Date: January 28 2026 6:09 AM Title: All in the Family (Part 2)
Wow this was truly an incredible series. We finally finished With Friends Like This in such a satisfying way.
Having a character like Stephan, a Vortex victim who might reappear in the future, and the new possibilities this opens up, is incredibly exciting. The interaction between Stephan and Alessia was absolutely captivating. The contrast between Alessia’s anxiety when she first sees her friend and her casual consumption of other minis is astonishing. In both cases, she clearly cares about Stephan and Stephan himself is intelligent enough to understand both his friend and the world around him.
I really hope that from now on we’ll see more connections between stories and meaningful changes in the larger macro-universe. Until now, aside from small references, the Vortex universe felt mostly independent story by story. Honestly, by the end I expected Stephan to be eaten by a family member — but for the first time, a Vortex victim survived long enough to potentially reach other stories. Congratulations Stephan!! (and Alessia of course). I truly hope we get to see more of Stephan and don’t lose him too early.I’m extremely curious to see what you’ll do with this concept. Will Florian ever learn about this, and if so, I wonder what would he think?
Another point I wanted to mention is Valeria. Will we see more of the younger sibling? we barely encountered in the Santoro family. If yes, I am absolutely here for it especially if she were to meet Stephan someday. :)
In last two chapters Claudia were expecially savage. It’s not common for a single person to consume so many characters alone. Brendan, in particular he seemed like a genuinely good man but he was incredibly unlucky .Clearly well trained, but it didn’t change his fate. I’ll admit that for a moment, after Stephan was noticed bu aleissa, I thought he and Luke might escape together too and survive in some kind of crevice on the ground. But Mrs. Santoro was simply too hungry in these two stories. :)
Either way, I will continue to eagerly follow your stories from Türkiye. Please excuse any mistakes in my English.Im new in writing lol. I just wanted to share my thoughts and questions about an universe I read with so much passion.
Wishing you all the best, Vortexfoods
Author's Response:
Çok teşekkür ederim, dostum! I’m really glad the series met your expectations.
I have to admit, I was a bit worried that "With Friends Like These" raised the bar so high that this sequel might disappoint some readers. So hearing this means a lot to me.
Stefan was indeed incredibly lucky for a shrinkie in this universe. My original plan when writing "With Friends Like These" was actually for Alessia to just eat him without ever realising who he was. But halfway through, I stopped and asked myself what would realistically happen if she did become aware of his situation. As hinted at in earlier stories, Alessia has a more personal moral compass and genuinely cares about Stefan as a friend, so once she recognised him, I couldn’t picture her still going through with it. And that opened up far more interesting narrative possibilities.
So yes, we now have a shrinkie who can reappear, though he and Alessia will obviously have to be very careful that nobody else eats him instead! ;) The Santoro residence is not exactly a safe space for a shrinkie. And then there’s Florian, of course, and Alessia’s friends, such as Tanja, Jessica, and Lisa…
Regarding Valeria: Due to my own policies on characters under 18, she won’t be shown directly in any size- or vore-related scenes. From an in-universe perspective, it does make sense that she shares the same diet as the rest of her family, but those implications are meant purely to underline the dystopian/horror aspects of the world, not to serve as "fetish fuel". I wasn't entirely sure how to handle this, but then decided that completely omitting her would feel kind of dishonest in a setting where Social Darwinist/Malthusian ideology is learned and reinforced from the very beginning. So if she appears again, it would be in a similar way as in this story, and have to serve a clear narrative purpose, such as to explore indoctrination, family dynamics, or Alessia’s role as a big sister. But nothing beyond that.
And yes, Claudia was particularly savage in these chapters. Brendan was tough and capable, but against a force of nature like Ms Santoro, that simply didn’t matter. It certainly goes to show where Alessia got her own appetite for shrinkies from! ;)
Thank you again for such a thoughtful comment. Your English is absolutely fine, and it was a genuine pleasure to read your thoughts and questions. I hope that I could answer some of the latter.
All the best to you as well!
[Report This]Date: December 30 2025 2:03 AM Title: All in the Family (Part 2)
Finally the long-awaited sequel to “With Friends Like These” is finally here.
This story was the most that I highly anticipated since the finale of the last one, I liked how Alessia interacts and reacts to the shrunken Stefan and how she was shocked by the fact of almost eat him.
The first part of the story feels like a direct contrast of “A Helping Hand,” mainly because this time one of the main characters wants to help a shrink person, and it's not reveal to be a sadistic game. I know Chrissy would be an important fact or mention when Tanja finds out about Stefan and Alessia won't let her eat him and she wouldn't due It as well. Honestly, I thought the story would focus on Alessia fiding the shrunken Stefan, taking care of him, and then Tanja comes along and eats him. They both fight, which causes the German-Italian girl to end their friendship, and Alessia starts to have different opinions and views about Vortexfoods and the things it sells, still i liked how you put the story here and expand a little more the story of both Stefan and Alessia and creating some kind of contrast with Tanja and her vortex shrinkies as well.
I like how Alessia was starting to see the shrunkens in a different light, thinking about them in the back of her mind, but not to the point of stopping eating them, at least not in front of Stefan. They both had very different perspectives on the world: that of a helpless prey and that of a powerful predator. Even so, Alessia isn't too concerned about the other Shrinks, as she still calls them and also the would Stefan's incident “collateral damage,” as she's trying to avoid accept a reality different from her entire world and the world she lives in.
I hope in the future Alessia has some kind of “starting to see VortexFood and the Shrinks in a new light arc,” since she's now dealing with one of the vicious Vortex Shrinks by literally first hand, and caring for it might go against her principles of eating them. Also, she realising that in the last story, they were watching her like she was some kind of price cow.
I liked that Stefan didn't die in this story like Chrissy did. I think he would have had a bigger role, since you were hinting his character since “Girls' Night Out.” I'm curious to see how his story with Alessia develops and if Florian will also find out in the future, as well as what he thinks about his girlfriend hiding one of the shrinkies they usually both eat, maybe he could help or take care of Stefan because of his girlfriend.
The podcast was somenthing that caught my attention, I know they can't see the podcast since is unvailable in their region but i belive VPN's are real in that world but what make me curious the most is that if both of them could watch that podcast and even if Florian came to the picture as well, i felt this will connect this characters not directly but to events or a group similar that you show on “A matter of principe” tan tan tan.....!!!!
I also noticed that you updated the character overview with the new characters that where introdupted for this story, although I don't really like the new picture of Alessia you posted.
I liked that you let know to both Alessia and Stefan the fates of Vanessa and Nico, like how Stefan decided to not tell her friend abouth how Vanessa died. Nowing that Nico is dead as well and how he died was probably the only mercy he had, the fact of knowing what happend to him, still Alessia felt bad for Vanessa but once more she call it a “collateral damage,” somenthing she could avoid but still there's some guilt inside her which probably grow stronger now that Stefan Is on her care.
I liked the end of both parts, basicly how they had a “safe ending” for Stefan which I considered an archivement on your stories, i like how the first part ends with both Stefan and Alessia sleeping together (which i saw as the only gentle interaction from all your stories) to the point that the next part both have nightmares abouth their respective partner. Stefan was hinting another talk with Alessia abouth eating tinies, he knows It can go poorly on his side but the fact that both are having nightmares and Alessia didn't want Stefan to look at him as a monster is goin to be a very problematic clash for her and maybe having some points in favor for him.
This is my first review of your stories; since it's the one I was most looking forward the most and let to interesting points for the future lore of your story than just this character daily life eating people, i hope this will lead to interesting developments from Alessia and Stefan.
I give it a 9.5/10 I can't wait for the next chapter of Stefan and Alessia.
Author's Response:
Thank you for your extensive review! :)
Yeah, Tanja was definitely going to bring up the thing with Chrissie again. As you said, the whole scene is a direct inversion of how Alessia behaves at the beginning of "Girl's Night Out", although Tanja only protected Christina for selfish reasons there. I personally didn't want to go down the path of Alessia starting to really question the overall system as I think it's just too much of a cliché, and not really how human psychology works. Call me cynical, but I think when human beings encounter something that could potentially challenge their own belief system, they don't genuinely start questioning the latter. Instead, they're more likely to carve out exceptions and double standards that provide a quick fix to their cognitive dissonance.
And in this case, the situation isn't even that clear-cut: Alessia tells herself that Stefan might really have done something to "deserve" being shrunk, or at least was involved by proxy, and warned him about his relationship to "losers" like Nico before. She suspects that there might be something more sinister going on, but she doesn't have any solid proof either. Claudia having swallowed Nico the evening before is a convenient excuse for her in that regard - her mum literally ate the evidence, so there's nothing Alessia can do in her mind.
That leaves her only with unprovable assumptions, and Alessia strikes me as far too pragmatic in that regard. After all, the system works for her and people like herself, putting them at the top of the food chain (even if they too are kind of objectified to something like "prize cows, as you said). Why should she risk her privileged status (and potentially that of her loved ones as well) for some uncomfortable suspicion? One that doesn't even really affect herself or her family? Quietly blaming Stefan for having put himself in the firing line, while implicitly elevating herself to the role of his benevolent caregiver, is the far easier and more plausible route for her to take, in my opinion. That's not to say that it's all just self-righteousness on her part, her friendship and care towards Stefan are genuine. Human emotions often are just a complex mix like that.
The dynamics between Stefan and Alessia (and other, less benevolent pred characters like Tanja) are very interesting to explore, and I definitely want to continue playing around with this in the future. That's not to say that he's totally safe, of course! ;)
The podcast is actually a reference to Marius-the-Mage's Vortex story "Hungry Skies", which you can find on DeviantArt (https://www.deviantart.com/marius-the-mage/art/Hungry-Skies-Pt-1-A-Vortex-Foods-Story-984345145). Using a VPN isn't going to help Alessia or Stefan, as the podcast has actually been taken down completely and reframed as a work of fiction by Vortex's PR department. That way, nobody can listen to it, but just in case it's still referred to, or if there happen to be pirated versions of it floating around, it can be said to be a fictional piece that simply isn't available anymore due to "licensing issues" (which is bullshit). Kind of a double censorship.
Thanks again for taking the time to leave such a lovely long review, and of course for the generous rating! Hope you have a great start to the new year!
[Report This]Date: December 29 2025 11:57 AM Title: All in the Family (Part 2)
Die Bewertungen ist auf Deutsch.
Ich liebe Stefan und Alissia einfach :) . Sie sind mein lieblingsduo und ich wäre am Boden zerstört sollte Stefan je etwas passieren. Vorallem falls Alissia dafür verantwortlich ist ob Unbewusst oder Bewusst :(
Author's Response:
Danke für die 5 Sterne und deinen Kommentar! :)
Es freut mich sehr, dass die Dynamik zwischen Alessia und Stefan so gut ankommt. Alessia wird jedenfalls so gut wie sie kann versuchen, auf ihn aufzupassen!