You know, at the start of this chapter I started to form a bit of a conspiracy theory about Stella, and by the end of it, I've become thoroughly convinced that I'm right on this.

In short, I think Victoria sent Stella there knowing that she would do something bad and that she would get caught doing it.

In long (no one ever says this, but it should work as an opposite for in short, right? RIGHT?!), Stella's situation struck me as odd from the start. It just didn't make sense to me that someone who wasn't good enough to be selected for one internship would be given such a massive assignment (one obviously very important to Victoria) in order to prove that she deserved a different internship with that same company. But I figured suspension of disbelief, don't take works of fiction too seriously, blah blah blah, and I kind of wrote it off and just went with it.

Once Stella started interacting with Tara and we saw how far the would-be intern is willing to go just for "leverage" (it seems like it was really more for fun than anything else), I started to wonder if maybe Victoria had anticipated that Stella would do something like what she did to the poor goth (I'm not saying the elder Vane predicted that she would do that specifically, but she probably anticipated that the college girl would try something along those lines).

Claire revealing that not only does Stella have a criminal background and other shady features to her past but that she received this information FROM Victoria all but confirmed, at least in my mind, my budding theory.

Now, why would Victoria send someone if she assumed/anticipated that she would do something so vile? I think it's a case of hitting not one, not the usual two, but three birds with one stone:

1. It'll probably scare off the other investors. I mean, despite all the fun they're having now, if they find out that Stella used the potential product to shrink and rape a girl, in an area that was supposed to be completely supervised no less, I have a hard time seeing them want to be a part of something that could turn out so badly.

Thus, Victoria would be the ONLY investor, which obviously would give her more say in how things are run going forward.

2. It'll make the Fab Four second-guess everything they thought about the shrinking solution. Seeing the abuse of their product first-hand, and, again, under their own supervision, is probably going to at least make them question their current business model. Hell, they might feel so guilty that they don't want to be involved in the future of the shrinking solution whatsoever, which, again, would likely lead to Victoria having complete control of said future.

3. I really think Victoria has something personal against Stella. The fact that Ms. Vane outted Stella to the Fab Four and wants them to do something that just sounds borderline-ethical (although probably not too bad, given how soft-hearted the group is) makes me rethink that earlier scene where Stella was admiring everything on the private jet. She thought it was Victoria showing her what she could have if she joined the company, when I'm now pretty sure it was a huge middle finger, showing her what she'll never have.

Maybe Victoria was close to the person who killed herself because of Stella's bullying (I could see her trying to bring in the kid of one her rivals down the road; that's a hell of a power move). Or perhaps Victoria just despises bullies like Stella. I don't know, but I feel pretty comfortable saying that there's something more there. 

As for Stella herself, I was just saying last chapter how Chae-Won was starting to look like the villain of the story, but the would-be intern had the proverbial "hold my beer" moment here. Damn! That girl is dark. And it wasn't just her terrible actions that sold that point, she was straight-up despicable when she owned the narrative. From her relishing in Tara's desperation to the way she quickly started thinking of the goth girl as an it rather than a she, the way Stella enjoys using people as though their mere possessions that exist only for her pleasure is the stuff great villains are made of!

Unfortunately for her, though, I don't think she has really thought any of this through. She wants to eat Tara? She doesn't even know how growing back works yet, and how is she so sure that a tiny's enhanced durability won't survive her digestive tract? Come to think of it, didn't Claire say that those crystals only last for 15 minutes, and wasn't Stella in the bathroom for, oh, about 15 minutes? Stella had better be careful, or things could get ... messy for her really soon.

As for the other big development in this chapter, man, you (and Terry) really nailed Jen and Kim in this chapter! I mentioned in my last review that I didn't think that crazy shrunken sex alone was going to be enough to bring the together like it did Ronnie and Dick, but I think this fight has actually moved them pretty significantly in that direction, even if it doesn't seem like it now.

I now feel like I have a much better understanding of where Jen is at in all of this. Yeah, what she said was really hurtful, even if not intentionally so, but she clearly needed to put that stuff out there, and the absurdity of the situation just caused her to start spewing it all out. This was confirmation for me that Jen feels the same way about Kim that Kid does about her; the only difference is that Kim knows how she feels and Jen doesn't fully understand her feelings.

Jen's rant started off as a simple comment about how much more exciting this sex was than their usual fair, but it turned into an airing of grievances. Subconsciously, Jen is frustrated with how things have gone in the bedroom with Kim; she wants more, but she doesn't realize it yet. I think her quest for her family's acceptance has left her with cock on the brain, so her love for Kim is buried so deep that Jen isn't consciously aware of it.

But that love is there, and, on some level, she know Kim is perfect for her. Except in bed. She doesn't like the vanilla routine the have, and that frustrates her to no end. What's worse, she doesn't even know she's frustrated, because she's not consciously thinking of Kim as a partner. So that frustration is also buried deep, only now manifesting itself unintentionally though Jen's rant.

Ultimately, this is a good thing, however, as Kim made clear that she also wants more in the bedroom. She was just afraid that trying new things would scare Jen away, that her younger friend took comfort in their routine. Ironically, she thought she was giving Jen what she wanted but was really pushing her away. Now that it's out there, they can move past it.

But Jen's not quite there yet. She knew she hurt Kim, I she doesn't yet understand why she did it. And now she's trying to move on in her own way, focusing on ravaging a kaiju succubus and blaming Kim for not being there with her to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (although, let's be honest, if they were willing to fly out again, Titty would be down to do this again pretty much anytime). I have a feeling that Jen isn't going to enjoy her time in the now nearly as much as she thinks she is.

And as for Kim not taking advantage of said opportunity, I don't think she'll regret it at all. Unlike Jen, she knows exactly what she wants and doesn't need to experiment around. That's why she was okay with their routine. It doesn't matter to her what she does nearly as much as who she's doing it with. This is why Jen's words about this new experience hit so hard, they emphasized everyone else involved but Kim. Between that and Jen making sex with her sound like a chore, it makes perfect sense that Kim feels like a pet (and this is a pretty powerful metaphor, given the aura of control that Kim has exuded up to this point; it really shows how much Jen means to her).

But I think Jen is finally on the cusp of understanding this for herself, and from there, it's only a matter of convincing Kim that she feels the same way.

There's a lot of really interesting arcs in this story (and they've been really well paced and balanced out so far), but this Kim and Jen one has really stolen the show for me.

Let me also echo Terry's review by saying that your descriptions of one-inch Dick's view of the world were really on the mark. You conveyed his scale so well both in physical terms and in how he was perceiving everything around him. Not only was this really well done, but the more drastic size difference plays especially well against the larger tiny sizes that we've seen so far.

It was really interesting to compare Claire's "nothing can go wrong" speech with Livy's from last chapter. It's amazing the hubris of not being worried at all over the prospect of a known criminal and suspected bad person abusing the shrinking gummies she intentionally left out despite the fact that she was all over Livy about every little thing that could go wrong with Aidra. She's so worried about someone else making a critical mistake that she can't even consider that something she didn't anticipate could (and, in fact, did) happen. I still don't know what's going to happen with Aidra (or whether it will be a good or bad thing), but I feel pretty safe in saying that Claire will feel so much worse about the cost of her mistake than Livy will for Aidra's actions, even if they do turn out to lead to something terrible (which, again, I'm not necessarily convinced they will).

I don't want to come down too hard on Claire, though. I still really enjoy her character, and her considerate nature toward Kim was really endearing. And I get that she needed some confirmation that Stella was as bad as Victoria says she is (I wouldn't just take the elder Vane's word for it, either). It's just unfortunate that a simple lack of communication and a bit of hubris have led to such terrible consequences.

Also, I can't imagine any of the other three members of the Fab Four are going to be too thrilled to find out that Titty invited Tara there in the first place. I mean, based on the only other time we saw Tara, it was made pretty clear that they were trying to keep the shrinking solution a secret from the goth girl. Yeah, Claire shouldn't have used such a careless test, but Titty never should have had Tara there, either.

And lastly (I know, this is ridiculously long, right?), I just wanted to note that it was clever to have Tara's piercings not shrink with her. It makes perfect sense, but I never would have thought of that, and it took me by surprise. Good thing tinies heal fast!