I'm curious to see the next chapter. It isn't the direction I thought it would go, and I'm not sure if I'm as interested in his story as much as Amber's at this point, but I'm definitely willing to see how it goes. I honestly expected when Anabelle took him after his registration was cut, that she was going to take him both because she wanted him, and as a way back at Donnica after being fired, which the prospect of was very interesting, as it would have had Donnica on the lower end of a power struggle for once with someone having something she wanted and her having no right to him unless she could make a deal with Anabelle, which would have been extra ironic given Donnica was the one who not only cut his registration, but has been the one working to strip tinies rights so much in the first place. It would have been a hell of a great "lay in the bed you made" situation for Donnica. 

Not that I think where you are going here is bad or anything, just really liked that potential path when I thought about it as I first read where Anabelle grabbed him 

Annabel's really starting to give off Igor vibes here. Hot, sexy Igor vibes, but Igor vibes nonetheless!

I think that makes a lot of sense, though, given how things turned out the last time we saw Annabel with her master (rubbing Donnica's feet and calling her mistress, if I recall correctly). And with Donnica being as upset as she was when she summoned Annabel into her office, I can see why Annabel slipped into the role of servant rather than employee the way she did there. Annabel wanted to help Donnica in a way that an employee can't help their employer, so it required her to show her true self to Donnica.

And I love Donnica's initial reaction to it. Despite crossing that line with the foot rub before and her enjoying Annabel calling her mistress, she didn't understand the depth of Annabel's devotion to her until that moment. And she wasn't ready for it. Under normal circumstances, I think Donnica would have come to accept it sooner, but that defense mechanism of hers was just too powerful to be denied, and Annabel still found herself fired (at least for a short while).

Speaking of that defense mechanism, holy shit! It didn't surprise me to see Donnica bury her real feelings beneath a layer of anger, but seeing just how destructive that anger could be actually did catch me a bit off guard. I can kind of understand the canceling Trevor's registration thing; it was one of those things she's probably done before, just something to get those feelings out of her system before she canceled the request before it could go through. Like her version of a stress ball, as fucked up as that may sound.

But the way she laid into Annabel and blamed the assistant/servant for the Helena thing went a bit further than I expected out of Donnica. I mean, firing nameless assistant #7, sure. But Donnica actually cares about Annabel, not just as an employee but as a person. So to see her anger claim Annabel the way it did in that moment was a really big deal in my mind. It shows how desperate Donnica was to run away from her real feelings and hide her "weakness" in the wake of everything that happened, from Helena raping and almost killing Trevor to him leaving her office.

But in the moment before Trevor leaving, when they were together, we got to see the real Donnica (don't worry, I'm not going to speak for you this time!). Our strong, infallible goddess was at a complete loss, not knowing what to say and finding herself in utter agony over what Trevor experienced. Pretty much from the beginning of the story, he's been able to draw something from the depths of Donnica's soul, and we saw that here. Donnica was at the mercy of Trevor's feelings, hanging on his every word and action. This is the most human we've seen her, afraid that Trevor might decide to break things off and not at all in control of the situation. The fact that, at seeing Trevor show true vulnerability, she honored his request to set him on the walkway, even though she didn't want to, wanted to keep him with her instead, was such a sweet, raw moment from her. That's what love looks like.

Ironically, I kind of feel like Trevor showing that vulnerability, almost in tears, was actually him giving that part of himself to Donnica that she feels like he refuses to give her, and she just couldn't recognize it. In fact, in Trevor's mind, from what we saw of him after that, I think he believes that things are better than ever between Donnica and himself. He had almost an eerie calm about him after his time in the park, both when talking to Donnica and in his time with Amber and Rebecca. And given his recognition that a part of him wanted Donnica to take control and not let him leave the office, I think that, despite having a new understanding of his vulnerability and weariness about giants in general, he came away from the whole thing with a new appreciation for Donnica.

And all of this does make me wonder what would have happened had she caught up to Trevor on that walkway before he got out of the office.

But its Donnica's interpretation of everything that makes this so tragic. Like Greek-level tragic (also ironic with Donnica declaring herself a god in this very chapter). The term self-fulfilling prophecy comes to mind.

The way she assumed that Trevor expressing his true feelings about the office environment were an attack on her show just how guilty she actually felt about the whole thing. Trevor was just frustrated that Donnica refused to see how terrible of a work environment her firm was for him, how much the women there hate him and wouldn't care to do exactly what Helena did, and she interpreted that as him blaming her for what Helena did (which is sad, since we later saw that Trevor didn't blame her at all, despite it being completely her fault for a multitude of reasons, as she seems to well know here).

Her insecurities about their relationship also seeped into her head, with her thinking that he was considering ending their relationship over this, something that I don't think ever even entered Trevor's mind (man, that park scene was really short but really pivotal). Donnica is so afraid of losing Trevor that she sees him looking for an exit in almost every remotely bad thing that happens between them, which obviously isn't healthy. She's so desperate to "save" their relationship that she's creating the problem itself, a theme that's been going strong throughout this arc and comes to a head at the end of the chapter.

Because that desperation, combined with a huge misinterpretation of what their issue is (if only he had given himself to her fully, then that hateful bitch Helena would have never almost crushed him and put him in that state of mind that he was never actually in, right? RIGHT?!), causes Donnica to make a really, really bad decision. But, even more sadly, that decision was one made out of love; a love twisted by her fucked-up beliefs and what's surely a long, equally fucked-up personal history (we've seen glimpses of this scattered throughout the story, but I'm pretty sure there's a lot more, given how Donnica carries herself now)

All Donnica wants is to be with Trevor. All this stuff about what his real purpose or place is, the property stuff, it's all just noise, things Donnica tells herself to bridge the gap between her views on tinies in general and on Trevor himself. She wouldn't care about him making the choice to give himself to her fully if she really felt that way. That's just a symbol of the validation she craves from him. Her need to subjugate him fully is a stand-in for her fear that he'll eventually abandon her if he's allowed to be independent long enough, if he's able to truly be her equal. She's scared that he'll leave if given the choice for long enough, just like everyone else in her life (speculation on my part here, but this just makes so much sense to me).

That's why she wants him to choose but has been manipulating things this whole time; she wants someone to pick her, truly decide to be with her for once, but she can't bring herself to believe that he'll do that if left to his own devices. I think that's where her need to control everything comes from. I mean, other than Trevor, who is Donnica close to? Her friends fear her and seem casual (and controlled) at best; the only person at work (other than Trevor) that we see her close to is Annabel, who idolizes her and worships her like a god rather than looking at Donnica as a friend and/or mentor; and even her own daughter, Amber, feels distant from her, actually getting excited that her mom is finally trying to be a constant presence in her life. It really is just Trevor for her.

And she'll do anything to keep that feeling of acceptance and love in her life.

So she agrees to let Annabel break this "rebellious" need to be independent from her. I like that it's a decision that doesn't come easily for Donnica, clearly agonizing over it all day and questioning Annabel before asking her to do this. I think the fact that Trevor will be "hurt" weighs especially heavy on her, but she now knows that she can trust Annabel completely when it comes to Trevor's safety, and I think that's what really made the difference here. Donnica thinks she needs to do this in order to have Trevor stay in her life, but she can't do it herself. She could never do that to him. And she could only trust her fellow giants so much with her most prized "possession."

But Annabel sees the real Trevor, as well as the same problem that Donnica sees (which makes sense, given their shared true-believer status). And honestly, she needed someone she could trust so implicitly for this, because if Donnica was there to make sure that Trevor was okay, I have no doubt that she'd shut that shit down real quick. She couldn't stand to see him suffer like that, no matter what form that suffering takes (and we really don't know that form at all yet). But allowing Annabel to do it herself, knowing that Trevor will be "okay" in her assistant's care, allows her to sit back and wait for the results she wants without having to see the process firsthand.

Although I wonder if she'll be able to stay away once this is actually happening ...

But Annabel's motivations here are incredibly interesting to me. I love that she told Donnica at the end that she was doing this for both Donnica and Trevor (and for herself, although that part was unspoken). That's really important to note. Annabel isn't just serving Donnica here; in her own mind, she's also serving Trevor.

Annabel has decided that her purpose in life is to serve both Trevor and Donnica. That's her whole reason for being at this point (which is why getting fired was so devastating to her: It wasn't just rejection by her idol; it was losing at least half of her reason for living). Of course, her servitude to the couple takes different forms for each of them. Donnica is a god to her, so her servitude to that god is literal, calling her master and obeying her every command.

But she's serving Trevor, too, just in a very different way. She sees Trevor for who he really is just like Donnica does, but, also like Donnica, she recognizes that Trevor is, in fact, a tiny. So she "serves" him by keeping him safe and doing what she feels is best for him, like ignoring him when he wanted to keep Donnica out of his big confrontation with Helena (her "You do need me!" was a critical line in that exchange, showing that she feels that she needs to be around him to protect and guide him).

So when Annabel said she saw the same problem with Trevor that Donnica did, Annabel's desire to "break" Trevor wasn't based in her usual enjoyment at doing that to tinies or even just in helping Donnica solve this issue; it was at least equally based in her love for Trevor. She truly believes that this is what's best for him, that whatever suffering she has to put him through in the short term will leave him happier afterward, and that this will bring Donnica and Trevor closer together, which, in her mind, is the natural order of things, despite her personal feelings toward Trevor.

So it actually does make sense that she would want to "break" Trevor in this context, despite me repeatedly saying I couldn't see her doing this before (although I did provide the caveat that I could see this happening if Donnica asked, so I gave myself an out!).

But man, I think this is going to be hard for her. Doing whatever she needs to do to Trevor to get the results she wants (or at least thinks she wants) is going to hurt her soul. She's going to hate seeing him suffer (although I'm not entirely convinced that he'll suffer physically, as "there will be some pain" feels like it could be a bit of a misdirect and refer to psychological and emotional pain instead). It's going to hurt her, too.

But I have no doubt she'll see it through. As much as it will hurt her too, this will be an effort powered by love, as weird as that may sound. But I'll refrain from speculating on the outcome of this breaking session here, as I peeked over at the discord thread after reading this chapter and see you have a wonderfully worded question about this very thing!

Backtracking quite a bit, that opening scene with Helena was incredibly intense. I figured Trevor would survive for obvious reasons, but I did kind of get lost in the moment there and felt some real concern for him before Donnica came back for the save. And the irony of Helena wishing it was Trevor under her when it actually was is always a fun thing for a writer to play with.

But I think what was most impressive about this scene was how Helena was portrayed. This story is filled dominant giant women who are cruel to tinies, but she stood out here. She felt different. Her feelings toward tinies, her treatment of Trevor, was something new and fresh in this story. She didn't just enjoy spreading misery like Victory or want to establish that she was superior like Donnica. She wanted to put the tiny literally beneath her in its place, not because it was some absolute truth like Donnica has come to believe but because she could and she wanted to. While she shares the view that all tinies are beneath giants, she's not devoted to the idea like Donnica is. It's just how things are in Helena's mind, so she takes advantage of that. I appreciated how you distinguished her in this way.

Oh, and I didn't miss the part where Donnica admitted to herself that Trevor's success scared her. Not to backtrack too much more, but this fits pretty well with what I said about her being afraid of him abandoning her. It's almost like she thinks she's not good enough for Trevor, so she needs to lock that shit down before that independent part of him realizes it. Because, deep down, beneath all of the power, dominance, and rage that she hides behind, I really think Donnica is as fragile emotionally as Trevor is physically.

This also seems to feed into her delusion that the girls at the office actually love Trevor. We see both in that opening segment and when she was desperately searching for him in the city that she views them as competition, even if she won't say it outright, In the opening segment, she comes off as jealous and concerned that he's working with the other giantesses in the office, quite wrongly believing that they're all admiring him and his competence, even if she knows they don't see what she sees in him. Then, while searching for him after his registration was canceled, she briefly considered sending her employees to look as well. But she dismissed that because she was afraid that they would claim him for themselves (despite the fact that most of them would probably just squish him and pretend they never found him). I didn't really see Donnica's delusions about how the women at the office viewed Trevor in this way until this chapter, but now I can't unsee it.

Oh, and Donnica actually breaking down like she did during that search, being so openly emotional in public and not in Trevor's presence (but over Trevor) was such a powerful moment. Her guilt and fear had finally overpowered that anger she shields herself with, and she finally accepted that this was all her fault (though not for the right reasons, unfortunately). Her apologizing to Trevor could have been a big moment for her, but Trevor let her off the hook, which was probably a bad move on his part. I'm not saying he should have been overly pissed, but he probably should have at least let her have that moment of humility, even if he didn't want to see her that way. It could have been a really freeing moment for her, I think.

The Amber, Rebecca, and Trevor scene was both really sweet and kind of disturbing at the same time. I felt so happy for Amber at the relief she felt at her relationship with Rebecca being validated by another person, and Rebecca was still able to reassure her, give her that strength, and help her power through that moment. I also love that she accepted that validation from Trevor of all people, as that says a lot about how she actually views him, which made me smile. I also like how that validation sort of replaced the sexual tension that made the beginning of this scene feel so intense and gave Amber an edge at first. That they were able to have a nice talk about the relationship and just relax and watch that classic fake show Taste Wars was a heartwarming moment to me.

At the same time, however, Rebecca didn't come off quite the same to me as she had before. She's doing a lot better than I thought she'd be doing at this point, but you can tell something's not quite right with her (good on Trevor for seeing it, too). Her hesitance to affirm the relationship was a bit telling, but it was mostly the way she spoke throughout the scene that got to me. She still sounds like Rebecca, but that fire inside her seemed to be missing. I know at least part of (though not all of, I think) that comes from her abusive past, but it's definitely a part of her, and she felt a bit off with that missing here.

And Amber being so overprotective really made it seem like there was something shady going on here. She was afraid that Trevor was going to undo what she's doing, so I think part of her knows that this is wrong. Part of her wants to stop. But she feels like she might lose Rebecca if she does (hey, like mother, like daughter). Her huge overreaction to Trevor laughing at the "Yes, master" from Rebecca, for example, seemed more about protecting Rebecca's new mindset than Rebecca's feelings, as Rebecca has pretty thick skin, as Amber herself knows.

But Rebecca openly admitting that Amber is both her lover and her master was both a delightful and horrifying thing to read. Again, I can relate to how important that was to Amber and feel her elation here, and that's made easier with Rebecca seeming happy enough like this (for now), but I can't shake the feeling that the old Rebecca, the real Rebecca would never do this. It's a shift that I still think doesn't bode well for either of them long term.

I did like that Amber's raw honesty in confessing her love for Rebecca is what won Trevor over, though. Because that's not a lie, so it couldn't be denied, no matter how terrible a thing Amber is unwittingly doing to the subject of that love. So between that and Rebecca's assurances (which he clearly wasn't quite buying on their own), he openly accepted their relationship. I love that he was happy for them, preferring it over what they were doing before (which is a great point by him, even if he might still have some reservations about the whole thing).

One thing I really liked about this chapter is how so many little things before it helped build up to it. Yeah, there are the major emotional and plot-related beats that were built up (and still building here), but I'm talking about the little seed that you planted along the way.

There was the issue of Trevor's registration coming up in the therapy session, with Donnica pointing out that she was never going to actually do it, something I think was true even when she ... well, actually did it. Then there's the reason that it did happen: how fast and streamlined everything is at the office because of Trevor's new system and policies. We also saw that tiny walkway in the park come into play, a nice little seed planted back when Annabel first took him there.

I really appreciate little things like these coming into play like this! It's so cool that you that there was a plan in place all along!

Oh, and I still don't know what tiny registration is. It came up again here, but I'm still not sure if the government is extorting tinies for the right to be free or if losing registration is only documentation thing that indirectly makes it easier for giants to do whatever they want with tinies. It just seems weird to me that the government would do that (so openly), so I lean more toward the latter. But some clarification on this sure would be nice. Just sayin'!

Fantastic as always but damn so many thing happened and the end of the chapter? For real it's gonne be so hard to wait a full week.