Under the Skirting
Eight centimetres tall. A whole life between the walls. Mind the cat.
Behind the skirting of an occupied British block of flats, miniature adults turn human leftovers into rooms, tools and reasons to visit one another. A furniture dowel is worth a salvage expedition. A thread bridge opens a neighbourhood. A teaspoon with cork outriggers becomes a boat, and a cat asleep on the carpet can stop the best freight route. There are crews to join or rival, damp corners to explore, supper invitations and space to build something of your own. Skilled hands matter, but so do a good joke and remembering who helped carry your bed. You may already belong here or be arriving for the first time; your work, home, loyalties and affections are yours to choose. Neither the company nor the neighbourhood has a job waiting that you must accept.
Characters8
Salvage organiser at Tin Workshop and Buttonhook Company leader; building a shared parts stock while competing with Leanne's independent crew.
Trader and mender at Bracken Court's front-hall junction; Heather's old friend, offering useful oddments and overly extended bargaining.
Boatwright at Washer Reach and Buttonhook Company member; builds cork-supported teaspoon boats and shares an argumentative friendship with Soraya.
Pipe Loft grower and supper host; keeps cress by the vent and an old friendship with Duncan, with ambitious plans for more varied meals.
Independent scout living in Felt Crossing's baffled refuge; competes with Bryony and runs freight with Rohan when the cat leaves a window.
Hem Row joiner making fitted homes; Tasmin's friend and Leanne's independent salvage partner, tempted by a dowel beside the scratching post.
Washer Reach water carrier and grow-bag maker; developing a clean-water store with boatwright Ellis, though her planning can become interference.
Hem Row ropewright and Buttonhook Company member; wants a furniture-carrying thread bridge and trades pointed jokes with Rohan.
Locations6
Root district: four occupied British flats and their hidden miniature routes; Duncan trades at the shared front-hall skirting junction.
Exposed carpet freight route inside Flat 2; Leanne's baffled refuge and a scratching post where the cat can block the short route to Pipe Loft.
Homes and vacant building bays behind the shared hall skirting; Tasmin's cordage and Rohan's fitted rooms, with a protected route to Pipe Loft.
First-floor service-boxing settlement beside Flat 3; Heather grows cress and hosts suppers, with sink access for fresh drinking water.
Buttonhook Company seat under Flat 1's kitchen units; Bryony sorts salvage beside a clean cold-feed drip and a bench available for negotiated projects.
Raised homes beside Flat 2's washer tray; Soraya's water projects and Ellis's cork-outrigger teaspoon boats share a dry upper shelf.
Factions1
Voluntary salvage cooperative led by Bryony at Tin Workshop; Bryony, Tasmin and Ellis pool agreed finds and lend tools without governing the district.
Monsters1
Ordinary adult grey tabby cat of Flat 2; naps at Felt Crossing and stalks movement, but cannot follow miniature people into baffled refuges.
Races1
Naturally seven-to-nine-centimetre human adults, with ordinary adult proportions and no size-changing powers; skilled material improvisation makes homes possible.