[Report This]Date: May 07 2024 1:00 AM Title: Frankly and Zootie
You know, until this last chapter I felt a vague sense of familiarity with this story, but I couldn't quite place it. I'm not sure if it was the fact that this one toned down the emphasis on the size difference between Quinn and Bailey just a bit or that this left our two main characters to awkwardly fumble through the emotional backlash of the previous chapters to take center stage, but it kind of clicked for me here.
Who am I kidding? It was the musical references/recommendations that let me nail down what this story is: a coming-of-age indie film.
It was staring me in the face the whole time: the super personal narrative style (you even used the word introspective at the end of the previous chapter, how did I not figure it out then?!), the way the very premise of the story plays with taboo (okay, maybe not so taboo on this site, but in a general sense), the heartfelt emotional beats, and even the way their relationship with their parents has been set up. Once I looked up those songs listed in the chapter notes (I wasn't familiar with either of them before, so thanks for the introduction), I started reading this chapter through that lens (which was really easy to do, given the way the story is put together). It's weird, but even though the writing was no less any of those things listed above before now, doing this made this chapter hit just a little different, and as much as I enjoyed the first three chapters, this one is actually my favorite so far.
And, just in case I had any doubt that this was the vibe you were going for, once I looked up the premise for Lady Bird (another thing with which I was unfamiliar, but I actually really like Laurie Metcalf so I'll have to check it out, so thanks again!) and watch the trailer, I immediately pretended to stand up (I was too lazy to actually do it) and went, "That! That is what this is!"
As for the chapter itself, the first thing that struck me was Quinn trying to be cautious around Bailey, which obviously isn't a natural thing for her. First, she barely even acknowledges his new height (and does so in a very indirect and not very teasing way).
Quinn also barely teases Bailey at all in this chapter, and even when she does so, this time there's no physical contact in it (at least not until after his confession). I mean, the closest she comes to teasing him physically is throwing her socks at him; that's a huge departure from how she has behaved around him in the first three chapters.
The one time she came close to this was when she silently dared him to run from her at the table. But when he threatens to never talk to her again (obviously in jest), it seemed to me like she almost took it seriously. Even when he peppers in another joke, she backs down and saves face by telling him that he's luck that she "feels generous." Again, I couldn't see her showing that kind of restraint earlier in the story.
This shift made a lot of sense to me as I was reading it but even more so by the time I reached the backend of the chapter. After Bailey tells Quinn how he feels, she excitedly says that she "knew it," revealing that she has a pretty good read on Bailey in general (she caught him pretty much every time he was eyeing her up, too). After that, when she invites him to sleep over, she jokingly (or was it a joke) offers to let him sleep on her floor by her bed. That seemed to stray beyond her usual height teasing and general enjoyment of her size advantage over him, and with how well she has shown herself to know Bailey so far, I think this might be a sign that she already has some idea of what he's into.
So I'm starting to think that the whole measuring/weigh-in incident was actually Quinn's way of trying to entice him, thinking he would love being dominated so casually by her and reminded of how small he is too her (which, if that's what she was thinking, she wasn't exactly wrong) and capping off the effort by getting sexual but not too sexual with her thigh touching his cock. When it responded, she started to smirk, probably hiding her excitement to stay in character, so to speak. But when he ran away, she likely felt like she misread the situation entirely, feeling like she made him hate her instead.
I say all that to make the simple point that, upon hearing that Bailey never even considered hating her, she went back to trying to find out if she was right about his feelings for her. But this time, she was going to be careful and make sure that she didn't push too hard while probing him for the truth.
And we see that probing in surprisingly (for Quinn, anyway) subtle yet escalating ways. There was her brushing her thigh against his leg, giving him goosebumps. Then there was taking him to the carpark, a special place for them, and finding a nice isolated spot. Finally, she sings those very ... direct lyrics while looking him in the eye, even adding in a little physical contact in for good measure. Once she sees him trying to hide his erection, she knows she was right from the start, otherwise I'm pretty sure she would have become at least a little bit nervous when he brought up being scared of her.
But the way Quinn handled herself throughout the chapter was so endearing and sweet, and it built off of that speech at the end of the last one quite well. She has been fun from the beginning, but I'm liking her more and more as the story progresses.
You know, I find myself analyzing Quinn's perspective a lot more than Bailey's in these reviews, but I think that's because his narrative gives us such a deep look into who he is as a person. He's pretty honest with himself, even when he doesn't want to be, so we get to see everything about him. That made it so much more rewarding to see him finally come out with everything at the end of the chapter.
You did a masterful job of building these feelings up inside him in the first three chapters, and the way you drug out him acting on his decision to come clean, always finding an excuse because it wasn't the right time, made his nervous start and hesitation when Quinn more or less manufactured the right moment for him feel so natural. And the clumsy yet heartfelt way he explained to her what he loved about her was so satisfying, like these things were just flowing out of him rather than him trying to woo or flatter her. Also, recognizing little things like how her eyes widen when she wants to emphasize something always hit, as they show how closely you're actually paying attention to someone, so good work, Bailey!
Backing up a bit, I wanted to acknowledge how hard the emotions at the start of the chapter hit. Seeing Quinn's reaction to Bailey telling her that he doesn't hate her was so heart-warming and sincere, from the "uplifting" hug to the way she talked through her sobbing. It was such a powerful moment, showing the heaviness of the tension between them from the previous chapters suddenly being lifted from them even higher than Bailey was.
And Bailey loosing it for a second after realizing that there's a risk that his emotions could fuck up a relationship with Quinn that's so important to him, one he had probably taken for granted during his two-year absence, led to such a sweet moment. Him saying that he missed her almost felt like an apology for staying away for so long, like he could have had two more years with her the way they were before but can't now that he's probably about to mess everything up. Of course, Quinn seems to know exactly what he's thinking with her "You can tell me anything" line, which, once again, is what he needed to hear in that moment.
Lastly (I think I've been rambling for long enough), I really like how, while the other chapters showed that they were attracted to each other and the previous one showed how much they care for one another, this one did a lot to show why they care about each other. Between them bonding over complaining about their parents, to noting small details in Quinn's room like the books he had recommended for her to Bailey comforting Quinn over how the issues in Lady Bird reminded her of her own problems with Helen and the discussion the two of them shared over No Country for Old Men (great movie, by the way), the reader can see the bond between them rather than just be assured that it's there. These scenes made the story feel even more personal and their blossoming relationship feel more real.
And I think that'll be especially important to remember in the chapters ahead, now that we're getting into "the good stuff," particularly given Bailey's tastes.
Author's Response:
Ok now I gotta pitch Quintessential to A24, I reckon they'd bite, didn't Love Lies Bleeding have a giant woman in it? I appreciate the comparison and honestly, I do tend to heavily romanticise my stories while listening to music so it bleeds through into the writing sometimes. This is 100% a coming-of-age love story and I really wanted to have moments that show that stupid dramatic kinda love that you only feel when the music kicks in.
Let's think about it like this, Bailey lives in his head and chooses to ruminate on all that occurs to him, his story is told in a way, akin to something like Catcher in the Rye, but Quinn on the other hand is living in her coming-of-age indie flick and so she acts on her impulses, she gets the plot moving, she has her main character moments. I think you find yourself analysing Quinn because compared to Bailey, her intentions are a lot more mysterious, while we know why Bailey acts in the way he does, by nature of the 1st person POV we can only assume about Quinn's actions unless she outwardly states why and that's what makes her so fun to write because she has this adaptable personality and seemingly knows Bailey better than he does at times, so I thought it made a lot of sense for her to show some restraint given all that's happened.
And you're right! She definitely set some plans into motion after hearing Bailey say he never hated her and slowly built up more and more comforting environments to feel he had the space to speak, while also being highly suspicious of why. Lightly peppering in teasing when she couldn't help it, I like to think that when she gave him goosebumps was when she confirmed to herself that he was into her like that. You say she might've orchestrated the measuring thing with Bailey to entice him, but I counter you with what if she just did it because it was fun for her? Or was she actually worried about SIVID? Or was she trying to entice him? Who knows, well she does, but she sure as shit hasn't told me yet.
A big theme of this chapter was Bailey trying to find 'the right moment' and while I was listening to Red Wine Supernova I thought some of the lyrics were so perfectly situated to what was going on, using those lyrics in a way where it was so on the nose that he felt it would've been a wasted opportunity for him NOT to speak up, and ofc Quinn literally catches him trying to hide his erection.
Here are a few other lyrics that almost made it:
'I like, what you like' - this one ties well into what you said about Quinn being suspicious of exactly what Bailey might like.
'Now I'm choked up, face down, burnt out' - referencing how they were both kinda going through it emotionally speaking.
Anyway, I'm glad the emotional beats are hitting for you, I'm aiming for a very personal style so it's nice to know it's connecting. Nice pick up on Bailey saying he missed her feeling like an apology because that's exactly what it was, him regretting the fact that he'd stayed away from her for so long and leaving her all alone, she had her friends sure, but what about her little- wait I mean big brother!
Thanks for the write up, it's great fun to read your thoughts! Enjoy those recs btw, there'll be plenty more music/movie references to come.
[Report This]Date: April 30 2024 6:52 AM Title: Red Wine Paranoia
This has been excellent so far! While I know this is a fetish site, but I appreciate stories on here that put a lot of thought into their characters as well, and this one certainly does that.
As someone who usually prefers a shorter, choppier style of writing, I'm actually enjoying those long introspective paragraphs here. Your narrative style is really engaging and takes full advantage of the first person perspective. As a result, I feel like I know a lot about how Bailey's mind works. I think it's easy to get wrapped up in what a character sees or what they may be feeling in a given moment when writing in first person, but it's a lot harder to actually convey said character's inner workings (from any perspective, really). This makes him seem more "real' and relatable, and I appreciate the effort you've put into him.
Quinn's speech at the end of chapter three was just beautiful, and it was full of things that needed to be said at this point of the story while still being loaded with personality at the same time. But while her words were touching, I do think there was one thing she said that wasn't sincere: I think it's pretty clear that she does care that he has SIVID and that she's excited by the thought of Bailey going "the whole way."
I mean, there are the obvious things that she has done to take advantage of her size and dominate him since he came home, but we can see where her brain is at when the first thought she has about him shrinking is him ending up on the bottom of her foot (even if she didn't mean it in an erotic way) or when she suggested that she might have to carry him around in her pocket (not to mention the time she playfully threatened to eat him, even though, admittedly, he wasn't actually anywhere near that small). We know she likes being big and that she loves him being small, so I don't think it's so much of a leap to think that she might be into the prospect of him shrinking.
At the same time, however, I think she's worried about it. Or more particularly, what he'll think of her as he gets smaller. While she enjoys lording her size over him, she obviously cares deeply about him as well, so him fearing her size makes her feel guilty for enjoying it. Of course, I think she also feels guilty for that part of her that wants him smaller, given that this is something that is bothering him for obvious (and some not-so-obvious) reasons. Her research into the condition (probably done out of a mixture of concern and excitement) probably didn't help alleviate this guilt.
But we all process guilt a little differently, and Quinn seems to rely on deflecting as a defense mechanism against those feelings. While she feels bad that Baily is afraid of her and hates her (at least in her mind this is how he feels), she finds a way to get upset at him. Yeah, she pushed him around a bit, but he should know that she wouldn't do anything to hurt him or anything worthy of fearing her, right? And from there, she focused on questioning him about his fear, going so far as to intimidate him slightly (just by getting close to him) and give him the silent treatment. In other words, instead of dwelling on her guilt, she put the onus on him, almost blaming him for being afraid of her. That's a lot easier to do than to deal with the complexity of both wanting and feeling bad about the person she loves shrinking.
And I do think that even at this early stage of the story she loves him in a way that isn't platonic. Chapter one gave off this vibe with Quinn asking Bailey if he wanted her to be his first kiss and pointing out that it "doesn't feel like" he's her brother. Bailey followed that up in the narrative by noting that they were brother and sister and couldn't love each other that way, so he didn't. I think those feelings never went away for Quinn, and that's also part of the reason she enjoys messing with him so much. It's as close as she can come to showing those feelings without crossing that line, which Bailey has been going out of his way not to cross up to this point.
I also think it's telling that his erection over her isn't even something that she seems to be worried about at this point. She's more worried about what he thinks of her than the thought of him perving on her. I think he was right when he thought he saw her start to smile while feeling him up with her thigh. Still, she seems aware that getting hard isn't the same thing as being legitimately attracted to someone, which explains why she's concerned instead of acting smug around him.
But overall, Quinn has felt like Bailey was never going to be a real option for her, so it is what it is. However, with the way this story is going, what it is is about to change dramatically, I think.
Anyway, to wrap up on Quinn, I think it was because she feels like Bailey fears and hates her that she was compelled to "out" him to their parents. She knew he needed someone to lean on, and if it couldn't be her, surely their parents would fill that void. When that didn't ... pan out, she pushed down her guilt and frustration, apologized for what she thought the problem was, and opened up to him a bit in the hope that he would feel like he could do the same with her if he needed to. It just so happens that those words were exactly what he needed to hear in that moment.
As for Bailey's fear of her, oh, if only Quinn knew. While she thinks he just fears her for pushing him around, he's actually struggling to find our where his fear ends and his lust begins. Not only that, but what turns him on about her and what he wants in his relationship with her (even a platonic one) are two very different things. I think all of this is a pretty accurate portrayal of a masochist, and part of his awkwardness around Quinn is him trying to sort out those feelings, as well as his romantic feelings for her (which, given their familial relationship, is a whole other can of worms, of course).
It seems like Quinn coming clean on some of her feelings for him has motivated him to open up to her as well, but not in the way that she might expect (but, as I said above, in a way that I believe she'll like).
I also think having the parents be distant to Quinn and Bailey is a nice way to dance around the taboo line, as between that and them not being biological, it makes them feel somehow less brother-and-sister-like, yet they still are, so people who are into that are still getting it, too.
Speaking of the parents, I thought Helen's reaction to Bailey's unofficial diagnosis was pretty interesting. I think she cares more about him shrinking than she lets on but is ultimately a selfish woman who refuses to change her plans now. Like Quinn, I believe she deflects to deal with the guilt that comes with this decision, in her case by dismissing how serious the situation might be and suggesting that he might be done shrinking altogether just because he's no longer sick (it was made clear that she wasn't really paying too much attention to this stuff, so that's purely a guess on her part). Then, when Bailey gets upset at his dad and her for seeming to not care, that guilt defense kicks into overdrive and she accuses him of being childish instead of acknowledging his feelings or even just letting him go.
His dad telling her to stop shows just how far out of line it was for her to do that, as he's obviously a push over for her generally. He kind of gave off the vibe here, at least to me, that he was just playing off of Helen's reaction up until that point. That mostly neutral "That's no good" seemed like a testing the waters kind of answer to me.
As for the smut, we haven't really gotten into all that as of yet, but I'm loving the teasing and casual dominance Quinn has displayed so far. Now that she's made it known how much she cares for Bailey and we've seen him start to accept that he likes being treated that way (or at least a part of him does), I feel like we're closing in on some fun stuff ahead, and it should have a more personal feel to it given the tremendous job you've done setting things up in these first three chapters.
Oh, and I love the comparison chart at the end of each chapter!
Author's Response:
It Was Me... I love you.
You're the best reviewer this site has seen I swear. Seriously! Your words mean a lot and have motivated me to kick this up a notch (I write by the sentence and seldom plan, but this one's getting an outline baby). Sometimes I lose confidence in my stories and abandon them but I sincerely appreciate what you've said and I don't think I'll be abandoning this one any time soon.
As for your review. I'm really glad you enjoyed Quinn's monologue there. I must say, you're pretty much spot on with most of your deductions. I was nodding my head each paragraph like 'yup yup yup'. It's a good catch to assume Quinn wasn't being totally sincere about Bailey having SIVID, especially with what we've seen in her attitude around their height difference. But then you've also perfectly grasped why it's eating Quinn up inside and why it's felt so strange for Bailey too. In fact, you've honestly made me realise that's EXACTLY how they're feeling at this current point in the story so it's really nice to see that's how it's coming across.
I really wanted to treat this is a realistic situation (as realistic as shrinking can get) and keep Quinn and Bailey's feelings for each other on a level grounded somewhat in reality. Quinn is not some tall goddess with no personality and Bailey is not a tiny shrimp to be beat around, they are people who grew up together and have formed a very tight sibling-like bond which is now under stress from pathological forces pushing their relationship into unknown territory.
I think you're right to assume Quinn's feelings for Bailey extend past platonic though. She really nailed the timing on her speech too.
And yes, I really want to blur the whole sibling taboo as much as possible, I've always found sibling relationships interesting and I can't believe I've never tried to write a size piece that includes it honestly.
You've given me a lot to think about for the future of this story and in terms of smut I have some ideas that I'm very excited to write.
[Report This]Date: April 29 2024 4:59 PM Title: Red Wine Paranoia
That was an amazingly heartfelt speech. Hope the dynamics stay the same, at least in general.
Author's Response:
Melodrama is my baby, thank you.
Usually I lean toward cruel and playful but I think Quinn may be the nicest girl I've written. Of course the dynamic will change as Bailey shrinks but in a way that I hope maintains their current energy.
[Report This]Date: April 29 2024 4:46 PM Title: Red Wine Paranoia
Really enjoying this story so far. I really hope he gets small enough so she has to carry him in her pocket. I like the attention to detail and the descriptions of her body everytime he sees her. I hope she continues to have a caring personality with bailey and is oblivious to his perversions.
Author's Response:
Thanks!
He will definitely get small enough for that but it might take a while.
Glad you appreciate the details, sometimes I worry I ramble too much.
Don't worry, she'll remain caring, she's his big sister after all.
[Report This]Date: April 21 2024 4:39 PM Title: SIVID-24
Great story so far! I hope he ends up getting really flustered when he just sees his sister in like a thong lol
[Report This]Date: April 19 2024 5:08 PM Title: SIVID-24
Great, I hope to see a growing Milf Mom too, mature giantesses are hot too!
[Report This]Date: April 14 2024 10:29 AM Title: Quintessential Quinn
Great, I wish there was a virus which make all females taller and bigger and sexier and moms become the biggest in each family!
Author's Response:
Wouldn't that be nice
[Report This]Date: April 14 2024 12:51 AM Title: Quintessential Quinn
Awesome story!
Author's Response:
ty!
[Report This]Date: April 13 2024 5:43 PM Title: Quintessential Quinn
Not bad start. Can't wait to see where this goes.
I hope you don't shrink him too much.
Author's Response:
Thanks! He will get pretty small but he'll spend a lot of time at the heights in between too.