Madison looked down at her mother, now small and fragile before her. Her face was poised with an air of arrogance, but beneath that façade, a storm of pity and confusion brewed. She never would have imagined that her mother—the formidable, unshakable woman who had shaped so much of her worldview—would become a Little. No one close to her had ever transformed. When Smallara first swept through the United States, Madison thought they were fortunate, that her family was immune to the devastating effects that shrank people into Littles. They were the lucky ones.
Her mother had assured her it was inevitable that they would remain untouched. “Our family doesn’t carry rodent genes,” she had said matter-of-factly, her confidence like a shield against any doubt. Madison had believed her without question; her mother’s certainty was a fortress she felt safe within.
She recalled when her teacher, Mr. Naughway, had contracted Smallara. Madison felt a pang of sadness then, a knot tightening in her stomach at the thought of him reduced to a Little. But her mother had sat her down, her voice firm yet soothing. “You shouldn’t feel sad,” she had explained. “Littles and people are of separate worlds. Do you feel pity for a mouse born a mouse, or a fish for being a fish? Everything has a purpose, and a Little’s purpose is beneath man, just like every other creature on this planet. There’s no wrong being righted here. That teacher was never truly a person, so there’s no need to mourn.”
Now, as she stared at her mother—a Little—Madison wrestled with the dissonance between those teachings and her current reality. Her mother insisted she wasn’t a Little, that she and her father were still her parents. But how did being her parent change the fact that, until yesterday, her mother had preached that Littles were essentially rodents? That one shouldn’t feel sorrow for someone who becomes a Little because it’s merely them reaching their natural state in life? That this was how God made them—to be lesser because they are lesser, existing to serve mankind like all other creatures?
The woman who had instilled these beliefs in her, who had shaped Madison into who she was, now stood before her as the very thing she had taught her to view as inferior. Madison recalled the countless times her mother had dragged her to fundraisers, rallies, and events promoting the idea that Littles should help humans just like any domesticated animal. Dogs and cats provided comfort, could be trained as service animals. So why not Littles, with their more advanced brains, once educated by man? Equality for Littles was a notion her mother scoffed at, dismissing it with a wave of well-rehearsed arguments and purported evidence. She had been instrumental in bringing education about Littles into public schools, teaching young minds about the “proper” place of a Little in human society.
Her mother wrote papers for educational journals, asserting that Littles were born uneducated and could only be trained through the guiding hand of humans. She extolled the therapeutic benefits of Littles, advocating for their use over traditional service animals. “Why rely on a seeing-eye dog when you could have a Little?” she would say. “Why let people walk around with emotional support animals when they could have a Little—a companion who can converse and be trained into a specific skill set?”
Madison felt a surge of frustration mixed with deep sadness. If anyone should understand their place in the world, it was her mother. She should be accepting of the laws she helped enact, the educational systems she established to teach young minds about a Little’s role. She should be the last person acting like a “fake” Little, denying what she had become. Instead, her mother seemed oblivious to the sacrifices she was making. She was giving up her dream of having her own Little to care for her parents. She was considering quitting dance to find a job that would put pellets on the table for them.
The prospect of her unskilled parents, now Littles at their age, securing employment was slim. The idea that her own parents were what her mother used to refer to as rodents was a bitter pill to swallow. Walking into school that day, Madison had braced herself for whispers and sideways glances, wondering if people would tease her about being raised by “rodents.”
But her friends had proven to be true. They surrounded her with concern, asking how she was coping, offering support without judgment. It eased the weight on her shoulders, knowing she could count on them when everything else felt so uncertain.
As Madison looked at her mother—now her Little—she felt the enormity of the responsibility before her. Both her parents would need her guidance and training. She would have to spend countless hours teaching them how they could contribute around the house. They could restring McKenzie’s tennis rackets, clean her dance shoes, remove the polish from their nails and repaint them. There were so many tasks they could learn. Yet her mother, who had once explained all this to her, seemed to have forgotten. Seemed not to grasp what Madison was going through.
Not once had her mother considered how hard it was for her to lose her parents in one fell swoop. They hadn’t thought about how difficult it would be for McKenzie to become both sister and parent. Madison knew she was fortunate to have McKenzie—so responsible, thoughtful, and caring. McKenzie was ready to give up tennis, commit full-time to raising her, go to school, and help care for Mom and Dad. She was prepared to work extra hours after school to bring in money.
Madison hated how everything in the house was a constant reminder of what she had lost. The family photos lining the walls, the familiar furniture, the kitchen where so many memories were made—all of it underscored the absence of her parents as they once were. She would never again curl up against her mother or have her father listen and console her. Never feel his strong arms wrap around her. Instead, she had Littles who resembled them but could never replace them, could never protect her or make her feel safe.
Guilt gnawed at her, intertwined with gratitude. She was thankful to still have McKenzie, to have someone to lean on. But now she had to look to McKenzie for guidance and try to be a support for her sister in return.
As she gazed at her Little—her mother—Madison couldn’t help but think about how neither of her Littles had thanked her for her sacrifices. For opening up her home and heart to them. They hadn’t acknowledged the habitat that kept them warm, the education she had begun to provide, the structure and rules she was establishing to bring order to what would otherwise be chaos.
Her mother had always taught her that sometimes a Little just needed a firm hand, a guardian strong enough to guide them. While her parents, now Littles, were far from the dream Little Madison had envisioned, she resolved to mold them into the Littles she had always wanted. She knew it would be a long, arduous process. She believed that once her parents overcame the shock and loss, they would appreciate what she was doing for them. After all, she could only imagine how difficult it must be to grieve the loss—the death—of oneself.
Madison felt a deep-seated sorrow. Losing her parents like this was harder than she could have ever anticipated. There was no funeral, no tombstone. Just a void where they used to be, replaced by two small Littles who looked like everything she had lost but could never fill the emptiness left behind. Time was the only balm that could heal these wounds.
While she loved her new Littles and knew she needed to show them more affection, they couldn’t seem to stop poking at the raw edges of her grief. Every time they insisted they were her parents, it was like ripping a bandage off a healing wound, causing it to bleed anew. She wanted to scream, to tell them they were not her parents and never would be. Her parents were the ones in the photographs on the wall, the memories etched in her heart.
But instead, she bit her tongue. She smiled and treated them like Littles because it wasn’t their fault. They didn’t know any better; they couldn’t help being what they were or looking the way they did. As her friends and McKenzie had told her, it would just take time. Loss wasn’t something one overcame overnight. In a few weeks, a few months, things would start to feel better. Even after a few days, the edges of her pain might begin to soften.
Madison took a deep breath, her eyes never leaving her mother’s tiny form. She resolved to be patient, to give herself and her Littles the grace they all needed. This was her new reality, and she would navigate it one day at a time.
Damn that’s deep and I’m so sorry but I still can’t fathom this her parents are dead thing it just seems so weird and odd to say they are still your mom and dad like wtf are we talking about okay there no longer human, or the one in charge and so on but despite that they are biologically still young mom dad by blood and records so I’m just at a loss for words in how that mind set and logic works in any case again I know this should be a situation where it’s a fantasy world and just leave at that but this her parents are dead thing is really hard to understand but great in depth chapter
This is discussed a bit later as well but I can provide some context to how this works.
They view it this way as a mix of science and religion.
Scientifically you are taking lets just say for example six foot tall person and reducing them to 3 to 6 inches tall. That matter has to go to somewhere. As the amount matter needed for a little versus a person is not equal. That matter is put out into the ether of the world.
Smallara as a virus isn’t shrinking it mutates the body. As a little isn’t just a person smaller. Its not a honey we shrunk the kids situation. So that matter of their old body is gone.
They are basically reborn in a lot of ways as a little. If you look at the size of a human brain and the size of a little it doesn’t correlate that has to be mutated and rebuilt which is part of what happens with Smallara.
That is why littles biologically can do things normal people can’t. Like they have better low light vision which has been discussed prior. Its because Smallara causes the vulnerable people to mutate and tehy are left as littles.
The reason why the cure doesn’t work indefinitely is because it has to create matter and the body has already released the matter through the mutation. So the body is rejecting the newly created matter and eventually they end up reduced.
What madison is referring to here is that because the brain is also re-created by this mutation its not one to one. Its not like copying and pasting a folder on your computer and now you have to replciated instances. It rebuilt the brain based on the memories of the person. Which introduces differences. They are very similar but not the same. The amount of similarity varies between little to little but its not drastic but there are differences.
It’s not noticed in Smallara prime because Sara didn’t have much of a relationship with Jordan before. So she woudln’t notice.
Kelli and Kayla are also just introduced and they are also at a much earlier part of the timeline where the full understanding isn’t present yet.
So what Madison is referring to is that her parents as she knew them no longer exists because there very matter and cells that made up her parents are no longer there.
Whats left is the little version which is mutated version of htem which looks like them and was based on them. But is different in some ways. Madison being there daughter is aware of this.
How people cope with this idea and make it understandable to them is through religion which has been done since as long as we have had religion.
This is god who made you a little. You are being reborn as a little. THis is the death of you a person in order to be reborn in the form a little which is your natural form. The way you were intended to always be.
So you mourn the loss of the humanity variant of those you love as all that is left is the little version which as Eminem once said, might just be the next best thing but not quite me.
Sorry for the long winded answer but I felt it was important as its talked about later but probably should have been brought up by now in story as opposed to somewhere in episode 50 something.
Seems kinda absurd. The experiences they had are very much real and even if it’s a new body they still have those experience? Is it more like a kid growing up or like programming a game so it can run on a different system? They will always remember and never forget what happened as those experiences are very real.
Beliefs and religions are generally viewed as absurd when its not what you believe.
Greeks believed in a polytheistic religion . They had gods for everything.
If you believe in a monotheistic religion, it seems absurd to have a god for everything as you believe there is only one god.
The system can be viewed as absurd because its not what is believed here. But that is what their culture believes.
The brain is being mutated and recreated in a smaller form than the original brain. So ideally the experiences are retained but its nature not science so the results can be varied. Some people are more like how they were prior then others. Its not a scientific process where it all boils down the same percentage retained in each person. Differences occur from person to person when the brain is reformed.
Similar to how you can have 3 different kids and they aren’t the same. One may be more athletic then others even though they were all born under the same circumstances with the same parents.
The concept is also derived from the guardians and persons perspective not the littles. This is the prescribed accepted belief in united states and other parts of the world.
Its what taught to people in schools and is supported by the government. ITs what most people believe but its not mandated they just don’t have a reason to believe otherwise.
As you have to remember while us are looking at this as this isn’t what we believe because XYZ. This is just the belief that developed and was put on the pedistal of how this works a mixture of science and religion.
THe people of this world are going around trying to disprove things they are just living there life. Most people read this shrugged and went to work. Dropped the kids off at daycare, etc.
They aren’t pouring over it trying to validate every word as its what taught, its reasonable enough to them.
Its also not challenged broader as it affects fewer and fewer people. As most people who are vulnerable and just living in society have already been infected.
Smallborn population is growing the population of people were born as humans and then became infected with smallara is dwindling fewer and fewer year over year.
So its not affecting a majority of people. If its not affecting people most don’t care or wont put much energy or thought behind it.
Also its important to note they aren’t denying the experiences they had. They are separating them between the two forms. The expiernces i had with the human form end at the death of the human body.
The experiences with the little body start at the creation of little body.
The two are viewed as separate.
wild lol i get and understand the concept, but such a tripy ride to watch, especially with cindy
It is. I mean i don’t expect everyone to agree with it. Which is fine. Its more i just wanted to people to atleast understand why they are doing and saying what they are doing and saying.
I think it’s really cool. idk if I agree with the logic as far as the story goes, but have a phoenix type of deal in the story is really cool to me. plus the gaurdians especially the ones that knew the littles before they became littles, can realize that there is way way more to littles than they’ve been told
That’s so sad. I hope Kayla never seen things this way and keeps a good relationship with Kelli.
Also, I hope Cindy grows as a person (sorry for the bad pun), accepts she is a little and stops seens thing this way, either, convincing her daughter that they are still the same parents who brought she and Kenzie to world and raised them, and the girls can still count on them. Otherwise, I worry about Cindy and Greg’s sanity.
I don’t think Kayla will really ever see kelli like that. They still need to have a talk about everything, but in general I think Kayla sees kelli as her big sister, but wants to make sure shes safe and all that.
0) You’re making me wanna hug Maddie again, well played.
1) “Our family doesn’t carry rodent genes,” Damn it Cindy, this is why I now like Maddie more than you.
2) Madison saying “They were the lucky ones” about immune people, finally someone using that term correctly.
3) Cindy organising events, rallies and fundraisers to oppress littles is fucking disgusting, she may be the first little who actually deserves to suffer.
4) Madison mourning the death of her parents, how they’d never hold or comfort her again, how she couldn’t feel like their little girl again and how both Mckenzie and she had to grow up quickly was hard to read, especially since they’re right there, alive and uninjured, If Cindy were a better mother she’d have taught Maddie not to write off littles so much.
5) Madison trying to be nice to her parents despite them not following the lessons they (especially Cindy but Greg’s not innocent) taught her was nice to read.
6) “Until yesterday, her mother had preached that Littles were essentially rodents?” yesterday her mother was already a little, this is day three of infection.
7) I’m glad Maddie’s friends stood by her, and that she wasn’t made fun of for having littles as parents, though I don’t doubt that’d happen to some kids in her situation.
8) “They couldn’t seem to stop poking at the raw edges of her grief. Every time they insisted they were her parents, it was like ripping a bandage off a healing wound, causing it to bleed anew” that’s such a good metaphorical description, I love it, and sadder still is that she wouldn’t see it like that if Cindy had taught her better.
agree with every point lol honestly can’t add anything else in my own posting, which is good cause this weeks been a long one XD
0) thanks thats the goal. I know everyone may not like her as a character. But I do want to make her be viewed as a person in which you may not agree with what she does or how she does it. But you understand why shes doing what shes doing.
1) Cindy was all in. You can give her that.
2)I thought you would like that line based on recent conversations.
3)Yeah, she was a public speaker on the topic. She was invested to her beliefs.
4) Yeah its a conflicted situation for sure. As based on how she was raised if littles are “rodents” then there is a strong disconnection between little and person.
5)Yes, I wanted to illustrate that she is also her own person. Like she isn’t just a muppet following her mothers beliefs blindly. she is capable of altering them and kind of making things her own.
6)I read this chapter multiple times and missed that. Good catch.
7) She has a good supportive friend group. I mean I’m sure some people made jokes in the school behind her back and such. Its kind of the nature of beast especially at that age. But her friends did stand by her. She has a good support structure.
8)Yes. Cindy created this world brick by brick and now she has to deal with the consequences of her beliefs. However, so does everyone else.
0) well you are achieving it.
1&3) Cindy was a fair-weather oppressor though, she was quite happy to preach that littkes are lesser beings when she thought she was immune, but completely flips the script when it turns out she isn’t
4) that disconnect is causing her some serious grief, not as much as her parents, but just shows the flaws in their beliefs.
5) you mean changing the rules to how they suit her? Don’t all kids when given the slightest opportunity?
6) yeah, even just changing it to “last week” would remove the issue entirely
7) That’s good for her, and if she dies have jokes being made behind her back, tough, that’s just life, and I’m 100% certain Maddie has made those sorts of jokes about others in her situation
8) she’s definitely suffering her own consequences, just like Greg Maddie and McKenzie are suffering her consequences.
Chapter 18: A Brief Break
While the three adults discussed Mr. Hale’s proposition down stairs in the conference room, Roni, Joey, and Santiago had made their way upstairs to Joey’s room. It had been a few months since Roni was last there, but the sheer size in comparison to her own bedroom still made her eyes widen in surprise. It was easily the size of the master bedroom her parents shared, maybe even larger, with various posters of Joey’s favorite athletes on the walls. Roni couldn’t help but suppress a small giggle, knowing that despite his claims, baseball had been more than just a means to socialize. Roni knew that Joey genuinely enjoyed it, even knowing he had gone as far as trying to meet a few major league players a couple of years ago, just to be thwarted by his parents before he could have their private chauffeur drive him to San Francisco.
As Roni explored the room, trying to see what all had changed since she had last been there, Joey and Santiago went over to Joey’s work desk where his 3D printer and expensive computer rested. Joey quickly sat down and opened his email client, typing like a madman. Santiago couldn’t see who he was trying to contact, but it was evident in his typing and the files he was zipping that Joey was trying to reach out to someone regarding a topic Joey thought was of critical importance.
“Senior Joey…what are you doing” whispered Santiago as he curiously watched Joey type away on his computer.
“Santiago…you don’t need to whisper. I’m just…sending an email is all…possibly the last one I have a chance to send regarding some of my ideas…” casually replied Joey with a resolute tone, finishing up a few details and attaching a few documents before hitting send, a smile on his face. Now that he was back in his home for the last time, Joey figured he’d get some last minute things taken care of before his shrinking. Especially the project he had been working on the last few months prior to his diagnosis.
Joey decided long ago that he’d need to do something big in order to get noticed by the product designers for Generitech, so he came up with and wrote a proposal for Generitech to have their own 3D printer design marketplace with proprietary printers as well as suggesting selling little safe resin in their stores. The 3D printer market place could be set up to only allow printing if a Generitech coded printer was hooked up to a computer, something Joey knew for certain that an industry titan like Generitech could whip up without much thought, and it would guarantee that all Generitech approved designs would be offered through them, allowing the company to get all revenue and create a user friendly process for Guardians to create their littles whatever they’d need without breaking the bank.
Joey had done some test prints on his own using animal safe resin, and had given Santiago the instructions on how to use his printer a few days ago. Of course, he had warned Santiago that he wasn’t too certain if the skin of a little would be more prone to irritation or if their sense of smell would pick up any residual fumes so Joey recommended letting it air out for a bit after completion. For Santiago’s nephew’s birthday, though, Joey had given him the design for a bed frame and for a to scale costume of Mjolnir armor from Halo that could snap together with relative ease around the body of a little so long as they were wearing some kind of fabric beneath it to keep the objects from touching their skin. Joey had tested this a few different ways on some action figures before deciding that it was safe for a little to put on themselves with guardian supervision.
“Wait-Joey, is that the Generitech Project you have been working on?!” asked Roni, her curiosity peaked and eyes narrowing with focus as she leaned over his shoulder, “I didn’t think you were going to be done with it by now”
“Yeah Roni. It’s not completely finished technically, but mostly done I think is good enough, considering current events. I didn’t want to miss my shot so…well…I’m taking it. I’ve also added you to it, and shared some of my 3D print designs with you, too.” stated Joey with a excited sparkle in his eyes as he made sure to share his cloud files with Roni’s email.
“You did? Why? I don’t have a printer or anything like that” questioned Roni as her face twisted in confusion.
“Well…I’m giving you my printer, and my laptop too.” replied Joey matter-of-factly to Roni’s surprise. “Look, I’ve always kept you in the loop with this stuff, and you’ve always supported my ideas. I just think you’re the one person in the world I trust to continue working on my idea if it gets any traction” he continued, looking her in the eye with assurance, knowing Roni could do this just as well, if not better, than he could if given the opportunity. “Plus, it’s a pretty high-end printer and laptop, so you can use it at college for projects and what not if you need to; you know…give it that 110% effort thing they talk about in sports” he added with a sideways grin.
Roni nodded along as she understood Joey’s logic. After all, he basically shared all of his plans with her and they both had worked on a few projects together, albeit it was mostly Joey driving things, wanting to make the lives of littles and guardians easier and affordable.
“Hey, what’s that folder there?” asked Roni, pointing to the monitor to a folder called ‘Everyday Little’.
“Oh shit…” said Joey as he realized he had started that a couple of weeks ago and forgot to tell Roni. “Sorry Roni, between school and everything prior to uh…current events…I had forgot to tell you I had another idea for a Generitech blog subscription where they offer designs for using everyday objects to make knock offs of things generitech and Preema Tech offer” Joey then spins around in his chair, knocking both Roni and Santiago off balance, and gets up to walk over to his workbench.
“See, one of the things that bothered me is how expensive the bathroom setups are, so I came up with this” He continues as he gestures to a small plastic-looking box with what appeared to be random junk attached to it.
“I couldn’t figure out how to get a toilet to work outside of connecting another reservoir, but I used a mix of smooth and textured pexiglass, some drip line, waterproof adhesive, and a waterpick to basically make a shower setup for a little. All the guardian would need to do is twist a knob then boom running water” Joey said proudly as he turned on the device and water began gently spurting out of the pick into the shower part of the bathroom. “I even made a drain that empties into another reservoir the same size as the other one so the excess water and soap has somewhere to go. All anyone would really need to do after that is use enough line to hide the reservoir or something…you know,keep it looking neat and tidy”
Roni’s eyes widened in pleasant surprise, a flury of her own ideas flowing through her head as she considered the possibilities. “Joey, this is incredible!” she leaned in really close, examining the effective, though plain looking, bathroom he made. “You could take the springs out of pens and some modeling clay and use those like on and off buttons somehow to turn the water off! Or even use them as a means to open a few small latches in some kind of drilled out bowl so it works like a real toilet!”
Santiago stood there and watched as the two teens exchanged ideas on how to improve the lives of littles with admiration. Very few people bothered to go out of their own way to educate themselves on littles, let alone come up with ideas on how to make their lives better. Granted, thought Santiago, it’s to help Generitech turn a profit, but the sentiment is still the same. These two, though, they really seemed to care. It’s unfortunate that Joey was no longer considered a person. No longer able to pursue his dreams, live the rest of his life like a human, take over the family business like he was born to do, or do anything he really wanted to for that matter. The idea of this bothered Santiago, as he knew Joey had been destined for something important, and the grief he felt was what he expected Joey’s own family to feel, and the fact that they didn’t, sans Johnny, infuriated him to no end, and eventually his emotions got the better of him.
“Joey…” Santiago said solemnly, drawing the attention of the two teens with curiosity, “Senior…I…Gabriella and I well…we both would want you to know that…you mean a great deal to us and…well…we are sorry senior…truly, dearly sorry…” Santiago looks Roni in the eyes “Seniora…please take care of him…show him the love his Madre and Padres should have shown him his whole life” and with that, Santiago took his leave, responding to an urgent text from Mr Calhoun.
Joey and Roni watched him leave then looked at each other. Joey, for the most part, was shocked. Santiago cared for him, sure, but hearing it out loud, after being classified as an underbred, made it sink in that, for lack of a better term, the Joey he is will be dead soon, and what’s left barely counts to anyone. Anyone except Roni, and even his future with her wans’t guaranteed. He looked at her, searching her eyes for support, and his expression softened as he got exactly what he needed, as Roni looked at him with a look that warmed his soul and reminded him that there are people that, no matter what he is, still cared about him. The two of them hugged, Joey’s posture relaxing in the embrace of his best friend, cherishing this moment as one of the fleeting few he would have with her as peers.
“Hey..lets start getting your stuff together, jojo” Roni said with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood using her sisters nickname, “After all, there’s a decent amount of junk in here that might look good in my bedroom, brother”
The two exchanged a reassuring smile as they gathered as much of Joey’s stuff together as possible, unaware of Santiago’s assent up the stairs to Joey’s room to summon them downstairs for Mr. and Mrs. Calhouns important announcement.
That was nice of santiago. Joey had some good people in his life. Not his parents but some good people.
Yeah. Joey’s a pretty genuine and caring person and in reality there’s a pretty good amount of workers in his parents employee that really liked him a lot. I wouldn’t put Santiago in the surrogate father and mother category like Roni’s parents would technically be, but he definitely would be up there in like a close uncle type of deal.
This definitely ain’t the Maddie from the original pics way back when. LOL
She wasn’t really a character in the original pics. It was just something done for promotion purposes to get viewers.
This is more a fleshed out character.
Yeah I meant it in a good way, by the way. Nothing against the mean Maddie of the old pics. But it’s nice to see the deeper part of her in these.
I agree. I don’t mind mean maddie but she was fairly 1 dimensional. I’m having more fun as a creator with this version of her.