It was only after you completely reformed that you finally remembered where you needed to be today. Piper, Dodger, Sydney and Rosa had invited you and Mari to a performance of Banshees of Inches-Higher at Club Actual Size. The band was performing some new material and apparently really wanted yours and Mari's input for whatever reason. Unfortunately Mari had a last second meeting she couldn't get out of, so you were going on your own. Clubs usually weren't your scene, but it had been a long time since you'd been to a concert and for some reason it had seemed really important to the Campbell-Stein trio that you attend. So, pulling out your phone, you used the Tiny Travels app to summon a RC to chauffeur you to the club.
*****
Club Actual Size had opened a year ago and was considered the hottest club in Oakland. Catering to both unaffected and affected patrons, it was divided into sections to accommodate each. The Unaffected Section looked normal enough with a bar in the back, a seating area, and a dance floor just in front of the stage where the musicians played. However, the floor was entirely comprised of a honeycomb of tiles with red lights in them. The red lights both marked the area as for unaffected, and served as a warning to any affected to enter at their own peril.
The Mixed-Size Section looked identical to the Unaffected Section, except the lights in its floor tiles were gold.
The third and final section was the Affected Section. It was comprised of a rectangular, walled ledge that ran the length of the wall it was embedded into. The interior of the ledge had been designed to resemble a miniature version of the Unaffected and Mixed-Size Sections, the only difference being that it missed a stage of its own. But why would it need one when it was positioned high enough to overlook the giant stage in the back, giving affected a fantastic view of the entertainment?
Yes, sir, Club Actual Size sure did try to accommodate all its patrons... emphasis on try. Unlike the Holly Grounds coffee shop, which was a true neutral zone with zero tolerance for any unaffected caught messing with affected, Club Actual Size couldn't afford to implement such strictness without dampening the mood of its unaffected patrons and costing them potential profit. The most they did was put a sign outside both entrances saying Club Actual Size could not be legally held responsible for any harm, usage or abduction that came to affected patrons.
Sure enough, as you entered the club, an affected couple passed you by, managing to snag the RC you'd arrived in before it departed. The pair both looked thoroughly worn out, their skin smudged by dirt, articles of their clothes missing and other articles ripped and wrinkled, the tiny man supported the tiny woman he was with, who's right leg was freshly flattened and only partially inflated.
You winced in sympathy.
It was incidents like the ones this poor couple had no doubt just gone through that caused you to give clubs a wide-berth. While it was great to have a place where affected and unaffected could socialize, clubs brought with them all the inherent dangers that came from regular inter-size interactions and amped them up to a hundred. With alcohol flowing, music blaring, unaffected dancing and hormones running wild, it was easy for tinies to get lost in the shuffle. Back when you and Mari were just dating, she'd sometimes drag you out to clubs with her Oasis friends only for you to end up crushed beneath dancing feet, lost between a pair of breasts when an unaffected woman had "asked" you to dance without giving you a chance to answer, or been swallowed after accidentally being knocked into a glass of beer, and all the while as you suffered, your oblivious girlfriend danced the night away with her friends.
Honestly, it was a miracle you'd survived so many nights out with Mari back then. But at least when you got engaged and married, Mari finally stepped up, improving her atrocious memory and finally putting your safety at the forefront of her mind... for a time at least. Nowadays Mari's poor memory had seemed to backslide as far as you were concerned. You knew she deeply loved you just as much as you loved her, but you were also both aware that becoming parents meant prioritizing your kids over your spouse. That didn't bother you... but you'd be lying if you hadn't hoped now that Riley and Juli were adults who could take care of themselves, Mari would go back to being more mindful of the dangers of your condition.
It was why you were so wary of going out to places like this with your wife.
But why think about this now? You had a performance to attend!
Rosa texted you a picture of the VIP table you'd be sitting at and you suppressed a groan. It was in the Mixed-Size Section. You really shouldn't have been surprised with how much of an adrenaline junkie Rosa seemed to be at times. Even if she'd matured a bit in the past decades, she still had that wild side to her. And that aura of terrible luck that seemed to suck in any affected in close proximity to her. With that in mind, you might actually consider it a mercy that she wasn't sitting in the Affected Section and endangering all tinies present.
Not that that meant you relished having to traverse a section of the club densely populated by giants.
Steeling your courage, you waited until the closest pair of high heeled feet had passed you by before sprinting out to your table.
*****
You climbed over the edge of the table, panting and sweating. The past five minutes had been a nightmare. As you'd sprinted across the floor, the giant feet falling all around you had caused you to leap and dodge out of the way several times, or double back entirely to avoid being squished. It was a miracle you made it through unscathed, and though still winded from your mad dash and the climb up the table, you forced yourself to look around for Rosa.
Despite promising to meet you there, your friend was nowhere in sight. The table was bare except for a nameplate with the words VIP written in gold on black, which was also the one indicator you'd climbed the right table. Where was she? The concert was going to start in five minutes.
Your answer came a second later as you heard a noise. It sounded like a high-pitched squeal of delight from far away, but it was growing louder and louder by the second. You turned around, looking for the source of the noise, but couldn't find it anywhere.
"eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!&# 34;
It was only when the source of the noise was right on top of you that you looked up.
BAM!
Rosa Campbell-Stein landed directly on top of you, your squishy body flattening at the point of impact but serving as cushioning for your affected friend, preventing her from squishing fully.
"Phew, that coulda been bad," Rosa chuckled as she got up and pushed her neon-blue tipped brown hair out of her eyes. As the tiny Puerto Rican dusted off the black leather jacket she was wearing she spied your smushed form beneath her feet and blushed. "Oh! Matty! Hi!"
"Hello, Rosa," you said, only through your flattened lips it came out, "Hllla Rrrraaa."
"Hehe, sorry about that," Rosa giggled awkwardly. "You know how it is. Was trying to cross the floor to the table and I maaaaay have gotten distracted by a beauty in a miniskirt when, before I knew it, she accidentally kicked me with her high heel. What're the chances that kick would've sent me flying right to our seats?"
For anyone else? 1 in a million. But with your good-bad luck and my bad-worse luck? Inevitable, you thought.
"Mmnd hhelpin m' uh?" you asked, your body reforming slowly.
"Sure thing!" Rosa said cheerfully as she gave you a hand, prying your flattened form off the table to better help you reform quicker. "Great seats right? I know it's riskier, but honestly the view from here blows the affected section out of the water. And if you're like me, I'm sure you want to get as good a look as possible to my two beauties on stage!"
Rosa gave you a side-eye as if awaiting a response and you nodded in agreement.
"No, you're right, totally worth the risk," you said, not entirely meaning it but Rosa seemed to be waiting for a response.
"I knew you'd understand!" she trilled, beaming. "Anyway, thanks again for coming by! It really means a lot! Not just to me, but to the entire band. We love to have you around. You and Mari. Shame she couldn't make it. Not that you're not enough on your own. It's just--well, uh... there's something we've been meaning to talk about..."
"Sounds good," you said without thinking. You'd been so focused on reforming completely by this point you completely missed the awkward expression on Rosa's face, the nervous tone in her voice, and the blush on her cheeks.
Before you could talk further, however, the lights dimmed and the crowd roared as Dodger and Sydney walked on stage, the former holding Piper in the palm of her hand. Your sister-in-law jumped out of Dodger's hand and onto the stool where her tiny microphone was, which she seized.
"WE ARE THE BANSHEES OF INCHES-HIGHER AND WE'RE HERE TO MAKE YOU SAY "FUCK THE CTC" AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!"
Your heart warmed as the crowd roared at that. Maybe there was hope for this world after all.
What happens next?
1) The concert goes surprisingly smoothly and Dodger and Sydney join you and Rosa after the show to talk about something important.
2) Not long into the concert a clumsy waitress ends up knocking over your table, sending you and Rosa flying onto the unaffected dance floor.
3) Two members of the Love All Tinies club ask you and Rosa to dance... and neither of them wait for your answers before grabbing you both.
4) Members of Omega Gamma Phi sit at the VIP table to heckle the band. They're unaware of you and Rosa at first, but how long will that last?
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