Disaster and confrontation

[miss-lillipants]

I just finished watching the first season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, part of the Legendary Godzilla movie-verse (great show, do recommend). Aside from the flashbacks to the 50s/60s, it’s set after the events of the 2014 film when Godzilla attacks San Francisco. One of the characters (Cate) who survived was left traumatised by the attack and, on multiple occasions, is triggered by certain moments throughout the show up to when she faces him again.

Now, I don’t normally find entertainment in people’s trauma (fictional or otherwise), but the show touched on a favourite gentle/comfort theme of mine in size-related stories: when a Giant is the source of a Tiny’s trauma, but also helps her manage it, first by confrontation then with more “hands on” methods.

It’s super flexible, could be incorporated into different scenarios, e.g.

• the giant may be directly responsible for what happened, or simply be a stand-in by virtue of being a giant;

• could be a literal giant (hence my mention of Godzilla), or a human amongst a tiny populace or community;

• maybe he’s been captured by the Tinies and limited in what he can do, or maybe the Giant and Tiny stumble into each other;

• maybe he doesn’t actively help her, but circumstances force them to interact, or she’s signed up to some experimental treagment.

If a Tiny is terrified, I am all for it. But giant exposure therapy? Slap that on me like butter on a pancake.

[Nyx]

@miss-lillipants I’ve only watched the first episode so far but I need to finish the other episodes.

I’ve always loved the idea of a callous giant who can’t be bothered to relate to the tiny people at his feet. He has no issue trampling their cities or ruining their lives. Then, for whatever reason, he’s forced to understand the pain that he’s inflicted. Those “bugs” are people – with hopes and dreams, and he goes through a change of heart.

[SmolChlo]

Imagine if there was a retreat center that specialized in “Giant Exposure Therapy” It would be for normal sized people who are experiencing significant stress and trauma from their interactions with some of the more nastier Giants.

Day 1 - practice being picked up

his low, soothing voice offering words of gentle encouragement as I shakily inched towards his awaiting hand

[littlest-lily]

Oh man I’m loving the term “giant exposure therapy”. I feel like I’ve vaguely explored that concept when writing if I think about it (like a character feeling like “dammit, I need to stop being so scared of him! I’ll to force myself to interact so I get used to him!”), but not where the whole story is centered around that concept. Gah, the angst, the silent negotiation of power dynamics, the path to healing, I love the potential of this!

[littlest-lily]

@SmolChlo welp, don’t mind me, it seems I’ve melted into a puddle at the thought of this

[SmolChlo]

@littlest-lily I’ve been trying to turn this into an actual story since I was 15… maybe one day lol I enjoy a good dose of fear followed by heavy comfort and soothing

[foreverlurk]

@SmolChlo said in Disaster and confrontation:

Day 1 - practice being picked up

W-where do I sign up for this dream job?! Heck don’t even pay me, I’d do it for free.

[miss-lillipants]

@Nyx said:

I’ve always loved the idea of a callous giant who can’t be bothered to relate to the tiny people at his feet. He has no issue trampling their cities or ruining their lives. Then, for whatever reason, he’s forced to understand the pain that he’s inflicted. Those “bugs” are people – with hopes and dreams, and he goes through a change of heart.

Be still, my heart I’m such a sucker for some empathy building on the giant’s end (bonus points if he’s retained some meanness, but he’s working on it)

@littlest-lily said:

I feel like I’ve vaguely explored that concept when writing if I think about it (like a character feeling like “dammit, I need to stop being so scared of him! I’ll to force myself to interact so I get used to him!”)

Yes! Actively engaging or confronting the Giant is wonderful. I imagine that, just like exposure to other things, sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes it makes it worse. Different treatments for different people. If you or @SmolChlo (or anyone else) end up creating something around a retreat or wellness centre, I would happily consume.

[littlest-lily]

I definitely love the idea of doing something with this. Depending on how badly the tiny needs it, she might need a much more gradual approach.

Here’s my 14 day program:

1. Chat with the giant via video chat, just go get to know them
2. Chat with the giant in person, from the other side of a safety barrier
3. Chat with the giant without barrier but with a respectable distance
4. Chat with the giant while he has his hand on the table, but without touching
5. Practice touching his hand (he doesn’t move)
6. Practice sitting in his hand (he doesn’t move)
7. Practice giant doing light touching (aka handshake, high five, etc)
8. Practice climbing into his hand and him lifting it up
9. Practice sitting in his hand while he loosely wraps his other hand around her for safety
10. Practice him standing up while holding her
11. Practice him walking around while holding her
12. Practice him wrapping his fingers around her with the purpose of lifting her up (very slightly)
13. Practice him picking her up with purpose of transferring her to his palm to carry her around as usual
14. Practice him picking her up and walking around without her needing to be sitting in his palm

Congrats! You’ve finished the basics of giant exposure therapy. Have fun with your new large friend. Next time we’ll be practicing sitting in unconventional places, such as in his pocket, his lap, and his shoulder.

[Olo]

@littlest-lily Advanced Therapy: Watching him eat.

[Nyx]

@miss-lillipants said in Disaster and confrontation:

Be still, my heart I’m such a sucker for some empathy building on the giant’s end (bonus points if he’s retained some meanness, but he’s working on it)

Oh, I love complex giants. He’s learning to be good but also finds excuses to knock over buildings because old habits die hard.

[Olo]

@Nyx That building was coming down anyway.

[protect-tinies]

@littlest-lily

Alternative Giant Exposure Therapy Program, Optimized for Maximum Efficiency:

Step 1: Shrink her down to an inch tall, then have her walk around on the giant’s hand and on other parts of his body. If she’s tiny to a human, then she’ll be an absolutely minuscule, barely visible speck to a giant. If she can handle walking around on a giant when she’s (comparatively) dust-mite-sized, then being held by him when she’s normal-sized will be EASY by comparison! (Note: Before performing Step 1, don’t tell her she’s going to be shrunk.)

Step 2: There is no Step 2. (After Step 1, growing her back to human size is optional. )

[littlest-lily]

@protect-tinies Well I certainly love the way you think. Maybe a little extreme for anyone dealing with trauma, but I sure would sign up willingly~

[skysayl]

I actually have something on my docs along these lines, but it’s been very hard to write because it started as a therapeutic piece for myself. Sort of a hurt and comfort dynamic except I take the ugly, raw parts and have turned them up to mirror my own experiences with trauma therapy. I’m talking full on breaks in the presence of a professional, verbal abuse, avoidance, SI, the nine yards. Except the therapist is a giant, and therefore the source for a lot of triggering moments.

I can’t imagine anyone wants to read that, so it’s a private doc. I thought that maybe if I were to trim out a lot of the intenseness and zero in on a more optimistic narrative it could be palatable. But if I did that I felt the context would be neutered and it just wouldn’t… work.

Seriously though, what is the appetite for trauma-genre? The discourse here is making me wonder if it would be worth putting it out there someday.