I had had every intention of being a sulking through every second of the meeting with my Supervisor.

Right up until the point I had spotted the doll-sized little psychiatrist couch sitting on the Supervisor's desk.

I was still angry about this whole shrinking me unjustifiably thing but... It was mini little a psychiatrist couch. A red one.

The moment Vain left me on the Supervisors desk to go sit in the waiting room, I flung my exhausted existence into the couch's waiting embrace, laying face down across its length.

"You had me at Hello," I whispered to it lovingly.

Sitting in his chair above me, my Supervisor cleared his throat in amusement.

The fact that I hadn't bothered to look at him once since entering the room didn't seem to bother the man at all.

It felt stupid, to be a little relieved about that.

"So Maddison, how was your first day back at school?" A light male voice asked.

"Horrible," I exclaimed into the couch, too tired to be anything but honest.

The voice chuckled, and the sound of creaking signalled that the man had sat back in his chair.

"Want to tell me about it?"

"About as much as I want to stick my finger in a blender," I muttered.

Deflecting questions with smart ass remarks, I can handle.

Acting dumb, I have elevated to an art form.

Making up an alibi or outright lying about something....isn't really in my skill set.

"That bad was it?" My Supervisor asked, still sounding amused, but a note of concern had entered the fray.

Oh, this guy is good. Friendly but not intrusive. Disarming me at a safe distance.

"You have no idea." I sighed, making a show out of relaxing slightly.

The chair creaked again. "So tell me about it."

Tsk. You can't trick me so easily. I'm a jaded teenage girl, I can sense sincerity and empathy a mile away, and you'll never catch me alive!

Still, if that was the game he wanted to play...

Deciding he probably wouldn't believe half of it anyway, I told him about my day.

"In no chronological order, I was stuffed in a jar, harassed on the bus, stared at constantly by idiots, had to go to class and learn pointless stuff that I didn't really listen to anyway, was babysat by the two most annoying guys on the planet, had a near-death experience or two... Meh, maybe more, I lost count. Oh, and there is a huge conspiracy to get me expelled from school. It was all planned by this emo looking kid called Apollo. What sort of insane nut job would call their child Apollo?"

There wasn't really an intelligent answer to that.

"Then again. " I reasoned. "It's probably an alias."

"Conspiracy?" My Supervisor finally asked mildly.

Not going to react to my insane ranting, eh?

"Yeah. They're the ones who framed me for that crime, you know, the one I didn't commit. But no one in this stupid law system will believe me, so I'm now the size of a bug. A pray-mantis, to be specific."

There was a pause as My Supervisor took in all the information, and filtered out the most important question to ask.

"Why a pray-mantis?"

Covering up a small twitch by turning it into a shrug, I answered, still lying face down on the couch.

Now it had to be obvious I didn't want him to see my face.

"We have a lot in common, the pray-manti and I. Most noticeably our size, but we also share a quiet murderous intent and lack of empathy for our food."

There was a long silence, where he contemplated, and I fretted over what he was thinking.

I probably should have tried harder to give a good impression...

"Hmm, I think that we might need to reschedule your meetings for the mornings." My Supervisor murmured, followed by the sound of a pen scratching across paper.

I stiffened, somehow not welcoming the direction conversation had taken.

"Why?" I asked, not doing an overly amazing job at sounding unconcerned.

"You don't make any sense when you're tired." He answered simply.

Feeling like my tense strings had been cut, I sagged down into the couch.

What I wasn't expecting was to feel a little disappointed.

Not that I can blame him. Even if my story was believable, the amount of bullcrap I added on top of it makes even the most trusting people sceptical.

Any hope I had had about this situation was gone, more noticeable in its absence than anything else.

Without that nervousness, I found I had no longer had a problem sitting up on the couch.

"Does that mean that I can go now?" I whined, looking up at the giant man pleadingly.

My Supervisor looked up from the notes he had been writing, meeting my eyes for the first time.

The guy looked like the most typical doctor ever, neatly dressed and clean. He had loosely curling brown hair, most of which was tied back from his face in a low ponytail and his eyes were a pale blue behind his black-framed glasses.

I felt a bit of a shock at the sight of him.

If felt like... Deja vu? I had never met him before, but I couldn't help feeling like I had.

Guess that happens to him a lot, what with him looking like he just walked out of some hospital drama show.

My Supervisor raised an eyebrow at my staring, still looking amused... and friendly and welcoming and all those things he needs to be to make me feel like he isn't judging me.

"Have you been having any problems with your shrunken state?" He questioned, obviously moving onto the business side of this meeting.

I rolled my eyes.

"Obviously."

"Is all your equipment working?"

Geez, if these people want me to respond seriously, they have to stop phasing things like that.

"... Yes."

"Have you been experiencing any negative side effects?"

".... There are negative side effects to being shrunk!?"

"You're free to go." The Supervisor announced, snapping his notebook shut with a smile. He leaned over, pressing a button on his intercom and requesting that Vain be sent in.

I stood up, staring at the guy and still trying to figure where I had seen this guy before.

The man wasn't bothered by the intense study he was currently under, taking the time to file away his notebook with what I suppose was the rest of my information.

By the time Vain walked in, I still hadn't managed to find anything.

I didn't beat myself up over it. After all, to successfully find things in my brain, one often required a microscope.

... Maybe he's in the Shrink Program brochure or magazine or something.

With a shrug, I pointed a thumb back at Vain. "Looks like my rides here."

"I see." My Supervisor smiled at my attempt at a polite goodbye, in a way that...Made me nervous.

Somehow, the words seemed to hold much more weight then they should.

Vain didn't comment, silently placing a hand down for me to climb upon.

All aboard for the Vain Express. Choo Choo.

My Supervisor stood up as Vain lifted me gently up to his shoulder, turning his attention to the normal-sized student in the room.

"This is her next appointment." My Supervisor handed a note to Vain, who accepted it with a silent nod, careful to keep the movement simple as I climbed onto his shoulder.

"Thank you for coming to see me today, Maddison." My Supervisor said to me as I got comfortable, still smiling disarmingly. "It really has been most... Informative."

... Here I was, thinking that I was winning the psychology battle. Starting to suspect that I underestimated my opponent.

Nodding vaguely, I sent a wave to the neat man as Vain walked out of his office.

What a creepy way to end a meeting... well, I guess it is sort of his job to be cryptic and ominous.

Yawning, I settled deeper into my seat on Vail's tense shoulder.

Time to put my friend's worries to rest. "Well... that was easy."

Vain sighed painfully, sounding like his soul was being sucked out.

Turns out Vain only needed to see the end of my meeting with my Supervisor to judge exactly how it had turned out.

"At this rate, you're going to be stuck this size forever."