Thumbelina did not want to get married. Of course, for those of you just joining us, this will make no sense, so allow me to explain, in as few words as possible. Thumbelina was adopted. Her birth family was unknown, and she spent the first 12 years of her life alone. When she was 12, she was adopted by an elderly woman who had been unable to have children for her entire life. The woman's husband had died a few months before the adoption, and the woman was struggling to continue keeping up a healthy lifestyle. A few good friends of the woman convinced her to adopt Thumbelina, for she was a cyborg, and if not to keep the old woman happy, she could help around the house. It was soon discovered, however, that Thumbelina was not as strong as they assumed she was, and a very small amount of her body was even metal. However, she did do the best she could, as the woman was very kind to her. Thumbelina spent several years with the woman, and began to love her as her own mother. She did her best to look after her and keep her healthy, however, as the woman was very old, she soon got very sick. By the time Thumbelina was 16 years old, the woman had passed away. Thumbelina was hardly given a chance to mourn before a neighbor of her mothers by the name of Jules took Thumbelina in. She had promised Thumbelina's late mother she would care for her if anything were to happen to the woman. This woman, however was not as accepting of the cyborg as her late mother was, and soon sold her off to a family far away from New Beijing. The family she went to live with were horrible, toad-like people, who lived far away from anyone else. The mother of the family wanted Thumbelina to marry her son, a short, pudgy man. Thumbelina, of course, did not want to get married to this man, and wished to be allowed to find love for herself. However, she was not given the option, and was forced to prepare. Luckily, Thumbelina caught the eye of two servants during the months she lived with the toad family as she liked to call them.. A girl by the name of Wren, and a young boy by the name of Fish decided that Thumbelina deserved a better chance. They fell in love with her kind personality, and the way she never gave up, staying faithful to the toad family while she lived with them, for they were giving her a home. Wren and Fish decided that they would help Thumbelina escape, and give her a better chance, a better fate. And so, with the help of Wren and Fish, Thumbelina escaped the day before her wedding, leaving for New Beijing.
That will bring you to the present in our story, in which Tumbelina works at a small booth in the market, selling handmade jewelry. Moving to New Beijing was hard for her, starting over. She found that her talent that had previously been spent making jewelry for her mother, and her mother's friends, selling them to those who cared enough for her mother to help, trying to earn enough to pay for the medicine that had kept her mother alive for so long. Her booth is about three away from her only friend in this town, Linh Cinder, who also happens to be a cyborg. Thumbelina had been in New Beijing for a little over a month, and was just beginning to really get settled in. She had turned 18 the day before her scheduled wedding, and so was allowed to buy herself a small apartment using what little money she had managed to take with her. After buying an apartment, Thumbelina had began looking for a job. That's when she stumbled across the market. It wasn't far from where she was living, and it seemed a good way to make some money, so she put her talent to use, and began making jewelry again. She was soon introduced to Linh Cinder as she tried to acquaint herself with those in the market. Later, Thumbelina was surprised to find that Linh Cinder was also a cyborg. Cinder told Thumbelina that not many people were as accepting as Thumbelina's mother had been, and told her to keep the fact that she was a cyborg as well a secret, if she wished to find any respect here. Thumbelina trusted Cinder fully, and so nobody was told of the fact that she was a cyborg.
The day started fairly normally for Thumbelina. It was a fairly nice day, not a cloud in the sky. She went into the market early, to prepare for the day. Last night had been busy, and most of her jewelry had sold. She hadn't yet had a chance to make more, and hopped to get some done before too many people arrived. It soon became clear that it would be a slow day for her, but that was alright. It gave her more time to work on making new jewelry. She was stringing a necklace, blood red beads from end to end, while she watched the children laugh and play in the streets. Singing ring around the rosie. It almost made her want to laugh, singing of such a thing in a time when the plague haunted many families, taking loved ones away. It worried her that the children didn't know what they were singing. Someone should have taught them what the words meant. Lost in her thoughts, Thumbelina barely had time to react to the earsplitting scream that came mere seconds later. The necklace fell from her hand, the beads rolling across the market floor. The singing stopped, the children froze. The market fell to an eerie silence, all heads turned towards the source of the scream. Thumbelina recognised the screamer as the woman who made the cinnamon rolls that were often her breakfast. Thumbelina wasn't sure what was happening at first. A little boy was being shooed away, people were leaving in a hurry, but Thumbelina wasn't moving. By the time she did figure it out, almost the entire market was emptied out. The plague. The woman had the plague. Thumbelina turned on her heel, grabbing her sweater and pulling it on, pulling up her hood and stuffing her pockets with jewelry. As she started to make her way out, she was stopped by a drone. It took her blood, and for a moment it seemed as if she would be allowed to pass, but just as she started to leave, her path was blocked. She was given no explanation for what was going on as the drones ushered her away. Her mind began reeling, heart racing. They were taking her to the quarantine. She must be dying. Would anyone notice? Would anyone care? The only friend's she'd ever had were Wren, Fish and Cinder, and two of them hadn't been to New Beijing in weeks. Maybe they wouldn't notice. Maybe she'd die alone, and that scared her more than anything.
