I had Stephanie pegged as a psychopath due to her lack of empathy.  Seems like her flat affect is the result of a traumatic incident in her childhood.  Her lack of caring is in fact a defense mechanism.

This makes the eye for an eye discipline a little more troubling.  Someone like Stephanie should also be getting some counseling.  I don't know if Claire is up for that or not.  Interesting that Stephanie doesn't see herself as a hypocrite.  Are Omegas hypocritical for punishing Alphas in the same way that they don't want Alphas treating Betas? (Especially if the eating Alphas who ate Betas part is true. Kind of like spanking a child for hitting their sibling.) -pardon this analysis, it's just my educational background in developmental psychology spilling out.

On the subject of Omegas, compression shrinking is a new ability.  I assume the mass remains the same to make her proportionally more durable for the ride?

First of, I knew this would happen.  Lucky Naomi got saved before it went too far.  

The first description of events didn't make any sense til it was explained later.  I still had to go back and reread the beginning.  (Little extra work for your reader there.)

Jenna isn't entirely wrong, but maybe not the right reasons for her outlook.  (Like to hear more about Vincent, I assume he's the boy with one arm.)  Interesting that they transfered from her care.  That's almost as big a conflict of interest as Claire.  I'm now starting to think transferring them may not have been done with malicious intent.

That had to have sucked for Claire though, having a beta brother and being last in her class certified to even interact with him.

 This might be better for Naomi.  She'll think hard on what she was told.  But she maybe needs less to share a Beta's pain as to learn to be compassionate to those smaller than her instead of using them as an outlet for her frustrations.  That's more like what an Omega like Jenna is doing.

So Naomi knows about Stephanie's history.  Awfully quick to toss Marion under the bus.  Let's see how things go with her.

Bit by bit, more of the world trickles out.  So then are Omegas much longer lived than Betas? Any hope for a happy life between Melody and Correy now seems doomed to end in tragedy. 

So Beta society is relatively new.  I hope Correy isn't ready to give up, to turn his life over to Omegas like all those years ago.  And I hope the girls are ready to encourage him to continue to follow his dreams if that's the case.

The punishment system continues to be worrisome.  It's something of the justice system they deserve, but as with Stephanie, maybe not the one they need at this point.  In my head, Ashley's antics were probably not done in malice and maybe even with initial consent of the beta.  Basically just kids being stupid.  I picture one of the other girls stumbling upon them and overreacting given the cultural sensitivity of the situation.  It's sad to hear about her pleading with her sister, possibly to try and explain it, while the three continue for "her own good."

That was a good exchange between the two of them, and I'm happy if they'll find some joy together in the time they have.

I'm generally not into giantesses that mistreat tinies, but I've found the actions of Claire at least to be somewhat sexy in the demonstration of her power.  I guess the major difference is these are not innocent bystanders.  But more than that, it's the ability of the giantess to feel bad for the tiny, to have some compassion.  It means the tinies have a chance, that while they may be at her mercy, there actually is mercy to be had.  I hope Claire and at least two of those girls continue to bond, and maybe even a chance for Correy to reconcile with them.  That little guy is a saint, and I like that there's an element of forgiveness to aid in the redemption of two of the girls.

But wow, doesn't look like there will much hope for Marion.  12 is a lot more than I was expecting, and they know about them too.  I don't know how I feel about them Turing it into a sick game of false hope for Marion, but it raises another question.  Correy asks his sister to treat the girls fairly because he didn't agree with Dr. Everett transferring them into her custody.  Melody seems to think taking them away from Jenna was a decision to give them a fair chance.  Without having met the good doctor, I'm not sure who is right.

You know, even as a friend, Dr. Kayla Everett would be a frightening person.  Your thoughts are not even your own around her.  How close she is to the family, it might not just be Marion who has to worry.  I wonder if she has the same hatred deep down that Abby has about the situation.

There are a few questions I get from this chapter:

Does Dr. Everett not control who ascends?  It seems if anything, she would want to extend the life and protection of her closesest friend's family.  (Again the potential sadness of mix pairings comes up.)

How do detonators work? (I have an idea.)

What was the second incident Abby caused between her children?

 So her husband tagged along with his ex in medical School.  Why are they ex?  (And who is Claire's father now to mention it?)

So we got a glimpse of the past.  What exactly was going on in this facility?

So much revealed about the world in this chapter.  So omegas have only been around for 70 or so years, but started the new generation less than 30 years ago.  And Kayla isn't like family, she is family.  Also the first generation shares Kayla's world view, I guess Abby doesn't see completely eye to eye is she had to be choosen.  That's actually good for Kayla, to have a non-yes man who's so close to her.  It will give her prospective.

And fucking Jenna, I knew it.  That is not the person you hand your sister to even for her own good.  When lasting harmony is finally established, and she will probably live to see it, they're not going to know what to do with her.

If Caire is successfully fighting the fire, I don't know is giving her a treat is the best thing.  It's too tempting to corrupt her.  I actually hope she doesn't kill Marion.  Do so, because it's her "god" given right and Marion is "nothing" to her, I feel would be a major character failure for her. 

Questions:

Still don't know how Kayla assended.  And if she can also choose it, why not the rest of her family?

Still don't know the second incident with Abby's kids, and now there's another with Melody's mom?  Or are they related?  

Also who is Claire's father, and why is he no longer in the picture?

What was Ashley's circumstances?

Still not sure what detonators are.

Is Kayla's son an Alpha or Beta?

So Jenna is acting like a brat.  By her standers that's a huge plus for her character.

I'm surprised Naomi will be allowed near beta children given the crime she's labeled with.  Not that I think she will do anything bad, but I doubt the parents would knowingly want a felon watching their kids.  I imagine there will be an Omega with her the whole time.  (If that happens to be Jenna, I wouldn't put it past her letting slip Naomi's crime just because she doesn't think she's worthy having the kids like her too much.)

I'm interested to see what happens when the parents meet the girls.

(*grumbles, why do I always have to defend not liking Jena?)

As I've said before, first impressions count. With Ashley/Naomi, you introduce them in a very sympathetic/identifiable way. We see them counterpoint the malicious attitudes of others, see them exhibit remorse, express their insecurities, and experience fear. We never start with the crime they committed, nor ever see it first hand. It's easy to forget because that action is far removed and seemingly out of character for those girls.

Then you have Jenna who comes in as an antagonist, flawed in a sociopathic way. Someone who delights in the pain of others, only in this case her target is not a killer/rapist but a helpless sympathetic girl. You can't be surprised that some people haven't warmed up to her.

Yes it's good she's there to ground Naomi, to play devil's advocate if you will. But that's not going to make her likable. Only see her non-sadistic pastimes and interactions will do that, and we haven't seen very much of her tender side so far. The closest we came was with Ashley and that was only after causing her to vomit, so that's pretty much a wash.

She has gone from a -5 to a 0, almost a 1, (where 0 is neutral likability). So she wins the most improvement award. Let's see how the shopping trip goes.

A very moving chapter.  I could feel Stephanie's pain the whole build up. 

And I'm interested to know how Naomi's doing even though we might not find out for a long while.  The two of them are what has made this story interesting.  Over the long time between updates I've completely forgotten about the other girl.

This is a cute story.  A couple notes: at 50 ft a giantess's foot would be as big or bigger than a person but still only half the length of a standard car.  I like the ranks you have for the urban licenses.  I came up with a similar idea for a project I'm working on.

On the latest chapter, I also kind of want to know what Sylvie did to his dad.  And like Nostory, I also feel like he's being unfaithful to Madison here.  Like he lacks self control.