Eliza Jones was not impacted by the Condensing, least not directly, and definitely not as heavily as her smaller friends.
But that doesn't prevent her from seeing the atmosphere around Westdale or knowing the hardships her friends face everyday. It's only getting worse, and her city is supposed to be one of the safest and most integrated.
Every person has history with the Condensing, and it's her goal to document the echoes of its danger and prejudice today.
Welcome to Major//Minor, Eliza's video essays capturing life in the city of Westdale. For better, or more often, for worse.
masterlist under the cut
WRITING⟢
official story
the ruler
seekers
ASKS AND YAPS
(ask me about my sillies n i'll love you 4eva)
james nelson and power imbalances
james again
minor key and places to be stored
borrower au?
cooper bell
minor key and food
clara and cooper
condensing world building
clara and james
point of the condensing
ART (references)
reference sheet
minor key trio scale
clara scale reference
not everything is linked! for all tm//ma, check out these tags: tm//ma yaps, tm//ma art, and tm//ma asks
read it on ao3
want to support the story? i have a ko-fi!
has there been any instance of an entire family being shrunk? how would one even deal with thah... also another question, has any full sized person ever gone into the heights (maybe with malicious intentions? or on accident?)
statistically it’s unlikely,, but it’s absolutely possible. the condensing affected roughly a third of the population over the age of 13. so the smaller the family the more likely it is that it happened. those families would probably be forced to stay entirely in condensed only spaced, like the heights
speaking at of!
if a full sized person managed to get into the heights, it would absolutely have to be malicious. other condensed neighborhoods or spaces might be laid out differently, but westdale heights is completely inaccessible to full sized people. there’s not enough space for people to even fit in the streets. it’s designed exactly like a regular city, but scaled down, and elevated a few feet into the air to combat weather. you can’t exactly accidentally stroll in
(this also creates great angst bc if you’re a tiny trying to avoid someone you can literally just go where they can’t reach you) ((im not pointing that out for any specific reason))
would any famous people get condensed? any government officials? or where they spared (due to power and influence)
officially, the government obviously won’t admit to letting people buy their way out of it. but i do think there’s a suspiciously low amount of government officials who’ve been condensed. in fact- not one person who implemented the condensing was a part of it. they all got to stay full size while shrinking everyone else.
as for famous people, i think it’s a larger amount who shrank, but numbers are still low. there’s still a handful of celebrities that people look at and go “idk if you were originally part of the group selected….but if you did you absolutely bought ur way out of it…”
clara grace decorates her apartment like a borrower with internet access and it’s so special to me. bc why do you have a banana sticker on the wall. why are you using a thimble instead of buying a basket. you are an adult with money. go to the store and buy nails, take the push pin out of the wall 😭
insanely funny idea: condensed guy who's tired of paying rent + hates society. starts genuinely living as a borrower in someone's house (rent free!)
it’s so funny to imagine phrogging getting accepted (and even romanticized) in the tm//ma universe bc they’re not intruding they’re borrowing!! duh!
and i mean,,, at 3-4 inches tall, you can’t exactly go off grid to your cabin in the woods….borrowing it kinda the only way
imagine trying to figure out if you call the cops or pest control bc you don’t know why ur food is going missing but you know there’s def a visitor taking it
yesss I was going to ask about if anyone had been born tiny yet lol. I wonder if it's weird hearing your parents reminiscing about their lives pre-condensing or if they wouldn't bring it up around the hypothetical child at all..
bc the condensing was only four years ago, there probably is a tiny kid or two out there, but it’s not common yet.
and i mean,,, there’s such a lack of condensed infrastructure already, so i doubt there are the tools and supplies needed to easily care for a tiny newborn.
but down the line??? absolutely there are people born only ever knowing tiny life. and it’d probably be insane to hear your parents talking about what it was like tbh
i feel like condensed parents wouldn’t rlly be able to hide their past from their kids. once the child learns what the condensing was (and i mean,,, they have to eventually) they’ll connect the dots.
that doesn’t mean the parent willingly answers questions or talk about it tho. it might be a painful topic
also, bc people didn’t get condensed as whole families, there’s probably future tinies who have full sized extended families, and never knew a life where they could have seen eye to eye.
story idea that’s not necessarily tm//ma but takes place in a universe with the condensing:
a condensed person hits their head or smth and gets amnesia,,,, does not remember the condensing, does not understand that they are tiny. imagine the fear play when they wake up
years down the line- a tiny born post condensing who only knows this size. they’ve been around bigger people before, but not often. not enough to be used to it. they've lived most of their life in tiny only districts (like a westdale heights equivalent). then,,, they befriend a full sized person
I don't feel that bad for james I like when clara is angry ‼️‼️ get him
get his ass girl ‼️
tbh, clara is the most fun to write when she’s being a little morally compromised. like i’m sad they’re fighting bc i love them,,, but lowkey???? speaking from clara’s perspective??? deserved. james you leave that girl alone
(his side is equally as valid as clara’s, once we get into it,,, but that doesn’t mean they’re both in the right. in fact they’re both wrong)
Do you think Cooper and Kai would still end up dating each other if one of them wasn't condensed? Like if they met and became friends in a world where only one was condensed, would they still like to date each other? Or do they both not like the idea of mixed size dating? Could also be fun to wonder how each of them would respond if asked now if they would stay partners if one of them became full-size again.
time for the obligatory mention that cooper was originally full sized 🫣🤭
so, yes, kai and cooper WOULD still end up dating if one of them wasn’t condensed. their relationship would take forever to actually become romantic tho. but not just bc its a typical slowburn friends to lovers. there would be a lot of patience and trust building plus probably a fair amount of setbacks.
as for if one of them were to become full sized again…. their relationship would absolutely withstand it. esp bc they already know and love each other so much. if it were kai who turned back, he’d try to be very normal about it. cooper however, if returned to full height, would not bother with normalcy. he’d be so unbearably overprotective and fussy. like prob putting james nelson to shame.
it honestly does not matter what size they are, they are endgame in every universe lol
i’ve known this was coming from day one, so watching literally every single person who reads tm//ma say “yeah no clara and james are my fav” has been an EXPERIENCE
clara’s ability to look at an activity cooper and kai are doing the requires exactly zero clara graces and then find a way to insert herself anyway is very dear to me
“If you woke up tomorrow full height, what would you do first?” Kai asked.
Clara considered the question, finger twisting in her microphone wire.
“Like, I’m 5’9” for 24 hours? Or a full lifelong reversal?” She asked. “Because those are two separate answers.”
“Give us both,” Cooper said.
“Well, if it was only for a day then nobody is sitting down. I’ve got a full itinerary planned and we will be taking advantage of every moment,” Clara leaned back in her chair. “If it’s for life, I am going to the nearest grocery store, buying a bag of apples, and taking a single bite out of each one.”
Kai blinked. “Why.”
She shrugged. “Freshness.”
“You’re psychotic,” Cooper said.
“Oh yeah? Do you have a better answer?”
“I do, but you’re not going to like it.”
Clara squinted sideways at him.
“I’d take Kai on a date.”
She took off her headphones and walked away.
“I hate this fucking podcast.”
“Clara,” Kai bit back a smile. “Come back.”
“He can’t keep getting away with this!” She pointed to Cooper. “Every episode becomes the Kai and Cooper show plus their little third.”
“You wanted to know what I’d do!”
“Kai, he’s doing this on purpose.”
Kai sighed. “Cooper, walk us through this date to prove you had a point before Clara combusts.”
Cooper grinned. “If you insist.”
“And Clara, come back and sit in front of your microphone.”
She did. Not without a huff.
“There’s so many little indulgences that the Condensing took away from us,” Cooper explained. “Things you don’t even think about. I read online that the first ever tiny movie theater opened two months ago somewhere out west. The Condensing was over four years ago.”
“So you’d take Kai to the movies?” Clara asked. “Lame. Kai and I watched a movie together literally last week.”
“No,” Cooper rolled his eyes. “That was an example. I would take Kai on a picnic.”
Clara turned to the man in question across the table. “Do not react to that.”
It was too late.
Kai Bennett was blushing.
“You are both horrible friends.” She groaned.
“Just picture it!” Cooper said. “No worrying about accessibility. No ants the size of our forearms or squirrels or birds. Just us and a soft blanket and one of those woven baskets.”
“I can picture it alright. I’m sitting four feet away on my own blanket with my bag of apples.”
Kai laughed.
The podcast was the last thing they were recording before winter break.
Kai and Robin were heading home later in the day.
James was leaving tomorrow.
Everything scheduled to post over the weeks had been prerecorded and edited ahead of time. With half the group in their hometowns, there would be no progress with Miriam and Sera either. For the first time in months, Clara truly had a few weeks off.
They wrapped the podcast up at the hour mark with only one more instance of Clara slamming down her headphones.
Cooper had called her short.
It was so unoriginal and lazy it had actually circled back into pissing her off more.
But now he and Kai were gone, back to their own dorm to finish packing.
Clara took the time to reorganize her apartment to once again make room for one more person than it could fit.
At least it was just Cooper this time.
She was halfway through moving her sofa, full weight braced against one side, when her phone buzzed.
Then it buzzed again.
Then it slowly began to rattle itself off her coffee table.
That damn group chat.
Clara scooped up her phone with a sigh.
Eliza had wanted to get coffee one more time before half the group left.
Robin said they were going on break, not dying.
James was free, but he did not reply to Cooper when asked if free meant alone or with Oliver- asking for Grace’s sake.
Clara put her phone back down.
It buzzed again.
Clara, don’t you dare leave us on seen.
She stared at Eliza’s message until another one took its spot.
It was cold out.
Not freezing. Not yet at least. The temperature wouldn’t drop to “unsafe for a three inch woman with no temperature regulation” levels for a few weeks.
But it was still cold. The kind that made Clara zip her hoodie a little higher and stand a little further from her drafty windows.
Not exactly walking for coffee weather.
And Oliver or not, she was not looking forward to seeing James. Not so close to him leaving.
Leaving for break had been stressing James since freshman year. They had only known each other for a few months the first time he invited her home for winter break with him. Clara didn’t have this apartment her first year at Westdale. She had a dorm. And over the breaks, when housing closed, she had a hotel.
And James Nelson was horrified at the idea of someone spending Christmas alone in a hotel.
Clara wasn’t religious. Never had been. The 25th was just another day for her. But James insisted it was the principle.
She declined anyway.
It didn’t stop him, though. James had checked that Clara had somewhere to go for every break since. He was never pushy with his invites. Just made sure she knew his door would be open and his family willing if she decided to take a trip down south with him.
And every time she didn’t, he got quiet around the time to leave. Not from rejection.
From the quiet fear that something may happen while he sat states away.
That he wouldn’t be there to help her.
And with Westdale going the way it was going, James was being even worse this year.
She went for coffee anyway.
Mainly because she feared Eliza Jones.
Oliver was not there. Thank god. He had some weird science kid stuff to do with Lucas. Extra lab work for a professor or something. Clara hadn’t been paying attention when James said it. The semester was over. Anyone willingly doing more work was insane.
“So, where you headed for break?”
Clara raised an eyebrow at James.
They were at the border, now. Everyone else had left to either pack up, get out from the cold, or both. From her spot on the platform, James was both a foot in front of her and miles away. He stood tall, even next to the elevation.
If Clara craned her neck back enough, she could almost see his face. Despite the stupid question, he waited patiently for an answer.
“The Heights?”
James nodded once.
He knew that already. Clara knew he knew that.
“You stayin’ there by yourself?”
She squinted at him.
He knew that one too.
And still, he met her gaze steadily.
“Are you actually asking me that?”
She wasn’t surprised. Not really. James had been acting weird for weeks now. Hovering more. Watching closer.
He frowned. “Why can’t I ask that?”
“You know where I’m staying.”
“You’re right,” he agreed carefully. “I asked if you were stayin’ there alone.”
She laughed once, short and humorless. “You know that too.”
“Why are you comin’ in so hot? I just want to know what your plan is.”
She could hear the frustration seeping into his voice now.
As if she was the unreasonable one here.
It just annoyed her more.
“My plan,” she repeated. “Is the same plan it’s been for the past three years. Me and Cooper, in my Heights apartment.”
“Alright.” He nodded.
“James.”
He looked down at her.
“If you’ve got something to say, say it.”
He dragged a hand over his mouth. “Things are weird right now,” he said. “Campus is gonna be quieter, but the city ain’t.”
“Do you think I need supervision or something?”
“No,” James’ answer was quick. “I know you don’t.”
He looked away again.
“But what if something happens?”
Clara stared at him.
This was it. The real topic they’d been avoiding for weeks.
“This isn’t about me, is it?”
James didn’t react immediately.
Cold wind cut through the air between them. A car door slammed in the distance. The sun shifted behind a cloud.
Then, for a brief second, the question landed plainly on James’ face.
The fear, the anger, the grief.
“That ain’t fair.” He whispered.
“Well neither is you acting like the world is going to end just because you’re not there.”
It was low.
She knew it was low.
This whole conversation was going dangerously down a path she would not be able to take back easily.
James took a breath in through his nose, held it, then exhaled slowly. “You are making this into something bigger than it is.”
“Am I? Or are you pushing your past onto me just because you’re scared?”
James flinched at her words.
Not internally, not subtly.
It was a full body thing.
Clara had not meant to say it. At least, not so plainly.
But she had.
And part of her didn’t want to take it back.
She lifted her chin.
“Clara,” James started. His voice was low. Still gentle, always gentle. But she could hear the real thing veiled behind fractured patience.
“Are you going to tell me I’m wrong?” She asked. “That this isn’t exactly that?”
“Stop,” he said softly.
“No,” she said. “No. Because I get it. I do. I know you. I know why. But I have to draw the line somewhere, James. I can take care of myself. I’m fully capable.”
I have to be.
“You don’t get to look at me like I’m something already haunted.”
A short, disbelieving laugh escaped James, muffled behind his hands as he pressed them to his face.
“Why does it have to be all or nothing with you?” He asked. “Jesus, Clara. You can’t just-“
He swallowed.
“You can’t just throw that in my face. Sure, I’m scared. But that doesn’t mean you get to say the meanest thing you can think of just because you’re scared too.”
“I’m not scared.”
“No?” James raised an eyebrow. “Then why do you keep acting like everyone who offers to help you is secretly placing a trap?”
Clara scoffed.
James didn’t stop.
“You’d rather make yourself impossible to help than give anybody the chance to leave you again.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “And it’s going to end badly, Clara.”
She stared at him.
All six foot three of James Nelson, the man who obviously knows best and god forbid somebody has opinions on their own lives.
“Wow,” she stepped back. “How fucking dare you.”
James didn’t flinch. Didn’t even look like he regretted it.
Clara could feel her face getting hot. The warmth stung her cheeks as if he’d slapped her.
He may as well have.
Since apparently they were doing low blows now.
“So that’s all that’s happening here, huh?” She asked. “Since you’re perfect and trauma free, obviously.”
“That’s not what I-”
“No,” she cut him off. “That’s exactly what you said. I’m scared of needing people, and every time something happens to me it’s all my fault for trying to live my fucking life without crippling dependency.”
She was trembling now.
From cold or anger she wasn’t sure.
“Fine, whatever, James. I need people. I’m three fucking inches tall and I can’t do anything on my own.”
James took a deep breath.
She didn’t give him the chance.
“But you have no right to get so excited about it.”
“I ain’t excited.”
“Are you not? That I can’t go anywhere without you?”
She was sick of this.
Sick of the weeks of his hovering and paranoia and everyone looking at her like she was the crazy one.
Like this was just a case of her being recklessly independent and nothing more.
She laughed, short and bitter.
“God forbid I don’t want to sit in James Nelson’s pocket all day like if he just holds tight enough I won’t-“
“Don’t,” James cut her off. “Clara don’t you dare.”
There was panic in his voice now. Like he didn’t think she’d go there, and hadn’t even prepared for the chance she would.
She hated that it made her feel better.
Under all his insistent competence, she could still catch him off guard.
Neither of them said anything. They didn’t need to. The words, still sharp at the tip of her tongue, were too loud to call unspoken and move on.
For one awful second, she almost took it back.
Not because she didn’t mean it.
She did, in a way.
She didn’t, however, mean to press directly on a live nerve.
James took a swing at her self sufficiency, so she’d gone eye for an eye without thinking.
And now she didn’t get to backtrack.
Because James hadn’t either.
He swallowed once, shoving his hands in his pockets. His shoulders were tense, like holding back his next thoughts was a full body activity.
Clara realized she was panting around her anger, breaths coming quick and jagged.
But the silence was quickly draining her anger, leaving the raw hurt beneath it.
James was supposed to be the one person dependence didn’t count with. It never felt like a thing, just an extension of their friendship.
But apparently, even he had been keeping score.
Or maybe he hadn’t.
Maybe he just needed something to throw back in her face to prove a point.
Neither option felt good.
An ugly feeling filled Clara’s chest.
She hated it, that he was right.
Because needing people never got her anywhere but stranded and alone in the end.
And what had she done with that fear?
Taken the one topic that could push James away, and dragged it to the center of their disagreement.
She crossed her arms tighter around her body.
Eventually, James rolled his shoulders, looking back towards the Falls.
“Alright.”
Clara’s chest tightened. “James-”
She could still fix this. Probably.
She could say she didn’t mean it like that. Point out that he was being unfair too. Say sorry. Say anything to stop him from walking away with that look on his face.
James shook his head.
No heat. No retort. Just no.
It felt colder, suddenly, between them.
Not just because James wouldn’t look at her.
Physically.
The anger had kept Clara warm. And now the winter chill bit effortlessly through her jacket.
James nodded once, more to himself than her.
Then he took a step back.
“Have a good break, Clara.”
She felt suddenly nauseous. It took effort to swallow down.
“You too,” she said instead.
James gave her one last look.
Not angry. Not anything she could work with.
Flat.
Tired.
Then he turned and walked away.
Clara waited until he stepped out of view to move.
Something in her stomach twisted when he finally did. Regret, and panic, and the need to call him and take it all back settled behind her ribs.
She ignored them as she fixed her jacket.
She had to get back to her apartment. Had to pull herself together before Cooper showed up.
The world didn’t stop because her and James got into a fight. And literally whatever. She didn’t need him hovering over her anyway.
jesus that took forever. anyway u guys didn't think james nelson was truama free, did you?
p.s. this chapter was rlly hard to write for some reason and ive been staring at it for so long that i can no longer tell if its even legible so plz leave ur thoughts
wc: 2,533
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taglist: @omyrahwrites @solarmooon
