It was a bright and sunny day in Sacramento, with a few clouds in the air and a light breeze offsetting the heat of the California sun. Veronica Hale, more commonly known as Roni, was humming happily to herself as she rode her bike to a small neighborhood park about 20 minutes away from her home. The 17 year old 11th grader was as happy as can be on this sunny Saturday afternoon. She had just finished her assignment for math, had a nice lunch with her parents and sisters, and, most importantly, received the results of her Smallara status earlier this week. Much like her parents and sisters, she was found to be immune and couldn’t be happier. Roni was well aware of the treatment of Homo Parvus, or littles has she had become accustomed to calling them, by the general population, and the idea of falling under that category was less than exciting for her. As the wind flew through her black hair, she contemplated what a fate like that must be like, to be labeled as invalid despite seemingly being of the same mental capacity as a homo sapien, and being relegated to little more than a pet in the eyes of the United States. The thought of her own family seeing her as that sent a shiver down her spine, and she happily focused on the positive of finally knowing that she has her whole life infront of her still.
Her best friend, Joey Calhoun, a staunch believer in the rights of littles, kept her more than informed on the plight and uphill battle littles faced once they fell victim to Smallara. Losing all rights, being forced into being a pet, getting assigned a guardian that knew how to skirt the rules and laws around treating Littles so they can be used as slaves; none of it sounded good, and Roni genuinely appreciated Joey’s passion for the subject. He was so hell-bent on helping Littles improve their station in life that he had dedicated his own to becoming a civil engineer to better help Generitech develop more suitable housing and commodities to better meet their needs. Roni laughed at the thought, as it just made sense for Joey to be like that. He was always one to support people in need, even saying that once he inherited the Calhoun fortune, that he would use most of it to support research efforts in helping littles maintain their autonomy. Joey even wanted to volunteer his family’s company to help lead resource shipping on the west coast, believing Calhoun Shipping Enterprises to have the best with shipping and logistics than any of their competitors. If there was any way that a littles life could be improved, Joey was more than willing to make it happen.
It was this nature of his that caused Roni and him to become so close. Roni, despite being so bubbly and outgoing, always suffered from self-esteem and confidence issues. A lot of the time, it would get in the way of her trying new things. That was never an issue when Joey was around, though. He just had a knack for giving her the right motivation and the support that their other friends couldn’t no matter how hard they tried. Joey just got her, from grade school all the way through high school. He was always at her theater shows to support her, even though she was never a lead, and he was always cheering her on during her bike races, and had even helped her with training, despite the fact that his endurance was nowhere near her own. In fact, Roni would be lying if she didn’t admit that this unconditional support was probably why she has done so well in school and that it was the driving force for her to take on her own hobby of engineering, though more from a mechanical standpoint than civil.
Snapping out of her thoughts, Roni realized she was getting close to the park. Joey had been out of school the last couple of days and hadn’t said so much as a word to Roni, either. This was a little odd, but not unheard of for Joey. After all, being the heir to one of the largest Container Shipping companies in the United States did require that he spend a few days every now and then shadowing his father, learning the ins and outs of the company and building a rapport with the senior leadership, despite their fundamental views on certain things, primarily Littles. Roni could only shake her head at the thought, not understanding how someone like Joey could have been raised by people like his parents. While Joey had a genuine care for Littles and empathy for their plight, his parents, Leonard and Margeret Calhoun, considered them a nuisance at best and a blight on society at worst. Roni was no stranger to the shouting matches Joey and his parents would get into when the topic would come up, and if it wasn’t for Joey’s natural ability at managing the Calhoun Enterprise, she’s sure they would have sent him to boarding school somewhere on the east coast.
Not wanting to think about it further, Roni hurriedly peddled her bike to the usual spot under the large redwood tree just like Joey had texted. She did think it was a little odd, as she dismounted her bike and chained it up, that the only thing he had sent was the word “tree”. “Joey normally sends a bit more than that” she thought as she made her way over. There, under the tree sitting on the bench, sat Joey. As Roni walked up, she hesitated, as something seemed very off about the whole situation. Joey’s normally well maintained appearance was anything but; his curly brown hair more frizzy than usual, dark bags under his eyes, his clean shaven face showing a couple days worth of stubble. Even his clothing, albeit not fashionable as Joey preferred comfort over style, was in disarray and looked like it had been worn multiple days in a row.
“Uh, Joey?” Roni asked, concern creeping into her voice as she approached, “Is everything okay? You look like my dad after watching Football” she added, trying to lighten the mood.
Joey looked up at her, his eyes bloodshot. “Veronica” is all he said, causing her to stop dead in her tracks. The only time Joey and Roni used their full names like that was in serious situations, like when Roni’s pet dog passed away a few months ago or when Joey’s grandfather passed away a few 4 years ago..
Before Roni could speak, she saw Joey pull out an envelope from his pocket, her blood running cold as she recognized it, having just seen one exactly like it a few days ago. Everything seemed to click for her: the disheveled appearance, bags under his eyes, the envelope.
Roni’s thin lips began to quiver and her eyes watered. “Joey..no..it can’t be…” was all she could manage before she ran up to him and took the envelope, taking a seat right next to him. She pulled out the letter and the tears began running down her cheeks and her hands started to tremble, seeing two bold words stick out from the rest of the nonsensical medical jargon: Not Immune.
“I’m afraid so, Roni”, replied Joey with quiet confirmation, “I found out a Monday and, had been taking some sick days from school to, lets just say, discuss it with my parents”
“Well, they’re going to support you and everything, right?” questioned Roni as she wiped her nose and eyes, “I mean, I know how they feel but, you’re their son. THey don’t even need to see you, Johnny can take care of you can’t he? He’s old enough, and responsible, and he loves you and” Roni stopped as Joey looked her dead in the eyes, tears rolling down his cheeks.
“They’re disowning me, and they’ve already kicked me out of the house, and as soon as I shrink, I’m being sent to a generitech facility. They aren’t even going to tell Johnny until after it happens and are doing everything they can to keep me away from him” Joey says with a hollow voice, “I had been spending the last few days arguing and begging them to at least let Johnny be my guardian, and I said the same as you did but, they didn’t care. ‘The Calhouns don’t have filthy underbreds’ as my dad said” Joey says as he starts sobbing.
This shakes Roni to the core. She knew his parents despised littles but, to completely remove their eldest son from their life because he is one made her sick to her stomach. Worst of all, it meant that Roni would never see Joey again. He would be sent to a generitech facility until he was adopted by some stranger, and taken to who knows where and subjected to who knows what.
Roni can only wrap her arms around Joey and hold him tightly, running her hand up and down his back to comfort and console him as they sit there. Neither one of them said anything over the next few minutes, both lost in thought about the current situation and not sure what to do about it. That is, until Roni has a thought. Possibly the only hope to keep Joey in her life, and to ensure that Joey’s life is the best possible one it can be.
“Joey, I’ll be your guardian”
Excellent you were the first person to use the next chapter option. I’m glad it worked out. Its not most elegant but its the best way I could work out that would be easy enough for most people to do with how the system works.
Glad to see you trucking along with posting this.
thank you. one thing i did notice though is that it’s kinda hard to find the fanfictions. not sure if there’s a way to add a tab to the navigation bar and maybe letting users request a public facing folder to post in so they’re all easily to find and only user A has the abiliity to add and edit the entries while all other users can only view the entries. like similar to how you have all the tabs for the other stories so we can view them, but you can post and modify the entries.
and yeah, i’m enjoying it. there’s been things I’ve wanted to revise so this is actually helping a lot lol
Hmmm, its a fairly manual process in how the menus and tabs and such are done.
It wouldn’t be difficult to add a fanfiction tab for the time being. Ultimately depending on how many users write a different solution would need to be come up with.
no worries, whichever works best\easiest for you. don’t want to turn a hobby into a job lol
1) “Losing all rights, being forced into being a pet” and that’s one of the better outcomes, slaves and servitude are also common situations.
2) sounds like the Calhouns are the Montgomerys of the West.
3) sounds like Joey’s parents would enjoy Cindy’s rallies and speeches.
4) Definitely a good read, looking forward to more.
5) I like that Joey and Roni were both already supporters if little rights before knowing Joey was vulnerable.
6) what year is this taking place in?
1)yeah. That may come up a bit more. both of them are aware of how other countries are in comparison to the US, but since Roni has mostly gotten her info though Joey, she’s kinda been sheltered from the depth of that stuff, while Joey has done some a lot of research on his own.
2) i thought it was hilarious how that worked out lol I’d call them montgomery light. you’ll see why later on.
3) lol to be honest, idk if they’d go. I think they’d agree with the concepts of a littles place being beneath and subservient to humans, but at the same time I think they just would outright think littles aren’t much more than rodents. kinda walk that line of extremism and ignorance
5) They’re walking that line of knowing littles are biologically different, but also knowing that there hasn’t been anything publicly stated by the gov or generitech that, in regards to intelligence, they are essentially at homo sapiens levels of understanding and reasoning, so they really don’t see the need to treat them as less, just help them get by in the grand scheme of things. I’d put Joey as somewhere along the lines of Chrissy but wanting to work for\with Generitech vs a sanctuary, and Roni probably a few pegs below.
6) that’s where my writing weaknessess and inconsistencies are probably going to come up, as I don’t think I had really considered exactly when I had wanted it to take place and had thought I was writing all of it in the same year as smallara lol
I would say, given what I’m letting Joey and Roni know and what is public, a bit after when Jordan catches Smallara, but I also don’t think it makes sense for it to take place at the same time as Madison’s world because it’s hard to beleive Joey would have gone so long not knowing he wasn’t immune. so maybe a year and a half post-Jordan would be fair. really kicking myself for not taking notes on all of that before starting this lol
4) thank you. this is my first creative writing type of deal in probably 13 years lol hoping to improve
6) The same year as Smallara is good, that’d put this story as occurring in 2020, meaning Roni and Joey were born in 2003.
Do you have all the years and stuff noted? I’m not overly certain when Jordan shrank. I know the first US case was 2016ish, and I thought that Smallara was 2019 and that Maddison’s world is 3 years after that, but I’m having trouble finding that. Just want to give a difinitive timeframe for this lol but I think 2020 is supposed to be right.
I’ve made a whole timeline with all the information in the story given about when things happen.
Jordan shrank on 15th September 2020.
First US case was Rachel Harbours in 2019
Madison’s world is three years after Smallara in 2023
I’ve made a second version with my both my fanfics’ information, and have now added yours to it.
thank you. In that case I’d put this in May 2021, close to the end of their Junior year (11th grade) of high school. I think would make some of the info Joey and Roni know a bit more plausible and will probably help with some references and I plan on making in the future and help me keep it as close to cannon as I can.
I’ll update the timeline.