers from being crushed or falling out.

Comfort of those she carried had also been taken into account whenever Lucy designed her clothing. As a protective layer of material cushioned her pockets and helped to absorb the energy if she had to make a sudden movement. Accommodations had even been added a fact that Tracy quickly took advantage of as he moved beneath the top of Lucy’s pocket and released a few buttons that held a cloth chair in place. “Hey Lucy, what happened to the little cooling units in here?”

“They’re not needed anymore so I had them taken out.”

“How did you manage that?”

“I changed the materials in my pockets some. They are two additional layers. The first is just beneath the cushioning layer on the inside of my pocket. It serves to insulate you from and store heat so in the winter it retains heat energy and keeps you all warm while in the summer it’s protect you from my body heat. The secondary layer is actually quite conductive and is just below the protective layer on the outside of my pocket. It’s quite an exceptional conductor.”

“So that is how you could stand having your head poking out like that.”

Scooting to the side Albert leaned out the side of Lucy’s pocket and looked down at Tracy in Lucy’s thigh pocket. “Yeah, there is so much heat escaping from the front pocket that well. It would have to be a lot colder then this to bother me. Even with Lucy walking around the wind chill didn’t even register.”

“That’s something else.”

“Albert, Tracy cover your ears I need to make sure someone can hear me.” An amused giggle escaped Lucy the moment she felt Albert duck down into her pocket. “What are you doing?”

“When you decide to insure that someone hears you one needs as much damping as possible. You’re going to have to develop some form of telepathy that lets you just contact people.”

“I’m working on it but telepathy isn’t exactly an easy to develop skill. Especially, when trying to communicate with a system like the human brain.”

“Now how are you doing that?”

“Um Albert that is kind of hard to explain, I’m trying to develop the ability using my connection with machines and my bodies as a base.”

“I understand. It would be like trying to explain color to someone who’d never seen. Okay I’m ready.”

“Brad, Phillip what is taking you too so long? Amy and Jennifer are probably ready by now.”

Phillip didn’t bother turning his head or even going to a window. While it felt odd they all knew Lucy could hear them. “Sorry Lucy just having trouble finding a clean pair.”

“You wouldn’t have that problem if you actually did your laundry weekly. Anyway, I called ahead.”

“Yeah sorry about that, it took us a while to get out of bed.”

“In that case I should just leave you and Brad behind.”

“Ah come on Lucy. I found a clean pair be down in a moment.”

“Brad did you as well?”

“Yeah, I had to dig deep in the drawer but I’m ready.”

Despite having both of his ears covered Albert was able to hear Lucy easily. However, he wasn’t able to hear what either Brad or Phillip had been saying. “So Lucy are they coming?”

“Yeah they’re coming down stairs now. You can come back up now.”

“Okay.”

Lucy was made to blush slightly as she felt Albert’s hand press into her breast through the material of her shirt as he brought himself back to a standing position. While she wasn’t certain if Albert did this consciously the action was far too consistent to not be intentional on some level. It was actually a bit of a situation for Lucy as she often wondered whether or not Albert’s actions were made with his awareness or not she did know that she liked feeling his hand press into the front of her breast even for just a moment. She had even slowly diminished the amount of material between her breast and breast pocket over time.

Concern that Albert would stop bracing himself against her breast when he stood up in her pocket was the only thing preventing Lucy from asking.

At one time Albert had been able to stand up in Lucy’s breast pocket and see over the top. However, as she’d grown her pockets had become deeper until now just standing up in the bottom of her pocket wasn’t enough. In order to see over the top of Lucy’s breast pocket at her current scale and especially her larger scales he actually had to make use of a fabric ladder of sorts she had stitched into the material. “So are they any other stops after we pick up Amy and Jennifer?”

“Yes but just one more. We’re going to pick up a few snacks.” Lucy grew quiet as she waited for the door to the house to open the moment it did she spoke with a slightly raised voice. “Snacks, you two will be paying for to make amends for taking so long.”

“Ah come on Lucy. It isn’t our fault we had trouble” Phillip didn’t get to finish as Lucy quickly cut him off.

“Yes it is. It most assuredly is. You’re the ones that don’t clean up regularly and you’re the ones that waited until you heard me coming down the road to start searching.” As she was talking Lucy reached down for her friends and while she had no intent of physically harming them. The site of her massive hand still quieted them down and tended to stop any further protest.

“Okay. Okay Lucy we’ll buy the snacks.”

“Good now we just need to go and get Amy and Jennifer.”

“Do you have everything?”

“Yeah, I don’t see why we have to bring the towels though.”

“Because we can’t trust Tracy, Phillip or Brad to provide clean ones and Lucy is keeping our destination a secret from Albert. You know I believe she likes making him guess.”

“Probably, it’s one way of guaranteeing he’s thinking about her. Darn it but that means I can’t use one of the towels to cover myself up.”

“Lucy is going to be packing us so we won’t be cold.”

“Yeah see if you believe that when you open that door. I guarantee you’ll be cold at least until she picks you up.”

“Ah poor baby can’t handle being cold for a whole five seconds.”

An annoyed snort escaped Jennifer as she shook her head. “I can’t help it if it rarely drops below twenty four degrees Celsius where I grew up.”

“You’ve been attending classes here for two years now. You should be use to it by now.”

“No, that is what winter clothes are for.”

Before Amy could comment she felt a slight vibration run throughout the house and heard a rather forceful impact moments later. “Well we don’t have time for that now our ride is here. I guess you’re going to have to be cold for a moment.”

“Says you, Lucy I’m going to head up to the balcony and unlock the doors. Would you mind reaching in and picking me up? I really don’t want to step out into the cold.”

“Guy’s cover your ears. Sure Jennifer that is fine with me. Amy you can do the same if you want.”

“Hey Albert can you believe that?”

Instead of trying to respond to Phillip right away Albert proceeded to scoot his way along the front of Lucy’s breasts so he could look over the side of her pocket. He didn’t notice that as he moved across the very front of her breasts the material grew slightly tighter though he did hear Lucy inhale. “Can I believe what?”

“Can you believe that those two can’t stand the cold long enough just to step out on the porch?”

“Actually I can’t say anything Phillip. Lucy had me exit through the window and step out onto her head. Still, even if she hadn’t I would have much preferred to have her pick me up then me have to step out into the cold.”

“Ah man, you wimp.”

“Hey not all of us are a masochist like you.”

“I am not a masochist, blast it! When are you guys going to drop that?”

Lucy had by now reached into the house and retrieved Amy and Jennifer. Amy for her part had opted to be picked up as well despite what her earlier comments. Now as Amy heard Phillip shout, she couldn’t help but step in. “That’s not what Tina says.”

“Hey I only put up with that so I could get with her. Even I don’t have many chances to get my hands on breasts that big.”

An amused chuckle escaped Albert as he listened to Phillip. “So you put up with her games just so you could get hold of her breasts huh?”

“Yeah, why else would I?”

“Well if you’re willing to go through that to get your hands on breasts that small. I wonder what you’d be willing to go through to get hold of Lucy’s mountains.”

“Albert!” An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she placed Amy and Jennifer in the pocket opposite the one the men were one. “That is a really good question. Now let’s see. If we you were willing to endure a lesser form of torture just to get hold of Tina’s. I guess that means you’d let me digest you alive. Though then again, that could only be the torture increased a thousand times and mine are more then a thousand times as large as Tina’s.”

“Um no thanks Lucy, that price is a little too steep?”

“What? You’re saying that I’m not worth it?” As she spoke Lucy intentionally raised her voice and altered her tone as if she’d actually been offended. It was hard for her to keep from giggling when Phillip ducked down in her pocket as if he forgot where he was.

“No. I’m not saying that.”

“Humph a painful and slow death should be considered a small price to pay for getting to play with my breasts.”

“Oh I agree. I’m just too attached to my body and life to part with them you know? There like a really comfortable set of clothes that you can’t stand to get rid of.”

“OH sentimental value. Okay, well as it doesn’t seem like I’m going to be eating you how about we get going? We still need to stop and pick up a few things before we can finally have some fun.” Before she could turn around Lucy glanced down at Albert as she felt his hand once again press into her breast as he turned around. Moments later he shifted around so that he wasn’t looking down at Phillip but up at her and there was a wide grin on his face.

“I don’t know. I believe it is fun watching you make Phillip sweat.”

Amy didn’t hesitate to step in. “I agree.”

A sigh escaped Phillip as he slumped down into the bottom of Lucy’s. “Aren’t you two going to join in?”

Brad gave a shrug as he looked at his friend. “It’s tempting but no thanks. We have to live with you after all. So was it still worth it?”

“Was what worth it?”

“Was getting Tina in the sack worth all the pain and now the heckling?”

A large grin formed on Phillips face. “Hell yeah it was.”

“Man you put way too much emphasis on the breast. She’d need an ass to for me to put up with that.”

While Phillip and Brad’s last statement had been too low for Amy, Jennifer or Albert to hear them Lucy could hear them just fine. So when Tracy didn’t respond she spoke up. “What about you Tracy? Aren’t you going to give your two cents?”

“I don’t care how good she looks I have no interest in anyone that gets pleasure from my pain.”

After a moment Amy couldn’t help herself. “Hey Lucy what are you talking about? It isn’t nice to talk in front of people you know give us the details to.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you as we walk.”

“Hey Lucy, I just thought of something. Where did you go with your smaller body? I didn’t notice your bodies join back together.”

“I went ahead in that body to get some things ready.”

************************************************************************

During one of the city beautification programs a large man made pond had been placed in one of the parks. The body of water served as a place for people to take rental boats out on the water as well as a place for swimmers who desired a place with a more natural feel then a pool could provide. However, in the middle of winter it was rare for one to see a boat out on the water let alone any swimmers.

At the moment the entire park was nearly deserted though and the pond had even less people there then that. “Okay we are here. So Albert can you guess what we’re going to be doing?”

“Lucy, I’m going to assume that you remembered we little people don’t do well in ice cold water.”

“Well, while I didn’t stop to think about how cold it was until I stepped on some ice on my way to your place I did recall that you don’t like it when the water is too far below your body temperature. Fortunately that isn’t a problem with me around.”

“Yeah, so where did you put my swimming trunks?

Albert’s attention was quickly drawn away from Lucy as a humanoid figure suddenly appeared next to him. As he quickly spun around he found Lucy’s smaller body holding onto her larger body’s pocket and clad in a white bikini. While little Lucy held onto her pocket with her left hand her right hand held a pair of swimming trunks out to Albert. “You can get dressed in my pocket I grabbed them just before I left your house.”

“Thanks, so how long do you believe it’ll take to warm the water up.”

“I already took care of that.”

While Albert had long ago learned not to doubt what Lucy said, he couldn’t help but be shocked. “You already warmed up the pond?”

“Yes I did. What you didn’t believe I could do it with this little body?”

“That is a lot of water to warm up.”

“True, it took a fair bit of energy. Not anywhere near as much as this body is actually capable of generating but I didn’t want to evaporate the bond.” As she spoke through the mouth of her little body the larger reached down and took hold of Albert by his shoulders. She then lifted him out of her pocket.

“Hey! What is going on?”

“Here see for yourself.” As she spoke Lucy made her way over to the pond and lowered Albert down into the water until he was submerged up to his knees despite his protest.

At times Lucy had trouble judging things such as temperature so Albert couldn’t help but protest being the first one dipped into the water. What he found though was that the water was indeed warm. “Wow that is something else.”

“I told you. See even a very small amount of me can produce a tremendous amount of energy. You should trust me more on these things.”

“I know, but I was kind of worried. You did get quite a kick out of waking me up with a snow ball.”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy and she gave her head a quick shake. “Yeah I did. Okay, now how about I join you before the water cools down?” Even before Albert responded Lucy straitened up and quickly pulled her shirt over her head. The massive impact generated by the garmented landing on the ground moments later sent ripples throughout the lake.

Before Albert could look to see what Lucy had on under her shirt a large splash of water blinded him for a moment. Upon glancing to his side he found Lucy’s smaller body swimming beside him having jumped from her pocket when Lucy removed her shirt. “Well aren’t you going to look at what I’m wearing?”

“I’d be happy to.” What Albert found upon looking up was that Lucy was wearing a white bikini top in the same style as her smaller body. The only difference being that the one her larger body wore was proportionally smaller. As he looked at the material he doubted that the material of her top extended more then a third of a meter past her areolas.

Even before Albert could respond Brad gave his opinion. “Damn. There can’t be more then a tent’s worth the material in either cup! How does it keep from tearing?”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she glanced down at Brad. “Well that depends on how big of a tent you’re talking about. I’ll go ahead and tell you though it’s fortunate that my breasts are perky enough that this top isn’t really needed.” As she spoke Lucy reached into her pockets and began to carefully remove her friends as well as their belongings.

While Lucy placed their equipment near the side of the water Albert turned to the smaller Lucy. “So I hope you’re going to be handling the cooking given that while the water is warm the air sure isn’t.”

“Yeah, once my larger body is able to join us in the water I’ll use the smaller to prepare our lunch. You don’t like peppers on your kebabs do you?”

“I don’t like peppers on anything.”

“Now how can you say that if you haven’t tried them on everything? After all, I remember you didn’t like unions except on your hamburgers.”

“That was with mustard and I still say that the mustard drowns out the union taste.”

“Oh then why do you put unions on your hamburgers and not just put mustard?”

There wasn’t time for Albert to try to answer as their attention was suddenly drawn to Jennifer. “Put me in the water not on the ground!”

It was hard for Lucy not to giggle as her friend maintained a firm grip on her fingers as if she was trying to prevent Lucy from opening her hand. She had let her friends dislike of the cold slip her mind for a moment and went to put her down on the shore. Apparently two meters was too far away from the water for her friend though. “My mistake, here you go Jennifer.”

Once in the water Jennifer seemed to relax. Considering that she had grown up in a costal city the young woman was perhaps more at home in the water then she was on dry land though it was salt water. So it was little surprise how quickly she made her way through the water as she swam over to Lucy and Albert. “Thanks Lucy, I find swimming to be really relaxing. Actually, if I don’t get to have a good swim at least once a month I start getting really home sick.”

“You’re welcome.”

Albert couldn’t help but be a little anxious as Jennifer swam around him and Lucy. While they were friends he also knew she had a playful side which water tended to help bring out. Currently he could have sworn that she was stocking him and Lucy. “That must be rather difficult to deal with in the winter.”

“It is. I know the indoor pools are heated however there tends to be too many people for me to really swim. Swimming pool isn’t really the right term for it at those times. They’re more of a floating pool.” Jennifer continued to circle Albert and Lucy’s smaller body until Amy was set in the water she then began to swim quickly towards her friend.

As Jennifer neared Amy knew that she wasn’t just coming over for a chat. Her friend had picked up too much speed so that it was very clear she had other motives then conversation. Amy for her part was far less experienced in the water then her friend and knew she couldn’t out swim her. “Don’t you even think about, crap.” A sigh escaped Amy as Jennifer quickly dove under the water.

Once she’d picked up enough speed and closed enough of the distance between herself and Amy Jennifer moved quickly to dive under the water. This had been intentional for two reasons one it let her position herself and two she didn’t want to let Amy finish speaking. As she swam near her friend she quickly reached a hand out and grabbed hold of her leg.

Amy had known what was coming but despite that she couldn’t help but let out a slight yelp as Jennifer’s momentum allowed her to pull her under. She was however able to hold her breath before being pulled all the way under the water. Once under she tried to give her friend a quick kick but Jennifer had already moved too far away.

Nearly the moment Jennifer broke the water’s surface she broke into a fit of giggles as Amy came up sputtering moments later. “That felt goo.” Now Jennifer was cut off as she too felt someone take hold of her legs and yank her under the water.

For a moment Amy just looked at where her friend had been. She’d expected to have to deal with Jennifer’s teasing for at least a few moments however she’d been pulled under before she could even get started. It only took her a moment to realize what had happened as she glanced to her side and realized that Lucy was no longer beside Albert. This wasn’t comforting for Amy as she wondered if Lucy was avenging her or if Jennifer had started a dunking competition.

While Albert was interested in the lady’s though mostly because he worried they’d soon involve him. He found he was simply too curious to see what kind of bottom Lucy was currently wearing. Given that she’d already put Amy and Jennifer in the water he knew that she’d be removing her skirt soon and he didn’t want to miss that.

Brad, Phillip and Tracy’s instincts were to join in on the lady’s games but they all three knew better. While Amy wouldn’t be a problem Jennifer had more experience in the water then all of them put together. Any one of the guys was undoubtedly stronger then her but none of them were as good at moving in the water as she was. So they chose to follow Albert’s lead and see just what Lucy was wearing under her skirt.

There was no need for Lucy to look at them to tell that the men’s eyes were on her. She could practically feel them. Despite that she did look and focused her eyes directly on Albert’s. It was easy for her to tell he knew that she was looking at him as she noticed a sheepish grin spread across his face. She then straitened up and released the heavy lock that held her waste band.

Due to Lucy’s wonderfully full thighs the skirt hardly slid down a few decameters upon her releasing the latch. Indeed the skirt was drawn so tight upon her that it seemed like she could walk around and not worry about it slipping off her. This only drew Albert’s attention all the more when Lucy slipped her fingers into either side of her skirt and began to slide it down her massive figure.

The bikini bottom Lucy wore was solid white and followed the trend of her top. It was much the same as the one her smaller body wore except far less material was used at least proportional to her body. The only patch of material of any worth while size was a v shaped patch that served to cover her crotch though just barely. The strands that held the material together seemed to be no more then a third of a meter in width which seemed remarkably thin upon Lucy.

As Lucy stepped into the water Albert, Phillip, Brad and Tracy were all lifted as several waves were generated by Lucy’s legs moving through the water. With each step she took further into the pond the waves would grow larger as more and more of the water was dispersed as more of her body was submerged and pushed through it. Soon the waves even began to affect Amy who was further out.

Jennifer sputtered as she spit up the bit of water that had gotten into her mouth. This wasn’t due to Lucy pulling her under though rather it was the result of her being splashed by one of the waves generated by Lucy’s massive form upon making it back to the surface. As she looked up at her massive friend Jennifer giggled slightly. “Well I don’t believe you’re going to be swimming like that.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun as well.” Lucy had to keep from giggling as she made her way to the deepest section of the pond. Even there the water didn’t manage to reach up to her crotch.

Due to Lucy’s massive scale it was nearly impossible to tell she was even wearing a bikini bottom if viewed from behind. The strands that served to hold the one patch of material on her simply vanished between her wonderfully full rear. Once again Albert found it nearly impossible to take his eyes off Lucy until he felt something almost drawing his attention away from her rear and up to Lucy’s head. There he found her peeking over her shoulder with a rather large grin on her face. He knew right away to hold his breath.

There wasn’t time for Albert to shout a warning to any of his friends as Lucy let herself simply fall down into the water. The sound of Lucy’s bottom slamming into the water was likened onto several tons of dynamite being detonated and carried nearly the same amount of energy due to the height her rear fell before hitting the water and her massive weight. So great was the force of the impact that the several meters of water wasn’t enough to absorb it all but Lucy felt her bottom slam solidly into the bottom of the pond leaving a massive imprint under the water.

Had there been any small boats in the water Albert was certain Lucy would have flipped them all with the wave she generated. Everyone knew that there was no fighting the water so that each of them simply let the rushing wave take them in whatever direction it pleased.

As her friends were pulled under by the rushing waters Lucy kept a close watch on each of them. Albert’s believe that Lucy would at times forget how fragile humans were relative to herself was actually mistaken. Even when Lucy dipped him in ice cold waters she never forgot how careful she had to be with her loved ones. She just didn’t tell Albert because he would then known all the dips into ice cold water he’d taken at her hands had been intentional. She liked having a reason to let Albert cuddle up against her to get warm.

Jennifer was the first to come back to the surface as she recovered from the wave. She then quickly found Lucy and was a bit surprised to find her friend moving quickly through the water and reaching down into it. Moments later she watched as Lucy held Phillip up by his legs.

“Phillip, when under water with limited air you rarely want to go down instead of up.”

It had actually been quite a shock for Phillip whenever he felt Lucy’s massive fingers take hold of his legs. He’d thought she was going to hold him under water for a few moments and even became worried when she’d started pulling him through the water. Fortunately he’d realized what was happening the moment Lucy pulled him above the water’s surface. “Yeah that’s good advice.”

Albert had been the most prepared for Lucy’s little stunt and was the third to break the water’s surface though he’d been the second had Lucy not helped Phillip. Moments later he heard some coughing as Brad came to the surface followed shortly by Tracy and Amy. He was a little surprised when Tracy wasn’t even breathing hard. “Hey Tracy, did you see that coming?”

“Not as quickly as you apparently but I noticed when her bottom began to drop.”

“Ah, so what took you so long to get back to the surface?”

“Trying to see what kind of view I could get.”

As Lucy lowered him towards the water Phillip readied himself to hold his breath. He wasn’t disappointed as a few meters above the water Lucy released her hold on his leg and let him fall back into the water. He was ready this time though and quickly returned to the surface.

With everyone now in the water Lucy made her way back onto the land with her smaller body. “Okay, I want to cook this right so it’s going to take a while for everything to get done.” Lucy proceeded to turn the head of her larger body to the side as she noted Albert swimming along side of her and making his way around her. “Just what are you doing?”

“I was thinking that I’d try climbing your hair. Would you mind?”

“Nope, go right ahead.”

While Brad and Phillip were more the ladies men then Tracy was this time he beat them to the question. “Mind if we try as well? I don’t see anywhere else to dive off of.”

“Sure, though you will probably want to use my breasts for diving my shoulders are probably a little too high up.” There was a second when nothing happened and then a massive amount of splashing could be heard as the men began to swim towards Lucy. An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she watched their enthusiastic efforts.

Albert had already been closer to Lucy then the others and had begun swimming before them as well. So they were still quite a distance away even as he rounded her side. He slowed down though when he noticed Lucy just barely lock her fingers together and lower her hands so that her palms were just above the water. She then gave the surface of the pond a quick smack with the palms of her hand and interlocked fingers.

The wave generated by Lucy’s hands smacking the water had no where near the scale or power of the one she generated when she let herself fall into the pond. However, they were still plenty powerful when compared to a human and she could generate them exceptionally quickly. So that as Tracy, Brad and Phillip continued through the water they found there efforts greatly hindered and growing all the more difficult as they drew closer to Lucy and the frequency and power of the waves seemed to increase.

It was impossible for Albert not to chuckle at his friends’ plight. He was quite tempted to stay and watch the show but soon resolved that it would be even better while setting atop Lucy’s shoulder. Upon making his way behind Lucy though he was quite surprised to see Jennifer coming around the opposite side. “Now why are you looking at me like that?”

“I just didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Hey I like diving.”

Giving a slight shrug Albert made his way over to Lucy’s hair and grabbed a few of the massive strands. He had his suspicions that Jennifer wasn’t being entirely honest with him but he wasn’t going to press the issue. As he began to make his way up Lucy’s hair he could hear the sound of the waves growing increasingly powerful.

At the moment Tracy felt a strong impulse to cuss Phillip and Brad out. Had they not rushed Lucy like that he doubted she’d started with the little wave routine. However, at the moment he didn’t have the breath to gripe at the two of them and keep swimming. He did however feel a very strong impulse to whenever he realized that Brad had pulled ahead of him though his progress was still far from swift.

While he was scaling her hair Albert couldn’t resist pressing his face into the long acorn brown strands. Upon burying his face in the silken strands he proceeded to inhale deeply taking in their scent. At the same moment he felt himself shaken slightly as he heard a giggle and a wave that sounded quite a bit more powerful then the previous ones was generated almost as if Lucy had accidentally put far more force into the wave then she intended.

At last it was too much for Tracy as Phillip was pushed backwards and slammed into him he couldn’t keep it in. “Damn it man get out of the way.”

“Hey I was ahead of you!”

“That’s because you’re not saving any energy. You’re going to burn up all your stamina before you even get there. Then I’m going to have to either swim around you or have you bump into me again.”

As Albert heard Tracy scream, he couldn’t help but chuckle and give Lucy’s hair a kiss. “Thank you Lucy.”

Lucy was actually glad Albert was currently making his way up her back as it kept him from seeing her blush. She hadn’t intended to create such a powerful wave but she hadn’t been expecting Albert to actually see what her hair smelt like. She liked the feeling more then she’d realized she would and actually had trouble keeping herself from gasping.

Even as Albert resumed his climb he wasn’t entirely certain why he’d felt such a deep need to thank Lucy. Sure he was grateful that she’d not put him through the wave test however that hadn’t been the only reason to thank her. Something else had motivated him to something far more powerful then thanks for not putting him through a hardship. He just wasn’t sure what that was at the moment so he continued his climb.

It was hard for Jennifer to believe the rate at which Albert was making his way up Lucy’s back. While she wasn’t the strongest of the group she was the strongest whenever relative to her weight. So it didn’t seem possible that Albert was out pacing her by such a huge margin as he made his way up Lucy’s hair. As she observed him she was able to note something though. His hands and feet never seemed to become tangled in Lucy’s hair.

“Well hello there.”

Despite the relative ease with which Albert had climbed Lucy’s hair it was still relative and he had just made his way up a rather steep incline. So as he pulled himself up onto Lucy’s shoulder, he had to take a few moments to catch his breath before he could respond. “Hi, wow. You can see for quite a distance from up here.”

“Indeed you can, though I imagine you’re more interested in observing the valley below.”

“I’d be lying if I said I had no interest what so ever. You know. This kind of reminds me of a water ride I used to love as a kid.”

“Which ride was that? Was it one that we went on together?”

“Yeah, do you remember that really big down hill water slide?”

For a moment Lucy said nothing as she turned her head up to the sky. After a short while of silence and apparently intense thought she gave a slight shrug. Slight for Lucy at least Albert was glad that he was lying on her shoulder so he didn’t have to worry about his balance. “I can’t say that I do.”

“Huh, you tend to remember everything. I’m surprised you can’t remember the slide.”

“Oh I remember going on lots of slides. I just can’t be sure what the really tall one was. I was still adapting to my constantly changing scale so my memory on such matters is a little off.”

“The one with the water fountains along the path. You had to walk for like a mile up hill to get to the top and then all those steps.”

“Oh, so that is the really tall one.”

“Did we ever go on any taller?”

“Yes we did. It just didn’t seem to be as high as the walk didn’t take so long and the incline wasn’t as steep so you built up less speed. Actually, that slide was more of a strait climb up stairs. So what makes you think of that?”

“Nothing much, it just took so much effort to get to the top that I at times wondered if it was worth the effort and time.”

“I see. Well I don’t want anyone feeling like they wasted their effort. So I’ll tell you what. After the first time I’ll lift whoever makes it up to my shoulder back up whenever they want me to. However, the first time has to be on your own. Well aren’t you going to climb down?”

“Give me a few more minutes. I’m liable to fall down with the way my arms are feeling right now them climb down.”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy. “Well there is plenty of cushioning below. I bet you could drop down and be just fine.”

Before Albert could comment his attention was drawn elsewhere as he heard a relieved sigh come from behind him. “That was quite a work out.” Even as she spoke Jennifer made her way past Albert and glanced down Lucy’s shoulder. Despite her statement she showed no signs of slowing down as she took hold of a few strands of Lucy’s hair that was draped over her chest. She then began to make her way down.

“I swear do you ever run out of energy?”

While she continued to climb down Jennifer looked up at Albert. “If there is one thing I’m not lacking in it is stamina.”

For a moment Albert just shook his head before turning his attention back to Lucy. “Are you sure the cushioning is yielding enough?”

“No, go ahead and rest right where you are. My breast may be soft but they aren’t so soft I’d recommend jumping from my shoulder down onto them. I was just joking earlier.”

There were a few moments in which Albert said nothing but continued to look down at Lucy’s breasts and the rapid progress Jennifer was making. Even as he spoke he didn’t look away from his massive friend’s chest. “Darn it and it was such a fun idea.”

“I know but I’m still glad you can’t. When you get home take a moment to figure up how yielding my breasts would have to be to let you jump from that height and you’ll see why.”

“I suppose you’d need quite a lot of support then.”

“A lot more then I want to need.”

Stretching his arms above his head Albert gave a slight sigh as he tensed his muscles. “I need to get into better shape. Okay I believe that I’m ready now. Hey Jennifer, you’re still down there.”

“Well I can’t exactly dive off until Lucy is done with her waves.”

If it had been possible Albert’s grin would have doubled inside as he realized that Jennifer was right. Until the others managed to make enough progress that Lucy stopped with the wave routine and moved her hands anyone on her breasts was basically stuck there. With this thought in mind his energy seemed to return far more quickly as he began to make his way down the same hair strands Jennifer had used to the vast plane below. However, his grin proved to be quite temporary.

As Albert made his way down he Lucy’s hair strand he couldn’t help but believe Jennifer had known that she’d be trapped atop Lucy’s chest if she went on down. This thought actually hastened his decent as he found himself more eager to get down to Lucy’s chest. He was a bit surprised though when Lucy spoke up.

“Hold Albert, you’re going too fast. You’ll lose your footing at that rate.”

In response to Lucy’s calling him down Albert did slow his pace and even took a moment to look up to see exactly how far down he’d gone. He was a bit surprised to see how far he’d gone down already. “Whoops. I didn’t realize I was moving that fast.”

“It’s okay, just be careful.”

After giving his head a quick nod Albert continued on down Lucy’s hair. The brief delay Lucy calling him down had caused also gave him a few moments to consider what he was feeling. His eagerness to get down to Lucy’s chest seemed to be more then just desire to feel her breasts. Indeed he felt a good deal of annoyance at the moment and soon realized what thought was causing that frustration and causing his smile to diminish.

Lucy tended be quite a tease in regards to her friends and while Albert was the only one that ever road in her breasts pocket. He wasn’t the only one that had been allowed to set atop her breasts or on her massive thighs. Indeed Lucy seemed to be quite comfortable with someone she considered a friend snuggled between her breasts so long as they didn’t go too far. There were rules for such times which her friends tended to learn quickly such as while setting on her breasts patting them was okay, kissing was not and no one had ever tried something more then kissing.

Despite that the fact that Jennifer had went ahead and climbed down onto Lucy’s breasts, knowing she’d be trapped there for a while annoyed Albert. Some of his annoyance was due to the fact that he hadn’t realized it sooner but the majority he couldn’t explain. Except, that he felt like his territory had been invaded and now he needed to go and reassert his claim to something.

By now Jennifer had made her way to near the front of Rachael’s breasts and proceeded to set down. As she watched Tracy, Brad and Phillip continue their swim she couldn’t help but tease them. “Come on is that all the three of you got? I’ll never get in any diving practice unless you three hustle up.”

While the others occupied Lucy’s larger body Amy had made her way back close to the shore though she made no attempt to leave the water. “You sure know how to motivate them.”

“Yeah, though I doubt they’d be this eager normally.”

“I agree, after all you’re as close to naked right now as you have ever been. So of course they’re going to be more eager then normal. Did Albert slip while climbing down your hair?”

“No, he was rushing so I told him to slow down.”

“Can you blame him for being in a hurry?”

“I almost didn’t call him down. He just looked so cute scurrying down my hair like that and I could have easily caught him if he fell. However, if I had to catch him that would mean that the others would get to me more quickly.”

“Ah. So you like having Albert hang out on your breasts. It figures, you always give him the breast pocket. I guess it feels natural to you.”

“Yeah, I carried Albert around in my pocket so much when we were kids that I sort of got use to it. I haven’t ever told him but I feel kind of funny whenever I can’t feel him pressed against my chest. I guess you could say having him there is something like a security blanket to me. While I didn’t have a whole lot of friends growing up it didn’t matter because I always had my best friend right there with me in my pocket.”

“I can see how someone would get used to that. So how is Jennifer doing?”

A slight chuckle escaped Lucy. “She’s using her toes to pinch my breasts a little. She’s got her legs tucked in so I can’t see her feet but I wonder if she knows that I can feel her.”

“Oh I hate it when she does that.”

“Pinch your breasts?”

“No, I mean yes. She only did that once and after the talk she didn’t go it again. I mean when she pinches you with her toes. I swear I don’t know how she gets such a good grip.”

“Well she has the bone structure for it and it seems like she’s practiced a lot. Are you sure you don’t want to come over for some diving practice? It’s a bit longer but you could just swim around me. Honestly, I’m surprised the guys haven’t broken into different groups.”

“I doubt team work is the dominant thought in their mind right now and no thanks. I’m not as comfortable setting atop another woman’s breasts as Jennifer is.”

“Why? There is plenty of room for you and I’ve been told they’re wonderfully pleasant to the touch. At least everyone that has ever worked up the nerve to tell me has told me so and others with their actions. Most find them pleasant to look at as well and they’re warm.”

“I don’t doubt that but I find the prospect of touching another woman’s breasts to be a little much for me.”

“You never complained before.”

“I know but you sort of slipped me between your breasts then. The others were there as well so I didn’t feel as awkward.”

“Amy, you should have told me you felt awkward. I would have found some other way to pack you around.”

“It isn’t a problem. You know I really don’t mind in that situation but right now it just seems a bit too much for me.”

“Okay, well how about now? Tracy finally made it past the waves and should be climbing my hair as soon as he catches his breath.”

“I’ll give them a few more moments then I’ll go over and join them sense you seem to be so eager to get rid of me.”

“Hey! I’m just trying to make sure you’re not left out.”

An amused giggle escaped Amy as she nodded her head. “I know. Honestly I may just float here for a while I just finished a few projects and I really want to vegetate. So now that that is said. How much longer will it be until the food is ready?”

“It’s going to take a little while. As I said I want to do this right. I wonder if I should be offended.”

“Why would you be offended?”

“Albert actually calmed down after making it down to my breasts. I’m used to people getting more excited at the site of let alone the touch of my breasts. Yes I do believe I’m a little upset with his response. Mm maybe I should give him and Jennifer a few bounces to set things right.”

An amused chuckle escaped Amy as she quickly turned around in the water. “I say go for it. I don’t know about Albert but I’d like to see what happens when Jennifer realizes she has more breasts then she can handle.”

At first Albert wasn’t sure what to think when he could no longer hear Lucy’s hands hitting the water. He’d noticed that Tracy had finally made his way to Lucy but he hadn’t expected her to stop generating the waves until he was at least to her shoulder. There wasn’t much time for him to consider what the implications of Lucy stopping the waves could be though as moments later he felt the ground moving quickly upward.

Brad and Phillip first response to Lucy no longer patting the water was to quit swimming and take a moment to catch their breath as they both assumed she’d finished generating the waves. They soon learned that they had made a mistake though the moment Lucy’s breasts impacted with the water. While the wave generated wasn’t as powerful as the ones created by her hands as she bounced Albert and Jennifer a few centimeters that was still several tons of flesh lifting into the air and slamming back into the water.

Fortunately for Albert he had been well away from the sides of Lucy’s breasts upon the slight bounce while Jennifer had been setting down. Albert was even able to keep his footing due to the trip being such a short one that he was shaken. There wasn’t time for him to get comfortable though as Lucy once again bounced her chest this time putting a bit more energy into the action and nearly sending Albert into the air while making Jennifer quickly retreat from the front of her breasts.

Despite the fact that the first two times had only been very subtle Amy and everyone around could tell that there was tremendous energy involved. So much energy was involved that Brad and Phillip had actually ceased swimming towards Lucy and seemed to be debating going further in the water. Though, the debate wasn’t entirely due to the awesome power generated when Lucy’s breasts slammed back into the pond. It was also due to them having to struggle to tear there sites away from Lucy’s massive breasts as they bounced.

The third bounce came even more quickly then the second had as it had come more quickly then the first. Lucy also made certain put more energy into it as she began to spread her arms to the side. She had at first thought that she’d just bounce Albert and Jennifer off her breasts but after the first bounce she had quickly resolved to have more fun with it. So that instead of bouncing Albert and Jennifer off after three or four times she actually resolved to give them a ride.

It only took three bounces for Albert to lose his footing and find himself face down on Lucy’s breast. The fact that he’d stayed standing that long was only due to Lucy’s holding back though. It would have actually been exceptionally easy for Lucy to knock him off his feet in only one try or even send both him and Jennifer into the water but Lucy had resolved to have some fun already. So instead of immediately bouncing them off her chest she was slowly increasing the speed and energy she put into each bounce of her breasts.

Brad had always been a lover of larger breasts, indeed out of all the features of a woman’s body large breasts ranked second on his must haves list. As such he was a fan of big swing and bounce dances and had received many both from those he courted and at a few clubs he frequented. As he watched Lucy though he couldn’t help the nagging feeling that he’d wasted his money on several occasions.

“Lu. Luc. Lucy st. Despite his best efforts Albert found it nearly impossible to ask Lucy to stop. As while being bounced atop her breasts was far from painful it did serve to distract him and cause him to breathe outward prematurely if his mouth was open when he impacted with her breasts. So as the rate at which she bounced him and Jennifer atop her breasts increased he found it to be more and more difficult to even attempt to speak.

As Lucy continued to bounce Jennifer and Albert atop her chest she knew that she had to be careful. While her breasts weren’t so massive that her friends would be injured falling from their height to the water below. They were high enough up that if she imparted any extra energy to their fall more then what an extra meter of height would have added they could be hurt. So she had to be quite careful currently as she was imparting more then enough energy for that to happen.

By now Brad and Phillip were feeling the affects of the waves generated by Lucy’s breasts slamming into the water. Instead of trying to fight the waves though they had both relaxed and allowed themselves to be carried backwards. This was due to two reasons. The first being that neither of them was sure how long Lucy would keep up her dance the other being that the waves generated by her breasts slamming into the water were actually more powerful then the ones she made with her hands.

Jennifer was by now far from Albert’s mind as he struggled to take control of his position. The task was of course impossible with the very ground beneath his feet working against him. So despite his best efforts all he could do was go along for the ride as Lucy bounced and swayed her massive breasts. His mind wasn’t entirely devoid of thought though. As he was bounced around he couldn’t help but wonder when Lucy had learned to do a titty dance.

Only after her friends began to near the point where even landing on her breasts might hurt them did Lucy’s finally end the dance. With one last bounce from her chest she sent Albert and Jennifer rolling across her breasts. This allowed the majority of the energy from being bounced atop her chest to dissipate but insured both of them went off the front and into the water below.

The whole experience was so disorientating that neither Albert nor Jennifer realized that it had come to an end until they hit the water. Moments later Albert and Jennifer broke the surface of the water.

“Well it looks like you two rather enjoyed that.”

Despite the difference in their scales and Lucy’s teasing tone Albert tried to make his voice as stern as possible. “Lucy, what was that for!”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she leaned forward in the water further submerging her breasts and generating a few waves in doing so. “Well it was partly for fun though that wasn’t the only reason.”

“Well are you going to tell me what the other reason was?”

Slowly Lucy once again set up in the water once again generating another wave with her breasts that pushed Albert further away. She then proceeded to reach down for Albert as she did so she insured that he was entirely engulfed in the shadow of her hand. This was intentional on Lucy’s part as it said something entirely different from picking them up.

When Lucy placed her hand on the ground she was letting you climb into her hand you still had some control. If she scooped someone up with her hand they did lose some control but not all as they were still in open space. Wrapping her hand around them took away almost all of the control but it left them with some freedom. Reaching down for them though seemed to take away all feelings of freedom and power so it was by far the most intimidating. It was impossible for Lucy not to smile when Albert didn’t show the least bit of fear or even seem nervous.

No matter how effective a particular hand hold was at inspiring fear or compliance in people Albert never responded to it in the same way. There was no threat to Albert in Lucy’s hands regardless of how she used them at least none that he could see. Instead the only thing he saw in them was protection so her hold did nothing to silence him. “Well are you going to tell me or not?”

Instead of responding right away Lucy lifted Albert out of the water and brought him back over to her chest. She then set him down atop her right breast. “No. I’d prefer if you figured the second reason out.”

A sigh escaped Albert as Lucy deposited him back on her chest. He knew that there was no changing Lucy’s mind when she talked like that. “I take it the answer isn’t simple.”

“That really depends. Now quit acting like your upset. If that grin of yours was any wider it would split your face in half.”

At first Jennifer had expected Lucy to pick her up shortly after she did Albert. When it became clear that wasn’t going to happen she spoke up. “Hey aren’t you going to pick me up as well?”

“Sure Jennifer.”

As Brad swam towards Lucy he turned to Phillip. “I can’t wait to tell Tracy about the show he missed. I mean I’m sure the rear view was nice but nothing like the front.”

************************************************************************

For the last few days Albert had actually been able to focus in class and listen to what the instructors had to say. Now that Lucy was back though, he found the task to be nearly impossible once again. So as he set in class he found himself having an internal debate. “I should listen to the instructor. I’m sure what he’s saying is informative and his teaching methods are sound. Yeah, that’s a joke half the time I spend doing homework is spent looking through the book trying to figure out what his notes said.

Lucy is back now it isn’t like I actually need to be here. She did say she likes helping me with my work and I learn better that way anyway. I guess she holds my attention better.” It was hard for Albert to keep himself from laughing as he considered his last thought. “Well yeah she holds my attention better. She’s infinitely more pleasant to look at and listen to after all.”

Soon Albert wasn’t just distracted because he was trying to convince himself that listening to the instructor was a good idea. He was also distracted because the more he reasoned it out the more he felt that he should just head back to his apartment and have Lucy help him with his lessons. So by the end of the class the only things he was able to hear were the lesson assignments and the class being dismissed.

While early on Lucy’s presence on campus had caused a considerable disruption the students there had finally become somewhat used to her presence. She still tended to draw a lot of attention and people would either shy away from where she was or intentionally deviate in her direction but at least the happenings on campus didn’t come to a complete stop. Currently it was fairly easy for her to make her way through the campus given the weather conditions. The roads were cleared but it was still cold so people weren’t as inclined to loiter outside of the buildings.

Many of the college’s faculty had of coursed expressed concern over Lucy’s presence when she first started paying regular visits. Due in part to the possible threat she posed the students though mostly concern for what kind of damage she might cause. They didn’t want her tearing up the roads or sidewalks that lead throughout the campus or damaging the buildings.

There concern had been so great that they had even gone so far to suggest that Lucy use one of her smaller bodies while walking around campus. Of course Lucy had refused to accept such conditions. Her smaller bodies had their advantages but she preferred her larger state of being over the smaller. That decision hadn’t helped matters though and only made them more concerned.

Even now Lucy doubted those concerns had gone away however she’d managed to quiet them with a display of good will. That good will had been expressed in quite a significant donation to the campus. So that as she made her way by one of the newer buildings she had to take a moment to stop and look at how her donation was being spent.

It might not have been one of her favorite things about most people. However, even Lucy had to admit to herself that human greed allowed quite a few problems to be smoothed over. So while it wasn’t one of her favorite traits she wasn’t above taking advantage of it to avoid headaches. As she looked through the massive windows of the building though she couldn’t help but think that they had went a little overboard.

Over the years Albert had noticed people’s attitudes towards him changed once they met Lucy. Whether it was for better or ill varied from person to person, the only near absolute being there was a change. Often this brought about certain benefits to him and though he tried to avoid taking unfair advantage of the benefits Lucy’s friendship gave him at times he couldn’t help it.

One such benefit was the fact that ever since he’d begun eating lunch at the campus diner he had never had to look for a seat. It wasn’t that people would give up their seats for him rather there was a particular table that was always left empty. No matter how pact the dining area was the table near the corner right window was always left baron except for him and if their lunch times matched up his friends.

Apparently Lucy had made quite an impression when she’d carried him onto campus, opened the window and set him down next to the table. He’d then set back down at the table after getting his lunch so that they could chat and apparently from then on the table had been considered his. It seemed that this belief was also reinforced every time Lucy would come by the campus and open the window to have a chat with him despite such events not being all that common.

For the most part Albert didn’t eat his lunch at the diner but instead Lucy would pick him up after class and they’d set down and eat together. At least he would eat if Lucy ate or not depended heavily on her mood It was only during those days that Lucy was delayed in her coming to see him or away that he ate at the diner yet the table remained empty.

A chuckle escaped Albert moment’s later upon hearing an impact and seeing Lucy making her way down the street towards the building. Perhaps he was mistaken in thinking of the table as his territory. Instead perhaps he’d been exiled to that part of the dining area to insure that none of them ever had to deal with Lucy. Maybe the table wasn’t kept clear so that he’d have a place to set rather it was kept clear to insure Lucy would have easy access to him.

As he considered these thoughts Albert stood up and proceeded to gather up his belongings. He wasn’t finished with this lunch yet but he had a feeling Lucy would want to take him somewhere else.

There was no need for Lucy to voice her intent as she neared the building. She and Albert had gone through this routine many times before. Whenever she’d arrive late he’d gather up his things, she’d then open the window and he’d climb out onto her hand. Then she’d take him somewhere else to eat. The cold wasn’t a factor as the warmth provided by her body was more then capable of handling the chill. So it was only during the heat of summer that Lucy would hang out next to the building and talk to him.

“So how have your classes been going?” As Lucy spoke she slipped one of her fingernails just within the window and easily pushed it open. Of course the window was unlocked it had been fortunately left unlocked upon Lucy’s first visit and remained unlocked ever since.

“They’ve been dragging on far more then I would like.”

“Ah that isn’t any good. What is causing the trouble?”

“You are.” As he spoke Albert reached through the large window and placed his things on Lucy’s fingers. He then proceeded to climb through the window into her hand.

“How do you come up with it being my fault?” Lucy carefully curled her fingers as Albert made his way onto them. This had the desired effect as he gathered his things and began making his way to her palm.

“I keep comparing how well I learn when you tutor me to how well I learn listening to the instructor. It makes class feel like a waste of time.”

“Ah are my teaching methods that much better?”

“Yeah they are.”

Using her free hand Lucy shut the window to the dining hall and turned to the side. She then began to make her way down several rather steep hills being certain not to step on the stairs that lined the hills for those with shorter legs. “In that case you going to class is a waste of time. Perhaps I should apply for a teaching degree and just become your instructor.”

“I’m not sure they’d be willing to give me a degree in that case.”

“Yeah and it would be a lot of unneeded trouble. You could just quit going to class and let me teach you. I’d just need a syllabus to see what your instructor had planned on teaching you. They’d still get their money and you’d get your degree as well as a much better learning environment.”

“That sounds really nice.”

“Then that is what we’ll do. I can just leave one of my smaller bodies with you whenever I get called away that way you won’t have to worry about missing any lessons.”

“Hold on a moment. It would be nice but I don’t want to distract you anymore then I do and what about when you need to devote most of yourself to a single task?”

“Albert, they are very few tasks that drain me mentally especially to the point that I need to focus myself into only a few bodies. So few in fact, that I can easily adjust my schedule to suit your lessons and your tests. Besides it isn’t like I enjoy such times.”

“So you’re sure I won’t be a bother?”

“When I tutor you do you learn better then when you listen to your instructor?”

“Lucy I don’t want to be.” There wasn’t time for Albert to finish as Lucy spoke up.

“Answer the question.”

“Well yes.”

“Do you enjoy having me teach you more?”

“Yes I do however.”

“Then I’m going to handle your lessons from now on and if you continue trying to debate the issue with me.” As she spoke Lucy lifted Albert higher so that he could easily look into her eyes without having to turn his head upward. “Well I’ll have to use more coercive methods.”

A slight chuckle escaped Albert as he shook his head though he had no doubt that Lucy would do as she said. He had never known her to bluff on such matters but he didn’t feel threatened. It was just her way of saying that something wasn’t negotiable and that he needed to drop it. It was a very rare event though that Lucy took such a stance so it didn’t bother him. “Okay. So should I call you Miss Angeye?”

“No, just Lucy is fine. This seems like a nice spot.” As Lucy set down she moved the hand that held Albert closer to her chest to help insure that he didn’t fall. This was more a force of habit though as her hand didn’t wobble or tilt the least even as she settled herself down on the side of the hill.

Once Lucy set down Albert didn’t bother to gather up anything more then his food and drink as he made his way off of Lucy’s hand and onto her massive thigh. “I could hardly believe the look on Tracy’s face whenever Brad and Phillip told him what was going on while he was behind you. He looked like he was about to die.”

“It was a lot of fun. I’ll have to gather you all up again later and take you swimming at least one more time before summer arrives and a bunch of people start swimming.”

“Yeah, you seemed to enjoy having all that room to move around.”

“It was nice. I only had to worry about hurting you and the others so I could play around more. Mm I was thinking that I should send one of my smaller bodies to speak with your instructors while we are here however I don’t believe that is a good idea. Despite the fact that I could tear through their bones like they were air even with my little bodies they just don’t seem to inspire the same level of compliance as my larger bodies do. That makes sense though.”

“Yeah a concealed dagger doesn’t inspire the same reaction as a revealed one even if the blades are just as dangerous.”

“You do realize that as I’m going to be your instructor you’re not going to be eating that junk anymore. You’re not going to need to be rushing from class to class so you won’t have an excuse to eat like that.”

“It’s just a hamburger and fries.”

“That hamburger has nearly the same amount of fat in it as the recommend daily amount.”

Instead of responding right away Albert proceeded to take a particularly large bite of the hamburger and took his time chewing. “No wonder it tastes so good.”

Lucy gave a slight snort in response to Albert’s comment as she shook her head. “Enjoy it while you can. That is the last one you’re going to be eating for a while.”

“Why have I been putting on weight?”

“Albert, you always put on a few pounds while attending classes.”

“Strange I never noticed. I guess you keep me busy enough over summer and eating right that I burn it off.” For a moment Albert was silent as a realization slowly sank in. “You do that on purpose!”

It was impossible for Lucy not to laugh as she heard the surprise in Albert’s voice. As she was laughing Lucy placed one of her hands over her mouth to keep herself from deafening Albert. While normally her control of her body was exceptional even she had trouble controlling her laughter if she found something to be too amusing. A massive impact was heard moments later as Lucy placed her one hand to her side to help steady her as she leaned to one side still trying to hold in her laughter.

“Well I’ll take that as a yes.”

As Lucy managed to regain her composer a sigh escaped her. “I didn’t mean to laugh. You just seemed so surprised I couldn’t help myself.”

There was no attempt on Albert’s part to even fake offense as he felt himself blush and grin at the same time. “It’s not a problem. So when did this all start?”

“When your mother first asked me to help you get some exercise. She was worried that you were spending too much time with your computer and figured that I would have an easier time getting you active then she would.”

“So you’ve been doing this since I was a kid?”

“Well I stopped for a little while. Then I noticed you putting on some weight when you started attending collage. I considered telling you but realized it would just be easier to use other methods. You normally let me chose what we ate even if I didn’t bother eating and well it wasn’t hard for me to get you up and moving.”

“Yeah, even a fairly tame game with you can take a lot of energy.” A sigh escaped Albert as he reached down and gave himself a poke in the stomach. “I should have realized whenever you took me swimming. It was always the hardest to climb your hair at the start of summer but by the time classes started back it wasn’t so bad. Then just a few days ago well I set on your shoulder for an awfully long time.”

“You woke up sore the next day as well.”

“Yeah, you know this hamburger quit looking as appetizing as it did a few moments ago and my shirt feels really tight.”

“Would you like it if I set up a time for you to exercise as well? It might be hard to make it fun now that you realize what is going on but it shouldn’t be torture. Besides most anything is easier if you have someone to do it with you.”

“Sure that would be nice. Mm I may regret saying this later but how about we go a little further. Lucy, as my friend I expect you to help me get into shape and stay in shape regardless of how much I may protest later. So do you promise that you will help me?”

“Now Albert are you sure you want me to do that? You know I was raised to keep my promises and you may not feel the same way later.”

“Well I don’t want you to torture me but yeah I’m sure.”

“Okay but remember you were the one that asked for it. I promise that I’ll help you get into better shape.”

A slight chuckle escaped Albert as he nodded his head. “Thanks, now I wonder how much I’m going to regret having you promise me that later.”

It was impossible for Lucy not to chuckle as she looked up at the sky. “You’d best not think on that too much or you’ll make yourself depressed.”

“Gee thanks for the comfort.”

“You’re welcome. Sense I’m going to be helping with your exercise I might as well help with your eating habits. So how about I bring you some fruit from the prea trees?”

“Sure, I remember trying them once before but wasn’t there something you warned me never to do?”

“Yes, never eat the fruit if it isn’t ripe unless you peal away all the skin and I mean all of it. It would actually be best if you went a bit deeper then the surface skin if you try to eat one while it isn’t ripe.”

“Oh yeah, that is how you keep the insects off right?”

“It’s the way I keep insects and everything else that might eat them before they’re ripe without having the ability or sense to pill the skin from eating it. Trust me. Take one bite of that skin before the fruit is ripe and you’ll never make that mistake again.”

“That bitter huh?”

“Yeah, which is something I’m going to have to be really careful about during the testing. I don’t want to risk someone getting a piece of unripe fruit and the project being set further back.”

“Why don’t you just start growing them elsewhere?”

“I’d like to get their distribution and growth approved here first. I know that in the short run it’d be easier just to move the project somewhere else however that isn’t true for the long run.”

“Ah so getting them approved here first will make it easier to get them approve else where on a larger scope.”

“Yeah, and if I were to go to some third world nation and start growing them that will slow down the process. Sure approval would be easy to get there however the more developed nations are liable to start dragging their feet. I don’t know I guess it makes their committees and politicians feel like I went around their back.”

A slight chuckle escaped Albert as he turned around and looked up at Lucy. “Lucy, I wasn’t kidding when I said this burger lost its appeal. I’m feeling full now. You know sense you’re going to be teaching me I bet I’ll have more free time on my hands. So how about I help you with your workers progress reports?”

“Now Albert I don’t want to distract you from your school work.” As she spoke Lucy removed her hand from behind Albert and extended two fingers along side of him.

While he placed his hamburger and fries on Lucy’s finger Albert spoke up. “Well if you’re going to be teaching me it really is best if you let me help you. After all, you said it yourself that such things were what you found the most troublesome. Now if you’re troubled then it’s going to affect the quality of your instructions.”

“I don’t need to sleep and you do. So while you’re asleep I can take care of them. You’re going to have to do better then that.”

“Well even if you don’t sleep that isn’t going to stop stress from accumulating and Lucy, even you are affected by stress.”

“True, annoying but true, though I can’t say that I know what a stress head ache is like my patience does have a limit.”

“So how about you let me help keep that stress down?”

“You already are. Like I said I enjoy teaching you and recreational activity is a great way to relieve stress.” As she spoke Lucy lifted her finger to her mouth and quickly popped the meal into her mouth. She didn’t even need to swallow despite Albert needing both hands to manage the burger alone.

“Lucy, I’d really like it if you’d let me help you with your employee evaluations and anything else that stresses you out.”

“Don’t worry Albert I will, right after you’re finished with the semester.”

“Please let me help you now? I’m sure that with you teaching me I’ll have more free time so I can afford to help you out.”

“Well do you promise that you won’t change your mind when I start making you exercise?”

“Hey Lucy, I promise that I’ll never hold you doing something that I asked for against you.”

“Alright then, I’d be glad to have your help.”

“So have you spoken with that one employee yet?”

“Yeah I took care of that the day after we talked. I went ahead and did as you suggested and pulled several of my bodies back together to give a more noticeable presence.”

“Being called to the boss’s officer shortly after evaluations can be nerve wrecking enough I imagine. I bet she was quite concerned whenever she showed up and you were fifteen meters tall.”

“Actually, I was only nine meters it seemed to have the desired affect though. At least as far as insuring that she listened to me, I don’t know if she’s really going to be able to quit though. If fear was enough to get people to give up such problems then substance abuse wouldn’t be nearly the issue it is.”

“Have you ever considered trying to develop a symbiot that could help people with their addictions?”

“Yeah I have but they are some problems with that. Working with the brain can be tricky even for me but that isn’t the real issue.”

“Which means the real problem are the people themselves?”

“That is my opinion though it depends on how far things have gone. One problem with giving up such substances once things have gone too far is realizing that you’ve destroyed your life. Fortunately this isn’t one of those situations. Another problem I have is well the symbiot is an organic life form as well.”

“You could probably develop a symbiot that insured that such substances didn’t get to the brain however that would be a bad idea. As even though it wouldn’t affect them they’d still seek it out and keep trying and during such times could do something very foolish.”

“Yeah and another problem is that there are some substances that are only called drugs whenever abused otherwise they’re called medicine. In order to make a symbiot that could tell the difference well it’d have to be smart. Far smarter then what I would like to risk making.”

“Smart enough that they would have to be able to respond to the person’s thoughts to a limited extent I take it.”

“Yeah which causes all kinds of trouble, the person’s thoughts could end up confusing the symbiot and it would end up blocking everything that tries to go to the brain which well. Another problem could be that the person actually manages to convince them symbiot that it should kill them.”

Due to being close to Lucy and her involvement with the symbiot life InCon had developed Albert actually had a fair bit of knowledge on such matters. So he knew that the key limiter in regards to a symbiot was how intelligent it was. If the symbiot was made too intelligent it became dangerous depending on the person and symbiot. Thus to keep control of a symbiot intelligence had to be limited which in turn limited function.

For her part Lucy had the most intelligent, capable and dangerous symbiot that had been developed. Fortunately for her she had the right mentality and fondness for the symbiot to not only survive her experience with it but to greatly benefit. Though, after so many years no one was sure if Lucy still had the symbiot inside of her, if she was in the symbiot or if they were now one and the same. “Yeah, I guess some things can’t be helped though. So what is she going to do?”

“I talked her into going into a rehab center for a while.”

“That was nice of you.”

“Oh I don’t know if you’d say that if you had let me finish.”

“Huh? What else did you do?”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy. “I’m counting the time in the rehab center as her paid vacation.”

It was impossible for Albert not to grin as he shook his head. “Well, that is still very generous of you.”

“Thanks, I’m glad that you believe so. She seemed a little upset about it but happy that I won’t be firing her.”

“So are they any employees that you actually ended up firing?”

“Mm they always are a few. Inappropriate conduct between someone and a subordinate is always troublesome.”

“You still haven’t decided if work place relationships or displays of affection should be allowed or not?”

“Well I don’t care if they want to have sex or walk around in some skimpy outfit! So long as they do their work and the quality is acceptable I really don’t care. It’s when their behavior begins to disrupt the work place that it begins to bother me. The clothing issue can be a real head ache as well. After all who am I to tell someone that they shouldn’t show so much cleavage?”

Albert’s face grew hot as he began to blush due to the suddenness of Lucy’s question. “Well you are rather fond of showing off your cleavage.”

“You’re darn right that I am!” It was impossible for Lucy not to giggle as she noticed Albert tens up for a moment.

“Still, you are their employer and you are giving them a paycheck.”

“I know and that is where it begins to give me headaches. Heck, I don’t even mind if they have sex in their offices so long as they get their work done and it doesn’t hinder anyone else. Of course that is the big problem I suppose.”

“Yeah, I’d say it’s kind of hard to have such things going on without performance suffering. I imagine it’s rather distracting.”

“That and people tend to complain about someone’s state of dress being inappropriate for work. I know that I need to find a balance between casual behavior and structure however that’s kind of difficult for me. The solutions aren’t factual and well my life experiences are different then most peoples.”

“Well you know you can’t be letting people have sex at the work place. I don’t know how often it goes on but that is just going too far. I’m not so sure about in office relationships myself. It can be hard for people to continue working together if they have a rough break up.”

“So you believe I should ban those as well?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t believe an employer has any business in their employees’ lives after the work day is over. You could always fire both involved if a relationship going sour causes their work to suffer. Or compare the quality of their work to what it was previously and fire whoever degraded but then again. Perhaps the other person would perform better once the other was gone though they suffered the greatest initial degradation. How do you handle it now?”

“Think about it for a long while, get a headache and then make whatever decision seems the best at the time. Normally I get so angry with everyone involved that I end up firing nearly all if not all of them. It isn’t like I can’t just fill their place until I find someone else.”

A slight chuckle escaped Albert as he shook his head. “Acting out of anger is not a good idea. Personally, I believe you should try to separate the two involved, if their work doesn’t improve fire the one whose performance has declined the most and if the other doesn’t recover just fire them both.”

“How long of a test period are we talking about?”

“I believe that four weeks is fair.”

An amused chuckle escaped Lucy as she shook her head. “I’m not looking for fair. Fortunately I’m not overly concerned with money either so. Okay I’ll go with a four week probation period to see if they can get their minds back on work.”

“You know I’m sure that plenty of studies have been done on such matters. Why don’t you search around?”

“Because I care more about your opinion on the matter then I do theirs.”

“Mm okay, I don’t know if I should be flattered or concerned that you’re putting so much trust in me.”

“Maybe you should be a little bit of both.”

“So tell me, what do you do whenever a supervisor promotes one of their employees to assistant status just so they can get them into bed?”

“Honestly I don’t really care. Heck if the subordinate is willing to have sex with supervisor to keep that position and their work doesn’t suffer I don’t give a darn. Now if the relationship causes the supervisors work to suffer of course I fire the supervisor. A higher position comes with greater responsibility and that means grater consequences and less forgiveness for failure. Even I know that.”

“I wish more people knew that. It seems to me that the higher the position someone has the more they get away with.”

“Pfft, only those that are willing to let their organization rot from the inside out tolerate such behavior. Quite frankly if someone’s tower collapses from under them and they had behaved in such a way I say they deserve it. Anyway, it isn’t like I can promote someone who handles authority so poorly. So it’s either, keep them in that position and let them wonder why they stopped moving up the ladder or fire them and get someone else to fill the position.”

“You know there is the third option of demoting them to a lower position.”

“That is true but I doubt that it would really change them. So once again I end up with an unhappy employee whose work is going to suffer because they are discontent. Anyway, I believe it improves the other employees’ morale whenever I show that even management isn’t immune.”

“Now are you sure you need my help when ethics are in question? You seem to have a pretty good grasp on them already.”

“That’s because you don’t remember very well.”

“What don’t I remember?”

“You don’t remember suggesting that to me before. You, my father and I were discussing the idea of me starting my own company. While we didn’t get into sexual conduct we did discuss what level of poor behavior can be tolerated from various levels of authority. This isn’t the exact words but you and my dad both suggested that the more authority one has the less incompetence can be tolerated.”

“I’ll have to take your word on that one as I really can’t remember that conversation.”

“That isn’t surprising it was quite some time ago.”

It would have actually been possible for Lucy to handle all the managerial positions in her company if she wanted to. Given her ability to split herself into several different smaller bodies and be in several places at once it was quite possible. However, there was draw backs that deterred Lucy from doing so. Given that Albert knew of these draw backs he didn’t bother suggesting Lucy perform such an act. “I’m sure it helps that you can go through so much information in such a short time period.”

“Yeah it does, you know it wouldn’t make sense if I showed you every progress report. I’ll limit the ones I show you to the ones that are giving me trouble. I can handle everything else that comes up.”

“That sounds good and it’ll save us both a lot of time. You won’t have to agonize over any decisions and I won’t have to sift through a mountain of papers. Lucy, you do realize that I’ve been finished with lunch for a while now.”

“Yeah I noticed when I ate your hamburger and fries in. Well I wouldn’t call it a swallow mm I wonder what would be the best word for it? Breath I suppose. Yeah, I noticed when I ate them in one breath.”

“You know my mom said that you should never inhale your food. I guess you’re the exception to that though. So don’t you believe that we should go ahead and look into making those changes we talked about earlier?”

“Not unless you want to interrupt them while they’re having their lunch break.”

“What if I do want to interrupt their lunch?”

A slight chuckle escaped Lucy as she reached down and picked up Albert. “Well if that is the case I suppose that we should get going.”

Normally Ellis would have been absolutely adamant that no one should be allowed to attend class elsewhere and receive credit for his. He even had a well established reputation as being the bane of transfer students. Making special arrangements for students was only less rare due to certain legal matters though he still didn’t make them easy. To make matters even more complicated he’d just been called away from his lunch break. Fortunately he had waited to walk around the building before he said anything.

There was no attempt on Lucy’s part to hide her grin whenever she noticed the look of surprise on Ellis’s face. She’d heard quite a bit him from Albert and knew that he was one of the more difficult instructors one could encounter. Unfortunately he was also one of the most qualified of the few to teach is section and one of the schools top researchers.

There was no desire in Williams to let Ellis be the first to speak. Indeed he was glad the site of Lucy setting down next to the building had been enough to cause him to hold his tongue. He and Albert’s other instructors had been gathered and Ellis was the last one to arrive. “Good now that we are all here. I’m sorry to have called you all away from your lunch break but this shouldn’t take long. Lucy, would you mind telling everyone just what you want?”

“Sure, alright when it comes to anything other then human ethics I’m by far the smartest person here and none of you teach ethics. So, none of you should have any problem with me serving as Albert’s instructor. I just need you to provide me with a copy of your lesson plans. Albert, will still do all the major assignments and test however he won’t be doing the regular homework. That will be up to me to assign. Then whenever he passes the tests and turns in the projects you’ll give him credit for the class. Of course, he’ll still be paying for enrollment.”

As Ellis looked up at Lucy he felt his face growing warm as his anger began to build. In less then a minute of talking she’d managed to hit more of his pet peeves then any student had dared to hit. Fortunately he wasn’t the first to speak as another instructor spoke up. “That sounds fine to me. I don’t require my students to come to the class in the first place if they believe they know the material well enough.”

“Now Albert, you know that the test I give all come from the homework questions I just change one or two details. Still if that is what you want to do, I have no objections.”

In response Albert gave a quick nod. “Thanks doctor Hellin.”

As Lucy listened to the other instructors she couldn’t help but watch Ellis as with every instructor that agreed with her terms he seemed to grow even redder. As she noticed some of his veins becoming visible even to human perception it was very hard for her not to laugh.

For his part Williams felt the request was odd but he had no major objections. After all if Albert wasn’t eating lunch on campus it meant Lucy wouldn’t be coming to visit him. It was true that Lucy hadn’t damaged any property but despite the student’s becoming somewhat more use to her she did cause a stir.

“Now hold on just a minute! I don’t care how smart you believe you are that doesn’t mean you’re qualified to serve as an instructor. Who do you think you are to come in here and make such demands?”

At last Lucy couldn’t hold it in any longer, for a moment her entire body shook as she tried to keep her mouth shut though even that wasn’t enough to stop the sound from escaping. Less then a second later she burst into laughter her hand slamming into earth moments later as she had to brace herself to keep from falling over. While she did try to speak she simply couldn’t stop laughing long enough to do so.

Before Ellis had been upset but now he felt possibly enraged as Lucy burst into laughter. As an instructor he always demanded his students compose themselves in a certain way and wouldn’t hesitate to send them out of the room. “How dare you!”

“Who do I think I am? Well okay. I think I’m the owner of a multi billion dollar company, I also think I’m the only person in this world that stands over one hundred meters tall when she wants to, I also think that I’m the only person who counts as a one person army.” For a moment Lucy was quiet as a few last little giggles escaped her. When she resumed speaking she had a far colder tone. Oh and I also think that I could crush the life from you. Better then that I could pick you up and swallow you alive so that you’d slowly be dissolved in my stomach and no one would do a thing about it.”

When Ellis had shouted Williams had felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck. As he looked at the temperamental instructor he hoped the man had the common sense to realize the truth of what Lucy had said.

“You think just because you’re big you can do anything you want! Well let me.”

Before Ellis could go into a tirade Lucy puckered her lips and blew on the enraged instructor. The affect was instant as the focused gust of wind slammed into him and sent the man tumbling a good five meters. “Big doesn’t begin to describe me. I could kill you and no one would do anything about it and not because you pissed off some people. It’s because it would take an army and thousands of lives to subdue me. Quite frankly there is no way that the state would commit those kinds of resources for the murder of one loud mouth.”

The wind from Lucy had been enough to take the breath out of Ellis as he lay on the ground waiting for the pain in his back to subside. As he looked up at Lucy’s massive form he suddenly felt his mouth going dry as he realized the truth of the situation.

“Mm well you seem to have calmed down. Now once you’re done relieving your bladder why don’t you stand up and tell me what makes you better suited to serve as Albert’s instructor then me?”

It took Ellis a moment to realize what Lucy was talking about as glanced down at his crotch and realized he had indeed urinated on himself. Instead of responding verbally to her question though he quickly came to a standing position and began a quick sprint in the opposite direction. Pride and fear had sealed his mouth shut so that the only action he could think of was to get away as quickly as possible.

Once again an amused giggle escaped Lucy and she turned to Williams. “Does running away in fear count as agreeing?”

At the moment Williams worried that he might have lost an instructor. However, he’d just witnessed the result of getting angry at Lucy and wasn’t about to make the same mistake. “You know what Lucy. I’ll send you a copy of his lesson plan though I’m not sure if he’s going to be the one teaching it. Okay now that everyone is in agreement about what we’re going to do how about you all get back to your lunch? I’m going to run Ellis down and see if I can talk to him.”

Throughout the whole event Albert had to keep himself from grinning. While he tried to avoid abusing his friendship with Lucy there were times that he gave in and he’d wanted to see Ellis get the piss scared out of him for quite some time now.

Once Williams and the others had rounded the building Lucy turned her attention to Albert. “So did that go the way you expected it to?”

“Yeah, I was pretty sure that they would agree in the end.”

“That isn’t what I was talking about and you know it. You chose this time as you knew that it was when Ellis would respond the most poorly. So did he behave the way you expected him to?”

“Honestly I didn’t expect him to urinate himself like that. I wish I had a camera so that I could make a picture.”

“Well you may not have a camera but you can have a picture. Just wait until later and I’ll give it to you.”

“Huh? How are you going to do that? Wait never mind. I know, able to directly link to computers with a wireless interface and a photographic memory.”

“You are correct.”

A slight chuckle escaped Albert. “I have no idea how I’m going to resist putting that on the internet.”

“Well that I’m going to leave up to you. You’re the one that will have to decide if he deserves that kind of humiliation or not.”

“Come on Lucy. I know your life experience is somewhat different then that of the average human’s but even you’re not that far gone.”

A slight chuckle escaped Lucy as she gave her head a nod. “I know but I like to act as if I was. It really helps in certain situations if people believe you don’t understand what it is like to be human. Just remember Albert I did stop being human at least physically speaking several years ago.”

“I know Lucy. You’re unique and did have different life experiences I understand. Still, even you can make a call on this one.”

“Okay, my honest opinion on this is you should do whatever will make you the happiest in the long run. So if you believe you’ll feel guilty about it later then you probably shouldn’t. Unless you believe that the enjoyment will out weigh the guilt.”

“Personally I believe he deserves it. The older bastard didn’t risk calling out the grades but when he returned tests he’d just leave the papers lying on the desk for anyone to see. I imagine those that had a somewhat lacking grade didn’t.” Albert didn’t get a chance to finish.

“He did what?!”

Instantly Albert felt a shot run up his spine and broke into a sprint. Before he risked saying a word he through his arms around Lucy’s wrist while her hand still wrested on the ground. “Hold on Lucy, just calm down.”

“Those grades are supposed to be private and he just left yours out in the open?”

“Lucy, I didn’t tell you about it because I knew you’d react badly. It isn’t a big deal. I wasn’t the only one after all.”

While there was no way that Albert could hope to hold Lucy down physically his presence on her wrist did actually keep her seated. “I don’t care how many they were and don’t tell me that you really didn’t mind because I do mind.”

A sigh escaped Albert as Lucy raised her voice. Ellis had left quite quickly beforehand now Albert imagined he was positively sprinting. Lucy had a tendency to get quite upset whenever she felt her friends were wronged in anyway. To make matters worse she also tended to overreact at least according to most people. “Come on Lucy, I didn’t tell you about it before because I was worried about what would happen.”

An annoyed snort escaped Lucy. “I want to at least break his legs for it.”
“Come on Lucy don’t you believe that is a little extreme? You just scared the piss out of the guy and if he heard you and considering how loud you were speaking I don’t see how he couldn’t. Then he probably just shit himself. If you count that I’m going to post the image where everyone can see it don’t you believe that is breaking even?”

“No, I don’t. I believe that crushing his knees so that major reconstructive surgery if needed is the least that I should do.”

“You may feel that way but how do you feel about me not wanting you to do that?”

“Annoyed that you’re trying to protect him,” for a moment Lucy grew silent as she looked in the direction that Ellis had fled. Physically it would have been easy for her to pick up Albert and go after him but she couldn’t bring herself to lift her wrist. After a few moments of silence she spoke up again. “Fine, he gets off with what I’ve already done to him and what is going to be done this one time only.”

At last Albert relaxed and released Lucy’s wrist. “Thank you. Now as I’m not going to be traveling here for a while how about we go back to your place? I’m sure they can just email us the lesson plans.”

“Sure.”

************************************************************************

Generally Lucy was friendly and tended to be quite helpful though she did have fun. This was perhaps best seen in the technologies that she helped develop. While she did make money from her works they were all meant to make life better in one way or the other. Luciom was one of the best examples. The alloy had been made so that it would allow electrons to flow at nearly one hundred percent efficiency in nearly all climates.

By decreasing the net loss of energy over the line the alloy saved a tremendous amount of energy and thus money. The only time the alloy dropped below one hundred percent transference was whenever the temperature exceeded thirty eight degrees celsius. She didn’t just make it and put it out on the market though, rather she put a great deal of effort into insuring it was used only in ways she meant it to be.

In addition to such developments she tended to be quite generous. One of the reasons Lucy tended to keep a few bodies separate from the main one was looking for charities she considered worthwhile. Though, she did tend to make sure the money was spent how she meant it to be. Having several bodies helped with that a great deal.

Despite all that though people tended to be a little scared if not terrified when first meeting her. Even after they got to know her some people never quit being frightened of her and it wasn’t entirely due to her size and power. While for the most part Lucy was a carrying person it seemed all that love and concern she normally showed completely reversed whenever she felt provoked.

Things became even worse whenever she felt one of her friends was threatened or wronged. Not only did she seem to feel as if she’d been provoked herself her concern for those dear to her brought on an even more extreme reaction. When she’d scared Ellis half to death it had been the consequence of him getting mouthy with her. Lucy breaking Ellis’s legs had been due to him leaving his test out for everyone to see as they got theirs.

For a moment Albert covered his face with his right hand though the darkness of the night already insured he couldn’t see. He still remembered Lucy telling him that she’d let Ellis get off with what she’d done to him and what was going to be done. At the time Albert had thought she was talking about the picture he learned a day later that wasn’t the case. Albert couldn’t bring himself to be mad at Lucy and she hadn’t been lying. The situation simply felt odd to him.

There was no anger directed at himself at the moment either so Albert wasn’t certain what was keeping him awake. All he knew was that he couldn’t stop thinking of Lucy and wondering if she’d went even harder on Ellis because he’d defended him. Lucy was so protective of her friends that Albert wasn’t certain how she’d respond if she felt someone had turned one against her.

Albert didn’t get to contemplate that line of thought for long as he heard the phone ringing. Reaching out into the dark he picked up the receiver. “Hello.”

“Hey man, how are you doing?”

“Brad what are you doing calling me this late and what are you doing up?”

“Celebrating man and wanted to ask your help with something.”

“Just what are you celebrating at this hour?”

“Lucy roughing up that bastard Ellis of course, thanks to that me and Phillip don’t have an early morning class tomorrow.”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“Nope, is true.”

A sigh escaped Albert as he shook his head. “I know it is true, I mean I can’t believe you’re celebrating it.”

“Ah well that isn’t the only reason.”

“Don’t bother explaining. Just tell me what you want.”

“I was wondering if you would want to join us also Phillip and I were hoping that we could take your car.”

“You have your own vehicle. Just why are you so interested in taking mine and dragging me along?”

“Well we aren’t celebrating alone man. They’re some ladies that are going to be joining us and don’t think you’re going to be left out. I already have one lined up for you as well. I was just thinking that your car was more suited to partying.”

For a moment Albert said nothing as he listened to Brad’s request. In truth he wasn’t very fond of driving his car. It had been a birthday gift from Lucy when he’d just become old enough to drive. Lucy had actually taken the time to design the vehicle itself so it was a very high performance machine. It too high performance as far as Albert was concerned often he was actually scared of driving it though he’d never mentioned that to Lucy.

“Hello? Albert, are you there? Come on. It isn’t like I would set one of my pals up with something grotesque. It’s Selena I believe that you had a few classes with her early on. You remember her, really big breasts, black hair.”

“I remember.”

“Then you’ll do it? Besides man we also need a designated driver. Phillip doesn’t want to be it and I know that you don’t drink anyway.”

“Oh so that is the real reason.” A sigh escaped Albert as he shook his head and set up in bed. “You know setting me up with Selena won’t make up for this and wasn’t necessary. Answer me this where are we going to be going?”

“The Brink of course, I know that I couldn’t get you into some cheap joint.”

“You’re going to owe me one.”

“Deal, though I can’t believe you don’t consider Selena worth being drug out of bed. She’s one heck of an eye opener after all.”

“Brad, do you realize how much and the quality of the eye candy I get just hanging around with Lucy?”

“I swear man you’re spoiled beyond believe if you can’t enjoy a view like Selena. Of course, you don’t have to stop at eye candy.”

“I do not do one night stands or even quick sex and you know that.”

“Come on don’t slam the door when you haven’t even looked inside yet. Well I’ll see you soon.”

“I don’t need to look in the door if the sounds already tell me that it is best left shut. Anyway, I’ll see you.” As Albert hung up the phone a sigh escaped him. He’d served as the designated driver before and being woken up in the middle of the night wasn’t new to him. Brad and Phillip did tend to repay their debts as well in one form or the other. Considering the time they were waking him up though Albert felt this favor would cost them later.

Turning to the side he carefully settled his feet on the ground and began to stumble towards the light switch. There was a lamp beside his bed but he had yet to get around to replacing the bulb. So that as he fumbled through the dark he couldn’t help but wish Lucy was there to guide his hand again. A good three minutes actually managed to pass before his hand came to wrest upon the light switch and he turned it on. A few more minutes passed before he began moving as his eyes adjusted to the light.

Opening up his closet Albert took a few moments to dig around and find one of his nicer dark blue shirts as well as a nice pair of pants. As he looked at the clothing a slight chuckle escaped Albert. While he hadn’t realized it before his mother pointed it out one day many of his nicer clothes seemed to be inspired by Lucy. In that Lucy’s eyes were a sapphire blue and hair a lovely brown Albert often chose blue shirts and brown pants.

As he slipped off his bed clothes and dressed in his evening wear Albert took a moment to retrieve his nicer watch from his dresser. He might not have been thrilled about the day or truly interested in being set up though Brad was right when he said Selena was attractive. Albert simply felt a desire to get dressed nicely that he couldn’t truly explain even to himself or defy.

Only after Albert had dressed and groomed himself then made his way down to the parking garage did he stop. Despite several years having passed Albert still wasn’t use to driving the car Lucy had given him so that as he looked at the vehicle he had to take a moment to examine it and build up his courage. He knew that Lucy had made the vehicle as safe as she could but that didn’t change the fact that she’d also made it very fast.

Walking over to the car Albert placed his hand atop the roof for a moment and took in a deep breath. “Why am I still so nervous, it isn’t like Lucy would be angry with me if I wrecked. At least she promised me that she wouldn’t be. This is ridiculous I’ve had this car for more then four years now and I’m still nervous whenever I drive it. By now you’d think I’d know everything about it everyone else seems to know how to handle their vehicle by now.

Then again I suppose just about everyone else has more experience then me.” An amused chuckle escaped Albert as he shook his head. “Lucy always carries me around so that I don’t really get that much driving experience.”

Reaching down for the door handle Albert was a bit surprised when his hand stopped short. After a moment of trying to find the willpower to open the door a laugh escaped him and he reached into his pocket. Taking out his cell phone he hit the speed dial option and used the number at the top of the list. He received an immediate response.

“Hi Albert, is something wrong? You’re normally in bed by now.”

“Hey Lucy, do you have some free time now? They are two things that I want to ask you.”

“I sure do have some free time, what do you want to know?”

“We’ve been friends for a long time now, I was wondering though. Would you be my lady friend as well as my best friend?”

There wasn’t time for Albert to wonder what Lucy would say as her reaction came far too quickly. Even more quickly then he had expected. “It’s about time you asked!” Even though Lucy wasn’t actually speaking into a phone but producing the needed electrical singles to act as her own cell phone she couldn’t help but raise the volume as if she’d shouted.

A jolt ran through Albert and he quickly yanked the phone away from his ear. Upon pulling the phone away he couldn’t help but look at it for a few moments as if unsure of what had just occurred. “Huh, what do you mean?!”

“I’ve been waiting for you to finally get the message and ask me out. You’d think that intimidating all your female friends to keep them away from you would have been enough. You just didn’t seem to see the signs though.”

“You’ve been what?!”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she heard the tone in Albert’s voice. “What haven’t you wondered why none of them asked you to go on a date? I swear if you had asked one of them out before you ever asked me and they accepted I’d probably have killed them for it.”

“Lucy, how long has this been going on?”

“I started setting up signs when you turned sixteen and have been putting up bigger once ever since then.”

While Albert didn’t move the phone away from his ear this time he was struck dumb for a good while as he tried to process the information Lucy had just given him. “Lucy, are you serious?”

“Albert, take a little while and think about all the times we’ve spent together. Now that you know to look surely you can think of a few signs.”

“I would but honestly right now I’m having trouble thinking of much of anything. I mean wow I can’t believe I never noticed.” As he spoke Albert turned his back to his vehicle and leaned against it. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“Because I wanted you to be the one to ask me, Albert we’ve been such good friends for so long that I knew you would never tell me no. However, I wanted you to be certain that it was something you wanted as well and you weren’t just saying yes to keep a friend. So I decided to wait for you to ask me.”

“I wish I had noticed sooner. I didn’t mean to make you wait so long.”

“Don’t worry about it! I’m just happy that you finally asked me. So what is the second question you wanted to know? Though, you’ve already asked more then two.”

“Oh yeah, well things are working out now. I was going to pick up Brad, Phillip and three ladies to take to the brink. They needed a designated driver and well Brad wanted to set me up, but I was wondering if you’d like to come instead and pick us all up.”

“Mm Brad is lucky I consider him a friend and whoever the girl is. Well she’s quite fortunate that you weren’t the one that asked her out. Sure, I’d be glad to come and get the six of you.”

“Okay I’ll go ahead and call Albert and Phillip to let them know the news.”

“No you don’t. I want this to be a surprise I’ll be by as quickly as these legs of mine can carry me without destroying everything in my path so just hold on.”

“Sure, that will give me some time to think. Maybe by the time you get here I’ll be able to look back and see the signs.”

“Just tell me one thing Albert, what made you decide to finally ask me?”

“Oh, I was just thinking about the car you gave me and yet how little driving experience I have. You know at times I thought you gave me such a fast vehicle so that I would be too scared to drive it most the time and rely on you to carry me around. Blast it Lucy you were doing that weren’t you?!”

“Well there is one sign down.”

At first Albert was going to respond but as he opened his mouth all he could do was laugh.

“Yeah Brad, I’m on my way now.”

“Okay, what took you so long? Did you have trouble finding your keys?”

“No, they were just a few things that I had to take care of before I left.”

“Albert, you’re a guy it shouldn’t take you that long to take a shower.”

“You may enjoy stinking but I don’t. So you can rush through a shower if you want but I’ll take my time.”

A slight chuckle escaped Brad as he shook his head. “Yeah, okay Albert. Anyway, I’ll.” Upon feeling a slight shockwave run through the ground and hearing an approaching impact Brad grew quiet. He then moved the phone away from his ear and listened carefully. As he listened he noticed several impacts each one growing slightly in magnitude but with a steady frequency.

“Don’t worry I’ll be at your place soon.”

An amused giggled escaped Lucy as she rounded a corner and finally came into view. While she was still a good distance away from their home Lucy could easily see Brad and Phillip waiting outside and she knew that they could see her. “Hey, I didn’t mean to hold you up but it took me a while to get back here. So Albert says we’re going to the brink.”

The moment he saw Lucy Brad’s jaw nearly hit the pavement. He would have dropped his phone if Albert hadn’t spoken up. “I wasn’t really happy with your choice of dates tonight so I decided to bring my own.”

It took Brad a moment to lift the phone back to his ear. So long that by the time he did he could have spoken to Albert by calling up to him as Lucy walked up to the sidewalk. “Um sure, I don’t believe the girls were expecting this kind of ride though.”

A delighted giggle escaped Lucy as she bent down so that Brad wouldn’t fill the need to shout. “You can hang up your phone you know.”

“Oh, yeah” as Brad turned his phone off he absently slipped it back into his pocket. Given his current state though, it was unlikely that he would even notice if he dropped it.

“So shall we get going? I doubt that whoever you planned to bring along will complain about the change in travel plans.

Even as he nodded in agreement Brad couldn’t help but sigh. Of course they wouldn’t say anything as long as Lucy was around. While he considered Lucy a good friend Brad had learned that taking his dates to meet her wasn’t always the best idea. It took a while for someone to get used to Lucy and due to her reputation and occasional immerging of her temper she had a tendency to frighten people away.

“Now Albert already told me about Selena but who are the other two ladies? Also, which one of you is going to ride with two of them as I’m the one with Albert?”

At first Brad was going to simply give the names but then what Lucy said really hit him. “Hold on! You mean you and Albert are together?”

Lucy moved quickly to cover her mouth in order for her to keep from deafening everyone in the immediate area as she couldn’t help but laugh for a moment. “Yes, yes we are. Albert asked me out a little while ago. We’re officially a couple.”

“Hold on, you mean Albert asked you?”

“Yes he did, now how many times are you going to make me repeat myself?”

“I don’t mean to it’s just that. Well I really didn’t expect that one. I kind of expected him to wait until your patience finally wore off and you asked him.”

“Nope, while I can’t say that it didn’t take him a while to catch on he was the one that asked me.”

“Would you two stop acting like it’s a miracle? Okay it took me a while to catch on I admit that but I swear the two of you are making it sound like an angel had to come down and smack me upside the head to get the message across.”

A delighted giggle escaped Lucy as she glanced down at Albert in her pocket. “To be perfectly honest I’m not sure if one didn’t. Are you sure you didn’t just make up that story about the car?”

“Yeah Lucy I’m sure that no angel has given me a smack across the head anytime recently. She’s just been bumping me with her breasts for the past few years.”

A delighted giggle escaped Lucy as she gave her head a quick nod. “Well congratulations you caught on to another sign. Now how about we get moving? Brad, Phillip you two can tell me who the other two are along the way. Oh, but you haven’t told me whose going to be traveling with two of them yet.”

Before Brad could even think Phillip spoke up. “Brad will be traveling with Selena and his date I get a private pocket with mine.”

“Huh? Hold on a minute!”

A slight chuckle escaped Phillip as he glanced over at Brad. “What is the matter? I thought you said you could get both of them if you really tried.”

“Not in one night and not when they are together.”

“Oh yes you did, I remember quite clearly. You said you could get them to agree to a threesome in under a night if you were to really put your mind to it.”

“Damn it man that was just boasting. How am I supposed to get Catherine in the mood with another woman right there?”

“Hey who says it has to be Catherine. You’re the one that was talking about how Selena seemed to be the curios sort start with her. She may be a little surprised to find out that Albert won’t be her date for the night but I doubt that’ll matter.”

Instead of letting Brad and Phillip continue arguing things out Lucy finally reached down for the both of them. “Okay, as Brad appears to be the one that was shooting his mouth off the most he can be the one with both ladies. We’ll see what kind of magic he can work then.”

************************************************************************

The Brink was a moderately new club that Lucy had built shortly after Albert had decided on a collage to attend. The establishment was unique for many reasons due to having been built to accommodate its’ owner at scales she considered more comfortable. Though the most notable aspect of the club was its’ scale having been a necessity to accommodate Lucy. This was also wear the club had gotten its’ name.

In order to allow Lucy to move freely vast areas had to be open space. This by itself tended to create a feeling that one was standing on the very edge of the cliff. Capitalizing on that attribute the entire structure had been designed to give the feel that one was standing on the edge and could fall off at any moment and thus the name.

This element of fear was beneficial in more then a few ways. As while it did drive away some customers that preferred a more secure feeling it actually served to attract many others. Those that liked the little bit of extra adrenaline that they got from feeling like they were looking into the abysses seemed to adore the place. This also served Lucy to great affect.

Given Lucy’s reputation there was simply no way that she could design a club in such a way that the customers wouldn’t be nervous if she hoped to be a regular at the larger scales she enjoyed. So she hadn’t even bothered trying and instead went with a design that would only attract those that wanted that little bit of fear. That way she didn’t have to deal with those that might find her presence objectionable.

It was one of the few places Lucy knew of that she could visit and people wouldn’t begin moving towards the exits.

Brad’s concern that Lucy would provide too much of a distraction to make any progress with his date had been confirmed shortly after Lucy picked them up. Phillip on the other hand seemed to be doing quite well with his though she was clearly nervous. They had barely had time to place their orders before she’d asked Phillip to take her out onto the dance floor. Albert figured this was less to do with dancing though and more to do with getting away from Lucy. Fortunately Phillip had enough talent on the dance floor to use that to his advantage.

Currently Lucy set at the edge of a unique platform. While the club itself was made up of several levels this one was placed on a special rail that allowed its height to be adjusted at will. So that Lucy could set with her friends whenever they dined or at least until she outgrew the club and had to look into raising the roof even higher. A large space beside the table served to hold Lucy’s food and drink whenever she wanted one.

Albert occupied the seat closest to the edge and thus closest to Lucy. This meant that he had to turn around in his seat to face her however it seemed that Lucy liked this. It insured that whenever Albert talked to her he had to turn around and focus entirely on her.

“Albert I believe that you should move in with me now.”

There was hardly a second’s delay between Lucy speaking and Albert turning around to face her. “Why do you think that?”

“Three reasons really. One is now that I’m acting as your instructor it would really save us some trouble and me some walking. The second is I wouldn’t have to form a smaller body in order to help you and I wouldn’t be walking by making your neighbors nervous. Finally I believe that it would be nice to spend more time together.”

“Huh, those are some very good points especially the last one. Yeah that sounds nice.”

“So I take that as a yes.”

“Sure, I’d love to.”

“Wonderful, oh I can’t wait to let my parents know that you finally asked me. I’m sure yours will be happy to hear about it as well.”

“Please tell me you don’t want to do that tonight.”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she gave her head a quick nod. “Actually I do. However, I figure they wouldn’t like being woken up at this hour so we can wait until tomorrow.”

It took Albert a few moments to respond as he tapped the arm wrest of his seat while he attempted to decide on the best way to respond. “Actually Lucy, I was hoping you’d wait a little longer then that.”

“Huh? How long and why?”

“I really need some time to prepare for my father and mother. I have a pretty good idea of how they’re going to respond and I need time to make a plan of action.”

“Albert, you know that your father and mother will approve.” For a moment Lucy was silent as an impish grin appeared on her face and she leaned closer to the platform. “That means you’re worried about something else. Now let me think. What might Michael or Anne do to make you feel as if you’d need to have a plan of action? It probably isn’t really a plan of action though but rather a plan of conversation.”

“I’m afraid that you might have left a few of those signs of yours where my parents can see them as well. And unlike me I’m pretty sure they noticed them right away. I can just imagine how my dad is going to respond when he learns that I finally noticed them all. He will be happy for me and happy to torment me.”

It was impossible for Lucy not to giggle slightly as she set back up. “He only does it because he loves you.” For a moment Lucy was silent and another giggle escaped her. “And loves tormenting you, come on Albert cheer up. At least we grew up together so there is nothing that he can say to embarrass you. That is to say there is nothing that I don’t already know about.”

“Yeah which means he’s just going to come up with something entirely new!” A slight chuckle escaped Albert as he rubbed his forehead for a moment.

“Well there is nothing I can say about that. Except that, I have every reason to believe that you’re correct.”

“Can we start with your parents first? Maybe they’ll give me a better idea of how to deal with my own.”

“Mm I don’t know. I kind of what to see Michael embarrass you, after all you did make me wait an awfully long time and while I do love you I’m still a little annoyed about that.”

“Please Lucy, have mercy.”

In response to Albert’s plea Lucy puckered her lips and let out a slight sigh as if she was seriously considering Albert’s request. “I hope you understand that this is a really tough decision. I do love you after all and I don’t want to you suffer. However, you’re just so cute whenever your dad is embarrassing you.”

A low groan escaped Albert and he let his head slump. “You’ve already decided that first thing in the morning we’re going to visit my parents haven’t you?”

“It’s a bit too late for that. After all you’ll probably sleep late and they’ll be at work. So I’m going to wait until they get home and then we’re going to visit them. That way you have a little bit of time to formulate a plan. I don’t believe your dad is the person that you’re really worried about.”

“You know my mom isn’t the type to embarrass me like my dad will.”

“I know, she has a far more effective method. So have you decided what you’re going to tell her whenever she starts asking about grandchildren?”

“For about a second I thought I’d tell her we don’t even know if you and are capable of having children. However, I know how she would respond to that and I really don’t want to go down that path. It seemed like it would be a good idea to tell her that we just became a couple recently however that is once again of no real effect.”

It was impossible for Lucy not to smile as she gave her head a quick nod. “Yeah, we’ve been enjoying one another’s company for so long this is hardly more then a change in title.”

“Could you not tell her that I’m moving in with you?”

“Oh Albert you poor dear, that is the second thing I’m going to tell them so they know not to send anything to your old address.”

Once again Albert was made to chuckle as he shook his head and gazed up at Lucy. “You’re really getting a kick out of this aren’t you?!”

“Like I said, several years of waiting left me a little annoyed. Now it’s your time to suffer.”

All Albert could do was shrug though he was far from upset. He new that the coming day would be full of many embarrassing moments and questions he didn’t want to answer but it was well worth it. “Well at least I have the trip there to think about strategy.” As he was speaking Albert turned around and glanced over at Brad, he was a bit surprised by what he saw. “Hey Brad, where did Selena and Catherine get off to?”

Despite Lucy setting right behind Albert Brad couldn’t help a low growl as he leaned back in his seat. “Would you believe that two guys showed up at the same time and asked them both to dance? Damn it man.”

“Huh, that is something else. Did you recognize them?”

“No, but I have a feeling someone did.”

Before Albert could respond Lucy quickly stuck her tongue out at Brad and pulled it back within her mouth. “Now Brad, why are you looking at me like that? I swear I didn’t know either of those guys.”

Brad new that Lucy wasn’t the type to lie about something but he also knew she tended to use miss leading words. She might not have known either of the men involved but he knew she had a hand in it. Few people had ever approached him and attempted to spirit his date away it was also very rare for anyone to approach Lucy’s table without an invite. Given that both women had also been taken away at the same time he felt certain she had a hand in the matter.

“Hey it looks like our food is here and here comes Phillip. Well I’ll be, his date is still with him.”

As Phillip set back down Lucy glanced over at his date. She was actually quite amused whenever she noted Sandra seemed far more relaxed then she had moments ago. “Mm I wonder what is taking them so long with mine.”

“Probably the fact that you ordered a couple sides of beef.”

“Well it isn’t like they don’t have the ingredients on hand. I insure the kitchen is well stocked after all. Mm, all well I can wait.”

For a moment Sandra bit down on her lower lip as she took a moment to gather her courage. “Why don’t you just use one of your smaller bodies to dine with us? I’ve seen you separate into them on TV before.”

It was rare for the friend of one of Lucy’s friends to speak to her so quickly after just meeting her unless spoken to. So when Sandra spoke up Lucy was impressed with both Phillip and Sandra when she started talking to her so soon. “Well I can’t give any practical reasons really. Separating into smaller bodies does tend to take more effort mentally so I begin to slow down intellectually. However, I’m no where near the threshold at which that would become a problem. So I guess the only reason I can give is that it doesn’t feel natural.”

“Ah, that makes sense. I’m sure separating into so many different bodies feels rather odd. Probably even more strange then being so large.”

“No, it isn’t that. Even if I put all my bodies to sleep and only looked through the eyes of one it would feel strange to me. For me being my full scale feels most natural.”

“You can do that?”

“Yes, I actually tried it once. I rejoined all my bodies back together except one and then I closed my eyes. I relaxed the larger body so that I felt as if I existed only in the smaller. I felt like a human might if someone was to rip off their arms, legs and cut out their eyes and tongues. It just felt alien and wrong.”

“Yeah I imagine feeling like that would make anyone not want to do something again. You’ve had a lot of time to get use to people looking small anyway so it must be natural by now.”

“Actually, people don’t look small to me. I see a human that stands a bit over two meter tall and I would still say they’re a large human. You don’t look small to me I just feel large.”

For a moment a curious look appeared on Sandra’s face she then gave her head a quick nod. “You know that is actually kind of comforting to know.”

“I’m glad you think so. Personally, I believe it is a sign that something has gone wrong whenever someone stops feeling powerful and starts feeling that others are powerless. If someone feels powerful that means they feel they can achieve a lot but that doesn’t mean they feel as if others can’t achieve as well. However, if they feel that others are powerless they are prone to feeling that they have not ability to achieve and that is just a short step away from considering them without value.”

“So is that why you gave me that scholarship?”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy. “All that conversation and it turns out you were just building up to a complement.”

Before Lucy could continue Sandra quickly lifted her hands from the table and waved them to her sides. “Oh, no, no. I was just wondering.”

“It’s okay Sandra. Yes I believe that you have the potential to achieve and that is why I gave you that scholarship.”

A sigh escaped Sandra as she gave a nod and placed her hands back on the table. “Thanks it has been a big help. So do you actually go over all the applications that are sent in?”

“Yes I do. First I give them a quick check and throw out those I consider unfit. Those that I’m not certain about and those that I believe have the most promise I hold onto. Albert, my parents and his then help me go through those and decided on the final selection.”

“I didn’t really expect you to need help with them. What exactly do they do?”

“When it comes to simply reading some information and memorizing it I don’t actually need help. However, due to my perspective ethics aren’t my strongest point. That is to say I have a set of ethics that I hold myself to however they don’t always match up with human ethics. So Albert here and the others help me make up for that difference in view point when it comes to the final decision.”

“I see, so was it one of them that suggested that you start a scholarship?”

Even before Lucy could respond Albert spoke up. “Nope, that was her idea actually.”

Turning her attention to Albert Sandra gave a quick nod. “So mind telling me why you did it?”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she looked down at Albert. “I suppose that it couldn’t hurt anything. What do you think Albert?”

“Go ahead.”

“It was when Albert and I were talking about some recent comments about me in the media. He made the comment that the real problem was that there were too many stupid people in the world that didn’t really evaluate the situation. So I decided sense that was the problem I would do that I could to decrease the number of stupid people in the world.”

At first Sandra said nothing as she looked up to Lucy then to Albert and back to Lucy. Given the expression on her face it was clear that wasn’t the answer she was expecting. “So you weren’t trying to cover up some bad press with some positive?”

For a moment Albert was going to respond but upon opening his mouth all he could do was laugh. When his laughter caused him to lean forward on the table a bit Lucy spoke up. “As you can probably tell from Albert’s reaction I’m not exactly the type to care what the media or most of the population thinks about me. I really only concern myself with the opinion of a very small percentage of the population.”

Instead of responding right away Sandra took a moment to take a bite of the shrimp she’d ordered. “Oh wow. This is good. I was surprised to see shrimp on the menu but wow.”

“I intended the Brink to be a place where my friends and I could go and relax. So I tend to make sure everything is fairly high quality. I’m not going to feed my friends lousy food after all. Speaking of which, here comes mine at last.”

Both Albert and Lucy knew that they had just hit upon a subject that Sandra didn’t want to discuss further. It was one of the dangers of getting to know Lucy. You’d learn a few things about her that made you more comfortable, you’d then learn one of her view points that negated that. Only whenever all the details were taken into account though could one have a truly accurate picture of how her mind worked as with anyone else.

As the first waiter made his way over to the area designated for Lucy’s food he pulled a small latch on the cart he was pushing so that when he pulled back the flat platform was left. He then stepped out of the way and another was pressed into the first linking them together. This was repeated in several different spots slowly forming what appeared to be a massive plate from the various sheets of metal.

Once a large enough section had been assembled so that she wouldn’t be getting in the way Lucy reached down and retrieved one of the sides of beef. While the meat rivaled a human in size it looked like an exceptionally tiny chicken wing in Lucy’s massive fingers. “It’s always interesting to see how people respond to me eating at this scale.”

There was no response from Sandra as Lucy lifted the flesh to her mouth. She then opened her mouth unnecessarily wide and slipped the barbequed treat inside. Snapping her jaw shut she then began to work her jaw so that each chew was easily noticeable by those below.

Some people liked to stir up trouble just to see how people would respond. They’d just make a few rude comments to get peoples’ blood boiling and watch what happened. In some ways Lucy had a similar habit. The more upset someone got with her opinion the more amusing she found it to be. However, on top of that there was something else she liked to do and that was to try to invoke a little fear in people. Not by direct threat or even a threatening actions towards them but rather a casual demonstration of her ability.

It was hard for Albert to remember exactly when Lucy had picked up on that particular behavioral quirk however he did know it manifested while she was still in her early teens. To her credit she had managed to give just about everyone she tried to a slight scare at least. She had even tried to give Albert a quick scare once or twice though that had proven futile. Albert simply trusted Lucy too much to be scared of her. However, it was another one of the reasons people tended to be frightened of her when meeting face to face.

“Early on when I found my desire to eat was fading away I wondered if I would eventually stop liking how food tasted. So I started to try foods that I remembered liking a great deal at regular intervals and trying to see if the taste had changed. Then one day Albert suggested I try foods that I didn’t use to like as well.”

Realizing that she was being spoken to Sandra was quick to respond. “How did that go?”

“It went quite well actually. It seems that instead of learning to dislike eating somehow I’ve come to like a wider variety of things. I suspect that it is due to my ability to properly digest a greater number of substances.”

A sigh escaped Albert as he looked back at Lucy. “Yeah and I remember how much I disliked the outcome of that little suggestion.”

“What happened?”

“Once Lucy realized that she now liked more things she started trying more. Well eventually she just had to start wondering what all she could digest or eat safely.”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she glanced down at Albert. “You know I didn’t just start throwing things into my mouth and swallowing. There was a procedure to it.”

“That sure isn’t how it looked to me!”

This time Lucy quickly darted her tongue out at Albert for a moment. “You only thought that at first.”

“Yeah but still you gave me quite a shock. The first time I found out what she was doing was during a test. I came in just in time to see her swallow a small amount of powder and while I wasn’t certain what it was. Her reaction told me she didn’t want me to see it.”

“Albert can be such a worrier at times. It was just a little bit of cyanide.”

Immediately Sandra’s eyes nearly doubled in size as she stared at Lucy. “You ate cyanide?”

“It wasn’t that much, only a pinch.”

A sigh escaped Albert as he shook his head. “A pinch of cyanide to you is enough to wipe out a small down. When she was reluctant to tell me what she’d done it only made matters worse. I actually started worrying that the negative press had caused her to slip into depression without me knowing and she’d become suicidal.”

Once again Lucy was made to giggle, clearly the memory was far fonder to her then it was to Albert. “I wish he’d let me share the visual of what happened whenever I told him that it was cyanide.”

“It felt like my heart had stopped beating and it became rather hard to stand.”

“Yeah he says he felt weak but from the way he shouted he sure didn’t seem it. It was one of the few times I managed to make Albert truly angry with me.”

“Well it was hard not to be!”

While Lucy had not smiled at the time now the memory brought a smile to her face and a slight chuckle. “I’ve made it a point since then that when I try something along the same lines I tell Albert the procedure that I’m using. He doesn’t always approve but he hasn’t reacted like that since.”

“So are you immune to being poisoned?”

Giving her head a quick nod Lucy picked up another side of beef. “Not only am I immune to any toxin that I know of. Hold on a moment I don’t want to say immune. I’m highly resistant to toxin and no level of which I’ve eaten has been able to harm me. There may be a level though or a type of toxin that my body isn’t able to handle. It could even be something that isn’t harmful to humans.”

“Are you serious? I can’t imagine anything hurting you if it couldn’t affect a human.”

“I don’t believe that it’s very likely but it is a possibility. So far though the toxins I’ve been exposed to haven’t been capable of harming me. Not only that but I can actually detect differences in what I eat so that I know if there was a toxin in the substance or if it was just a little off.” A slight giggle escaped Lucy. “It’s a very good thing that I tested that before I lost my temper over some miss understandings.”

“Such as believing someone had tried to kill you when they’d just used honey mustard instead of barbeque?”

“I like to believe that I would notice the difference in taste and not jump to conclusions but yes. You know Sandra you were rather lucky that your paper ended up in the hands of my dad and not Albert’s mom.”

“Why is that?”

“That comment about you being the first female in your family that had intended collage in three generations. It appealed to my dad’s idea of chivalry however had it been Anne. That is his mother.” As she spoke Lucy pointed down at Albert. “You would have gotten a rather different reaction.”

“Why is that?”

“She’s your mother Albert, why don’t you explain?”

“Sure. My mom isn’t devoid of pity however she can’t stand it when she feels someone is asking for it. To her such a statement would read, because none of the females in my family for past three generations have gone to collage you should show me pity and not judge me purely by the merit of my achievements.”

When no one commented right away Phillip turned to Sandra grateful that he finally had an opening to talk. “That is their nice way of saying; don’t say it again if you reapply. Instead you need to focus on your achievements.”

In response Sandra gave a quick nod. “I’ll keep that in mind. So how did all of you get to know one another?”

“That was mostly Albert’s doing in my and Brad’s cases. We had a few classes and labs together. This may be hard to believe but at first we didn’t recognize who he was. At least we didn’t until we were all setting down having lunch together and Lucy strolled right onto the campus, over to our table and asked him who we were.”

“That must have been quite a shock.”

“It was. There is no denying that. Albert’s first class was different from mine and Brad’s so that he arrived earlier in the day.”

“How did you not recognize him though?” For a moment Sandra turned to Albert. “You’ve appeared on television with Lucy several times.”

“Well we noticed that he looked like well who he actually was. However, it was hard to believe. There wasn’t any media coverage of the event after all so we just couldn’t be certain. It was like seeing a celebrity but they environment seemed so out of place you couldn’t believe that it was them.”

“Hey Lucy did I ever thank you for that?”

“Yes you did but you can do it again if you want.”

“Thanks for insuring that the media leaves me alone.”

“You’re welcome.”

For a moment Sandra was made to shudder as she remembered one fact about Lucy she wished she hadn’t. Lucy’s money and the influence that money granted her tended to aid in her getting her way. It even aided in keeping the media away from her and her family whenever she didn’t want them there. However, that wasn’t the primary reason they had left her alone when she told them to.

At first Lucy hadn’t realized how much media coverage she was receiving however that was due to InCon insuring her privacy. Once she’d began to go into areas not controlled by the corporation she’d ran into some problems. Lucy tended to enjoy attention but only if it was the right kind and she felt the attention the media was giving her was the wrong kind. Then one day she’d lost her temper grabbed up one of the reporters and threatened to break their legs if they didn’t leave her alone.

Fortunately Lucy had been a minor at the time so nothing major was done and they were able to get the media to back off a bit. At least until a truth that InCon had kept hidden for a long time was leaked. While InCon had let the public know that Lucy was growing her true scale had not been known. This was achieved by having her separate into different bodies and keeping some of herself at secure locations.

Then when her total scale when fully rejoined had reached twenty three and a third meters someone leaked the information. Once again Lucy found herself in the public eye and the pressure began to get to her. The final breaking point though was when Albert, her and his parents had been besieged by questions.

Lucy warned them if they didn’t leave on their own immediately they wouldn’t be leaving under their own power. If Albert, Claude, Karen, Anne and Michael hadn’t been there, Albert was certain Lucy would have done more than destroy their vehicles and break their legs.

Of course people showed a great deal of concern over the event and many pushed for legal action. Lucy had of course made it exceptionally clear that she wouldn’t apologize or be punished for her actions. This had caused even more trouble and it seemed like that the police would be called upon to restrain her by force.

InCon had managed to come to the rescue though by revealing some of the test data they had on Lucy. Once it was made clear just how powerful Lucy was at that scale and what it would require to subdue her people had quieted down. There was talk of using the military to subdue her however the idea of using tanks on a child seemed objectionable to many despite Lucy’s scale.

Some still felt the military should be used however the voice of those that didn’t want to send more people to die then had broken limbs had been louder. Other legal actions were then discussed but in the end it was decided that further upsetting Lucy would be a bad idea given the sacrifice that would have to be made to force their will upon her.

Phillip had been listening intently and had at first been glad to see Sandra warming up to Lucy or appearing to. Now he could tell that they had hit upon a subject that she wasn’t ready for. Apparently not only did she dislike what Lucy had done but the fact that Albert was thanking her for it seemed to concern her.

There was a strong temptation on Phillip’s part to try and comfort Sandra. However, he felt nervous about it as he actually approved of Lucy’s actions. If a mob was to start bombarding his family with questions he’d want to give them a reason to leave as well. At last he decided on a path of action. “Of course, it’s a good thing InCon helped Lucy get her story out as well. If you listened to what the media had to say you’d think Lucy’s actions were entirely unprovoked.”

At last Sandra gave a slight nod. “I remember watching the news with my parents. I have to say I was quite shocked when you suddenly picked up one of their vans and threw it into another.”

An amused giggle escaped Lucy as she clearly was quite fond of the memory. “So were they. I didn’t want to risk any of them getting away so my first target was their vehicles. After I insured they’d have to run on foot I decided to take away that form of travel as well.”

“Yeah I remember, some of those camera men were pretty devoted.”

“That is true some kept right on filming. If there is one thing I regret on a very small level it’s that I didn’t hold back when I broke their legs. At least the legs of those that kept on filming but weren’t asking questions. I actually admire that kind of devotion. Now if they’d only put it in another place. At the time I was too angry to consider that though well at first I was angry.”

“Yeah, I saw when you began to giggle.”

Giving a quick nod Lucy couldn’t help but chuckle. “At first I was acting out of anger but once I felt the first bones snap between my fingers I also realized it was quite a bit of fun. They’d been causing my family nothing but grief all that time so it was my turn to give them some grief. Did you notice the way I turned whenever I grabbed someone up?”

For a moment Sandra was silent as she subconsciously moved back in her seat a bit. “No, I can’t say that I did.”

“I didn’t realize I was doing it until later either. Whenever I would be about to break someone’s legs I would turn around to insure that Albert and the others could see me do it. Though, I realized later that it would have been more effective in causing fear if I’d let the reporters see it. Even after I realized what I had done though I decided that I wouldn’t change it.”

“Why is that? I mean wouldn’t you want to insure that it never happened again?”

“Honestly yes and no, yes I would like the media to leave my family alone. However, a part of me wants them to give me a reason to swallow them. I get a real thrill out of using my power and scale you see and there isn’t anything quite like feeling someone struggling around in my stomach as I slowly digest them.” Almost as if it was an after thought Lucy reached down and picked up one of the sides of beef. Popping it into her mouth this time she didn’t even bother chewing but quickly swallowed.

“Why don’t you then? You said you didn’t care what people think.”

“That is easy, because people tend to be more fun alive then dead or dying even when they are in my belly. Of course I don’t require people to amuse me either. Only when someone hinders my enjoyment of life do I feel a need to do something to rebalance the scales. Though, it isn’t always a perfect balance as was the case with the media. Had I tried to rebalance the scales to the greatest affect I would have eaten every last one of them.”

“I see. So Albert, what did you think when this was going on?”

“Well Lucy and I were still pretty young back then. Mostly I thought she looked cute out there giggling and stomping around. It made me think of her playing in a field of dandelions for some reason.”

Before Sandra could respond or anyone else for that matter Brad finally spoke up, “Blast it! There they go.”

Glancing to the exit Lucy quickly noted Selena and Brad’s date exiting the building with the two guys from before. It was very hard for her to keep from laughing. “Yes they do. You know I believe they may have the right idea though. Albert do you realize what time it is?”

“I forgot my watch. We were having fun though so I’m going to guess three.”

“Try three forty seven.”

“Oh crap now I’m going to be half asleep all day.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll let you sleep in but I believe it’s time that we get going.”

A slight sigh escaped Phillip as he mouthed thank you to Lucy behind Sandra. “Sandra how about we let the three of them go on ahead? I’ll call us a cab when you’re ready to go back.”

“Yeah, sure that would be fine.”

Giving a nod Lucy reached down for Albert. “Okay then I’ll see you two later. Come on Albert, we need to stop by your place and get your stuff. We can just pick up the essentials on this trip and I’ll take care of the remainder later.”

End chapter 3

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