I meant to review this when it was still up with the most recent stories, but now I see that this story was initially written in 2018. Well, in any case, if you're still considering continuing this, I'd like to encourage you to do so.

The fact that most of the story was a dream sequence was a pretty neat, Twilight Zone-like twist to the whole thing that I really enjoyed. Miranda's casualness to the situation gave off an almost eerie vibe when contrasted with the main character's confusion. It also gave the story a good sense of mystery, leaving the reader to guess about what's going on until the end.

That being said, dream Miranda herself was actually pretty endearing. From cutely waving at the main character from the removed ceiling to unknowingly humming through him, she shows off quite a bit of personality in little ways that allow us to connect with her a bit. Also, despite the main character constantly being reminded of how much bigger and more powerful she is than him, Miranda treats him in very much the same way you would expect her to a roommate (well, the licking at the end might not be something EVERY pair of roommates share).

I really enjoyed your descriptive style throughout the dream sequence. I don't really know how to describe it other than that. It was really just enjoyable and not the least bit cumbersome to read.

Now that ending was a bit bleak, which, of course, it was clearly meant to. Still, I would be interested to see which Miranda is more real: dream Miranda or the Miranda that the main character has already decided will likely see him as less of a person the smaller he gets.

I mean, I'm left wondering if that dream is just some hopeless fantasy the main character has or if it's maybe his subconscious trying to remind him that some of the things he loves about Miranda aren't going to change just because he'll be tiny. After all, I find it unlikely that he could only love her body and that the rest of the stuff from the dream (the way she behaved/that aforementioned personality) is stuff he just made up on his own.

Also, the fact that the main character admits that they're BOTH trying to act like things are still normal, to me, shows that Miranda still views him the same. She could easily show annoyance at needing to help him more or take joy in teasing him about being so short, taking pleasure in having newfound power over him. But she doesn't, at least according to the main character.

Who knows, maybe Miranda has been fighting herself to not "make it weird" as well.

Then again, maybe she's got "plans" (ones he won't enjoy) for the main character when he's small, and she doesn't want to scare him off. The beauty of this story is that we really don't know, because we haven't even met the actual character yet.

I personally feel like there's a good story left to tell here. It could be a gentle story (which I would advocate for) or a not-so-gentle one (which I think could be interesting as well).

Anyway, if you do end up picking this back up, I'll certainly read it.

I just finished reading this, so here's a ridiculously long review. To summarize beforehand: I liked it, and it was really good!

I enjoyed the chapter format for this quite a bit. Seeing a snapshot of the most relevant parts of each month really helped to emphasize that the relationship between Eve and Evan took time to develop. I also like that there are a few times in the story in which the characters reference things that happened "off-screen," reminding the reader that there are plenty of days in each month that we don't see and that this plays into the changing dynamic between the two as well.

But its the characters that really set this story apart.

Evan, in particular, is very different from the usual protagonist in a giantess/shrunken man story. While most of these stories revolve around tinies trying to convince bigger people that they're, well, also people (or, in the case of unaware stories, be noticed at all), Evan's problem is that he sees himself as something less than. He's fighting that feeling, but it's starting to overtake him at the start of the story. Despite having someone who still sees him as being the same as he always was in his life, shrinking has taken away some of the things that he felt defined him before catching the virus.

He's fighting that feeling, but he doesn't know how. This lease idea seems like a last-ditch effort to prove to himself that being tiny hasn't made him less than what he once was. He doesn't know exactly what he needs to accomplish that, but he knows this is his best bet to find out.

Eve, on the other hand, just seems like she's looking for a place to belong. For the longest time, she found that place hiding behind bullies and blending in with the group. I think the reason Evan was able to piss her off so much in the first couple of months was because he resisted that. As a tiny, he's supposed to be "in front of the sharks," but he resists that, and every tie he jokes about things like Eve "learning her place" I think she gets frustrated that he's not playing by the rules, so to speak. At the same time, I think she admires that trait as well, which is why she's always, perhaps unwittingly, heavy with praise when talking about him with Amber.

But Eve finds that sense of belonging that she's unknowingly looking for with Evan, primarily because he accepts her even at her worst. She's trying to enslave him, and he's still making jokes with her and staying in her room to keep the zombie ghost mafia rats away. She doesn't have to swim behind the sharks with him, although it takes her a while to realize that.

Laurie's a fun, yet kind of sad character. I've always had a soft spot for unrequited love angles, and it has to be hard watching the person you love sleep with and eventually fall in love with someone you describe as a sociopath (although it probably becomes slightly easier if they turn it around and even befriend you like Eve did. Probably). It also has to hurt watching that same person go through what Evan's going through and not be able to help at all, no matter what you do. It's heartbreaking, really.

Still, she sticks it out and helps him through it all, even though she disagrees with a good portion of what Evan wants to do. That's love.

The subtlety with which Eve softens her view of Evan was also nicely done. I mean, she goes from promising to stick him in a hamster cage in September to actually putting him in a terrarium in October to having picked out a comfortable doll house for him in November. Her talk of punishments and owning his stuff also fades away as the early months roll on.

To me, Eve change in attitude in those first few months shows a strong shift in her priorities. Whereas in August her goal was to nab a tiny slave and enjoy owning his shit, including a nice, huge house, she quickly becomes more focused on Evan himself. She cares about him, in her own way, and she clearly wants to be with him. However, that desire clashes with her general worldview of swimming behind the sharks instead of in front of them.

So Eve tries to rectify this by continuing to try to own him, but in October and especially in November, she seems to be trying to get Evan to want to be owned as well. She talks about her ownership of him being "mutually beneficial" and even appears to give him the option to avoid being foot fucked in the terrarium (at least it seemed that way to me, with her foot being lowered slow enough for him to move out of the way). When she caught him in November, she was STILL trying to talk him into giving up voluntarily, even though he was already in her grip. She was even willing to let him roam the house freely and choose whether to sleep in a dollhouse on her nightstand or with her.

That last pitch actually doesn't sound too terribly different from what ended up happening anyway. It really seems like she thinks the only way she can have him is to, well, have him, legally, I mean, even if that isn't really what she wants.

For Evan, I feel like his interest in Eve really picked up once she changed her strategy and starting approaching their game less like she was going after an animal and more like she locked in a rivalry of sorts. Yeah, I think her sexual attraction to him was a powerful draw as well, but once she started observing and planning instead of trusting stupid things on the internet. In an odd way, I think it showed him that she thought of him as a person instead of a future possession, even if that realization wasn't a conscious one for either of them.

I also think the deals and truces they agreed to also helped drive that point for Evan. You don't make deals with pets, and you really only call truces with enemies that you respect. Ironically, I think, while Eve felt bad about dressing him up in that tux and using the girly soap to clean him, the fact that he had to honor the terms of their deal probably made him feel more human than he'd felt in a long time.

Somewhere along the way, Evan found what he lost by shrinking in the way that Eve sees him. She's only known him as a tiny, and, as he pointed out, she started out wanting to make him her slave and ended up his girlfriend. That's a level of validation that no one else could give him.

That's why his reaction to Amber's video in March makes so much sense. It's a drastic overreaction for sure, but having that validation taken from him so abruptly puts him in a darker place than when he started. And while Evan is a nice guy, he's also a violent guy (As the month of June confirmed), so it makes sense that he would use the threat of violence to try to convince Eve that he's more than "just a tiny." Of course, it was doomed to fail, and there's nothing Eve could have said that would have made things right in his mind in that situation, but he's not exactly thinking logically, either.

If there's one thing I could offer constructive criticism on, it would be that Amber is seems like a bit of a one-note character, although, to be fair, it's a good note. She's set up in a way that makes the reader desperately want to see her uppance come, but really, other than the fact that she's mean and loves treating tinies like shit, we don't really know much about her. This doesn't really hinder the story, though, as she serves her purpose extremely well (she's great at being easy to hate), but in a story where it almost every other character is complicated and has layers, she stands out for not being that or having those.

On the other hand, adding depth to the character could have possibly made her more sympathetic, which would have defeated the purpose, so that could have been a double-edged sword anyway.

There's so much more I could get into, and I'm a long-winded dude, but those are some of the main things that stuck out for me when reading this. I really appreciated the depth that went into it. Excellent work!

This was a pretty fun read, and that's coming from someone who isn't a huge fan of the fantasy genre. That's not to say I hate it; I've seen plenty of fantasy stories that I thought were pretty good. However, I find that a lot of them tend to get too wrapped up in their own lore for my liking, as this takes time away from the elements of stories that I like.

That wasn't the case with this story, though.

As I've said before, you really have a way with worldbuilding. It's really incredible how you can introduce so much about a setting while developing characters and moving plots forward, as opposed to having to stop and write a long narrative or clunky expositional dialog to familiarize the reader with the world and its history. I'll probably never shut up about that, because I never stop being impressed by it, so sorry, I guess?

I think maybe the best example of this is the start of chapter 4, when Shelby is "interrogating" Miriel. The way that Shelby explains the real reason why Gustav set his army against the elves and his place in human history was a huge piece of backstory for the world, but really, that interaction is all about Miriel facing the reality of the history between the two races and realizing that most of what she was told about the war was a lie borne from elven arrogance. And, of course, the casual way in which Shelby tells her this both shows off her personality and really emphasizes the place elves hold in human history. There's so much packed into that one exchange, but it didn't feel burdensome at all to read.

I think the two versions of the elven invasion story hits on a significant theme of this story: how ignorance can lead to misconceptions. Because humans and elves didn't seem to interact much since the invasion, that lie that some elves clearly told themselves to make them feel better turned into reality for those weren't around for the war itself, like Miriel. If she hadn't vastly overestimated the role that elves held in human history, she may never have felt the need to try to fix things between the two races in the first place.

Likewise, humans naturally assume that all elves want to shrink down humans and keep them as pets, which obviously isn't the case, based on our main characters here. But this dark perception of elves also shows us a lot about both Bertram and Shelby.

The fact that Bertram is so quick to realize that Miriel actually means no harm (even if some of those other elven stereotypes are a little harder for him to shake) shows us that he's a good-hearted person, despite his criminal background. And while its funny that Shelby can't see how obvious it is that Miriel is the elf, it actually makes a lot of sense, since Miriel is a kind, innocent person and Shelby can't move past her view that elves are horrible creatures that only want to turn humans into unwilling sex toys. It's hard to for anyone to view Miriel as the latter, especially when Shelby did more to "corrupt" her than growing up in the elven empire ever did.

But it was also those misconceptions between humans and elves that allowed Nen to manipulate things so easily. I also thought she was a great villain for a lighthearted story like this one. She's cutthroat enough to kill off a prospective business partner, but her goals are pretty down to earth. She causes so much chaos just to make sure her smuggling operation runs smoothly. In a way, that may be more evil than trying to conquer the kingdom or summon some ancient power for nefarious purposes. It's just so selfish, and for such a small purpose!

I like what Tyrael brought to the story. Getting an elven perspective more experienced with humans was pretty interesting, as was getting some background into elven politics. Her respect for humans and her playful nature toward them makes for an interesting contrast in her personality as well. Also, despite her age, her decision-making doesn't always seem to be the best. I'm not sure ding-dong ditching a travel bag of tiny humans on the army's doorstep would have been the best idea. And then there's the way she exposed her sister to Shelby.

Tyrael: Let's use a spell to look like humans because it would be bad if they found out we were here.

Also Tyrael: Oh look, there's my sister clearly in disguise next to an elf-hunting inquisitor who's calling her a human. Let me just clear up that bit of confusion for her.

Probably not her best moment. Still, she was a really likeable character, and her interactions with both her apprentices and Arthur were pretty adorable. Seeing as how the story you're writing now has Tyrael in the title, I'm assume our favorite ex-candlemaker factors into that tale prominently as well?

But yeah, overall this story was light and it made me laugh a lot. That's usually the style of fantasy I can get into. I see in the reviews that you've already written a couple of other stories that take place in this world, and this one makes me want to check them out as well.

How many people are going to be involved indeed? I could see Rae showing up out of nowhere (I feel like she has a sixth sense that homes in on these kinds of things), and Claire might still be around (we haven't really seen her getting into mixed-sized sexcapades just yet, but she seems like she has an open mind, right?).

As far as epilogues go, I thought this was pretty good. We got a solid look at the aftermath of everything, but things are still sort of open at the same time. I like that we don't get definitive answers about whether Justin will take the new position, whether Micro Cities Inc. can survive the scandal, or what happens to Jazmin and company longterm. If you do decide to revisit this world someday, it'll be nice to see how some of these things shaped up and how the characters involved managed things, whether it be another story focusing on them or a story centered around different characters that gives us a glance at things.

In other words, this ending was satisfying but keeps us curious enough about the world to draw us into another story set within it, if you ever decide to go that route. Nicely done!

I also want to point out how well you set up Rae and her handling of Hank, Katie, and (presumably) Jazmin here. When she was first mentioned early in the story, I certainly didn't think of her as someone capable of holding people hostage with her ass. However, once she met up with Justin, we saw a more sexual side to her, and maybe even just a slight bit of enjoyment at having control of him, which makes her doing what she did to our antagonists that much more believable. I think this made her taking them for herself make more sense, as there's more to her choice than just revenge (although that is also a factor, clearly).

I will say that this poses an interesting problem, however. While Justin plans to say something if things go "too far," what exactly is he going to do? Rae can't change them back, let alone turn them into the police now. The fact that she took them alone is a crime, not to mention where she put them. And even if there were some legal loophole that Rae could exploit, the PR damage to the company once the story gets out (and it would get out if they were returned to normal size) would be devastating, especially given the PR nightmare the company is already going through.

No, unless Justin wants to bury Rae in the Micro Cities Inc., he won't be able to do anything (I guess maybe he could lobby for better treatment for the tiny family, but how hard is he really prepared to fight for THAT family?). Of course, I'm probably overthinking what was intended to be a simply "just desserts" ending for our villains, but I couldn't help but play that out in my head a bit as I was reading it.

One minor criticism for this final chapter, though. I would have liked to have gotten an update about the fates of people like Alexis, Lana, and Tim (and however many other captives were in that dollhouse). Maybe even just a couple of sentences in passing between Rae and Justin would have been nice. Again, this wasn't a huge thing, but it would have been cool to have heard Alexis's excuse as she was (likely) hauled off to jail or just how Jazmin's  "houseguests" were dealing with being normal sized and free.

And I'll wrap up with a small criticism about the story overall, now that it's finished. There were a couple of developments in this story that never really, well, developed, namely the 1:2000 scale city and Jazmin's dollhouse.

Honestly, I wasn't necessarily disappointed that we didn't get a better look inside the dollhouse (although I 'll admit that was kind of hyped about seeing Ally and Claire go through that together), and your reason for not including that in the story makes sense (if you're not into it, you're likely not going to do much with any idea you might come up with). I brought that up in my last review more because I just expected that this was coming, given how it had been portrayed up until that point in the story. Maybe it was just me, but I felt like this was set up to be something based on how often it was mentioned and how things were hinted at regarding Jazmin's treatment of her "houseguests" earlier in the story.

The same goes for the 1:2000 city. It was mentioned prominently early on, and I felt like it never lived up to that billing. It really felt as though it was going to play a major role in this story. To be fair, it kind of did, at least in an indirect sense, as work on it served as the catalyst for both Rae being shrunk and Justin being hired by Hank, but it really didn't play a direct role in the story at all (in fact, it wasn't even created yet).

Again, this didn't bother me in and of itself, as size interactions at that vast a scale would be severely limited (I mean, the same could be said of Micropolis residents, but you made that work quite well) and thus writing about it would come with some serious challenges. But again, it was just the feeling that it was set up to be something only to not be relevant in the grand scheme of things.

So I don't know exactly how to sum up that critique or what I would say to recommend avoiding doing this in the future, but I just wanted to point it out. Maybe you're just such an engaging writer that even your minor story developments feel like a big deal?

But overall, I obviously loved this story. It was easy to get into the characters, who were all interesting in unique ways, and the story was well paced and well told. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do next!

Oh, and you mentioned focusing on shorter stories for a bit in your response to my last review. Is that one-shot about Alia filling in for Claire in Micropolis still on the table by chance? I'm not sure why, as Alia wasn't a major character in the story, but I find myself curious about what that particular restocking trip looked like.

This story has had it's shares of emotional highs and lows, but these last two chapters took it to another level!

While the last chapter provided some great tension at times, it certainly ended leaving the reader feeling as though our heroes were in a good place and everything was going to be alright now that they were all together. That feel-good feeling carried over into the start of this chapter, which made hitting (what I think) is the "all is lost moment" all the more surprising and impactful. I've absolutely loved the pacing and structure of this story throughout, but that's particularly true with these last two offerings. Nicely done!

I read MicroThaumaturge's review below, and I have to kind of agree with him regarding his critique of the rescue plan. However, I do think that it had to be tough to come up with a good scenario to get these characters in the positions you needed them to be in. In particular, I think Katie probably made things harder, as her not actually being affiliated with the company would make it almost impossible to have Justin and company know whether she would be home at any given time, and mentioning a role for her in the company now would feel a bit lazy and contrived just to move the plot along. Therefore, I understand why you went the route that you did. It wouldn't be far-fetched to believe that employees might be aware that the boss takes his wife with him on business trips, especially if one of said employees is in charge of booking the boss's travel, as Alia is.

That being said, this is clearly a bad plan, and I agree with MT that our protagonists should be smart enough to realize that under normal circumstances. Still, I don't have a problem with them coming up with and trying a bad plan, I just think it needed to be sold to the reader better.

For example, having Claire start the chapter off being a little less cheerful (not too much, as that seems to be her natural state) and looking tired, along with Brooke, while keeping her feisty nature and happiness to see Justin in general in tact, showing some signs of stress, would hint that they were in the state of mind to not really think things through. Maybe as they're planning their next move, Brooke and Claire can't agree on where to go first, with each one arguing, almost pleading with each other to start with a particular place. Claire, feeling unfounded guilt at "letting" Jazmin kidnap so many residents that she thought were being regrown, admits to having nightmares about her failure to save them and absolutely has to go after them. Brooke counters by giving some variation of "But you didn't hear her voice" when talking about Rae, the revelation of just how far Jazmin went with the residents, with Justin, making her imagination run wild with the possibilities of just what they Taylors are doing to her dear friend. Eventually, they come to an understanding and decide that the only way to ease both of them is to split up, and Justin, still not sure about the idea, gives in after seeing their respectively disrupted emotional states.

That might be a bit of a cliched scenario, granted, but I feel like it would have made the fact that they were going with such a flawed plan make a lot more sense.

As it stands, I found myself wondering why they didn't just wait until confirming the Taylors were on the plane (maybe wait an hour or two after their departure time before going over) and just rescuing Rae together. That would have almost been too easy, and even though they didn't know about the remote for Rae's collar, they surely would have figured that Rae could at least restore herself back to normal size, if not Justin as well. That would give them a three or four to one advantage over Jazmin, so at that point it wouldn't matter if she was home or not. Just have Claire knock on Jazmin's door pretending to apologize and beg to be left along, the rush her as soon as she opened the door. Two of them hold her down while the other(s) save the tinies from the doll house. With the hostages free, our heroes would then be free to use the recording and Rae's testimony to put the Taylor family behind bars and let Rae assume full control of the company, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Of course, that would also be really boring and the way the story's going is obviously much better, but I struggled a bit to understand why three level-headed individuals, two of them geniuses, never considered the above scenario. Again, though, it would have been a lot easier to buy their actions had their mental and emotional states regarding what's clearly a high-stress situation been demonstrated a bit more at the start of the chapter, even despite the fact that I think the happier beginning set up the cruel end of the chapter really well (finding a balance like that is really hard).

But overall regarding the plan, I think this was more a case of the natural course of the story putting you in a tough spot as a writer than anything else. And yeah, it was a bit messy, so to speak, but you got through it, and the rest of the chapter was really, really good. So I guess I'm saying don't sweat it too much and just chalk this up as a learning experience, if anything at all.

There was a small, but much appreciated pay off for me at the start of the chapter. The fact that Claire already talks to Justin like he's a friend was pretty rewarding for me. Claire's a naturally friendly character, but she's only met Justin one other time, and that was briefly during his shrinking process. Also, throughout the story, Claire has been a bit intimidated by people Justin's size, not out of fear of hurting them or disgust, but just the awkwardness of interacting with them. Even holding them was a problem for her, as she felt bad that her breath blew the one Micropolis-sized resident she held in her palm before. So it says something to me that Claire is naturally comfortable enough around tiny Justin that her naturally bubbly personality shines when interacting with him. This could be because she can actually communicate with him, the relatability of their respective situations, or even just that it's hard to feel awkward around someone anymore after you step on them. It could be a little bit of all of those, or even just the assertive way that Justin talks to them despite his size. I don't know, but I was feeling pretty good reading the first part of the chapter because of it.

I do have to respectfully disagree with MT about Brooke's reaction to the Taylors returning home. I think I've said before that I picked up a vibe that Brooke doesn't deal with extreme stress very well, so it made sense to me that she wouldn't think to use her phone or even do something bold like put Rae back and wait out the Taylors in hiding or something. The fact that Brooke was so scared that Rae had to hide herself because Brooke couldn't even think to follow her instructions felt right to me.

I'm really curious to see how Brooke handles her torture (assuming Rae and Justin don't figure something out before she said torture starts). Again, she doesn't deal with high-pressure situations well, but she's also really compassionate and loyal, and I think that will override her fear enough to hold out for help. That would be a different kind of bravery.

I was caught by surprise that both Brooke and Claire shrank, as I thought only one of them would be going down, leaving the other one to use her size to help save the day. I like this development, though. Now the ball solely in Justin and Rae's court, and I love that the two tinies are going to have to try to save the day on their own. And Rae has quickly become one of my favorite characters as well. With everything she's been through, she still comes off as calm, cool, and resourceful, showing that same mental resiliency that Justin has. They should be a good combination, size notwithstanding.

And it was great to see Justin come through in the clutch as well. That knife came in handy after all. It's good to seen him prove useful despite his size.

And that whole scene at Jazmin's place was heartbreaking. Seeing Claire shrink and the happenings in the doll house really made that "all is lost" feeling hit home, maybe even more than Brooke being captured. Of course, it's pretty obvious that Jazmin was expecting Claire to do something like that and was ready for her (I mean, what's the company going to do if she doesn't show up for her shift, fire her?).

But that realization made me see Lana's tormenting of Ally, Tim, and Claire in a different light. After Lana mentioned that Jazmin did the same thing to Lana and her boyfriend, I realized that Claire hadn't actually been physically tormented at all. She was forced to abuse Ally (or used to abuse Ally, as she didn't really have any control over it). And then Claire was forced to order Ally to "retrieve" Tim. All of this, as well as the fact that Jazmin didn't make good on her threat to shrink Claire so tiny that her toys wouldn't be able to see her (which I think would have happened had Jazmin gotten the collar on her then), makes me think that Jazmin is using Lana to make into another Lana. I think if Claire had been shrunk by a less hostile Jazmin, our attractive villainess would have likely let Claire be herself or possibly tried to corrupt her into being less kind to the other tinies, but her betrayal (from what we know of Lana, it seems like Jazmin felt betrayed by her as well) has led Jazmin to want to break her mentally instead of physically. There's something intriguing about the idea of someone punishing a perceived traitor by conditioning them into complete and total loyalty, like Lana.

Or I could be wrong about all that and Lana was just having fun. Who knows?

Anyway, thanks for another great chapter! I've been into this story for a while, but my anticipation for seeing what happens next grows with each addition since things started to ramp up about five or six chapters ago!

Man, after seeing Jazmin's parents in action, maybe she's not so bad!

Hank kidnapping Rae and turn her into a sex toy with his wife was pretty enlightening in a lot of ways. Hank (and Katie, from what little we see of her this chapter) share that trait I linked to Jazmin earlier in the story: They see everyone that's not them as beneath them. Unlike Jazmin, though, her parents don't seem to share that same sense of loneliness or need for companionship that she has (maybe because they have each other or maybe because they're psychopaths). That makes them a lot more evil and a lot more dangerous.

I mean, look at how Hank went about shrinking Rae. Their discussion didn't seem particularly tense or heated. They had a couple of simple disagreements about the future of the company that annoyed him, so he shrank and kidnapped her on a whim. After that, his former partner became a literal sex toy, only being taken out when it's time for her to be used. That's so much more evil than if he had hated her and shrunk her out of revenge or planned it well in advance. He just cared so little about her that it wasn't a big deal to him to turn not only a person, but THE person who is most responsible for making him money, basically into an object for his pleasure. That's scary as fuck!

I found myself comparing him with Jazmin. Say what you want about her, while she's reckless and enjoys fucking with residents, she still treats them a lot better than her father does Rae. Even the ones she kidnaps get a house to stay in (although maybe I should wait to see more of that arrangement before I draw too many conclusions from that). And even though there's apparently some kind of tier system (those under a certain height have to refer to her as Goddess?), it seems as though she treats at least some of them well relative to their situation.

Following that thought, Lana clearly has Stockholm Syndrome, and that's usually not something that affects people who are tortured or grossly mistreated by their captors. The fact that she had a previous relationship with Jazmin probably helped her higher status in the dollhouse as well. If I had to guess, Lana and Jazmin were pretty tight, and Lana got shrunk when she started drifting away or getting turned off by Jazmin's personality. My first thought is that she wasn't shrunk for revenge of some kind, but rather as a way for Jazmin to hold onto her. I really think Jazmin just needs a friend, but doesn't have the first clue what that actually entails. Again, given who her parents are, it's easy to see why that's the case.

And that need for friendship or companionship or whatever is part of the reason why she's so mad about Justin not being around during her latest visit to the city. I think she has a sense of attachment to both Brooke and Justin. In Brooke, she sees someone who will come to the same conclusion as her about tinies once she "realizes" that Justin isn't worth the trouble, thus giving her someone she can share her darker desires and actions with. In Justin, I'm not sure exactly how she feels about him, but she definitely views him differently than the rest of the residents. She was pretty upset that he wasn't around when she wanted to give him a hard time. Again, in her own way, I think she's showing him almost a weird kind of affection by picking on him so much, unwelcome though it may be. When he wasn't there to taunt, she got upset.

But even after she kidnapped Ally, her threat that she's going to "get it" if Justin isn't around next time, she says it with a pout, which is more petulant than threatening. Then, after they get to her apartment, Jazmin makes sure to note that Ally is a hostage instead of a toy and that she needs to be kept safe. Jazmin likes to play with tinies and she might not be super concerned with their comfort or safety, but she's not necessarily looking to intentionally hurt them either. It could also be that Jazmin wants Ally protected because she's part of her game with Justin too, I suppose. I'm not sure, but I thought that was an interesting development as well.

We didn't get much of our heroes this chapter, but from what we got, I think I have an idea of where things are going.

I like that Brooke is leaning on Justin in her time of need, just like Natasha could still be her laid back self while tiny because she's sure Justin will figure a way out of all this. And just like with Natasha, Justin can't understand why Brooke feels like he can do anything at his current size. But that's the thing, Natasha, Brooke, and even Ally are confident in him because they know he's a smart, gutsy dude (especially Brooke on that second one) and they know that he's capable of almost anything. Much like the villains of this story, however, Justin discounts himself because of his size. Once Justin sees what the women in his life see in him, I feel like he's going to prove them right by overcoming his self-doubt and ultimately come up with a crazy plan to save the day, even at 9 millimeters tall. I like the theme of a tiny using his brain or other assets to overcome a size disadvantage, and I feel like we may be building to that here.

I know predicting that the main character will save the day isn't normally a bold prediction, but on this site it certainly can be, especially if said main character is significantly shorter than average.

Natasha being so upset about Ally being taken was also pretty powerful. Having been so laid back so far, this change not only shows how much she cares about Ally, but also helps convey to the reader how serious the situation is. This is a really good use of her character here.

And finally, going back to that first discussion between Rae and Hank, I thought their views on the business represented a pretty interesting debate on capitalism (don't worry, this isn't going to get too political). Hank kind of represents the kind of person most critics of capitalism believe to be prevalent in such a system. He views his customers only as a revenue stream and is therefore willing to do just about anything to control them and keep that stream flowing. Rae, kind of representing what supporters of capitalism feel is the more common type of entrepreneur, takes a more Hyekian approach, viewing the human condition itself as their revenue stream, meaning that she believes that making a better, more attractive product will bring in more customers and therefore more money.

I think Rae has the right idea here. Instant size-changing would probably remove some hesitation by some potential residents who don't want to spend that week re-growing. Conveniences like that are sure to bring in more business. Hank is too worried about losing what he already has and the government subsidies that come with them that he can't see the bigger picture here. Ironically, while his plan to "maximize profits" has lead to him having more power in the short-term and ensured that his business model stays intact, he's likely leaving a LOT of money on the table. It may feel like he's won, but really, he's lost before he's even begun.

I think that theme of unwitting self-defeat is likely to carry over into our plot as well. He thinks that having Justin stuck as a resident makes him easier to control, but if Justin ends up being the one to bring him down, it'll be ironic since Justin probably wouldn't have been involved with any of this if he had been given the same arrangement as Brooke.

So, in other words, Hank's need to micromanage is costing him more than her realizes and will probably be his downfall.

Alright, that's enough out of me. I'm excited to see where this story goes next, and I hope Brooke doesn't get caught up in Jazmin's search for the camera planter next chapter!

I really like the duality between Brooke and Jazmin on display in this chapter. We see that, in a way, they've got a whole two sides of the same coin thing going on.

I started to take more interest in Jazmin as a character in the last chapter, as her threat against Claire at the end of it made me look at her behavior throughout the story in a new light and realize that the only difference Jazmin sees between the residents and regular-sized people are the methods she can use to dominate them. It seemed to me that Jazmin doesn't see Claire or Alia as equal to her anymore than she does Justin (more useful, maybe, but really they're the same to her in terms of their worth as people). That attitude was on full display in her conversation with Claire at the start of this chapter.

Jazmin doesn't care if Claire enjoys herself when they hit the bar scene and chase guys. She just wants someone there with her, and Claire just happens to be the person she's used to having with her. That's made clear when Jazmin doesn't skip a beat when Claire asks if Jazmin just expects her to hang out after being threatened with shrinking. She does, and if Claire doesn't do it, she's no longer useful and will find herself shrunk, too. Honestly, if Claire caves and hangs out with her unwillingly, it would probably make it a little more fun for Jazmin, I think.

Digging a little deeper, Jazmin's obsession with domination seems to have made her awfully lonely. Throughout the story, she's dressed sluttily, talked about the dicks of people she's slept with, and mentioned times she's kidnapped residents of Micro Cities Inc. for her own amusement (she even has her own collection at home, apparently). But she's got no real friends and certainly no lover to show for it. Going out to the bar and waking up hung over or bragging about temporary conquests covers up a sad existence, with her evil, domineering ways trying vainly to fill a void created by her false sense of superiority over everyone else.

Brooke, on the other hand, has gone from concerned about the size difference between Justin and her to optimistic to curiously lustful to fully embracing it. She confesses that she loves dominating Justin; she admits that it excites her in a way that she's never felt before. Teasing and playfully threatening him really does it for her.

At the same time, however, we see that Justin really cares for Justin and definitely views him as a person. She cares about his comfort during the drive to her place, worries that those playful threats might make Justin think that she really would do something as crazy as eating him, is saddened when she hears that Justin is terrified while in this giant world with her, and makes clear that she would never forgive herself if something happened to him under her care.

Brooke seems to get as much pleasure out of dominating Justin and Jazmin gets out of dominating everyone. However, because Brooke sees Justin as a relative equal despite his tiny size, that pleasure is much more filling for her than Jazmin's. In the case of Brooke and Justin, while she's in control, they're doing things together. When Jazmin dominates everyone else, she's doing it at their expense. That proves to be the difference between real happiness and fleeting pleasure.

Apologies for the book report there, but I just found the contrast between heroine and villain here to be really interesting.

Oh, and I also love that Brooke, who was almost embarrassed at the thought of trying to give Justin scraps off her plate at their first date back when she first found out he was tiny, ended up doing exactly that and loving it in this chapter. And in the next chapter, it seems we'll get the answer to her question of just how Justin can perform in the bedroom at that size as well.

Claire continues to be one of my favorite characters in this story. I love how defiant she was against Jazmin even after the threat in the last chapter. Then, with Brooke around, she even made a joke at Jazmin's expense. Really, the fact that she could seem so casual during that conversation with Brooke after Jazmin reaffirmed her threat just beforehand is pretty impressive. I also like how Claire takes up for the residents, both one confronting Jazmin and when encouraging Brooke to go into the city barefoot so as not to intimidate them.

Now, if only there was someone with a recently invented communications device that could answer her question about the new instant-shrinking method. Hmmm.

And seeing Justin discover that he enjoys the Brooke's actual power over him as much as he does her teasing about it during their nightly talks was a lot of fun as well. The combination of trust, fear, and lust can be a powerful thing.

I look forward to the next chapter, as this one built up the coming smut quite well. Also, I love body exploration, so seeing that mentioned was great as well. But I also suspect that we'll see some plot movement as well, as some elements seem to be coming together.

Also, I wonder who's stocking Micropolis during the night that Justin is staying at Brooke's.

I don't think saying that this is my favorite among your stories that I've read so far does it justice. This story was incredibly well put together, from its seamless blending of genres to the way that it so beautifully yet sneakily set up and built on early plot points and character elements for some great pay offs to just the shear entertainment value of it.

In other words, it was pretty okay, I guess.

But the first thing I want to say about this (other than that stuff above; just pretend that's not there?) is that there was one point in the story that made me feel like an idiot, which is a good thing.

When Griselda proposed to Dirk and it was clear that Hardstone was working with her, I started thinking back to chapters I had read days before. Then I found myself going back and rereading a few passages from those chapters. One came to mind in particular: Dirk's first encounter with Cynthia. As I reread her chastising our hero for not coming to thank her for sending for him after his aunt and uncle's deaths, I saw what I was looking for. The priestess made a big deal about how hard she had to work to pretty much force Lady Griselda and that "little woman" from the bank to send for him instead of just auctioning the land off.

You pretty much told us right there who was responsible for the murders and land snatching scheme. Of course, we had only seen each of the culprits once at the time and they hadn't seemed like major characters as of yet. Also, that particular line of dialog ended with revealing that Tom, our favorite red herring, was responsible for convincing Cynthia to send for Dirk in the first place.

I absolutely love stuff like this! Stuff that takes on a different meaning after you have all the facts. When I review your stories, I usually use the word subtle at least once, and there are usually a bunch of little things I see in your writing that hint at stuff that I don't bother mentioning since I make these reviews long enough as is. But this one I definitely had to mention. Thank you for making me feel stupid!

I also really like how you approached the gender-swapping theme of the story. I'll admit, that's not usually my thing, as most stories I've read with said theme tend to really emphasize the belittlement of males in a way that comes off a little too preachy for my tastes. But your approach was much more nuanced, with a wide range of diversity in terms of how the Amazons viewed Dirk. Their society doesn't necessarily devalue males, but it can certainly breed that feeling in those who probably already feel superior to them due to their size and strength. This is pretty apparent when comparing Cora, who seems pretty open minded for an Amazon, and Cynthia, who may have thought males less capable early on but even then seemed to only want to help them with their troubles, with, say, Griselda and Isabelle, who clearly think of males as lesser (although Griselda seems to rethink this at the end). It's also demonstrated through no-named Amazons (or named but mostly irrelevant characters in some cases) as well.

But what really makes this stand out from other gender-swapping stories is the source of the conflict it creates for Dirk. Usually, that conflict is external, with the main character fighting to maintain whatever shreds of respect and dignity they can. For Dirk, however, he deals with the more hostile efforts of the Amazons pretty well for the most part. For him, the conflict is more of an internal one. It's how the people who care about him make him feel that has him questioning himself. An independent guy who, as he said, was far more used to being relied on than relying on others, doesn't know how to feel about people wanting him to rely on them. Their desire to keep him safe is something that appeals to him on some level, but he struggles to fully accept it because he's not a safe guy. I found this conflict a bit harder to define and much more interesting than the external conflict I mentioned above.

Of course he also has mixed feelings about being dominated in the bedroom, but he doesn't seem to have too much trouble realizing that he likes that more than he doesn't, thankfully!

I also thought the use of the compliance ribbon during the wedding, with Dirk refusing to say "I do" was a pretty neat metaphor for how he was not only able to keep being himself in a society that wanted to "tame" him, but he was only able to do so because of his love for Cora, the only one who he would let tame him, if only a little.

But I also found the relationship between Dirk, Cora, and Cynthia to be pretty interesting as well. Cora and Cynthia have very different but equally strong bonds with Dirk, and we get to see those bonds develop in very different ways throughout the story.

With Cora, her normal awkwardness around men actually works in her favor with Dirk, as he finds her talk of battles and hunts interesting, unlike the men "native" (see husband raid) to the Queendom. Also, while she still has some of the same beliefs about men that her fellow Amazon's have, she's actually pretty open-minded by their standards, at least when it comes to strawheaded Imperial types. And then there's the fact that Dirk isn't afraid to be aggressive when it comes to initiating sex or moving the relationship forward. Those three traits allow the two to share unique experiences herding on the ranch, killing dinosaurs in the jungle, and in the bedroom, bringing them closer together.

Cynthia's development as a character, let alone as a love interest for Dirk, had a different feel from Cora's. While Cora was likeable from the first time we see her, Cynthia initially comes off as a snooty, anti-man religious zealot. From there, however, as we see some her cuter, almost childish ways and her, uh, quirks, get highlighted, kind of worms her way into likeability, to the point where she ended up being one of my favorite characters in the story.

As for her relationship with Dirk, she seems grateful from pretty early on for how respectful and appreciative he generally is and the fact that he's cool with her using him to fulfill her domination fantasies but frustrated when he doesn't fit the mold of what she feels is a proper man in the eyes of the goddess. This changes with the dream sequence with the elven bandits. She sees a side of him that no one will ever see, mostly because its in the deep recesses of his subconscious. That seemed to be the point where Cynthia stopped worrying about Dirk's behavior and truly accepted him for how he is. Seeing something that real has a way of doing that, I think. But between that and her being able to use Dirk's dreams to live her true giantess fantasies, their relationship takes a quite different shape than Dirk and Cora's.

I see what you're getting at when you say that Griselda was meant to be the gender-swapped version of a Disney villain stealing the female lead, and I guess that's what she did (as Dirk pretty much made the comparison himself when we first find him in that tower), but honestly, that's not what I took away from her at all. To me, she was more of a Machiavellian villain, an example of how we need to be careful when it comes to working toward "the greater good."

Griselda's goal was a worthwhile one: to modernize the Queendom with better weaponry to protect her homeland from the lizard people and the Imperials, should the realm of men ever decide to invade. Everything she does to get her hands on the Northstar ranch she does for the safety and betterment of her people. That's about as noble an aim as one can have, I think.

Of course, the things she does (or is able to accept, anyway) in an effort to reach that goal are anything but, however. Although most of the dirty work is undertaken by her incredibly shady associates without her direct consent, she keeps working with them nonetheless, knowing full well what they're capable of.

What makes this more interesting to me the fact that when Griselda has chances to do unsavory things to help her plan directly, she almost always chooses not to. She would rather have Cora serve as a guard to keep Dirk in check rather than just use a compliance ribbon to steal his free will. She not only made sure Cynthia, who she kept complaining about, was safely with her when she passed out during the lizardman invasion, but she rejected her cousin's idea to kill her once it looked like the battle was over. She even saved Dirk when he was going all Captain Rhodes against the undead when it surely would have been much easier for her to just let him die and buy the property that way.

The only evil thing Griselda is directly involved in is trying to force Dirk to marry her in order to steal his land. Even that, at first, while seeming cruel, was probably justifiable to her, as he would be well off living a pampered life and she would train him to be a "proper" man (something she probably believes is actually doing him a favor, as she seems to have a pretty low opinion of men). And after Dirk's heroics during the invasion, she seems to gain a new respect for him. Ironically, while this made her sound more like a decent person doing a terrible thing, in a way going forward with the wedding anyway almost seems more evil, as she acknowledged the love between Dirk and Cora by giving them that time together but still planned to ultimately ruin it anyway in order to stop the next invasion.

I say all of that just to say that Griselda, to me, was a very complex villain, and I really enjoyed what she added to the story.

Her cousin, Isabelle, on the other hand, was a very simple villain. Not that there's anything wrong with that. On the contrary, evil for the sake of itself can be a good thing when done well, which I think it was with her. Her cutthroat nature was perfect to earn the disdain of the readers: "Oh, someone doesn't agree with the way we do things? Why not just kill them, or at least take their free will from them?" And then to have her meet her grizzly yet just end at the feet of maybe the most lovable character in the whole story was a happy helping of karmic goodness!

And then there's Ms. Samantha Hardstone. Heartless and clever. We only saw her one time before it became pretty clear that she was in on land snatching scheme, and during that one time, she did a masterful job of steering Dirk toward Tom in his search for his aunt and uncle's killer. The subtle way she hid behind confidentiality but "let slip" that the supposed prospective buyer of the property was a he was smart enough, but to then have apparently "let slip again" to Tom that Dirk was going to not only stay but catch up on the loan payments was a brilliant way to pit the two against each other without doing so directly. Of course, she was also the only one smart enough to go get the mage killer when the lizard mages were fucking up Rain's End (even though hey weren't there, I doubt Griselda or Isabelle would have even considered that).

And it was nice to see the western-themed villain meet a proper pasta-styled western end, outdrawn by an antihero of sorts.

And what a nice little redemption arc we got for Tom. A former outlaw who used his masculine charms to manipulate himself to the top of the social food chain in Amazon country, he started out sounding like a pretty shitty guy (he may not have killed Amaya and Markus, but he certainly wasn't above hinting that he did to try to intimidate Dirk). But the more we see of Tom, the more likeable and reasonable he seems to become. His "forbidden" romance with Cassidy not only served to add to the intrigue and mystery that the stories early chapters provided, but also really humanized Tom as well. Then, during the invasion and his dealing with Hardstone, we got to see that build up pay off with him fighting bravely, killing a murderer, and sacrificing a beautiful shirt!

And finally, the action sequences in this story were really good, but that chapter where Dirk takes on the Lizardfolk mages was on a different level. Your descriptions generally aren't super detailed, but the details you choose to include always seem to put a clear image in my head. And your short, crisp paragraph style really lends itself to the pacing of an action scene (and makes it easier to read, too). But what really set that chapter apart for me was Dirk's thoughts throughout. As he's killing the mages, he's not just recalling his training, nor is his thought process relegated to the narrative. Instead, we get to read actual memories, quotes from the people who trained him even, giving us insight into how he's going to handle a given situation. That gave the action a really personal feel, as those memories were masterfully crafted and felt real. It really raised my investment in the scene, and it was already pretty high before that point.

This is already ridiculously long, so I won't go into too much detail on this, but all the usual rants I have about your character work (I guess I got into that one a little bit) and world building definitely apply to this story as well.

Also, a quick question: Where does this story fall on a timeline of your fantasy world? Granted, I'm only familiar with The Elf is Innocent and Tyrael's Quest, but I'm curious where this falls, especially since it seems like Dirk has some experience fighting elves (albeit rebel elves, at least in theory). I just didn't know if this story took place at about the same time or if young Amaya is out running around at the time of those other stories (or maybe they've all been dead for a thousand years at this point, who knows?).

You know, I don't think I've read enough of your work to definitively say that this is your best, but if you've written something that you think is better than this, please point me in that direction. This was that good.

I think my favorite part of this story is how realistic the relationship between Jess and Drew feels from start to finish. And it's not just that Drew and Jess behave in a way that makes them feel like real people (although they do), but it's at least as much that a lot of the problems they face throughout, while focused on size-related issues for obvious reasons, very much parallel issues that you would expect real relationships to have to deal with.

For example, there's the chapter where Jess laments that she'll never be able to stay over at Drew's apartment. While this might seem like a minor thing, as they could always stay at her place, the way this is written makes it clear that this is one of those little things about dating someone that she really enjoys, that it's part of what she pictures the dating process to be, and that she's missing out by not being able to do so.

People talk about sacrifice in relationships quite a bit, but they usually equate that with compromises on big decisions and putting in hard work for the sake of your significant other (or family later on). But we don't often consider the small sacrifices to things like how we view an ideal relationship. Here Jess has to let go of something that isn't important in the grand scheme of things but is a part of dating that she really seems to cherish. And while this sentiment is only a brief paragraph in this pretty big story, these are the little things that can make a story more personal and relatable.

Of course, we see this mirrored in a much more serious way at the end of that very chapter, where Drew struggles with some self-doubt. He hates that he can't tell off Jess's jerk ex, as well as the fact that he can't physically comfort her after that whole blow up. That's a much tougher pill to swallow and a bigger sacrifice to make, as he's basically in a relationship in which he's likely going to feel helpless at times like that (I don't think he minds the physical helplessness so much, but not being able to hold her while she cries really bothers him).

But yeah, my point in all that babbling was that you really have to care about someone to give up some their ideal perception of a relationship and adapt to what works for their partner, and things like the two examples above help drive that point home when taken in context of the larger story.

It also helps that Jess and Drew are both really fun characters and that the pacing of their relationship development feels organic. You really nailed the early relationship jitters and let us grow comfortable with these two as they grew comfortable with each other.

And Jess's playful and considerate spirit meshes well with adventurous and devoted personality. Drew isn't afraid to roll with the punches (or between her toes) when the "big screen" causes him to lose a game of Guilty Gear or ignore centuries of evolution to help Jess taste test how he goes with various foods (this was a really creative and fun idea, by the way), and Jess is only too happy to use her tiny boyfriend to add flavor to her hot chocolate or make him a nice milk jacuzzi to enjoy at breakfast.

Jess's internal struggle with her vore fetish made for a nice metaphor for how some people in real life struggle with fetishes centered around things like giantesses and/or vore. But while in the real world people with these fetishes might be afraid of what others (their partners in particular) will think about having a harmless sexual fantasy about something not real that involves imaginary people getting hurt or even killed, Jess's concern is a bit more severe, as she can actually make her fantasy a reality. So it only makes sense that she's worried that Drew will become afraid of her and break up with her over it.

But Drew not only accepts this about Jess (and he did so before she even confessed it to him), he also embraces it, trying to think of ways to make her fantasy a reality (without dying, obviously). This level of acceptance shows how deep the bond between them really is, as he didn't even hesitate about any of it.

And, of course, the fact that this is paid off in the final chapter was a really nice touch. I was really happy for Jess that she finally got to eat her man!

That brief unaware bit after Jeff gets taken home in Sasha's boot stood out for me. In a slice of life story in which the difference of power is highlighted in teasing and gentle ways, that chapter highlighted the potential danger bigs can pose tinies in a way that's unique when compared to the rest of the story.

I also love Jeff's laid back, go-with-the-flow approach to everything, especially when it's paired with Sasha, who's neurotic and usually pretty irritable (although this sounds like an insult, I actually found this really endearing about her for some reason). Jeff's exactly the kind of guy that can accept (and even love) her at her worst, and they're really cute together.

One of my favorite parts of the story was the bit when Jess was giving Sasha advice on sex with tinies. The whole thing was pure gold!

I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up the worldbuilding you put into this story as well. I like how spread out over the course of the story we learn more about this world, and the few places where I saw anything that could remotely be considered exposition-y, it was really only ever a sentence or two and it still fit within the context of that particular part of the story.

I also like the details that we didn't get. I think it would have been really easy to get bogged down in the history between the bigs and the tinies, and I think that's what would have happened if we had been given any more backstory than the fact that the two peoples had lived in segregated societies until 10 years prior to the start of the story. Yeah, it would have been interesting to know more about how things were between them pre-integration and what led to them coming together, but I think that would have been counterproductive to include in a slice of life story like this. I've seen several stories fall into that trap, so I wanted to express my appreciation for how well you towed that particular line.

The ending was really sweet and rewarding. I particularly liked how Jess was against the podium idea for their wedding, as the mentality behind it was consistent with the way she felt about Drew throughout the story. She never felt like his size was a burden to her, so having him placed at eye level for her convenience, while considerate in the minds of some, would actually feel to her as though she would be telling Drew that he wasn't good enough in some way. That's a take that I think is unique to this story, and I really enjoyed it, especially when it came full circle here.

The mixed-sized twins twist at the end was nice, too. With all the talk about what size the grandkids might be (or whether they would even beat the odds and give their parents grandkids at all) had me wondering where you were going to go with this, but I admit that I didn't even think about them having one of each (I'm not sure how I missed that possibility, as it solves a lot of their problems quite nicely).

I'm guessing that the twins are the main characters of the new story (I wanted to read this one before jumping into Twin Sizes, as I saw that these were set in the same universe). I'm kind of looking forward to seeing how they turned out, as well as what changes, if any, have happened in this world between the end of this story and the start of that one.

Overall, this was a really great slice of life story. It was a blast to follow along with Drew and Jess's relationship, and I really liked your sense of humor throughout as well. Excellent work!

Balm in Gilead, huh? That's a good follow-up to your rising out of hell metaphor at the end of the last chapter. It sounds like the group found exactly what they needed.

I have to admit, I'm a bit sad to see this one end. Then again, I'd rather it end now than outstay its welcome by 7 or 8 seasons, maybe relocate to Virginia for a change of pace.

I love that Rhames had his weapon with him, even when he was lounging around in the tiny side of the resort. That's a very him thing to do. Also, it's great to see that he's lightening up a bit and starting to embrace the group mentality. His arc wasn't the focus of the story, obviously, but that's a nice little satisfying end to it nonetheless.

The contrast between Cassie's leadership style and Celia's is demonstrated pretty well in just a few paragraphs here and there. I didn't think that Cassie would keep the whole cheer captain title going, but it's a good sign that she didn't give herself a title at all, "undisciplined" though it may be to do so. It sends out a very "we're all in this together, but one of us has to be the final decisionmaker" vibe to counter Celia's "Do what I say or I'll murder you in a parking garage" style of management. This will probably do well to tear down the wall separating the cheerleaders and mall workers and even the one separating the tinies from the giants in general, too.

Also, Cassie took the time to actually assess the skills and former professions of all the "new recruits," which is an improvement in leadership as well. Seriously, a surgeon working at Cinnabon?! It looks like Celia choked on her lack of leadership skills.

Backing up a bit, I do like the fact that a month wasn't enough time for the cheerleaders, survivors, and tinies to start singing kumbaya together. While it's likely that the worst offenders died with Celia, some of the surviving cheerleaders probably weren't too kind to the mall workers and tinies before everything went to hell. And even if they weren't mean to the other two groups, the actions of Celia and the other cheerleaders are still going to be projected onto them, including Cassie, who we know really doesn't deserve it. But that's the way things go.

But yeah, I like where things are left at the end of the story, still a bit tense between the sub-groups but slowly coming together with hope that one day they can stop thinking of themselves in those terms.

I can't blame Barb for being all over John the second time in this chapter, what with his unintentional Leon cosplay and all. Also, regarding the quicktime event thing, has John even played a Resident Evil game? At times, I got the vibe that he hadn't, but there was the debate about Leon going in alone to save the president's daughter in Resident Evil 4 earlier in the story, so I wasn't sure if John was ever much of a gamer.

It was also a nice touch at the end, having Barb and Cassie bond over anime. It was made clear early in the story that both liked anime, and they had that Rurouni Kenshin moment in the parking garage, but it was good to see them geek out a bit over a common interest that was set up early on.

As far as the story as a whole goes, I, for one, am glad you fought that doubt at writing this, as it turned out really well! I would also encourage you to jump on any other "weird" ideas that you come up with in the future. I've got nothing against the countless stories here that rehash the same themes and scenarios over and over again (in fact, some of those stories are my among my favorites. It really is all in the execution of an idea), but seeing a story with a unique premise and new ideas was a welcome change of pace!

And the optimistic tone of this story is much appreciated. I can certainly appreciate things with a darker tone and even an unhappy ending (the ending to the original Night of the Living Dead is heartbreaking but perfect), but I generally want good things for the heroes of any story I find myself deeply invested in. This story did a good job of delivering

I guess you using the Day of the Dead soundtrack as inspiration when writing this would explain why I visualized so many scenes from this story in that old 70s/early 80s zombie movie style. I mentioned that one scene with Celia sniping a zombie early on, but most of the action scenes in this story gave me that same vibe.

Overall, this story was pretty great! Yeah, you may never have thought your zombie story was going to be a giantess one as well when you were younger, but you blended the two "genres" (not sure giantess is a genre, but fuck it) together perfectly. And you wrapped the whole thing around a NEET to boot. Excellent work!