Kelli tried to change the topic, wanting to make things less awkward. “It’s strange, you know,” she said, gesturing towards the cavernous opening of the shoe. “This is my little sister’s shoe, and we could easily walk right into it as if it were a cave.” She couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease at the sight.
“I understand what you mean. It’s a strange feeling to be this small. Seeing a shoe at eye level is humbling. Kayla probably didn’t think twice about kicking it off here, but to us, it’s a towering structure in this world.” Jordan chimed in.
Kelli’s frustration boiled over as she looked around Kayla’s room. “God, I can’t stand this,” she seethed. “Everything about what you just said makes my skin crawl. This is Kayla’s room for Christ’s sake, and yet here we are, huddled by her shoe like we’re taking a break at the arcade.” She clenched her fists, glancing across the room where a group of teenagers, who would usually barely register on their radar, now held complete control over their lives. The atmosphere was tense and suffocating, like being trapped in a tiny room with no windows or doors.”
“It’ll just take some time to get used to. There are definitely some perks though. Sara gave me this awesome buggy that I love driving around her room. I wish I could take it downstairs and really speed up, but Mrs. Reeves would probably freak out.”
“Wait you have a car?” Kelli questioned.
“It’s green,” Jordan confirmed with a smile. “Driving it is a blast, especially in Sara’s room. Despite her put-together appearance everywhere else, she lets her room get a bit messy. So, there are always things to dodge and drive around, making it feel like an obstacle course at times. You should come over and check it out.” Jordan’s excitement was evident in his voice.
The ground beneath Kelli and Jordan trembled as a looming shadow cast over them. Slowly, they both lifted their heads to see Sara and Ellie towering above them like giants. For Jordan, this had become a common occurrence, but for Kelli, it was a new and unsettling sight. She was used to only seeing Kayla and her parents from this vantage point. Sara’s long strides brought her closer and closer, making Kelli realize the full gravity of the situation at hand.
“Uhhh something wrong Kelli? You have a weird look on your face.” Sara said as she looked down at Jordan and Kelli.
Sara’s ability to read her expressions was unexpected. The shock and unease of facing the harsh reality she now lived in were evident on her face. Kayla had never noticed this before, but seeing Sara’s observational skills up close made her wonder what else she may have picked up on throughout the day. Even though she seemed occupied with Ellie and their unspoken conversation, it was clear that she had been paying attention to her and Kayla as well.
“No, nothing.” Kelli said looking away slightly not wanting to meet Sara’s gaze.
Sara offered, “If you’re upset about Jordy not coming to your room, I could take you both there.” But Kelli wasn’t fooled by her offer; she knew it was a power move. Sara would love nothing more than to escort them to her own bedroom, as if they needed supervision in her own room.
Kelli’s voice was strained, trying to maintain a pleasant tone despite feeling a bit upset about the situation. She watched as Sara maintained her poker face, making it difficult for Kelli to read her thoughts. Sara gracefully bent down and laid her hand on the floor, her slender hand looking delicate against the hard surface. The room was quiet except for the sound of their breathing, creating an intense atmosphere.
“I guess i will see you tomorrow then.” Jordan said to Kelli.
“Yeah, we have that party. I doubt I will be going to school with Kayla or anything.” Kelli said before Jordan stepped onto Sara’s hand. “Oh, and wear something black to the party. That way we can match.” Kelli said
“I will make sure he is in the perfect outfit Kelli. I’ll even dress him personally.” Ellie said with a wink and smirk.
“ELLIE!” Sara said giving her a playful shove. “Don’t make me hose you down.” Sara added.
“I was just playin’ You know I like tall guys.” Ellie said.
“I mean Steph texted me about you and some nerd.” Sara said before turning to Kayla. “I’ll text you after work Kayla and I’ll pick you up in the morning from now on. I assume you’ll be training with Mal anyway once we get to school.”
“Are you sure it’s not out of your way? I can take the bus.” Kayla said nervously.
“Kayla quit. You’re my girl now. I’m not gonna let you take the bus. You’re with me now. I got you.” Sara said before turning to Chloe. “Are you sure you don’t want a ride?” Sara asked again.
“It’s out of your way and you and Ellie have to get to work. I’ll just hang out here with Kayla and Kelli for a bit while I wait for my ride.” Chloe said before standing up. Jordan huddled close to Sara’s stomach whereas she was holding her hand so that he was level with her navel. He looked up briefly as the two kissed intimately.
“Okay, be safe. Ellie and I will call you on speaker after work.” Sara said before leaving with Ellie.
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1) Kelli’s got three months on Jordan, you’d think she’d have adapted more by now.
2) Sara’s ability to read facial expressions is uncanny, the size difference would be like reading the expressions of people miles away, you’d think someone capable of doing that would have more empathy.
3) Kelli immediately identifying Sara’s powermove was good, I wish Jordan could read her like that.
4) “Sara gave me a buggy” Yeah, that’s not a perk to being a little, humans have cars too.
5) So Steph’s gossiping about Ellie and Brad?
6) “I’m not gonna let you take the bus” bitch you’ve had access to a car for 3 days, don’t act like you’re above the bus.
1) She has been a little longer than jordan but she spent alot of it in a facility waiting for Kayla to get trained.
So while she is more used to having to live as a little. She is less used to being around giant objects many times her size. As the pods they live in at the facility are size appropriate.
2) She can have empathy but if she doesn’t view them as equal species or stature. It would be different. I have empathy for a dog who has injured its paw but it is not the same empathy as I would have for another person with a injured hand. As i don’t equate a dog and a person as equal.
3) Kelli and Sara have similarities. Its probably something Kelli has done herself so its easy to recognize.
4)But most littles don’t have cars so it would be a perk.
5) We don’t know if its gossiping without more knowledge. Steph and Sara are close friends. So Steph could have just privately texted Sara asking about it, or just talking about it in general, or talking as friends about them hooking up. We don’t know if she actually told anyone else.
6) Well Kayla was taking city transportation. Sara and her friends were definitely not doing that.
1) But didn’t Kayla get her on weekend?, same time Sara got Jordan?
And did the facility really not have full sized workers around her to prepare her?
2) Right, so it’s her bigotry that prevents her from showing empathy to Jordan. Only bringing it up sparingly and often to manipulate him.
3) That’d make sense.
4) But Jordan’s comment was saying its a perk to being a little, not a perk to being Sara’s little, despite it being a lesser version of what humans have.
5) I guess, but since Steph wasn’t their, it’d mean she listened to someone else gossiping and reached out not Ellie, bit to Sara to discuss Ellie’s business.
6) wouldn’t the school bus have been city transportation?
1) yeah, but kelli didn’t go anywhere unlike jordan who has been taken everywhere sara has gone pretty much. so the experience time has been different.
They don’t really see the full sized works as you are in your pod and the worker is delivering food to them in the pod. So its not like they are walking out and intereacting with the full sized people orspeaking much to them.
Most of little training as this point is done virtually via the ipads. As time progresses educated littles teach littles based on last performance
2) I mean that’s how its generally used in the real word or at least has been my experience.
4)I can see where your coming from. Jordan views his buggy as something sara didn’t haveto do but did for him. So that where he is coming from.
However, outside looking I can definitely see your side. Not sure where i’d fall in personally. probably somewhere in between.
5) It hasn’t been elaborated on but Steph has sources within the school as she wants to be a journalist so she has informants and people who give her information.
She knows and hears a lot. It’s why mallory has issues. As steph ends up knowing everything.
6) school buses and city buses are typically separate at least in the united states. Buses and Subways are funded by the city. School buses are funded by the school which is funded by the government if its a public school. Private schools typically don’t have buses as they are self funded.
1) ok, I’d have thought Genritech would want littles to get use to interacting with humans in the facility to lessen the culture shock when they leave, but I guess not.
2) mine too. And Sara’s actually, Charity’s plutocractic bigotry really did a number on her, then she hypocritically passes bigotry on to Jordan.
5) That’s interesting. If Steph knows everything you’d think Mal would want to keep her close.
6) School buses are normally just normal buses that are designated for schools to use at specific time in Australia.
But we know Sara and Ellie did take the bus was my point.
6) “But we know Sara and Ellie did take the bus was my point.” That is true but not by choice. They took it because they had no. They no longer have too.
5)She does through Sara and while Mal isn’t crazy about Steph they do have a class together so its not like they are enemies or something. ”
1)Some littles do interact with people as littles do get integrated into the guardian program but thats more a different situation then what you are talking about.
Good that Kelli is venting more. Jordan more or less got that opportunity in his time with Sarah, but based on everything I’ve seen thus far, I could gather Kelli was keeping it in, probably for Kalya’s sake. Also good that she picked up on much sarah actually pays attention and how she recognizes power moves when she sees them. I wonder how much Kelli is really observing in turn with how sarah acts. Like if another day in school Sarah offers to help Kelli onto her desk and she turns it down but says Jordan can sit on Kaylas if he wants, and she just sits there lol it’d be a standoff that Kayla or Jordan would need to break up.
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Chapter 6: Mom? Dad? Can we Talk?
The family and Joey sat at the table enjoying their meal. Roni had kept her eye on Joey as he sat between Ciara and Sandi, eating and joking with them in his normal fashion. Roni couldn’t help but smile, especially with her plans being so close to completion without Joey having a clue. She knew he would protest and fight the whole way through if she told him outright, but with everything put in place already, all she needed to do was discuss it with her parents. “It’s for his own good,” thought Roni, seeing Joey make a goofy face at Ciara that even made her dad chuckle. “He doesn’t deserve to be shipped off to some random person. He deserves to be with people that love him and he loves, and this is the only way to do it now.”
As the dinner came to an end and Ciara and Sandi left the room, Joey took a deep breath and, before Roni, Jeff, and Kathleen could get up, he spoke. “I need… to tell you all something important. Do you mind… staying in the dining room for a bit?”
Mr. and Mrs. Hale looked from Joey to each other and then at Roni, who had a somewhat surprised look on her face. “Joey, you don’t have to—” began Roni.
“Roni, they’re going to know eventually. I should be the one to say it, plus,” Joey paused, “I left out an important detail that might affect whether or not I can stay over.” He concluded before looking at her parents and pulling out his envelope. “I just found out that I’m… not immune to Smallara. Eventually, I’ll become a little.”
Both parents’ eyes went wide with shock. Neither would have ever expected that someone like Joey would be an underbred. With how often he would speak to Roni about his desire to find ways to improve the lives of those afflicted with Smallara and integrate smallborns into normal society, it caught both of the Hale parents off guard to hear that a person like this would, effectively, lose their life and be put into a system that they wanted to improve.
However, once the initial shock wore off, both parents looked at each other and then at Joey. For Mrs. Hale, the normal look of love and compassion she had towards Joey was replaced with one filled with a mix of denial and confusion, while Mr. Hale seemed frustrated and contemptuous, but there was also something more.
“Joey… you’re an underbred? This whole time? How… can this be? It just doesn’t seem possible. You’ve always acted so… human,” stammered Mrs. Hale, her eyes filling with tears.
Mr. Hale’s face turned red with anger. “Because the best place to hide is in plain sight. You know how animals are,” he said bitterly.
“Jeff…” Mrs. Hale said quietly, reaching out towards Joey.
“What, Kat? Nothing I said isn’t factual. He’s an animal. He should get used to hearing it sooner rather than later. Hell, I don’t know why they just don’t round them all up now and help them adjust before shrinking. Pull the bandage off and all that,” he snapped back, pacing around the room. “First they hide their condition from you…until it’s too late to do anything, and then…when you finally get to see them, they pretend like…like…they never knew you! Like you didn’t matter to them at all and…they just care about whoever owns them!” Mr. Hale spat, a his voice lightly cracking in sadness.
Roni was furious with both her parents’ reactions to this news. Just moments ago, they were treating him like normal, like a part of the family, but now it’s like the past nine years of her and Joey’s friendship didn’t matter. Before she could say anything, she caught a glimpse of Joey and saw that he was handling what they were saying better than expected. “What did your parents say to you to make this not get a reaction,” wondered Roni.
“How long have you been hiding this from us, Joey?” Mr. Hale asked, his voice cutting through the tension. Hearing this made Joey flinch a little, as he almost never heard Mr. Hale refer to him as Joey, usually only just calling him ‘son.’
“I found out earlier this week, sir,” he replied, barely maintaining eye contact. “And… there’s more to it, like I said,” Joey continued, seeing all three humans’ faces contort into confusion. With a heavy sigh, Joey looked at them. “My parents have private security following me, so when I do become… small… they can immediately take me to a facility.” He faced both Mr. and Mrs. Hale. “As of three days ago, my parents started the process of disowning and disinheriting me….”
This hit all three of the Hales hard. Roni was aware of everything going on with Joey’s parents, but finding out that they wanted him gone so badly that they’d have him followed? That was a whole new level of cruelty. While she wanted to react with anger to this fact, as well as disappointment towards Joey for not telling her sooner, the reality for her now was that she had another cog in the machine that was her plan to become Joey’s guardian.
However, before she could speak, her father abruptly made one thing clear. “You need to leave, Joey. Now.”
“Dad! You can’t kick him out!” cried Roni, but Joey simply nodded, agreeing to leave. “It’s okay, Roni. I… had a feeling this would happen,” he said before turning to Mr. and Mrs. Hale. “Thank you for dinner, and for the years of hospitality and… well… treating me as if I was part of the family. I wish it didn’t have to be like this but…”
“Wait! It doesn’t! Joey, shut up for a second and let me talk!” exclaimed Roni as Joey looked at her. He was about to speak again before Roni glared at him with a stubborn ferocity he was all too familiar with.
“Dad, Mom… you could adopt Joey… he’d legally be your son and… we’d be able to claim him at that point, and I could be his guardian.” Roni explained, shaking with anticipation as both of her parents looked at her, and Joey’s mouth dropped in shock.
“I hope the couple of hours of research and messaging Generitech’s legal support helped me get enough information to pull this off,” thought Roni as she waited to hear what her mom and dad would say.
Its interesting to see how you are handling this. I like the story you are crafting here.
The parents really 180’d on them but only Roni really seems surprised by it. Joey kind of expected it. Knowing Roni does get to be his guardian. Its interesting to see how she will win her parents over.
You’ve done a good job with the story so far. It feels like it would take place in the smallara world.
Thanks! Mrs. Hales kinda how I see people act when they just have like the social norms without the actual experience, so I think she’s gonna loosen up a bit, but Mr hale I had to redo a few times to make some things make sense. Ronis surprise is kinda how I think sarah would be if it had been gavin or Ellie telling her parents and if her parents were like Cindy and Greg.
Ohhhhhhhhhh please! Ohhhhhhhhh please!!! Asukafan2001 I’m begging you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 have Ellie dress and bath 🧼 baby jordy!!! I know she is lying Ellie wants to she that itty bitty package on him. I can she her looking at it through a magnifying glass 🔍 laughing ohhhhhh pleasssssse!!!!💯💯💯♥️🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 I want him to get in trouble. I want to see Sara punish her baby bad spanky time!!! I hope Sara in the future forces him to call her mommy!!!! I can picture Sara changing him into a diaper on a changing table hopefully 🤞🙏🏻 that can happen. I want the girls in complete control of him and humiliating him. Is the Dayton dream coming back that seems wild. I’m dying to see more of that💯♥️♥️♥️🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻