Date: October 19 2021 1:57 AM Title: Reveal Part 3
Honestly. I don't know how I feel. I can kind of understand why you pushed Eren this way, but its also revealing of an unrealistic change in him. If he was vengeful he would've been vengeful after his parents died. He wasn't. His reaction to Mary(is that the girls name?) says such. He was indifferent. But now he feels vindicated to kill bigger people just because? No Thomas did not deserve to die. No justification they make is right. I feel you as the author understand that for sure, but I'd figure Eren would too. He's been written like that all along.
Overall I still like the story, I just see you're trying to force a relationship between Eren and Jisoo. It's fine, but its a recommendation to break ties then try to reunite them. I feel that would've been a better approach.
And honestly I think most people liked Thomas. He was a soldier, fought for his country and family. Was killed unjustly. Kind of like how most soldiers go, just left to die without a second thought; kind of like how specks are treated. So in essence Jisoo and Eren are hypocrites. Massive ones.
Also, I would want to make a spinoff when your story is done on it if that'd be alright. Cause well ngl Grace gets the loins going. But also because I feel like the backstory could be expanded in a weird way. Anyway it's up to you, and what you end up making of the story first, but yeah, good chapter, just feels forced though.
Author's Response:
The last line of the chapter is really important here: only a speck can understand. Eren like most specks is helpless to do anything about the injustices faced by his people, so in most occasions they don't lash out or seek revenge since it's a hopeless endeavor. Instead they keep all those emotions under the surface for their own safety. However Eren when around his own people is a bit more forthright with violence (hence his fight with Oscar which started over a rude comment, and history of fights according to Gabriel) so he's not indifferent when it comes to people who he can feasibly interact with. With Maddie since she was a normal person who he could not feasibly do anything towards, and she had also earned his admiration, he responded with indifference not because he is opposed to vengeance but rather there was nothing he could have done to her if he wanted.
And this is where we get to Jisoo. She is a speck who became human and also part of a very wealthy, influential family. So she is in the very unique situation where she actually can get revenge on people who have wronged her. Unlike Eren and pretty much every other speck. He stays with her for a couple reasons. The biggest is what she did was pretty much emotional manipulation by bringing up his parents, and asking if he would do anything differently if granted the opportunity. As a speck he is one of the few people who can understand why she's so violent and vengeful towards bigger people. Furthermore, he feels indebted to her since she not only saved his life but also has provided a wonderful new life for him. Subconsciously he knows that if he left her that could all come to an end, and his old miserable life would come back. I hope this explains the reason for why he for the time being chose to stay with her.
As for a spin-off, I'm flattered but this story is so far from finished I couldn't really consider one. Grace is definitely a character who might get her own fun spin off but for now it would be best to keep them all contained to this story.
I appreciate the thoughtful review!
[Report This]Date: October 19 2021 12:11 AM Title: Reveal Part 3
I'm really hoping Eren actually catches on to Jisoo's manipulation because ooooh boy am I starting to turn against them. I guess Eren is an engineer though so he might already be suspecting something, as he should be a decent problem solver. I'm really excited to see how Eren's old boss will tie in to all of this and if they'll even actually reunite. I came for the romance but now I'm hooked on the conspiracy.
Author's Response:
Fingers crossed! We have not seen the last of Maddie, I can say that much!
[Report This]Date: October 18 2021 7:03 PM Title: Reveal Part 3
While the backstory of Jisoo was nice, I think their judgment of Thomas was weak and hippocritical. Alice was a monster, true. However Thomas still tried to protect her out of familial love. He didn't condone her actions, he just still loved his sister and was reunited with her after a long ordeal only to be shrunken and tortured for trying to find a lost loved one. Thomas wasn't a monster, he was just misguided. I think that any amount of research into their lives, something that was almost certainly done would have revealed that aspect about him. To just lump him in the same category as his sister seems like a weak justification to do whatever they wanted. If they were as smart as you've written them to be, and with such a desire to make the world a better place I think they would've made an effort to reform him. Sure, he knew too much to be released, but he wasn't deserving of the torture and murde visited upon him. I like the story, but these last few chapters leave me feeling disappointed.
Author's Response:
So as for their justification with Thomas, in the previous chapter it was stated that one of the reasons Jisoo outright killed Thomas was to prevent him from sharing his side of the story, since she wanted to sculpt what Eren thought of her actions. She knew she could manipulate Eren with memories of the trauma from his parents murder, and he would be more receptive since Eren already feels so indebted to her as is. Moreover it is worth noting that the world that Jisoo and Grace want may not necessarily be a place where people like Thomas exist to begin with, both have shown themselves to kill people for even the slightest provocation. To them Thomas is not really a person to be reformed and more of a thing to be used and then discarded, and they will simply use whatever justification they need to do Eren will remain on their side.
As another reviewer noted for this chapter, it could be interpreted that Jisoo either lied or omitted certain parts of the truth. Remember that her entire goal with this conversation was to make sure that Eren remained at her side, so she would be incentivized to paint her actions in a positive light and downplay Thomas’s place as a protector to his sister. If she had simply admitted that she killed Thomas because she felt like it and she enjoys how it makes her feel, Eren’s reaction would have been very different, so she came up with an excuse closer to home he would agree with.
Bear in mind that Jisoo considers herself to be a ‘monster’, as she agreed with Alice when she called her such. She doesn’t really consider herself to be a ‘good person’. To her being a good person means doing what she considers furthering her family’s interpretation as the greater good, not anybody else’s. Furthermore she is a former speck who suffered for years as such, and makes choices based on her emotions before anything else. I’m sorry that you haven’t enjoyed these past few chapters but feel like it’s important to understand the characters motivations and perspective, since it drives their decisions and what they say to each other may lies or half-truths, which a lot of this chapter was.
[Report This]Date: October 18 2021 3:50 AM Title: Reveal Part 3
Why do I get the feeling that lies have been told to Jisoo.
Still, they simply could have been captured and tortured. This is a mercy kill.
Grace's fun is now been taken away.
Author's Response:
In the last chapter, one of Jisoo's motivations was to ensure that Thomas's complete side of the story would never be told. It makes it a bit easier to lie when nobody can contradict you huh? : )
Date: October 14 2021 3:14 AM Title: Reveal Part 1
That is a really good story.
Author's Response:
Thank you!
[Report This]Date: October 11 2021 4:08 AM Title: Reveal Part 2
You know, that's the mixed blessing of the kind of dramatic conversation Eren and Jisoo are going to have in the next chapter. The realization that all buried truths inevitably get exhumed. And, sometimes, sooner rather than later.
Author's Response:
Some truths are dug up and revealed, others only partially!
Date: October 11 2021 3:43 AM Title: Reveal Part 2
Wooow. When I first started reading this story, it was a "giant woman saves tiny man and protects him" sort of thing, which is great because I love gentle stories with a bit of a kick in them. This story has gone far and above what I expected when I started reading and I quite like the tropes being explored. Jisoo's "good but not soft" giant protector, Maddie's "dismissive of specks but realizes and regrets her mistakes", Grace's casual friendliess towards friends but ruthlessness towards those outside it.
And Eren. Poor boy has a lot to process now. On another note, I'm guessing Jisoo's family's plan is to shrink everyone else in the world and rule over them as benevolent overlords. That comes off as an idea that sounds nice but has a lot of unmentioned sacrifices along the way. Those who resist, those who try to flee, those who can't cope with their new size, those who were shrunk while carrying something or operating vehicles, etc. Though it depends on how the family intends to shrink everyone. Then there's the matter of what happens if people find out they shrank the world. Hard to be benevloent overlords when your subjects are rebelling and hate you.
Anyway, this story continues to be great. I look forward to what you have planned next!
Author's Response:
An unmentioned casualty of the Diminution were all the people who shrunk in the middle of something very important. It would be very unfortunate if the pilot of a commercial air liner was to suddenly shrink and crash the entire plane, and that sort of stuff happened. An interesting point you bring up! And for the three main female characters those are very accurate descriptions of each. Jisoo is conflicted person who understands she isn't a good person by definition; she does bad things for the right reason. Maddie has underwent a bit of character development and knows what she has done is wrong and wants to be better. As for Grace she's definitely the most divisive character atm with a few people! She is a very friendly and kind woman to those close to her, but cruel towards those she considers her enemy.
[Report This]Date: October 11 2021 2:36 AM Title: Reveal Part 2
I wonder what revelations she will reveal to Erin. Is Jisoo the head of the family or a higher rank than Grace?
Because she decided upon herself without Grace's approval to end Grace's project that was interesting and fun to her.
Author's Response:
Yah she absolutely ruined Grace's pet project, especially after she went through so much trouble to acquire Thomas for herself.
[Report This]Date: October 05 2021 3:51 AM Title: Reveal Part 1
Hoo-boy! I can just hear the introduction, now.
"Fit? Meet Shan!"
Author's Response:
Sh*t absolutely hits the fan next chapter ;)
[Report This]Date: October 04 2021 1:32 PM Title: Reveal Part 1
Nice, I always thought the whole situation with Thomas seemed to be resolved to easily. Like, he was literally the only obstacle left for any concrete problem that could cause complications with Jisoo and Eren's relationship, aside from the marriage process with all the traditions.
This is going to complicate things, guess Jisoo is going to have to explain things earlier than expected. Which I know that Eren might struggle to accept. Or he could try and forget about it, but be more careful when talking to Grace and Jisoo, slowly feeling scared to be in their presence. That type of doubt might cause him to further inquire directly both of them on the situation, so I'm interested to see how this plays out.
Also, side note, can't believe someone would spend almost a billion dollars at a mall. At that point she should just buy the mall. I'm also interested to see if there's going to be a Franklin version that will now be used as well for the speck community. Keep up the good work!
Author's Response:
So as for Lily (Grace's little sister) spending almost a billion dollars, the timeline this story is in as previouly mentioned in earlier chapters is in the 22nd century and there is a heavy amount of inflation. It is still a massive amount of money regardless of the era, but not quite as similar to how we envision it. Minimum wage in this world's USA is almost $50 for instance.
[Report This]Date: October 04 2021 12:10 PM Title: Reveal Part 1
Wonderful addition! Not gonna lie, I always found their mission to destroy Thomas to be fairly flawed. From how much he tried to protect his sister, to his reaction to learning about how she treated specks, Thomas seems to be a fairly decent guy. Kinda hoping he ends up ok.
Author's Response:
Thomas is definitely not a bad guy, he just has the unfortunate role of being a person on the other side of the proverbial fence. Which makes him a rather tragic target for people who can do all sorts of crazy things.
Date: October 04 2021 5:38 AM Title: Reveal Part 1
One the one hand, good for Maddie helping people. On the other hand, woo boy Eren found a doozy. That's going to be awkward to explain.
Author's Response:
Probably a pretty awkward conversation right before their big trip too!
[Report This]Date: October 01 2021 8:08 PM Title: Release
Fantastic on all levels. One might even say...your most poignant chapter, yet!
Author's Response:
Hopefully it only gets better from here!
[Report This]Date: September 28 2021 2:05 AM Title: Rescue
I completely understand the premise of this site, but considering I'd imagine the point of the story is to give a decent amount of plot with the giantess fetish, Grace just annoys me.
My issue stems from the inconsistency. She acts as a vigilante dealing out cruel punishment to speck-abusers, just like her cousin, and yet she literally just enslaved a good guy, who for all intents and purposes just wanted to save his sister. He never hated specks, hurt them or oppressed them.
At this point if the entire point of Grace isn't to be a sadistic pet-keeper I just want an admission of it. Because that's all I really see her as now, the kinky sadistic hot asian woman of the story.
I apreciate sadistic female characters in stories/movies etc. A lot of media usually don't portray women as sadistic, at least in regular entertainment, when in fact they easily can be. My problem is it's just it's like she turned a switch. The sadism was there a bit in the beginning, but now it's on full blast.
Don't get me wrong it's basically the hottest part of the story for me when Grace is in action, especially when she first captured Claire, the disregard she gave for literally entombing someone in her footwear was just crazy, but god damn I hate how she thinks of herself as a good person sometimes. Her actions with Thomas clearly shows she's not, sometimes her actions allign with "good".
Overall though, this is one of the best stories I've read on this site. Honestly probably the best that's still here and not deleted or banned off the site. You don't just throw kinky scenarios with no plot or dialogue, you give a semblance of a story, even if the plot itself is so far-fetched its funny at certain times.
Anyway thanks for writing so far, this story has been grat so far. I just wanted to get these thoughts out of my head and on electronic paper.
Author's Response:
"Kinky sadistic hot asian woman" is probably the profile description Grace uses on dating profiles lol.
There are almost 8000 stories on this site and that is very high praise to hear that this is among the best of them! Thank you very much, I definitely try to balance plot and sexual content as much as possible. Ultimately this site and most of its stories are intended to be pornographic, although there are many examples of genuinely good stories to read for more than just to smut. So whenever I put pen to paper so to speak it's a delicate act to make sure that there is not copious amounts of meaningless sex but also not an overload of strictly world building and character development some readers are not here for. I am pleased to hear the pace so far has been pretty good!
[Report This]Date: September 27 2021 4:50 PM Title: Release
I'm really loving the character growth Maddie is having! I wish you would stop teasing us so much and just have her reach out to Eren and talk it out already ;-;. I'm really hoping they eventually make up because it seems like she needs Eren as much as he needed that job. I would also love to see him introduce her to his old commune since it seems like his was below Maeve's. In other news I'm starting to flip my views on Grace and Thomas considering how it seems he was just motivated by seemingly good intentions and considers specks people while Grace is going around sadisticly enslaving people all willy nilly. I just can't see myself rooting for the corporation they feel too much like umbrella. I hope Eren and Jisoo do end up getting married though because that would be extremely wholesome, but the whole immortality thing rubs me the wrong way. Personally, I believe all good things must come to an end. I'm interested to see how Eren reacts to that proposition because I'd reject the immortality immediately lol.
Author's Response:
Maddie definitely needs someone like Eren, and in more ways than one! And a lot of people are beginning to flip their views on Grace and Thomas which I find really fascinating, to see how the perception of their characters has switched compared to when they were both introduced. All things must come to an end, and we will see how the prospect of eternal life is taken eventually!
[Report This]Date: September 25 2021 12:13 PM Title: Reality
Yep! Self-illumination can be initially painful to the mind's eye. As to where all those middle-class brob tax dollars went, if not for speck commune upkeep? I'm thinking Switzerland or the West Indies...for the benefit of the brob upper class.
Author's Response:
Most likely kept in a tax haven overseas and later reinvested for a massive profit!
[Report This]Date: September 24 2021 3:32 PM Title: Rescue
Good stuff again. I love this story. You haven't given up. Please try to maintain this high quality.
To many writers with good stories at some point give up and write annoying chapters.
Author's Response:
Sometimes you can tell an author has lost either their motivation for a story or they pump out chapters they clearly put little effort into. I definitely want to avoid that, especially since this is a longer story and I plan to invest a lot of time into it and readers also invest a lot of time into it as well. Hopefully each chapter that comes out only increases in quality as opposed to the opposite!
[Report This]Date: September 19 2021 2:48 PM Title: Resilience
In the immortal words of Sean Penn (as Jeff Spicoli in FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH): "Awesome! Totally awesome!!"
Author's Response:
Awesome!
Date: September 19 2021 1:29 PM Title: Resilience
Peace building. It's a sweet sense of anticipation for drama, revealing the dark secrets of the fake Tae. And Maddy's flash. A mocking sense of anticipation of admitting mistakes.
Most likely, I'm just too lazy to read carefully and I justify skipping huge chunks of text with disgust / apprehension / unpleasant sensation.
Anyway. The moment of revealing Tae's full past has yet to come?
Author's Response:
At the moment Tae's full past is yet to be revealed. The key bits revealed so far include her real name, the nature of her birth, bits and pieces about the reason for her self-imposed exile.
Date: September 19 2021 12:28 PM Title: Resilience
Ah see this is why I don't believe in Amrita's altruism, or at least the altruistic grand design of the family Grace teases at. She really likes inflicting pain on thers and reveling in their misery and indignant rage. Thomas first words learning what Alice has done to specks "you've tried to kill someone?" should normally already be an exoneration in and of itself. Grace was more mad Clair called cute little Eren an "it" then her investigating her cousin afterall. He also immediately accepted his speck sister instead of abandoning her. Grace can't say she's just mad he tried to punch her for thinking he's his sister's attacker and kidnapper, afterall she's involved in one of them and related to the other. He seems the complete opposite of who inner family considers against their ideals. He sees specks as people and is willing to accept and protect his sister as one in-spite of knowing she's done terrible things because he gave his word to protect her.
And yet as she beat him uncounscious, she believed people like Thomas were a threat to the world her family wants. His only sin apparently being his strong independence to their idea of everything in control. If upstanding, loyal, and protective characters like Thomas are a threat to your family's vision of world peace, what exactly does that peace entail? Everyone else diminished outside the family and loyal servants allowed to be elavated? Elimination of choice and freedoms? Obey the family's will or be crushed, literally? I have a feeling the family elders have a grand dystopia they're covering up and bedazzling as a utopia while the finer elements of how they'll control the population in the name of peace are being muddled to anyone outside the circle. I'm thinking back to how Jisoo spits on her birth mother's name for ruining her grandmother's original plan and betraying the family.
Grace slips out knowing what a speak Jisoo's face looks like gazing up at a normal in anger and frustration. I don't think that was a picture or video of Jisoo. I'm thinking Grace was literally standing over her speck cousin prior to her ascension, taking the opportunity to taunt and humiliate the little girl over her plight before revealing the truth and offering her to be reborn. I'm back to wondering who exactly retrieved Jisoo from her adoptive family and revealed to her the truth of her origins, how exactly she was conditioned to join the Amrita family, and what event drove her out. If everything about how terrible her mother is was 2nd hand accounts by Grace and her extended family or experienced by Jisoo in an ill-fated reunion. Because if Grace is this sadistic and twisted while believing she's doing the familiy's will, what's the rest of the family's inner circle like and just how evil could Jisoo's mother have been?
Also I wonder if Maddie's revelation of the plight and suffering of specks makes her do a 180 on what Eureka's robotic aids are built for. If she musters the courage to apologize to Eren and tell him about her commune experience and new understanding of speck's suffering, say she has a new vision for Eureka and offer him the chance to come back; I'm curious how Jisoo reacts and if Eren just flat refuses or considers it. I wouldn't be too surprised if Jisoo pulls strings for an Amrita subsidiary to suddenly back Maddie as a new investor; either entirely out of the blue or after Jisoo calls her back privately with the investor offer if she promises to never reach out to Eren again.
Author's Response:
For Grace, she definitely feels slighted by the gall Thomas had to verbally lash at her in broad daylight. She considers it an affront to her honor and pride that he would dare do such a thing, so feels the need to put him in his place so to speak. The fact that he is a thorn in her cousin's side and his downfall would allow Jisoo to return to the fold is simply an enjoyable side benefit, her wrath is not reserved exclusively for those who mistreat specks. Rather she will crush anybody she considers an enemy to her family or herself. Amrita absolutely has grand intentions for the world, and how altruistic or noble they are will ultimately come down to perspective as it is explored later.
As for Jisoo's mother, Keqing Chen, you raise a very good point! If the future that Grace seems to desire so intensely is built upon such tactics and there seems to be shady things going on with Amrita, then what was her sin?