Chapter 9: Meeting The Team

Kelly approached the arcade entrance. It looked like a normal shopping center arcade but instead inside the giant tech companies building. Kelly looked up to the sign "Kairi's Koins". "Smart" Kelly muttered to herself.

Kelly entered and saw an assortment of various games, activities and other arcade staples. Sidewalk Fighter, Immortal Kombatants, Packet Man, Nightona USA and more. Kelly inspected the Nightona machine, which was near the entrance, as predicted, the pedals had little people stuck on the top of them and inside the seat was also a little person. They all looked liked they had been used alot and were currently sleeping, Kelly left them alone.

She entered further and found various seats with people sitting down and some of the inner machines being used by various employees. It did not look busy but did look like it had regular people coming in. Kelly saw  group of people sitting together near one of the further away tables and spotted Sophia sitting with them. Sophia spotted Kelly and waved her over.

Kelly approached the table and Sophia spoke "Everyone, this is Kelly, our team leader" Kelly blushed "Hi, nice to meet you all" Kelly said.

Kelly looked around, there were 5 people sitting at the table besides Sophia, who made 6. The first was a man, he looked 27, he had brown hair. He was sitting next to a girl, she looked 22, she had black hair and a wicked smile on her face. Kelly was a bit frightened by that. The girl spoke up. "Hi, I am Nichole and this is my boyfriend Kyle, say Hi Kyle" Nichole said, Kelly watched as the man meekly made a sound "Hi" he said. 

Suddenly he yelped in paid. "Sorry, Hi" Kyle said in a much more louder but still sombre tone. Kelly looked at them both, she was unsure what happened, but Nichole looked angry at Kyle and he seemed terrified. Before she could figure it out, another girl talked near them. "Hi, I am Nicky" the girl said. She was a smaller girl, wore glasses and had blonde hair and seemed around 18. 

Kelly looked at her, her glasses...they were held up by little people, the frame arms were several tiny people connected together, even looping behind her ear. Kelly was both impressed and scared. "Nice to meet you" Kelly said to Nicky and she smiled back. 

Suddenly Sophia pulled a chair out for Kelly "Here, sit down and relax, ill go grab you a drink, that's Lucy over there" Sophia said before pointing to a dark haired girl at the end of the table before leaving. "Hi" Kelly said, the girl barely looking up from her phone she was engaged in. The girl had black hair, had piercings in her nose and ears and wore black lipstick and eyeliner. Her age was about 21-22 looking. She looked very much the stereotypical goth girl, to the point Kelly internally laughed at how weird she looked. 

What did surprise Kelly was her T-shirt, on it read "Free Tiny People" in red with the shirt being black. Was she some kind of activist?. Suddenly Sophia returned with a drink, it was in a cup but the straw was not inserted, Sophia gave her both the cup and a straw. As Kelly took the straw, she once again noticed the 'tiny' aspect.

The straw was several tiny people, facing up vertically, all connected to each other to form the shape of a straw. They faced up except the bottom person who faced the opposite, so they could suck the contents of the drink. The 'head' of the straw had a contraption on his face that looked like a typical straw opening and allowed for easy drinking. Essentially forcing them to consume and expel the liquid before the giant sucked it into their mouth. Kelly was mortified.

"Sorry, you don't need to use the straws, they are kinda revolting. But that's what they look like" Sophia said, sitting down. Kelly put the straw down on the table, looking at the several people attached to the straw looking at her, they could not speak, but their eyes showed they were thankful for her not using them. 

Suddenly Nichole's hand grabbed them and inserted them into her drink, removing her old straw and leaving it beside the drink. "Screw that, I love me these straws, you have to try them" Nichole said, smiling as Kelly watched the poor people feel the fizzy drink enter and exit their bodies, their hands and legs moving in panic but unable to do anything. 

"just because you like torturing those people, does not mean we all do. Don't worry, we all aren't like Nichole" another girl said, the last of the group. Kelly looked at her, red hair and freckles on her face. She had a smile to her personality Kelly noticed. "I'm Grace, nice to meet you" the girl said, putting her hand up to Kelly. Kelly took it and shook her hand "Nice to meet you" Kelly said. Grace looked about 25.

Nichole whispered "pussies" and continued to suck on her drink.

"So, whens our first meeting" Grace said. "Uh, tomorrow, we have one at 11:00am" Kelly said. "Oh cool, can't wait till we start working on this project they want" Grace said. "They want it done in 9 months, can you believe it" Sophia replied, making a WTF face. "Its annoying, we were going to take a vacation but I had to postpone it" Nichole said, joining the conversation. Kelly smiled, these people seemed alright.

She was so engrossed in the conversation, she even forgot she was currently sitting on a tiny in her seat. Slowly, Kelly was coming to terms with her new environment, with some exceptions.