“Okay, class, everyone in their seats. Littles should be back with their assigned guardians.” Emily Brooks said as she stood up from her desk.
“I told you somebody is a bit jealous,” Kelli said, standing up. “Looks like I win,”
“She’s over me. We’re just friends.” Jordan argued.
“Come on, Jordan. She’s separating us. It’s obvious, you can tell it’s the reason why her and Sara don’t get along. This Ms. Brooks still likes you and doesn’t like that Sara, one of her students, is your guardian. As Sara has some control over you. Which is why Sara doesn’t trust her. She probably thinks Ms. Brooks will take you from her. As Ms. Brooks is an authority figure.” Kelli said, standing and walking towards the edge of the desk.
“I don’t know; she broke up with me, though, to focus on her career,” Jordan said.
“Everyone has regrets, Jordan. But I’m sure I’ll see you later.” Kelli said with a wave. “KAYLA! Get with the hand here. I can’t get over to your desk by myself,” Kelli shouted.
“R-right. Sorry, Kelli.” Kayla said as she started to stand up to fetch her sister.
“I got her,” Sara said, reaching over and grabbing Kelli with her thumb and index finger. Kelli looked down to see Sara’s fingers latched around her waist. Kelli started to say to wait when she felt herself lift off the ground. The higher she was lifted until she caught the gaze of Sara looking at her briefly before extending her out towards Kayla’s desk.
Sara was very much her junior, but her gaze felt somehow oppressive. As she looked at her, she found herself at a loss for words in a way she wasn’t with Kayla. The bravado and authority she felt around Kayla was gone. It made her realize that Kayla was probably right. She needed to be out more. She hadn’t been around anyone but her family since getting out.
“You’re just the cutest thing. I’m taking Jordy makeup shopping this weekend. If you want, you can come along and get a few things if your guardian approves.” Sara said before setting Kelli down on Kayla’s desk.
“Thank you,” Kelli said as she took several steps forward on Kayla’s desk. The idea of needing Kayla’s approval for something was still new to her. She was the older sibling, so she never had to seek anything from Kayla. So, the idea of having to ask Kayla to go somewhere was so foreign of a concept. She already knew what her parents would say. They would say something like, “What does Kayla think.”
“Did you have fun with Jordan?” Kayla asked as she got her materials out for class.
“He’s nice. So, umm, Sara mentioned going to get some makeup this weekend and said I could come along. So, you can’t sleep and lay around all weekend.” Kayla said
“Is the great Kelli Wallace asking something of little ol’ me?” Kayla said, seeing the uncomfortableness in her sister’s body language as she got out her notebook.
“Well, I was just letting you know the plan,” Kelli said.
“Oh, I don’t know. My raid group was planning on doing a bunch of weekend prog in final fantasy 14.” Kayla said
“What? In English, please, for us normies,” Kelli said, sitting down and trying to find a comfortable place.
“A raid group is a group of people who coordinate together to take down a boss or challenges in a game. It normally takes many tries, and you die repeatedly as you get the mechanics down and figure out a puzzle of how to defeat the boss, which requires eight people working in concert. That is called prog, short for progression.”
“Well, you can do your little games after,” Kelli said.
“No, Kelli, I have plans, and I’ve dropped everything for you lately. I’m not going. I have my own stuff.” Kayla said quietly.
“You know Mom and Dad won’t let me go if you’re not going, and you control my money,” Kelli said
“Then I guess you’re either watching me raid or spending the day with Mom and Dad. ” Kayla said
“You know how annoying mom and dad are. Arrgh!” Kelli said, hating that she was now at Kayla’s mercy. She had no way to make her do anything she didn’t want to do at this size.
“I’m in class; if you can’t be quiet, I-I’ll have to put you back in my bag, Kelli,” Kayla said as her face reddened a bit and Kelli glared back at her.
“Fine, this isn’t the end of this, though,” Kelli said, stewing in her thoughts as class started. Still unable to believe this is reality.
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1) “I dropped everything for you” at least you still had things to drop. I’m glad Kayla isn’t just rolling over for her sister though. (But she does owe her something for dragging her to school without warning)
2) Sara treating Kelli more like Jordan seems more her speed.
3) couldn’t imagine needing my little siblings approval/permission for anything, it’s understandable why Kelli’s pissed off, it’s shit like this that makes me wonder deeply about the Little suicide rate.
4) is Emily Jealous or is that just how the rules work?
5) Sara’s clearly influencing Kayla a bit here, it’s a bad sign.
6) it’s cute seeing Kelli requests a translation on Kayla’s gamer lingo.
1) Kayla also took months of classes and training to be a guardian. A person could also view going to class with her as a small price to pay.
2) I wouldn’t go that far. She basically just passing Kelli back to Kayla. She wasn’t exactly doing much with Kelli at all in my opinion
3) That would be awkward and a bit humiliating. I agree with you.
4) Time will tell
5)in what way?
6) Kelli is very much not a gamer. She was more of a might play candy crush on her phone if shes bored. Is as far into gaming as she would go.
1) true, but compared to everything Kelli lost, a few hours a day for a couple months is a tiny sacrifice.
Plus Kelli may have had plans, granted they’d probably have been limited to “what is she going to watch on a streaming service” but that’s still plans that Kayla has ruined for her sister.
2) true, but the way she made the decision and acted without consent from Kelli or even Kayla and spoke to Kelli seemed more like how she treats Jordan than how she’d been with Kayla.
5) the way she was much more dismissive of Kelli and ended the conversation with a threat. that’s not something I could Kayla doing in her fist appearance.
3~b) Unfortunately, I honestly think about the potential little suicide rate a lot in this story. I often wondered why there wasn’t a voluntary euthanasia option versus living like that. It’s likely just something that we’re meant to fill in the blanks for our curiosity.
Even keeping to the somewhat positive atmosphere of the story they obviously bring up some very dismal realities they try to keep away from little’s but suicide was only brought up by Sara when she mentioned Jordan looking for a pin on the ground in his kitchen.
It struck me as so odd that she would have an understanding that, that would be somebody’s first inclination upon waking up and realizing what happened, and yet mess with Jordan so much. Really playing with fire.
Yeah, it’d be ridiculously high and more than a few would be misreported as accidents. Suicide by Pet is likely a very common method as the guardian would think it was an accident.
I don’t think little euthanasia would be a thing, the government profits off of them far too much. Littles could live longer than humans (Asuka mentioned around double) so let’s say their life expectancy is around 160 years, potentially reaching the 200s, there’s annual registration fees plus taxes and other expenses so over a little’s life they could generate hundreds of thousands possible millions for the government. I can’t see Uncle Sam saying “Here little one, have a nice jabby jab and stop bringing in money”. this is also why Little birth control canonically doesn’t exist.
Sara bringing up suicide does make sense as she tried herself and is assuming he likely felt somewhat how she felt, that’s why it came up between them as she was trying to relate to him at that moment. Personally, I’d have liked Jordan to say “Closest I got to killing myself was when you left me in the tank all day” after she suggested he wanted to kill himself, which would have sparked an interesting reaction from her, I believe.
Sara does mess with Jordan a bit too much, but in her mind, she’s “joking with a friend” and “He’s enjoying it as much as her” which is why I don’t think she sees it as risky. Jordan has previously admitted that Sara’s shenanigans have helped him keep his mind off the worst parts of his situation so to some level messing with him does help, at least for now.
You nailed it
Lethal nails it. Government would never willingly euthanize a little as it’s just tossing money away. Thats why they have federal loans which was mentioned a while back as a method to get littles to people who can’t afford the upfront cost. As then you get a loan payment plus recurring licensing and fees forever from that family.
Littles are there own market and you don’t kill
Or destroy the merchandise. If anything they will spend more money on ways to lessen self harm and in theory smallborns would be less likely to attempt death as they won’t know any better. They will only ever know this life. So it’s just what life is. Over time the idea of a little ever being the same size as a person would be like how we speak of Roman and Greek mythology. It would be what amounts to a Disney fairytale in the eyes of a little and society at large.
Actually, isn’t imposing mental and emotional harm on a little also considered damaging or destroying merchandise as you call it. like how Sadie is treating her mom?
I understand that right now they’re just trying to get people out there to be guardians over the wards and are allowing anybody who takes the class to pass no matter how poorly they do. I personally believe that if they were concerned about the well-being of the little people and the money, they can make off them they would be more judgmental or more enforcing of rules of how one can and cannot treat their wards or penalties will be brought about.
Unless of course, that is what these people who come around and inspect the guardian and ward. periodically that Sarah brought up earlier, and how she has to have things set up in a certain before they come and check things out.
They would also talk with the guardian and the ward to see how life is going for them both in this condition. I can see how something like that would make up for the problem, say if the ward and the inspector speak with each other one-on-one away from the guardian and vice versa. The ward can explain to the inspector exactly how he or she feels about how things have been going and the way they’ve been treated and if any penalty or change of ownership can be made to make up for any mistreatment.
Another thought about the collar, since the inspector is a government official, they might also get a level of access to the collar’s cam and mic for surprise inspections. Just my thoughts
Not everyone counts mental/emotional health when considering this sort of thing unfortunately so I don’t think it’s too unrealistic for the government to turn a blind eye.
regarding Sadie and her mum specifically Sara compared her to an abusive parent and said “the laws haven’t caught up to reality” so it’s not like this behaviour is considered OK, it’s just not something they’re policing properly.
I’m looking forward to seeing the social worker aswell, but given how littles are treated and what’s available in stores for guardians I wouldn’t get my holes to high.
Interviewing both ward and guardian would be logical, as well as general people in Sara’s life such as friends and family, possible teachers
Not every collar has a Camera or mic, but I definitely think the worker may check Jordans if they learn about it.
That is true about the collar being a higher tier then the click and lock ones they have in the main store area. I mostly bring up the collar ideas for Jordan and Sara’s benefit. Though I just thought of a way the Government can make their well-earned (life in slaving) money…🤑👿😁
They can sell little security cams with mic strong enough to detect the smallest voice and set it up in the room the habitat is and other rooms the little can go to, so the guardian can watch him/them from their app on the phone. the inspector could use those the same way. Still just a thought.
I feel like Little baby monitors would definitely already be a thing, It’s a good idea, it just feels like something that probably already exists in this world.
(Actually, maybe the reason Sara put the phone back in the terrarium while Jordan was “grounded” was because she had one secretly installed and was checking in on him throughout her day at school)
Yes Emily vs Kelli rivals or two world to win the man of their dreams. As for the Kelli and Kayla relationship seems to still be good and not so one sided I’ll say but I understand Kelli frustrations but still fights and shows her unwavering willingness to get some choice and opinion heard and felt so I’m glad she has some fight in her despite what the world tells her.
Also Kelli x Jordan is still high !!!!!! Whooooooooo
Kayla and Kelli I would agree have a pretty healthy relationship overall.
I bet Sara talks to Kayla and Kelli gets to go. She is trying to set up Jordan and Kelli after all. Lol
She seems to want them friendly atleast.
It’s funny how Jordan would rather to be with Kayla than being doing makeup shopping.
I know the point is Jordan hanging out with Kelli, but it would be interesting if at some point, when them feel more comfortable each other Sara let’s Jordan into Kayla’s care while She takes Kelli to do girly stuffs with her friends.
Some of it is probably a grass is greener mentality. In that what you don’t have always seems more appealing. However, personality wise Kayla is similar to Jordan. She’s more reserved, tries not to make waves. She’s generally go with the flow. Will listen to one viewed as in charge. So to Jordan it’ll would be more comfortable in some ways.
As Sara does a lot, she socializes a lot. In turn she takes Jordan now to a lot of these outings