As pitiful as it was for Abigail to watch the terrified boy in her hand, face buried in his hands and knees, she had to admit it was a blessing in disguise that he wasn't seeing her pace awkwardly back and forth in the hallway as she contemplated what to do. Her standoffish nature and gothic attire was all the indication needed to discern that she wasn't great at dealing with people and should be one of the last people to turn to for emotional consolation. Maybe in less esoteric circumstances (a nice way of saying, if it wasn't someone who was only as tall as her ankle) she could at least pretend that she knew what she was doing because as is she was completely out of her element. Her pointer finger drifted back and forth, towards and away Tanner's back unable to make up her mind if she should rub it to help soothe him, it was hard to stop overthinking things when he was already feeling down. The last thing she needed was to fuck up and make him feel worse, her next move was pivotal whatever it maybe.

After a few more cycles of pacing a feasible idea hit her mind, acting on her instincts she gingerly made her way down stairs and into the kitchen. It played to her favor that her parents went out for groceries so she didn't have to deal with them sticking their noses in her business.

“Hey, can you step off for a minute.” She said once she approached the counter. She could've just tilted her hand until he had no choice but to step off, however that would've been rude. Tanner obliged without a word and quietly stepped off her hand.

Abigail stepped away to open the refrigerator and take out one of many bottles of water that was stocked inside the appliance. She didn't expect him to be capable of drinking right from the bottle so she improvised and poured some into the cap and sat it next to him. “I'm sorry that it's a little degrading... but ... you can drink it if you want.”

She was right about it being degrading, but there was a time and place for everything and now was not the time to complain about something so trivial. He lowered his head to take a quick sip and then it really hit him parched he really was and kept his head was down for nearly 30 seconds before coming back up for air.

He gasped heavily, regaining his breath and most of his composure before speaking for the first time since leaving Blake's room. “Thanks for helping me out Abigail.” Tanner graciously said.

“You're welcome.” Abigail replied, internally she felt 100 pounds lighter now that he was doing better and a lot more responsive than he was before. “Why exactly were you running around Blake?”

Tanner shook his head wishing he could wipe the event from his memory. “She thought it'd be a fun activity for me to get some exercise and midway...” He had to admit saying it aloud that he gave up because it was too hard sounded pretty pathetic, then again Abigail already saw him cowering on the ground so trying to think of a way to embellish the story to save face was moot. “I couldn't do it, so I quit and after that-”

“I bet she flipped out.” Abigail correctly completed.

“I'm guessing that's not the first time she's lost her shit like that.” Tanner inferred figuring she's seen that side of Blake before.

“One incident of many. Quitting isn't in her vocabulary and tackles everything heads on.”

“Which is easy for an amazon like her.” Tanner added.

“Right? Just because she can plow through every obstacle in her path doesn't mean everyone else can.”

Abigail said and then sighed in relief that Tanner was more or less back to normal. The hardest part was out of the way. Now she had a new challenge, figuring out what to do next...again. They had common ground expressing some of the traits that made her older sister endearing and a pain in the ass sometimes, but now that the moment was gone she needed a new topic.

“Abel and Blair go out?” Tanner asked.

“Yeah, they went to go buy stuff for dinner.” Abigail answered after being disturbed from her musing.

“Ugh, can we go to your room or something? No offense but I can already see your parents make a big fuss about why I'm with you and not Blake when they come back.”

That worked out better than anticipated, Abigail suspected her parents would make a bother about that too and wanted to retreat back into her room; she didn't know how to propose it without it coming off weird, Tanner bringing it up first spared her that hassle. “Sure, um.” Abigail slowly held her hand down to Tanner, it was the only sensible way to transport him but now that she wasn't in the heat of the moment like before, it occurred to her she literally had him in the palm of her hand back when she helped him in Blake's room. Here she was about to have him there again, should she just grab him? Or wait for when he's ready? Now that she thought about it maybe he didn't like it when she picked him up out of the blue earlier. Fuck, this was harder than she thought. “...Sorry for picking you up before without asking. So if you're ready... uh, is it okay to pick you up?”

Tanner didn't know what to say, it's been sometime since he's been asked for consent to be picked up. When his shrinking left him below 2'0 he had to start coming to grips with his limited mobility and had to accept being carried around was far more efficient. Back then he was fanatic about being asked beforehand. Now that getting around on his own was out of the question, he grew accustomed that being carried was the only way he'd get from place to place and being asked became a needless formality.

“It's fine, I'm ready whenever you are.” Tanner put on a confident mask hoping it'd make Abigail relax a little, in reality he was quite nervous as he watched her shaky palm. In the same spectrum as the overly careful holder was the overly timid handler (Ivory used to be an offender of this). There needed to be a level of mutual confidence between them and that was sorely lacking in Abigail, it was obvious she was afraid she'd drop him which was a reasonable fear, but it was blatant enough to instill the same fear in him.

“I know it's an unusual experience, you're going to have to calm down though.”

Abigail yelped in surprise, in hindsight it was rather foolish to try and think she was hiding her nerves in front of someone who was small enough to notice the subtle intricacies her nervous body was making. “Sorry, it's just so crazy. I wasn't thinking about it before, but now I can't believe I'm actually about to hold you. It’s...” Abigail didn't have the words to describe it. “I don't mean to make it awkward, it's something I never thought I'd have to do.”

Tanner did indeed dislike things getting awkward when it came to his size, but he was coming to realize it was a two-way street of not only him learning to adapt to the world at his size and the giants around him, it included his peers learning how to adapt to him.

Tanner held his arms out and stepped closer to her palm. “Go ahead, do what you need to do. Poke touch, stare, anything so you can get acclimated. I may not be the most durable thing in the world, I'm pretty sure I won't break on contact though.” He couldn't imagine him doing this with anyone else who he didn't know very well, Abigail seemed nice enough plus she was going to have to get past this nervousness if they were to continue.

Abigail apprehensively nodded. She didn't know where to begin so she started by first by lightly touching against Tanner's face with the edge of her fingernail, from that focal point she moved around the area of his body. Based off touch alone it was nothing outside the ordinary, he didn't feel any different from any other person yet she couldn't stop herself from probing him. Was it the simple size difference between them that interested her? Besides that, there was nothing separating him from any regular person. She soon added her thumb into the mix lightly squeezing his body, despite trying to remain motionless Tanner flinched and groaned quietly with each prod and squeeze. Maybe she was wrong about it being a simple size difference, it was a substantial difference that made Abigail feel a way she never felt when around her physically superior family, powerful. It fascinated her to no end, powerful... A word that should be nowhere near a sentence describing her when used in relation of herself to Tanner it pertained and then some.

“Okay, I think I'm ready.” She announced, holding her hand flat again in front of Tanner.

It was hard to believe that this was the same person whose palm was trembling a few moments ago and now lied totally still and ready. Whatever mental preparations she took performed wonders, she was able to keep him in the palm of her hand with none of her previous trepidation and went upstairs without missing a beat.

Abigail's room was a stark contrast from her older sister's, everything was neat and deliberate down to the last cubic inch. The walls were plastered with what Tanner assumed were television shows and movies she was a fan of, and most notably was a cabinet off in the corner that shelved dozens of games; some of which he recognized others seemed pretty obscure. Tanner never fancied himself an avid gamer, he used to play with Ingrid occasionally on rainy days eventually though the controllers became too unmanageable for him and it was another card out of the deck of things he could enjoy.

Abigail sat at her bed and laid Tanner next to her. “…Is there anything you want to do?” Truthfully, she tried her best to think of something to do while she was taking him to her room. Having to entertain a guest was again out of her wheelhouse, her scope of interests was narrow enough as is, factor in having to take his minuscule stature left her bereft of ideas.

“It's okay, you don't need to mind me. You can do what you'd normally do.” Tanner appreciated Abigail's forced efforts to be accommodating and he wanted to try and make it easier any way he could.

“I could put in a game that would be interesting for you to watch me play.” She suggested.

“Sure.” At 3 ½ inches tall there wasn't many activities he could actively participate in, watching from the sidelines was a role he often had to take.

The petite teen stood up and scanned her eyes across the shelves of her games for an adequate choice. She decided against all of her first person shooter games, though it was her favorite genre to play it risked being too alienating to Tanner who likely wouldn't understand the strategy and mechanics involved. Near the bottom she spotted a better contender. Reaching for it, she pulled out the disc and loaded it into the tray. She reclaimed her seat with controller in hand as the screen began loading.

“What'd you pick?”

“A pretty well known game, Super Smash Bros.” Definitely not her first choice if she were playing alone like she often is, but it was the best choice to keep Tanner engaged that featured a plethora of recognizable characters even to non-gamers and the basic game play was simple enough that it can be picked up by anyone.

“Oh, I've seen commercials for that one before.”

Once the game booted up Abigail went to the training mode first so she could give a brief demonstration on how it works. She picked the two most iconic characters in Mario and Luigi. “It's pretty easy to play, after you pick your characters the general premise is to knock the opponent off the screen.” She had the CPU set to be inactive so she can use it as a dummy to show her point. “The more damage that's accrued the easier it gets. It varies by character, some are powerful and hard to knockout, the downside is that they are typically slow and easy to hit. Some are fast and nimble, conversely they tend to be easy to knockout and their moves usually lack power.

“Is there any characters that are the best?”

Abigail shrugged her shoulders. “There's a tier list for the people who play competitively and there's a lot more factors to consider than the surface. Maybe a live opponent would be better?” Backing out of the training mode, she connected to Wi-Fi to find an online opponent. Within moments she found a match up and she picked Zero Suit Samus. Beyond the fact he used to think that it was man inside of the armor she wore he wasn't familiar with her. Once the stage was selected it was revealed her opponent picked Ganondorf, another character he didn't know much of besides being the main villain in the Zelda franchise.

Every detail about her explanation was proven as the match unraveled. Calling it one-sided was being generous, it was a total slaughter. The speed and agility of Abigail's character time and time again trumped her adversary who picked a strong character, but lacked the quickness to make use of it. Every time he attempted to close in, she simply attacked from range or side-stepped behind him and racked up hit after hit, before he could respond.

Tanner wanted to compliment her every time she scored a point, the timing didn't see right at all though. All of her focus was dead-locked in her match and she could've stared a hole right into the television screen with her glare. Despite all the noises and sound effects of the game, all Tanner could hone in on was the intensity that Abigail was pressing the buttons. Right now, Abigail looked like a tiger playing with her outmatched prey, and if Tanner was to interrupt her fun he feared she'd bite his head off. Even her voice sounded different in the few instances she did speak in disdain of her opponent's skill. “Who the fuck plays as Ganondorf in this game?” She berated.

The one time it looked like she may have been in trouble was when a mushroom appeared on screen, Tanner recognized it as being a staple in the Mario games that makes him grow twice his size. Her opponent sought it immediately prompting a patronizing laugh from Abigail who made a distinction in the mushroom color that her opponent didn't, that resulted in his character shrinking down to half his usual size, ending up as tall as Samus' waistline. He tried to run away, but his height (or lack thereof) made it no easy task getting away from his fully sized competitor who easily closed the distance and scored an effortless knockout. If it wasn't obvious enough already, the poor player realized he was fighting a losing battle. More mature players would accept the loss and continue playing until the end, but the impending pill of defeat was enough to make the player suddenly disconnect, to Abigail's ire.

“Well that blows.” Abigail responded to his unsportsmanlike behavior.

Tanner would've been inclined to agree with her if he still wasn't in shock the new facet of the young girl that he just witnessed.

“What?” She questioned.

“You just seemed like a totally different person while you were playing.” Tanner said, realizing he was looking at her wide-eyed while she played. That statement appeared to bring her back into her previous demeanor that he knew her for

“It's nothing... I only got caught up in the moment.”

Her attempts at being dodgy about it was pretty amusing to Tanner. “I don’t know, reminded me of the rest of your family with how competitive you got.”

It was a comment in good fun, but it got Abigail acting more defensive. “I'm not like them.”

He wasn't buying it for a second. “Could've fooled me. You were totally in the zone, I thought if I said something to you mid-game you would’ve swatted me across the room.”

After trying to keep a straight face that comment succeeding in making her laugh for a second. “Hush, no one likes to lose.”

“Not only that, you project yourself when you have to. Back when you told Blake off, I thought you were 7 feet tall.”

In contrast to his statement Abigail timidly turned her head, it was a side that she very seldom let out. She didn't want to admit it but it was in her blood, she may not be as tall as her parents or sibling, deep down though there was a sleeping giant in her. That wasn’t the only thing Tanner wanted to bring up though, there was something else that he didn’t pay significant mind to when she said it, now that he was thinking clearly there was something he wanted to confirm with her.

“Your timing was pretty impeccable too I might add.”

Abigail turned back to Tanner. “What are you implying?”

“It was pretty convenient, that and you said something that caught my attention downstairs.”

“Which was?”

“‘Why I was running around Blake’. Something that you brought up, without me saying a word about what Blake and I were doing. The only way you would've known that was if you were watching the whole time.” Tanner concluded.

Abigail slapped her forehead as it unraveled how careless she was in her choice of wording, leading to her being caught red-handing that she was eavesdropping on them.

“I didn’t mean to… I just know how Blake can be sometimes and I got worried, after all you're so … and Blake's well ...”

“After all I'm so small and Blake's so big.” Tanner responded assuming she watched from afar out of some kind of pity.

Abigail shook her head at how he misinterpreted her intent. “I don't mean it like that. You were really brave back there.”

She was flattering him, Tanner was sure she wasn't being serious. “Are you kidding me? I'm not brave. You saw it with your own two eyes, all I could do in the face of adversity was tremble.”

“That's a lot better I think than how most people in your place would've reacted. Whenever Blake used to get angry at me for throwing in the towel when we were little kids I always broke down and cried, you had it a lot worse with Blake towering and shouting down at you, yet you still tried to hold your ground. Even if things are far from ideal for you, you always try to hold your head up.”

Tanner's emotions were in flux, as much as he wanted to accept her words of praise for trying to live his life in spite of his condition, his conscience he kept telling him it wasn't true and she had it all wrong. “I'm a coward, I'm always afraid.”

Instead of trying to dissuade him from his pessimism, Abigail changed tactics and engaged him in it. “What are you afraid of?”

Besides everything that moves? “..People.” He answered.

“Anyone specifically?” Abigail inquired.

That struck Tanner as an unexpected response and left him perplexed to what she was getting at. “..Nobody specific.”

“Really though? Is that the truth?” She prodded.

“Why wouldn't it be?”

“Because I heard Ingrid did something to you.”

Scratch that, Tanner was no longer perplexed; the mention of his step-sister made him full on speechless.