(Chapter originally written by worstfailure)
With you twitching feebly in her hands, Jenna scanned the arcade, looking for other oblivious women to "help" her in her next prank. She'd no sooner began casting her gaze around the arcade than the sound of laughter reached her ears. What struck Jenna most about it was not just its abnormally high-pitch but that it sounded so... uninhibited. Most people, Jenna herself included, had a reserved laugh for social situations, especially when around people she just met. This laugh was the uncontrollable cackle that indicated gut-busting hilarity normally saved for when one was with close friends.
Jenna realized the laugh was coming from a table next to the dance game where the tiny "play area" was set up. It was mostly a series of multi-colored translucent plastic tubes like the kind people would buy for their pet hamsters to crawl through, a shoddy imitation of the currently empty play area reserved for regular-sized people. Like its larger cousin, this play area had slides at the end of some of the tubes, only they'd all been taken from dollhouses, one even leading to a "ball pit" filled with eraser chunks instead of plastic balls.
Your sister's eyes narrowed as she found the source of the laughter.
It was a tiny woman leaning against one of the slides for support as she used her other arm to clutch her stomach from laughing so hard. She was easy to spot with her messy tangle of hot pink dyed hair, though Jenna noticed the girl's black roots were coming in. She was about Jenna's age, maybe a year older, and she was tall for a tiny, a few centimeters over an inch. She was cute too. Again, for a tiny. The pink-haired tiny wore baggy clothes, gray sweatpants and a bright green hoodie designed with Ally Gator's smiling, winking face as Froginner tried and failed to escape her closing jaws. Even with the baggy clothes though, Jenna noticed some pronounced curves from the tiny's bust and backside. She realized, somewhat bitterly, that if the woman was normal-sized her curves would proportionately be bigger than Jenna's own. She also realized there was something familiar about this woman.
The tiny opened one mint green eye to wipe away a tear of laughter and only then did she realize Jenna was staring at her while nonchalantly sipping her diet soda through a straw. Her laughter cut off abruptly and she blushed furiously. She eyed the "ball pit" of erasers and Jenna was convinced the woman was a second away from diving into the erasers to hide. The thought made Jenna let out her own undignified snort of a laugh in amusement, and she smiled at the pink-haired tiny, not the wicked grin she'd normally give you but a reassuring smile.
"Relax," Jenna told her gently. "I'm not gonna hurt you like I did him," she said slightly raising the one cupped hand which still contained your crushed body. You were slowly starting to reform but were trying to keep it quiet so your sister wouldn't notice. "I don't pick on tinies unless they have it coming."
You had no idea if that was true or not. You were the only tiny you knew of that Jenna interacted with with any regularity and you most definitely did not have any of what Jenna did to you coming! You were tempted to warn the tiny stranger to flee in case this was some kind of trap, but even if you were sure it was a good idea, your mouth was also squished.
"I'm sorry," the tiny woman said. "I didn't mean to spy. It's just, there's nothing else to do in the tiny section unless you're five. And then I saw you flick--" she stumbled as a few giggles bubbled out "--him and he landed right on the--" she struggled as more laughter burst out "--pad and that girl danced all over him without even kn--HA HA HA HA HA!"
The tiny woman couldn't finish her sentence, she was laughing so hard, doubled over as she pointed a finger at your still mostly mashed body. To you it sounded like the cackle of a gremlin. Your temptation to warn her about possible traps was quickly fading. Jenna, on the other hand, found the tiny woman's laughter infectious and chuckled along with her.
"What's your name?" Jenna asked.
"Piper Brooks!"
"Nice to meet you, Piper, I'm--"
"Jenna Jacobs!" Piper blurted out excitedly. Your sister looked taken aback by that and the tiny woman seemed to realize how creepy that sounded. "We're in the same French class at Weston University!" Piper explained quickly, to avoid coming off as a stalker. "We haven't officially met. I sit in the tiny section at the front of the class."
"Oh!" Jenna said, recognition shining in her eyes. "I thought you looked familiar."
Piper's smile widened at the news Jenna remembered her.
"So, if you don't like the tiny play area, why are you here?" Jenna asked.
"Beats being in the back office," Piper said. "My mom's the manager here and no one was free to watch me. I had to beg her not to hire a tiny sitter. Besides, it's a great spot to people watch! And I have an amazing view of the floorshow!" Piper said, pointing to the animatronics.
Jenna arched an eyebrow quizzically. "You, uh... you a big fan of that?"
"Oh yeah," Piper said breezily. "Ally Gator was my hero!" She seemed to realize what she was saying. "When I was a kid, I mean!" she said, blushing again as she desperately tried to recover. "Not now, obviously, that'd be crazy!"
Jenna was too amused to let the subject drop. "What'd you like about her?"
"That she was tough!" Piper said, balling up her fists. "And fearless!" she said puffing out her chest. "Ally never took any crap from anyone and she always stood up to bullies to protect her friends!"
"You got all that from two minute skits?" Jenna asked, voicing the same skepticism that you felt.
"No! From the movies! There were three made, low-quality stuff, all promotional. The animation isn't great and the action is stilted and you can tell the actress for Damantha Beaver didn't give a damn. Heh! Get it? Beaver didn't give a--" Piper coughed awkwardly and Jenna had to bite her tongue to keep a neutral face. "But the voice actors for Ally Gator and Froginner Froat really gave it their all, she sells what a sassy, strong woman Ally is and he sold what a pathetic loser Froginner is. And the writing is surprisingly solid, even going back to it now, I find all these clever jokes for adults that just went right over my head as a kid. You can tell the writers were really passionate about their work instead of just viewing the movies as a cheap cash grab like the executives did. I looked up old interviews with the head writer and she actually wanted to make a full animated series, but then executives and lawyers got involved about copyright issues and the whole thing turned into a cluster--"
Piper clapped a hand over her mouth. At long last she seemed to realize she'd been babbling way too long about the stupidest thing she could possibly talk to a beautiful woman about. Her face turned even pinker than her hair, her large mint green eyes mortified. This time it was Jenna's turn to laugh uncontrollably.
In shame, Piper pulled her hood up over her head and pulled the drawstrings tight to hide her face, then sat down, hugging her knees.
"I'm such a nerd," she mumbled.
"Piper, Piper, wait!" Jenna said, forcing herself to stop laughing with a great amount of effort. "Don't be embarrassed! Yes, you're a total nerd, but you're an adorable nerd, and I'm having fun talking with you. Besides, I'm a twenty-year-old woman at an arcade meant for kids! I think it's safe to say I'm a bit of a nerd myself."
One green eye peaked out from Piper's hoodie. "You are?"
"Hell yeah, I am!"
Piper took the hoodie off, her pink hair even messier now, and smiled bashfully. "Sorry I got overly sensitive. My big brother Doug makes fun of me for being a nerd all the time."
"Oh does he?" Jenna asked, her voice becoming cooler.
"Yeah. He's a tiny like me but he's still a total meathead! He played tiny league football at our school and never misses a chance to just lay into me because I prefer animation and games and comics to stupid sports. We went to an all tiny school and he made it torture for me. He got everyone to call me names like Pipedown and Pipesqueak, he embarrassed me in front of any friends I tried to make or girls I tried to flirt with. And he kept manipulating my mom into doing things like convincing her I was in the car when I was still in the house so they went to cool places and on vacations without me! And every time I tried to convince her he did it on purpose, she would take his word over mine!"
"That's horrible!" Jenna said, genuinely morally outraged. "Big brothers should never pick on their little sisters!"
It was truly amazing how close Jenna could race up to the edge of hypocrisy and swerve at the last second to just barely skid by it on a technicality. Still you felt bad for this Piper girl. You knew what it was like to be a bullied sibling... granted your experiences included more physical pain, but you knew emotional torment was bad enough. Piper's brother really did sound like an asshole.
"Is he here?" Jenna asked, craning her head to look around for him. "I can teach him a few manners."
"I wish," Piper groused. "But he's a few years older than me. He graduated two years ago. Not only does he have a cushy new job and a fancy new house in California, but he's dating this uber hottie." Piper groaned and kicked at the air. "Why are all the beautiful babes the one with the worst taste in men?"
"I honestly have no idea," Jenna said, shooting you an annoyed look.
You'd been doing your best to remain out of the conversation and reform in silence but now your fully re-inflated body bore the full weight of her gaze. You froze as if that could help you. You also realized Piper was giving you a surprisingly scornful look as well, despite the fact you literally hadn't said a single word to her. Something about that look made you think this tiny woman may be a big problem for you.
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