The following story was inspired by a "Choose Your Own Adventure" post on reddit.com/r/tentai. (https://www.reddit.com/r/Tentai/comments/7g9f1s/tentacle_pet_choose_your_own_adventure/)
CHAPTER 1
I'm starving.
That was all I could think as my mind slid back into place. I blinked at the uncomfortably bright overhead bulbs on my ceiling fan, then closed my eyes again. The room was cold against my skin.
I had never been a large person. Before the Offer—what I was calling my interdimensional encounter now—I had barely been four feet tall. I'd always been the dwarf; I was way too short, and so I was way too thick. I had learned the word "spinner" in my freshman year of college. For a few months, I had thought I fit in. How wrong had I been? After I realized the frats and sororities were using me like an attraction for their parties, I had dropped out and run, too ashamed to look at anyone I had ever known again. Two years of retail in a small city, the tiny ginger girl. The fucking leprechaun.
It was a dead-end. I knew that. I had known that for two years. But that was the point, wasn't it? I wasn't a good fit. I would just follow my dead end road until it hit the cliff. Drugs, probably. Shit, I'd die happy, at least.
Then, Ra'ito found me. Not a person. A company. Ra'ito was an interdimensional medical and genetics corporation. They dealt in everything from health products to livestock strains. They had offered to reshape me if I would help bring their brand into E-302—their name for my dimension. I took them up on the offer in a hearbeat. I was going to be six-foot-two now, and I would date a fucking basketball player or something. I thought about sitting up, but my head was still spinning.
As a side effect, I would be forever young and fit, with a runner's body for life. They were even going to sculpt me while they stretched me! I could be a fucking supermodel. But I really wanted to run. They said they could make me an athlete, and that's what I'd asked for; lithe muscle and killer endurance. I rubbed my head, blinking slowly once more and finally opening my eyes. Fuck, was I hungry! I rolled off of the couch, reaching my leg down to stand. I missed the ground and fell clumsily into the carpet. I chuckled at myself; some things couldn't be fixed by height and strength.
As I finally stood up, though, I realized that something was horribly wrong. My eyes were barely level with the back of the couch. Even I wasn't that fucking short.
"Son of a bitch!" I swore as I looked down. My legs weren't toned. I mean, they weren't stubby like they had been, either. But they were short and slim. My feet—although down a few sizes—had never been closer. I began feeling my body, then ran to the floor-length mirror in the bathroom.
My vivid green eyes glared angrily at me from the looking glass. My red pixie-cut tickled the tops of my ears. I hunched more than usual, supporting two breasts unchanged in size, if perkier. I had been shrunk another foot! I wasn't a leprechaun, I was a fucking pixie. I mean, I looked cute as hell, which was better than a stocky little soul-eater, but I wasn't even big enough to be a nymph; I was a damn flower-fairy. I swore at the mirror-me, who kept in vulgar lockstep until I gave up and returned to my small living room.
There it was. The little phone that Ra'ito had left with me. I flipped the comm open, ready to tear a new asshole in whatever poor service rep answered the call. Thing was, I couldn't turn the stupid thing on. It was locked, refusing my DNA. I swore louder than ever, chucking the thing at the sofa. Fuckers ran a genetic engineering corporation and couldn't even remember to update the phone after they fucking updated
me
. Cunts. I stumbled towards the kitchen, desperate for a sandwich or something. I wasn't used to the shorter legs. Probably would have had the same problem with the longer ones I had
fucking
asked for.
The ever-looming cabinets now towered over me. I had to climb onto the counter to get to my breadbox; the stepstool had only barely been enough to begin with. I found my bread green with horrendous mold. I wasn't
that
hungry. I tossed the loaf at the trash can, letting it know how ugly its mother thought it was. The bread, not the trash can. I kept rooting through the cabinet, eventually settling on a lone pack of Nabs. Thank god for fucking snack-packs. I inhaled the crackers—only choking twice—and made my way to the bedroom, killing the lights along the way.
I jumped onto the bed and cut the last light, laying back and thinking about how the hell I was going to get in touch with Ra'ito again if my phone was locked. The only light in the room was the faint glow of the street-light outside of my apartment, barely sneaking in around the curtains. I was torn between sleep and anger; now that I had eaten, I realized how tired I still was. For a few minutes, my thoughts wandered as I pinched various bits of myself, tugging at my waist, thighs, arms; I was like forty pounds now, and that looked
right