The Tiny Explorer
Trampled Roses Chapter 4

By the time several hours had passed, she'd amassed a fantastic collection of pictures. She'd never even expected this whole thing to yield so much amazing material. This was a completely new way to look at a person as they went about their day. To Alice, photography has always been a way to capture and preserve something that most people missed; it was about being able to notice the beautiful moments in everyday life and give them a light, an angle, that would allow these moments to shine and tell their stories to the viewer. Her job was that of a guide; she simply needed to choose an angle that would let life speak for itself. Naturally, when she wanted to provide a look into someone's mundane routine, it was almost a requirement that the subject of the photoshoot were not aware of her. One time she visited a glassblower; she spent most of the time at that place waiting for the guy to got focused enough on his craft that he forgot about her presence.

Being tiny played into all of that. Shrinking made her truly unnoticeable. As far as she could tell, Eliot was absolutely clueless about her whereabouts. She felt almost creepy; almost like she was spying on him. But, after all, she'd paid him.

And God, was it worth it.

She captured him fixing up dinner; he was quick and precise with the kitchen knife, careful with the plates. It struck her how organized he was while cooking: he'd cleaned up as he prepared his dinner, so that by the time he served himself some chicken parm all the cutting boards and pans were already back in their respective cupboards.

She took pictures of him talking on the phone: he stood by the window, speaking softly and firmly, discussing some business matters. There was a can of beer in his hand. Sometimes she saw concern on his face; at least once - anger. She didn't listen closely to what was said; that didn't matter to her.

Later Alice took a bunch of shots of him playing videogames on the couch. He continuously shifted from being relaxed to being focused and hungry for victory; she could read the level of the challenge that he faced from how his posture shifted. The lighting in the living room was perfect; it outlined his face and forearms. Somehow, he made even gaming attractive. Didn't look nerdy at all.

And she had many wonderful shots of his wide sole descending in a powerful, heaving step; every wrinkle visible, dust and debris scattered around the rough flesh. Those were all followed by the shots taked in the immediate aftermath: side of a foot firmly planted on the floor, or the underside of the sole towering over her and curling upwards as he was taking the next few steps. She took many, many shots of his feet. She felt like they reflected his nature and attitude. And they were incredibly articulate; to her shame, Alice had never truly realized just how many tiny muscles are involved in every little motion of the foot. The first few pictures were taken out of pure curiosity; by the time several hours had passed she started wondering if she had a secret foot fetish. They were masculine, powerful, threatening, and she really couldn't get the thought of getting obliterated beneath them out of her head. They presented the biggest danger to her, because Eliot clearly didn't track her movements.

By the time he messaged her on the shrinktech app, she amassed several dozen of high quality in-action foot-centric shots of all sorts - flexing, stomping, curling, splayed out and relaxed. They were beautiful. "I ought to give him a footrub once I'm big again", she idly thought.

But did she really have to get big again?

She read the message from Eliot. He pointed out that her alotted time had ended. It was evening. She probably wanted to pack...

Except she didn't.

"I'd like to stay a little longer", she typed in, suddenly blushing. "This new perspective is amazing!"

As she sent that message, Alice suddenly got an idea. She could continue exploring different sizes. She could view Eliot from, say, a dog's point of view... or a flea's. One thing for sure: she wasn't ready to be big quite yet. 

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May 12, 2023
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