Posts made by miss-lillipants

@blehb said:

I used to have A LOT of anxiety growing up, and anxiety is ALL about lacking control and certainty of the circumstances in your life. Well, having something much larger control your entire existence is the perfect manifestation of that fear.

For me, the idea of a giant being in control is a comforting thing - not because I don’t want control of my life, but because being an adult is exhausting! I think especially as I got older, when societal standards and personal circumstances put more responsibility on me to do and be certain things, I just wanted someone else deal with it: do the job, create plans, make decisions, solve the problems, etc. Thinking of a giant either dealing with things or whisking me away was my way of checking out of reality, to an extent.

On the topic of fetish origin stories, here’s an article from 2019 that may be of interest to some: it discusses adult diaper fetishes as a case study, but the discussion and points can be easily applied to other fetishes (some experiences being shared may even seem familiar and relateable). It’s a pretty “fetish positive” article, with little to no judgey-ness from the author or the researchers interviewed, so it’s good little read. The TL;DR can be summed in this quote: “Different people have different reasons for being involved in the fetish or lifestyle.”

@Technomage said:

Just don’t let them ruin the fun for you, this is a precious, harmless fantasy.

Way ahead of you. I already have so little regard for those kinds of people that it’s probably the closest I’ll ever get to feeling like a (dismissive) giant:

@Technomage said:

All that woke crap has gotten insane, it makes me laugh some people actually feel ashamed for liking M/f.

The irony is that the reasoning is not even “woke”. As been pointed out, the anti-Mf sentiments are often out of touch (at best), or disingenuine (at worst). And the ones that double-down don’t like to be told that they’re wrong or that other people (especially anybody who is not a man) actually have their own personal views and takes on Mf.

@blehb said:

Now I actually have to write it.

Would love to read it if/when you do

@Olo said:

This happens often enough that they develop a kind of semaphore, where he communicates through combinations of gentle squeezes on certain areas of her body and she responds with pre-arranged sequences of contortions.

Oh that’s a great method! So covert, very sneaky!

@foreverlurk said:

So, plan B : she starts to trace the letters on the palm of my hand (with a twig or something). That’s assuming we share a common written language, of course. I have no idea how I’d communicate back if she’s also deaf, but that’s a start!

She could also use symbols or drawings as well! Though, as a fun challenge for anyone keen, even the use of images can have it’s limitations: not all symbols or pictures will mean the same to other people, let alone someone from a different culture. So without a mutual understanding, you’re bound to hit some walls sometimes. I like to think about the icons developed for the Olympics as an example - you still need some form of reference in order to understand what they mean.

N.B. I’ve been made aware that I posted this around the same time another discussion on the same topic was being held on Discord. It was a total coincidence because I don’t use Discord for size stuff, but it made me laugh and happy to still be involved in other group discussions - even if it is through the ether

This is another trope I really love in a size context. I think language and being able to communicate easily is one of the biggest things most people take for granted in the real world, let alone in a fantastical situation.

I’m not one to subscribe to the whole “too small/big to communicate, sound frequencies, etc.” except for the really massive size differences (like micro, nano, giga, etc.) - I like dialogue between a giant and a tiny, but when something else like a language barrier gets in the way, you’d be forced to compensate and get creative. Broken speech is usually a obvious go-to, but there’s also opportunity for the use of more physical forms of communication: signing, touching, body language, facial expressions (and reading them). By being so physical, it’s a great opportunity to emphasise their size differences: how closely the giant has to focus on her, or how big she has to make her movements; both the giant and tiny’s perspectives on their interactions and each other’s features.

Like with other tropes, it’s a very flexible one. It could also be applied to situations where either the giant or tiny is mute (maybe both!). One scenario I had I mind involves both giant and tiny being unfamiliar with each other’s language and there’s no easily accessible translator (maybe both peoples are isolated from each other, maybe one is other-worldly, etc.) And they both slowly pick up and learn from each other as they spend more time together. As a point of tension, maybe the giant is able to find another giant who can help, who is a bit more fluent than he is, but they end up making the tiny really uncomfortable. Being unable to understand, he doesn’t catch a lot of what the other is saying, but he notices something off about the tiny’s body language and gets them out of there.

From a creative/author perspective, I think it’s a fun little project. Personally, I’m not fluent enough in another language to make it reflect the real world, and I’m not invested enough to invent a language (let alone two) as an alternative. Instead, it would switch between POVs, with the other person’s dialogue being presented as garbled symbols. The POV character is able to catch the occasional word, with dialogue getting more coherent over time as both of their vocabularies grow. And throw in accents, for good measure

@blehb said:

Of course, this can also apply to superficial things like hair and eye color and stuff. I love being able to visualize what the author is intending.

Yes! All of that shouldn’t discourage someone to give thought to what their characters look like. The emotional and physical features of a character aren’t mutually exclusive after all.

I generally give more grace to kink stuff especially (not just creations but forum posts and reflections too, no kinkshaming!) because of how personal they can and often are. For example, my giants are almost always handsome and attractive - to me, at least, because it’s my fantasy. I would like for a giant in another person’s story to be attractive, but I don’t always need specific details as to what, why or how. Tbh part of it’s to subvert the “ugly giant” trope. I just want big man and little lady.

@wildxpixie said:

Ooh were you guys using box/Sherman traps? One of my other favorite things that is such size fodder is when we trap small rodents in Sherman traps (they’re live traps for catch and release) in the winter, we’ll throw in cotton balls to keep them warm. But sometimes, in the morning, they’re still chilly, so we’ll hold them in our pockets until they’ve warmed up enough and then release them in a safe spot

Yes we did, in fact! It was during the cooler months and were set up for nocturnal capture, so we used hobby fill to help keep them warm. We checked and released early in the morning though, because it would get hot and sunny during the day and we didn’t want them to cook. Animal welfare was a top priority.

We also used pitfall traps (i.e. buckets in a trench) in which we placed some sand, bait, a PVC tube with hobby fill, and (this got me) a square of cork for any creatures to hold on to in case the bucket filled with water overnight

just makes me think of a brownie/borrower/tiny human getting in one on accident and then getting warmed up by a giant hand

Bruh, my mind full GT/SW wandering during stand-by times!

@Olo

@littlest-lily and @foreverlurk have covered a lot already, but I’ll also weight in. Unlike what the term suggests, it’s an approach to story-telling that’s not exclusively for women, but so named when understood as a contrast to the concept of the “male gaze” and as something that specifically centres a woman/women as a character.

For me, as mentioned, it’s about building empathy and understanding for a character (usually, a woman) as a person with emotions, rather than someone to be objectified. They normally also have some agency, even if it’s just to have an opinion or thoughts in a hopeless situation, rather than some voiceless, mindless doll. I think the “slower” pace is a consequence of this kind of narrative rather than a characteristic per se because it takes time to develop something/someone that is complex, rather than simply focussing on what they look like and how that will gratify the viewer/reader. So you can already expect a build-up like that to be relatively slow - just depends on how much of a burn or detail the creator wants to achieve.

This article is a good intro summary and also talks about respecting the character as well. Re: respect, I don’t think this should be synonymous with “liking” a character or putting them on some pedestal. You can create dislikable, even morally corrupt characters, who you can respect/have due regard for as a person with depth, motivations, struggles, joys, etc. And then you can throw them in the bin - metaphorically and/or literally, whatever floats your boat.

@littlest-lily said:

I would love to read the story you mentioned 🥺

️ Sadly, it lives fragmented in the personal vault, but I’ll happily post if I get time to work on it! Amongst other things, it needs more interaction with wildlife, considering the characters and context.

@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.

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.

@wildxpixie said:

For sure if an ecologist -esque character is something they want to write, I have sooo much info I could provide

I did a 2-week introductory ecological field methods trip not too long ago for work and study. Obviously it was just a snippet of what you guys do (am assuming you’re an ecologist or adjacent!), but so much of the work was such size fodder. We didn’t deal too much with flying critters, more handling skinks and shrews - istg I was screaming internally every second day with someone gently holding a tiny creature (and then letting them go, of course). It inspired me to write an idea/scenario with a ecologist-type meeting a borrower at a mining/work camp.

@i-am-insane said:

(Honestly, I find both versions hilarious; not!Steve Irwin as this advocate for protecting tiny women and their habitats just works

Hahaaaaa sorry, I did read this, but I absolutely forgot when I replied. I was clearly too distracted by how nice a thought it was.

I am absolutely for these kinds of giants and in my head, if he is like Steve Irwin, he’d also be really lovely and advocate for the well-being of critters Tinies and their environments.

After @Olo’s alignment chart, I was thinking about how I really like giants who are really fascinated with Tinies; how they small they are, their tiny features, how they move, etc. Not in an obsessive/possessive kind of way, but not in a sterile, clinical way either. I feel like a lot of “chaotic good” giants would quite easily fall into this (though maybe I’m biased, because I love chaotic good characters).

@Olo -chef’s kiss-