[Reviews - 49] starstarstarstarstarPrinter
Summary:

The last attempt to save humanity has become hell for its inhabitants. See how three woman friends are trying to alter the balance of powers for the greater good or their own benefit.


Rated: X
Categories: Crush, Gentle, Lesbians, Violent Characters: None
Growth: Giga (1 mi. to 100 mi.)
Shrink: Nano (1/2 in. to 2.5 nanometers)
Size Roles: F/f, F/m
Warnings: Following story may contain inappropriate material for certain audiences
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 26 Completed: No
Word count: 169493 Read: 154325
Published: May 08 2013 Updated: November 18 2013
Story Notes:

The story follows three Caretaker friends: Kate, Nicole and Amber. I am trying trying to interleave the perspectives to show different aspects of the strange world they found themselves in.

1. Intro - how it all came about. by gerald [Reviews - 22] starstarstarstarstar (4913 words)
Introductory chapter explaining events of a possible future leading to the creation of the "uTopia".

2. Kate - the training made nice. by gerald [Reviews - 0] (6818 words)

After most of the population dying three times in the intro, I feel like starting the actual story with a softer approach and the most empathic character.

3. Amber - anger and boredom. by gerald [Reviews - 0] (2796 words)

In this chapter we can explore the completely opposite perception of the situation than the one of Kate's.

4. Nicole - plans and possibilities. by gerald [Reviews - 1] starstarstarstarstar (2874 words)
Thanks for great reviews - after three chapters and no rating plus two review I was getting worried nobody got through - perhaps that "2300+ read count" was just "OMG A Wall Of Text - that's my cue to leave!". But I knew I can count on You, dear Readers and kept adding. But! I would also love to learn some particulars about it - like for instance:

    Are the characters convincing - are they believable? maybe too simple, or perhaps overdone?
    Are the long descriptions boring? - the story has hardly started after almost 20k words and although I have been trying to put some action in between...
    Have I already lost You struggling to figure out what happened when and why, who's daughter is doing what for when and how exactly are You to find any sense in this mess?
    Is my writing style of continuously nesting various clauses without any concern for the Reader's ability to decrypt a seemingly endless recursive and often unrelated (although I am at least trying to avoid using parentheses in the story text (which would probably complicate it even more (but still sometimes result in strange effects (which is a problem I often encounter (using too many parentheses, that is))))) to each other sentences creating somewhat problematic grammatical constructs difficult to read?

Or anything that annoys You, dear Readers - or You think could make the story better! Keep in mind this it my first attempt to write anything bigger... (and am probably failing miserably at it (especially given the amount of parentheses in the notes)).

5. Interlude - the view down there. by gerald [Reviews - 1] starstarstarstarstar (18412 words)
I struggled with publishing this as a single very, very, veeery long chapter, but what finally made my mind was the fact that it is basically a set of three separate mini-stories that take place along the events of the chapters 2-4 – but can safely be ignored or postponed if any of You are tired of long descriptions. But if they are read together – instead of one every couple of days or so – then I think the contrast between them produces effects that I was aiming for. And, of course, I feel that the stories help to understand what is happening in the broader world – as some examples of what tinies are experiencing in several places. I also think that this is the best time to read them – as they prepare some general emotional and descriptive background for the next ten chapters (well, actually 6-14 plus 16th). If anybody feels that it would be nice to split this into three separate chapters – with only a single part each, please let me know (but I would have to update the future chapter dependencies matrices – since their numbers would change, You just have no idea how tedious...). You can always trickle it one part at a time or what have you.

Additionally – instead of writing a separate “meta” chapter (also tedious rearranging), I decided to put it in end notes here – so even if You feel like skipping/deferring this chapter, I think You should still read the “general story notes” at the very bottom. I tried not to spoil much of this chapter contents – but ideally it should be read after it – and before the following ones (as the order suggests).

And should You have enough time and will to read this chapter, just a quick warning: if You think the 3rd one was already a bit much for an X-rated story, then You may want to skip the second part. I am serious. No - really, don't read it - it is crazy. The rest, however, should be fine.

6. Kate - the graduation and beyond. by gerald [Reviews - 0] (2997 words)
Quick and simple chapter - but hopefully the action can already feel as if gaining pace a tiniest little bit.

7. Nicole – betrayal and vengeance. by gerald [Reviews - 2] (2473 words)
Just a little spoiler before we start: in this chapter, Nicole is angry.

8. Amber – party like adults. by gerald [Reviews - 0] (2643 words)
Sorry about the long wait, but I had to re-imagine the reminder of the story, as I found some problems with... Well, You'll see – a lot of things. At least the plot seems solid now, all the way to the end.

But getting back, at least now I have two chapters ready to be published – maybe even enough to inspire some hope :)

Oh, and I think those two chapters (8 and 9) are best read together – to better understand the different perspectives.

9. Interlude – immaturity and manipulation. by gerald [Reviews - 2] starstarstarstar (5602 words)
Since my doubts about the remaining plot were sparked when I was finishing the previous chapter, I felt I needed to write this one as well before publication, to make sure that the thoughts are believable.

Also – the first chapter told from the perspective of a mother, I am desperately trying not to give away too many details - which unfortunately limited the length quite a bit after ignoring many topics that would do that - I hope it is descriptive enough to inspire Your imagination :)

10. Amber – the training done wrong. by gerald [Reviews - 0] (2242 words)
Firstly – due to popular demand, I added the meeting at Lauren's POVs to the previous chapter, so go back and read it, if not already – do we need a POV on 7 and this one? It seems fairly simple (and monstrously yet somewhat unknowingly cruel, incidentally – honestly I am trying not to think about it any more than I have to...).

I am attempting to avoid getting too deep into details, hopefully moving the plot forward – but if You feel that we need to stop at some event/action/description in particular (apart from Lauren' thoughts in 9th – it is all planned later – and so much more - “must not let my head explode!”), please let me know.

Also – I added a warning to the intro, but repeating it here just to make sure everybody is aware of how reviews work - if any of You want to share something after reading a chapter, don't wait to read the whole story - feel free to review the chapter You have just read (and also make sure to attach the review to the particular chapter not to spoil anything for others, and of course read reviews only from the chapters you are through) – one can do that simply by using the review box at the bottom of the chapter – the default action for a review on the entire story will default to the first chapter I think, which would be widely visible... And deleting reviews always feels bad – even if it's for the best and is followed by asking for their re-post in the proper place. As for how to read them - there is a dropdown with options “View all reviews” / “Reviews for chapter...”, where You can select all or only the one that interests You – hopefully avoiding any spoilers for later (great thinking Asuka* ).

And no spoilers this time – I feel that the one about Nicole being angry in 7 has really, really destroyed the immersion and the effect I was aiming for......

11. Nicole - truce and plotting. by gerald [Reviews - 1] (2120 words)

12. Kate – guilt and realizations. by gerald [Reviews - 1] starstarstarstarstar (3463 words)
And no spoilers for the chapter! Well, maybe just a little: that one dies.

13. Interlude – search and find. by gerald [Reviews - 2] (10968 words)
We go directly to another perspective, because he could not possibly have survived... I mean seriously.

14. Nicole – nice and friendly. by gerald [Reviews - 0] (3387 words)
I have no idea what to put in here this time – I already used nothing in ch11, so it wouldn't be original...

15. Kate – the honest talk. by gerald [Reviews - 0] (2284 words)
She will obviously want to confess how he died just earlier.

16. Amber – fun and regret. by gerald [Reviews - 1] starstarstarstar (4650 words)
Whose tinies will Amber be killing now?

17. Interlude – time to act. by gerald [Reviews - 0] (1593 words)
Absolutely no details on her evil plot to rule the world! Oh what a giveaway...

18. Kate – the new perspective. by gerald [Reviews - 2] starstarstarstarstar (8350 words)
Yeah, she got one of those red/cyan glasses and now sees everything in 3D, wouldn't you know...

19. Nicole – request and reunion. by gerald [Reviews - 3] starstarstarstarhalf-star (7610 words)
This was originally supposed to be 20th chapter, hopefully I applied transformation matrices properly to reflect the reordering.

20. Amber – repopulation and delays. by gerald [Reviews - 1] starstarstarstarstar (7702 words)
The script has just the title and “some fun” description planned for this chapter, so lets get started:

21. Interlude – the small perspective. by gerald [Reviews - 2] starstarstarstarstar (13233 words)
This was originally planned as 58th chapter – but moving the 20th forward seemed to work flawlessly, so this rearrangement should also help to speed up the story progression a bit.

22. Nicole – favor and confession. by gerald [Reviews - 1] starstarstarstarstar (5098 words)
Yes, the 110% plan was a sales campaign. No, no.. not a sales campaign – a joke.

23. Amber – gift and aid. by gerald [Reviews - 2] (3633 words)
Yes, I was running out of words for chapter names... that obvious?

24. Kate – big yet powerless. by gerald [Reviews - 2] starstarstarstarstar (22066 words)
Yes, she is simply unable not to kill somebody.

As for the tremendously long chapter – I know, but.. it seems like a continuous series of events that also makes sense to be read together, so I refrained from splitting it into smaller chapters.

One detail – for anyone unfamiliar with a construct like this:
”Speech speech
”Blah blah
”Even more words.. and done.”
means that a single person is continuously speaking. I need to break things like that into paragraphs and couldn't find enough excuses to interrupt some monologues.

25. Interlude – behind the scenes. by gerald [Reviews - 1] (14194 words)
The truth is that she really killed him in the end, just nobody noticed.

26. Amber – a different training. by gerald [Reviews - 2] starstarstarstarstar (7372 words)
It seems that literally everyone is trying to train everybody else.