The morning crept in, not with sunlight, but with the gentle buzz of Evan’s alarm vibrating across her nightstand. A muffled pop song pulsed from her phone as she stirred under the covers, one arm flopping outward to silence it with a groggy slap.
Charity was already awake.
She hadn’t slept, not really. Not after last night. Her skin still felt raw in places, her limbs stiff from curling against the habitat wall for hours. She had eventually crawled back into bed, but the scent had followed her there, clingy, sweet, inescapable. It had sunk into her like an unwanted ghost.
And now it was morning. And she still smelled like cherry vanilla.
The enclosure cover lifted with a rustle. Evan’s face appeared, grinning down, cheeks faintly flushed from sleep, hair pulled back in a lazy bun with strands already starting to fall loose. She wore a pastel hoodie and soft blue shorts. Casual. Comfortable. A girl waking up in her room.
Charity hated how normal she looked.
“Good morning, Charity,” Evan chirped. “Ugh, you still smell amazing. I can’t even. You are so cute. I just love you to death.”
She leaned down, nose hovering close.
Charity didn’t move.
“Mmm,” Evan sighed dramatically. “It’s seriously so strong today. Brie’s baths are no joke. Like it’s baked in or something.”
Charity’s throat tightened.
Baked in.
That’s exactly what it felt like. Like something had seeped past her skin and settled into her cells. She swallowed hard and shifted slightly on her bedding, wrapping the fleece blanket tighter around herself, not for warmth, but for cover. For dignity.
Evan didn’t notice the tension.
“I think the scent gets stronger after you move around, too. It’s like your sweat activates it.” She giggled. “Science is wild.”
Charity stared at her.
She wanted to scream.
Not just because of the bath.
Not just because of the smell.
But because Evan said it like it was cute.
Like this had been some collaboration. Like they were two besties curating a Little’s perfect “aesthetic.” As if having your body chemically altered, your scent, your hair, your entire presentation, was just some fun summer trend on Shard. Not the slow erasure of your identity.
Evan didn’t see it. She saw it as pampering.
As love.
“I think I’m gonna give Brie a five-star review,” Evan continued, already unlocking her phone, thumbs flying. “What should we do for next week’s bath? Maybe vanilla-peach? Or maybe we just lock in Cherry Vanilla as your scent? It’s so you.”
Charity’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.
She wanted to scream.
She wanted to break the glass of this enclosure. To rip the collar off her neck. To grab the scent vial and hurl it across the room. But her arms were pinned tightly to her body, folded like armor, and the collar’s ID tag gave a delicate jingle that mocked every flicker of resistance.
“I think we definitely need Brie to touch up your hair,” Evan added casually. “I don’t want a single lock to grow. This look is so you.”
That hit deeper than Charity expected.
So you.
The way Evan said it, it wasn’t just a preference. It was a decision. Final. A line carved into stone.
Her hair wasn’t hers anymore.
Her scent wasn’t hers anymore.
Her identity was being re-engineered, pink layer by pink layer.
She imagined herself five years from now. Still collared. Still tiny. Still wrapped in these pastel fleece blankets, her hair kept in perfect place, her sweat releasing sweet, sticky Cherry Vanilla like she was some goddamn air freshener.
Her lips parted again, but her voice betrayed her. Faltering. Weak. A tremor of air, not sound.
She was trapped in a prison of glitter and sugar.
A candy coated cage.
And Evan was the girl who would keep her there, thinking she was doing her a favor.
Forever.
“I know that look,” Evan said suddenly, peering down at her from above. Her tone was bright, but it pierced like a needle.
Charity froze.
Had she slipped? Had she shown too much? Her pulse quickened. Had Evan sensed the revulsion beneath her silence? Was she not as clever at hiding her feelings as she thought?
“What do you mean?” Charity asked, her voice soft yet audible, but the worry cut through anyway. She couldn’t help it.
Evan leaned in with a warm, satisfied grin. “I was joking about the peach vanilla. I can see how distressed you are.”
Charity’s stomach sank.
Not because she’d been caught.
Because Evan thought she was being generous.
“We’ll keep you Cherry Vanilla,” Evan said kindly. “Since that’s what you want. You’re welcome.”
The words landed like syrup in Charity’s ears, thick, sticky, hard to swallow.
There it was again: the illusion of choice.
Evan hadn’t asked her. Hadn’t waited for her to speak. She’d interpreted discomfort, rewrote it into preference, and handed it back as a gift.
Like some benevolent queen giving her pet the comfort of consistency.
Charity didn’t reply.
She didn’t need to.
Evan was already moving on.
“But you’re seriously gonna be the best smelling Little at the theater,” she chirped, unlocking her phone again with a burst of quick taps. “We’re so gonna turn heads.”
Charity blinked.
She hadn’t processed the word yet. Her body tensed.
“Theater?” she echoed, a little too quickly.
“Yeah, duh.” Evan beamed, all sugary enthusiasm. “You’re coming with me and the girls Friday! You’re cleared for your first outing.”
She said it like a reward. Like a milestone.
Like being paraded through a suburban mall in a pink hoodie, smelling like a Bath & Body Works candle, was the pinnacle of her new life.
Charity’s stomach lurched. Her throat clenched tight. She wanted to vomit, but she didn’t even trust her body to do that properly anymore.
Charity nodded again, her face composed but her thoughts unraveling at the edges.
Theater.
With them.
Evan’s friends, Brooklyn, Madison, and whoever else she ran with at that public school, the kind of girls who wore loud lip gloss and puffy keychains, who posted Shards in the school bathroom mirror and laughed too loudly at everything.
They weren’t Charity’s kind of people. They never had been.
Charity had gone to an elite academy with Latin mottos above the lockers and biometric attendance tracking. Her school uniforms had cost more than most people’s prom dresses. She’d had a maid, Alejandra, technically her housekeeper, to iron her skirt pleats and pack her curated, allergen-free lunches. Her hair had been salon trimmed weekly, her manicure never chipped.
She used to smirk at girls like Evan. Girls with mismatched socks and hand-me-down backpacks. Girls who shopped at chain stores and bragged about getting three tops for the price of one.
And now she’d be on display for them.
In a hoodie.
In fleece leggings.
Smelling like Cherry Vanilla.
The nausea rolled through her in slow, choking waves. It wasn’t just that they’d see her, it was that they’d own the narrative. Evan’s Little. Evan’s Charity. A former private school queen, now accessorized like some middle schooler’s birthday gift.
Would they laugh?
Would they remember?
What if they recognized her from the FaceTime call? What if they didn’t even think it was strange?
Worse, what if they assumed this suited her now?
The idea that Brooklyn might lift her up by the armpits, spin her around for a photo, and say something like, “She’s so cute when she’s trained,” made Charity’s throat tighten.
She imagined their stares. Their phones. Their commentary.
Would they mock her?
Or would they… pity her?
She wasn’t sure which would be worse.
She had once walked into theaters with her own group, flanked by girls in structured blazers and Chanel perfume, picking apart everyone else’s style with murmured judgment. Now, she’d be passed around like a novelty, her opinions irrelevant, her dignity up for grabs.
She imagined herself perched in someone’s lap while they giggled through previews. Being fed popcorn like a parrot on someone’s shoulder.
A phantom pressure built under her collar. Not physical. Social. Shame bloomed beneath her skin like heat rash.
She curled her fingers into the edge of her fleece blanket.
She wanted to disappear.
But instead, she smiled.
Because that’s what good Littles do.
It was a skill she’d developed fast in Evan’s world, precision smiles. The kind that suggested gratitude, but not glee. That showed obedience, but not eagerness.
Because if she didn’t smile, just enough, Evan might reconsider her privileges. Might decide she wasn’t adjusting after all. Might threaten to start over. Reset the training. Strip her even further. As thats what she would have done so certainly Evan would.
And Charity knew better now.
Beneath the softness of fleece and teen slang, beneath the glitter and pastel and cropped sweatshirts, Evan was still a girl with total power.
More terrifying than Alejandra.
Because Evan didn’t see herself as cruel.
She saw herself as loving.
Charity pressed her arms tighter around herself, as if she could hold in what little of herself still remained. She gave a small nod.
“Great!” Evan clapped once and moved to her vanity. “We’ll have to find something adorable for you to wear. I want everyone to know how good I take care of my little heiress. I want them to see how cute gosh darn cute you are. Uh, your just so perfect.”
That word.
Heiress.
Once a title of power. Now a nickname. A costume.
Charity nodded again, mechanically, feeling the scent of Cherry Vanilla cling to her like a second skin. Evan leaned forward and inhaled. A smile crept across her face. Then the cover was lowered again, and Evan’s footsteps padded away across the room.
Charity stared into the semi-darkness, the scent still heavy in her nose.
She hated how she could smell herself.
She hated how Evan could smell her.
But most of all, she hated the moment, just a breath, just a flicker, when Evan had leaned close and smiled, and her body had felt a spark of warmth.
Not because of the affection.
But because that scent had become familiar.
And Charity sat there.
The enclosure cover hadn’t even fully settled before Evan flopped onto her bed, phone already in hand. Her fingers danced across the screen with practiced speed, tapping and swiping, that quiet rhythm of teenage texting echoing like a metronome in the room.
Charity lay perfectly still.
She could hear it. The little “whoosh” of each sent message. The synthetic ding of one coming back.
Then Evan giggled.
“Oh my God, Brooklyn is gonna die,” she whispered aloud, even though no one had asked. Her thumb hovered as she dictated a voice message. “She smells soooo good right now. Brie gave her the Cherry Vanilla bath, like full soak. I literally can’t stop sniffing her.”
Charity’s stomach dropped.
Another ping. Another laugh.
Evan tapped record again, her voice airy and excited. “Wait until you see her outfit for Friday. I got her these fleece bloomers and a cropped hoodie in this muted bubblegum pink. It’s giving mall princess, but like… little. Like she looks so kept.”
She paused.
“Oh! And I think I’m doing the double bun look with the ribbons. You know that one Sara did with her Little for the amusement park vlog? Yeah, that. I want people to see she’s trained. Like, proper trained. Brie even said she’s almost outing ready.”
Outing ready.
Charity had never heard the term before last week. Apparently it was some kind of threshold, a marker for when a Little was tame enough, obedient enough, displayable enough to be brought out in public. Like a purebred dog after weeks of obedience school. Now somehow Brie had say over her progress or made some observation.
She swallowed, forcing her face not to twist as Evan kept talking.
“She used to be like… big, you know?” Evan was saying now. “The Steven’s family was a legacy family. The snobby ones with drivers and compound gates. But she’s soooo much softer now. Like, she still has her little pride moments, but I can tell she’s getting it. Honestly? She’s thriving.”
Thriving.
Charity stared at the ceiling of her enclosure, blank and featureless.
That’s what Evan thought this was. A glow up. A lifestyle upgrade. Like getting a new phone case or switching skin care brands. Not a collapse. Not a quiet, daily death of everything she once was.
A shadow passed over the cage, Evan, shifting to lay on her stomach, feet kicked up behind her as she typed again.
Charity heard her read aloud as she typed this time, giggling at her own cleverness.
“Charity’s like the final boss of Littles. Total bad bitch back then. Now she smells like cupcakes and cuddles in my palm. Can’t wait for everyone to see her.”
Charity felt something in her chest cave inward.
That’s how she would be introduced.
Not as a person.
Not even as Charity Stevens, the name that once echoed through fundraisers and galas and team captain speeches. Not the girl who got Alejandra fired once for shrinking her wool skirt in the wash. Even if they did rehire her a few hours later.
No. She would be “cupcakes and cuddles in my palm.”
A novelty.
A trophy.
Charity closed her eyes and pressed the blanket to her face, not to hide, but to breathe. To see if she could still smell herself beneath all that cherry vanilla. Just one trace of the old her. One molecule.
There was nothing.
Evan giggled again.
“Oh my God, she’s blushing. I think she knows we’re talking about her.”
Charity didn’t move.
Didn’t flinch.
Didn’t give Evan the satisfaction of a reaction.
But inside, she felt her lungs constrict.
Friday was coming.
And she wasn’t ready.
The picture don’t appear
Try reloading it’s showing on my end.
I know Charity was already awake but if that was me in her place. I’d be a grumpy male little for sure.
As someone who likes to sleep in. Me too
A) I like the picture of Evan looking down on her little girl like a loving little mom.
B) I think the love and pampered lifestyle Evan is giving Charity like a kept princess is perfect for striping down Charity’s bad girl self and rebuilding her a sweet little.
C) Charity being smart enough to smile instead to pout I believe means she will wear down as the bond gets stronger but have less punishment and training on the way to be a cuddle princess lol.
D) I think Evan showing off Charity and her during friend events I think will make a statement that Evans way of training her little is better then Cindy’s but will use Cindy’s way with Cindy only to be a friend to Madison. Having Evans princess doing the little sit would never do for Evans little girl.
A) well she likes her little a lot. Seemed appropriate
B) Evan is never intentionally cruel with charity from what has been depicted so far.
C) well she knows how to play the game.
D) well charity is going to the movies. Who can say how much she is specifically shown off.
“Oh! And I think I’m doing the double bun look with the ribbons. You know that one Sara did with her Little for the amusement park vlog” I love how she keeps Sara influence around. So nice to see
Sara has gained popularity and is a bigger deal than she was prior. More eyes on her streaming stuff. More sponsorships. Plus the little mart deal is a big deal
I love it. I think the way you had Sara learn from her mistakes in how she treated Jordan and how their relationship evolved in to not just a bond but love for each other on a maternal level. I think Sara has become the closest to a perfect guardian in that world with her almost doing everything right but still follows the goverment rules to the word believing littles are pets and seeing her or the girls in her PE naked taking showers is fine and the collars are for his protection. I think you making her a famous guardian that people think is beautiful and treats her little perfectly on the stream is a great redemption story to bind all the story’s together with Sara and Choles influence and showing herself and Charity she is no longer the chubby girl but a woman girls want to copy her look like a top influencer.
Jordan surprised Sara with a new job by cleaning her feet.
ugh, building a computer is such a hassle lol still not even completely done (stupid freaking fan bearing). was thinking i wish I had a little that could help with cable management and stuff too haha would have been hella grateful.
anyway, how long has charity been a little at this point? 2is weeks?
What kind of gpu u tossing in that monster. I got. 5080 recently and it’s life changing render wise.
Longer than that as there was the time skip with Alejandra before the meet with Chloe.
Now she’s been with Evan so it’s been some weeks at this point
Will Charity meet Sara in the future?
anything is possible.
Went with a 5070 ti. I don’t think I have had a ti since the 980 series lol
Weeks makes sense. Just now remembered that she wanted to wait at least a month before taking her out.
the 980ti was such a good card. i went from that to a 3080 and then a 3080 to a 5080 i got last month.
The 5070ti is a super good card too its just a hair behind the 5080. I was looking at it when i got my 5080. It was such a hard call between the 5070ti, the 5080 and the 5090.
What cpu did get?
Man I road the 980 out until maybe 3 years ago, and that was only cause a friend gave me their 1080. But I think I used it for like 8 years. It rocked haha
I ended up going with a AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D. Felt like mixing it up. My previous pc I went from I think a i7 to the i9 9000 series cause it was discounted with a water cooler haha
ooo i went with the 9800x3d. I will be curiosu what you think of the 9900x3d
I’m excited to try it out. Got it and the 5070 just in time for battlefield lol
My brother has a 9950x and likes it. I think he uses it mostly for his coding and model training but it sounds like it works really well
1) “Ugh, you still smell amazing. I can’t even. You are so cute. I just love you to death.” It’s starting to border on toxic positivity.
2) “It’s seriously so strong today. Brie’s baths are no joke. Like it’s baked in or something.” Brie’s bath, or did Charity enhance it by trying to remove it?
3) “She wanted to scream. Not just because of the bath. Not just because of the smell. But because Evan said it like it was cute.” that’s because it is cute to Evan,
4) “Charity’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.” That’s terrible communication, Charity.
5) “She imagined herself five years from now. Still collared. Still tiny. Still wrapped in these pastel fleece blankets, her hair kept in perfect place, her sweat releasing sweet, sticky Cherry Vanilla like she was some goddamn air freshener.” Evan may have changed by them; she’ll be 17 after all (though biologically 14-15 due to the Smallara remnant)
6) “Had she slipped? Had she shown too much? Her pulse quickened. Had Evan sensed the revulsion beneath her silence? Was she not as clever at hiding her feelings as she thought” No Evan’s not looking for that.
7) ““I was joking about the peach vanilla. I can see how distressed you are.” only part of why Charity wasn’t happy, and not even the main part.
8) “There it was again: the illusion of choice. Evan hadn’t asked her. Hadn’t waited for her to speak. She’d interpreted discomfort, rewrote it into preference, and handed it back as a gift.” A common guardian trick
9) “You’re coming with me and the girls Friday! You’re cleared for your first outing.” Progress.
10) “She used to smirk at girls like Evan. Girls with mismatched socks and hand-me-down backpacks. Girls who shopped at chain stores and bragged about getting three tops for the price of one.” Evan never seemed that poor.
11) “The idea that Brooklyn might lift her up by the armpits, spin her around for a photo, and say something like, “She’s so cute when she’s trained,” made Charity’s throat tighten.” sounds like something Brook would do.
12) “She imagined herself perched in someone’s lap while they giggled through previews. Being fed popcorn like a parrot on someone’s shoulder.” they wouldn’t feed her popcorn, that’s human food.
13) “It was a skill she’d developed fast in Evan’s world, precision smiles. The kind that suggested gratitude, but not glee. That showed obedience, but not eagerness” this is seeming surprisingly dark, like an abused child pretending their fine.
14) “As thats what she would have done so certainly Evan would.” I thnk Charity’s seeing more of herself in Evan than there actually is, Evan looked up to Charity, but also didn’t actually know her that well
15) “More terrifying than Alejandra. Because Evan didn’t see herself as cruel. She saw herself as loving.” The road to hell is paved with Good intentions.
16) “That word. Heiress. Once a title of power. Now a nickname” OK, but is it better or worse than ‘Patrona’
17) “Oh my God, Brooklyn is gonna die,” we can only hope
18) “It’s giving mall princess, but like… little. Like she looks so kept.” Using Kept as a complement is wild
17) “Oh! And I think I’m doing the double bun look with the ribbons. You know that one Sara did with her Little for the amusement park vlog?” I’m assuming Sara did that to her own hair, not Jordy’s
18.1) “Outing ready. Charity had never heard the term before last week. Apparently it was some kind of threshold, a marker for when a Little was tame enough, obedient enough, displayable enough to be brought out in public” That sounds like the kind of shtty thing guardians would do in this world.
18.2) “Now somehow Brie had say over her progress or made some observation.” A power I’m sure Brie weilds fairly and without ulterior motives.
19) “she still has her little pride moments, but I can tell she’s getting it. Honestly? She’s thriving.” No, the fuck, she aint
20) “That’s what Evan thought this was. A glow up. A lifestyle upgrade. Like getting a new phone case or switching skin care brands. Not a collapse. Not a quiet, daily death of everything she once was.” that’s the guardian Ego for you.
21) “Charity’s like the final boss of Littles. Total bad bitch back then. Now she smells like cupcakes and cuddles in my palm. Can’t wait for everyone to see her.” Evan must be so proud saying that.
22) “Oh my God, she’s blushing. I think she knows we’re talking about her.” Yeah bitch, you’re talking out loud and Charity has nothing better to do than listen,
22) laughed really hard at this haha
22) Glad you liked it.
It reminded me of minty python when King Arthur fights the black knight and cuts his arms off
“look you stupid bastard you’ve got no arms left!”
1) what is toxic positivity? Although i do like Evan gushing about charity somehow being wrong.
2) its a bit of both. The bath does seep into charitys skin so her body does emit the cherry vanilla scent for a 2 to 3 weeks then would need to be refreshed or changed or it would just fade. But becuase she scrubbed and worked so hard to get it off it actually caused the scent to emit more.
3) It is very cute to Evan. She loves it.
4) she needs to be shocked or surprised less.
5) There is a chance Charity could get a different scent as Evan gets older. That is a fair bit of reasoning. It would be crazy if Evan kept cherry vanilla for the entirety of their lives.
6) you correct. It didn’t even enter into her mind in that moment.
7) Probably the smallest part of why she would be upset in that moment.
8) To some degree i agree but I do think intent matters with it. In Evan’s case she isn’t intending to mistrust or mislead charity.
9) Just the progress Charity was wanting. Ther is probably a high degree of chance she wont even be able to clearly see the movie screen.Evan isn’t the tallest person to start with so even if she is on her shoulder or somewhere higher Charity’s view could be blocked.
10) Shes not but Charity’s family had a absurd amount of money so the wealth gap between is harder to judge as she hasn’t been “poor” so she just kind of assumes. Even though Evan’s family is pretty well off. Not charity’s family level of wealth but they are oding pretty well for themselves.
11) Especially to the person who got her banned for a period of time for the main reason being charity being a B.
12) This is her fantasy shes picturing in her head. let her dream LOL.
13) Well, she’s more trying to just deceive Evan then actually feeling abused. But the comparison is understandable.
14) She really is she putting her own ideals and beliefs onto Evan.
15) far enough, although Evan isn’t doing much that is actually harmful. Charity is more interpreting evans good nature as bad.
16) Well Evan calls her an heiress because she was one. She is being quite literal. Where Alejandra was more teasing.
17) I didnt realize you were anti brooklyn.
18) Well the idea was that it was this world teen slang. As i felt it added realism.
17) Sara did do that to her own hair. Jordy was dressed normally.
18) A little could do something crazy and get themselves hurt. So it makes a degree of sense.
18.2) Brie only wields her power with the highest regard of responsibility and fairness. How dare you besmirch her good name with such slander and defmation. She only ever has the purest of actions and intentions towards charity /s
19) It really depends youre view on thriving. I mean she is doign better hten she was with Alejandra.
20) Or the Charity exaggeration
21) SHe is
22) LOL
your 17 and 18’s confused me for a minute.
1) Toxic positivity is the blatant refusal to acknowledge any flaws with a particular subject, either through refusal, denial or ignorance of their existence. It becomes toxic when the people who do see/acknowledge these flaws get lashed out at and are typically called “bad people” simply for seeing an issue. In this case, Evan is expecting gratitude and not acknowledging that Charity clearly doesn’t want to smell like that is approaching this threshold.
2) That dumb bitch
4) Lol
8) It is unintentional, I’ll give her that.
9) I was wondering how that will work for Littles
10) They can afford a Little and a house in a foreign country, so quite well off.
13) I see
15) No, but you can tell it’s not doing good things to Charity’s psyche
16) She was just as much a patrona as she was an heiress
17) That was more of a dark joke than anything else, but she was being a bully.
18a) Tween slang makes sense, but it’s still kinda shitty to hear.
18b.1) A little could, so it’s important that the guardian earns the Littles trust, so that any instructions can be followed without fear.
18b.2) lol
19) But worse than Pre-infection.
20) Both
Didn’t realise I did that, lol
Can’t wait to see the end and be done with it . How many chapters still ongoing ?
Why do you sound like you hate this story?
No I just is beens months since the first chapter, I just want to see the world after the END .