Jen and Gabby (working title): chapter two
Here's the second part of my gt story. Criticism is appreciated,
Here's part one:
heres part three
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It was late into the evening. The wind blew cool through the air as Jen trekked through the grass, slicing down the tall blades in her way with her sewing needle. She peered out of the grass onto the curb of the street. She'd been walking in the direction of the car that the human who took her sister was in, but she had lost track of it. The car seemed long gone, along with Gabby and the human child that took her. Jen walked into the street and looked both ways. It was empty, no humans were walking on the sidewalk, or cars in the road. There were massive human houses on both sides of the street. Jen didn’t want to rest until Gabby was safe and not until she found her, but it was only getting darker and colder outside. Jen kept walking on the side of the road, hoping she would see the car soon. Eventually, Jen started yawning. Usually, she and Gabby would be asleep at this time. Regardless, she ignored it and kept walking, when she heard a sound from somewhere above.
“Hoooo….” The sound startled Jen, who quickly looked up, darting her head around to find the source. She looked up at a tree planted in front of a human's house, where a sort of brownish bird was perched. It was large, and its face looked flat to her. Jen thought she remembered seeing one before, in one of the human children's books, or on their television when she was borrowing while the humans watched it, but she couldn’t remember the bird's name. She could remember that the bird hunted small animals, like her. Jen looked at its sharp talons, readjusting themselves on the thick tree branch they were on. The bird began to raise its two massive wings. As the bird jumped off the branch, Jen ran into the grass, hiding before running away from the way the beast was flying in.
Jen ran into a human's garden, right against the front wall of their house. Jen looked around in the air. The thing she was running from was nowhere. Jen was confused. Was it even hunting me at all? She thought to herself. She shook her arms and head and looked up at the human house she had come up to. She decided that it would make sense to rest for a second, and gain food and materials to save her sister with. Jen noticed there was an open vent. Maybe another borrower is already here, she thought, going into the vent opening, and putting her mask over her mouth. She hoped that if another borrower was here, they would be helpful to her. There were no markings of warning or welcome near the vent opening, so there was no way to be sure.
Tim laid on a soft doll bed made of wood and soft, cut-up materials for the mattress. He got out of the bed and stood up. He walked on the plastic floor, out of the room, and into his bathroom. Nothing in the room actually worked, it all being plastic, including the mirror. Tim looked at himself, he ruffled his hair a bit and looked at his teeth. He was still wearing his borrowing clothes, crudely stitched together, oversized shirt and pants, cut up from pieces of curtain and human clothing. It's what most borrowers wore, either made by themselves or by other borrowers who traded the clothes with something, or given as gifts. Tim left the bathroom and looked in his plastic dresser. It had clothes Rebecca made for him, hand-sewn and stitched from wool and craft cloth. He considered changing when he heard footsteps and felt vibrations coming closer to him. There was a gentle knock on the outer wall of the plastic house.
“Hey Tim, I’m just checking in. Are you ready for our night in?” a voice from outside said. It was gentle, just next to a whisper, but it was still loud enough to sound like a normal voice to Tim.
“Yeah, I’m just getting ready,” Tim said, holding a wool sweater in front of him.
“Am I good to see you? You’re not naked in there or anything?” the voice said with a slight laugh.
“No, I’m dressed, I’m just… looking at what else I could wear,” Tim said. Then, the wall of the house moved. The entire side of the house was removed, and Tim saw a massive human face smiling at him.
“Hey Rebecca,” Tim said, waving at the human.
“Heya cutie,” Rebecca said, putting her hand into the doll house and patting Tim's head. Tim pushed her finger off and smiled. “What are you looking for?”
“Clothes, for our, uh, date,” Tim said. “I can’t wear my borrowing clothes on our night in.”
“Why not?” Rebecca asked. “It's just a night in, you don’t have to wear anything special. I’m wearing my normal clothes.”
“Hmm….. ok….” Tim said, putting his clothes back into the toy dresser before walking towards Rebecca. Rebecca put her palm out, which Tim climbed into. Tim's four-inch body easily fitss in the center of Rebecca’s human hand. Carefully, Rebecca held Tim in her two hands, cupping him so he wouldn’t fall. Butterflies fluttered in Tim’s stomach as he was lifted high off the ground, being enamored by Rebecca as her large eyes blinked at him. She carried him through her large human house, outside to her fenced backyard. Rebecca sat down in a lawn chair, cupping Tim in her lap. They both looked up, gazing at the stars, tiny shining dots in the black night sky. It felt nice to Tim, looking up in the warmth of a human's flesh, shielded by the cool air. Rebecca looked down at Tim, who was relaxed with his legs crossed in her lap. She gently rubbed his back, beginning to make small talk.
“So, how was the borrower market today? Rebecca asked him.
“Same as it usually is,” Tim said. “I saw Liam and Nora today, they wanted to go borrowing and asked me to come, but I said no.”
“Huh, y’know, your friends don’t have to risk their lives borrowing,” Rebecca said, “you could always introduce them to me, and I can take care of all of you.” Tim sighed.
“Rebecca, we’ve been over this, you can’t meet the other tinies.” Tim started. “They don’t trust you, even if I try to introduce you to them.”
“I’ve never understood why you tinies are so scared of humans,” Rebecca said, lifting Tim to her face. “You’re just smaller, cuter humans after all, why do you think anyone would want to hurt you?” She ruffled his hair with her finger again.
“We live in humans' walls and steal their food and other objects, we’re basically mice to you,” Tim said.
“Mice don’t talk, wear clothes, or use tools,” Rebecca said. “You’re way smarter than mice are, and I’m sure humanity would see you as people if you revealed yourselves to them.”
“That sounds optimistic,” Tim said. “You have no idea how many stories there are of borrowers getting seen or caught and having some terrible fate, like there is one about those who got tortured, those who were forced to be pets, those who were just killed instantly.”
“That sounds horrible but they can’t all be true. There are tons of stories made to cause fear so people will follow rules or be safe.” Rebecca said, Tim looked at her, slightly offended but he shrugged it off.
“I mean, yeah, I guess there could be a lot of exaggerations, but plenty of them or first-hand accounts. A lot of my friends have those kinds of stories.”
“Oh…” Rebecca looked down, sort of embarrassed. “I’m sorry about that. But, even if that stuff happens, you know I wouldn’t do that,”
“Yeah, but they don’t know that,” Tim said. “And even if they did, you could.”
“Come on, doesn't it sound paranoid to avoid humans just because they’re bigger than you all? Imagine how much better your friends' lives would be,” Rebecca said. Tim thought about it. He never had to worry about starving, freezing, or being killed by some animal because Rebecca was there. All of the other borrowers and tinies had to deal with that regularly. But he didn’t know how they would react to him introducing them to a human. What if they saw him as a traitor? What if they thought he was selling them out?
“Maybe you're right…but the others aren’t just going to trust humans just like that,” Tim said. “It took me months just to let you hold me like this.”
“And look how close we are now,” Rebecca said, petting Tim's head again. “If we can be like this, there’s no reason all tinies and humans can’t get along.”
“Maybe…” Tim sighed. “I dunno….I’ll think about more…”
“So… you wanna watch a movie?” Rebecca asked.
“Sure, it's getting cold out here,” Tim answered.
Rebbeca cupped Tim in her hands again and walked inside, closing the screen door to the backyard. She stepped into her living room and gently placed Tim on her couch, kneeling down on the floor to talk to him.
“I’m gonna go get snacks for us. You make yourself comfortable, ok hon?” Rebecca said.
“Ok, see you,” said Tim.
“Be right back, don’t move a muscle!” Rebecca left the room. Tim sat on the blue couch, waiting for Rebecca to come back, when he heard a voice in the distance.
“Ow! Damnit…” the voice wasn’t very loud, it sounded sort of muffled by something. It wasn’t big and vibrating like a human's voice, it was definitely that of a tiny’s, and it sounded familiar.
Tim climbed off the couch, landing on a pillow on the floor. He walked to the other side of the room. There was a small table there, smaller in width but taller than the main coffee table in the middle of the room, placed next to a recliner. At the bottom of the table was a tiny on the ground, dusting themselves off and standing up through pain. Tim approached them, before recognizing who they were.
“Jen?” Tim asked.
“Tim?” Jen said, removing her mask. “What are you doing here?”
“Uh, this is the house I live at ...y'know, where my…hideout is….” Tim said, sweating.
“I thought you were seeing someone tonight, that's what Nora and Liam said anyway,” Jen said. Tim pulled at his collar.
“Um…they called it off?” Tim shrugged.
“Huh,” Jen said, looking toward the kitchen. “Hey, who was that human that was here? Who were they talking to, there's no one else here,”
“Umm, I dunno, she's like that… one of those humans with meds, y’know?” Tim lied.
“She has an iron deficiency? That's what the humans I borrow from take pills for,” Jen thought to herself for a moment, “look, that's not important, I really need your help with something, like seriously, like life or death,”
“Hey, cute stuff!” Rebecca's voice was heard in the distance, Jen was startled.
“Shoot,” Jen looked around before hiding under the recliner, waving at Tim to do the same. Tim hesitated, staying in the open not knowing what to do until the human was right over him. Jen watched in fear and confusion as Tim turned around towards the human, and the human kneeled down at him.
“Why are you over here?” Rebecca asked him.
“Uh, um….” Tim didn’t know what to say, knowing Jen was watching him from under the recliner. Eventually, he swallowed and responded, “I heard something over here, it was nothing.”
“Oh, ok. So we don’t have any popcorn, do you want chips?” Rebecca asked.
“Uh...yeah, um, could you also get… uh…” Tim sweated and nervously held his hands together. Rebecca leaned down to look closer at him.
“Are you ok, buddy?” Rebecca asked, concerned. “You look nervous about something.”
“Uh, I just need a minute…” Tim said.
“Oh, ok. I’ll give you some space for a sec.” Rebecca got up and walked to the other room. Jen could feel the vibrations from her footsteps on the ground. She crawled from under the recliner and looked at Tim. Tim turned around at her.
“Tim…” Jen glared at him.
“I can explain…” he said, backing away slightly from Jen.
“You’re a pet?” Jen asked with disgust.
“What- No! Of course not!” Tim exclaimed. “I’m here willingly, she isn’t like that, she doesn’t own me or anything,”
“Tim, be honest, you don’t have to lie to keep yourself safe from them, I can get you out of here,” Jen said, worried.
“I am being honest,” Tim sighed, “I….I’m friends with a human.”
“Friends?” Jen was dumbfounded for a moment, before gaining her words back. Are you you friends with her? How? You can’t just be friends with a human,”
“Look, I was borrowing here like, last year, and I got caught, and she was really nice,”
“You were caught?” Jen said, shocked. “You’ve been lying about this for a year?”
“A bit more than a year…” Tim rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, this human, Rebecca, isn’t like the others, she gave me food, and clothes, and let me live here-”
“So you’re a pet?” Jen put her hands on her hips.
“No! She doesn’t let me live here like that, I’m more like… a roommate.” Tim said.
“A roommate? Right,” Jen shook her head. “Tim, listen to yourself, you’ve been living with a human for a year being fed and housed, why do you think that is?”
“Because she's a good human!” Tim exclaimed.
“No, because you’re a pet! She thinks you're a cute little thing to keep around and take care of.” Jen saiShe’ll probably throw you away if hen she gets bored.”
“Then why does she let me leave to hang out with you guys?” Tim asked.
“Because she knows you’re gullible enough to come back,” Jen argued. “She probably feeds you table scraps and makes you sleep in a cage.”
“No, she makes me my own food, and I have my own doll house,” Tim said, crossing his arms.
“Oh, so you’re not a pet. You're a toy.” Jen said, rolling her eyes, “That's way better.”
“You don’t even know Rebecca, I’m perfectly safe with her, more than I was before!” Tim argued.
“She’s controlling you, Tim,” Jen said. “We’re both just things to humans, you can’t trust one even if they give you food or whatever. Now, come on, let's get out of here,” Jen started walking away, expecting Tim to follow. Tim grabbed her arm.
“Rebecca! Rebecca, come here!” Tim yelled towards the kitchen. Massive human footsteps could be heard approaching.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jen asked, pulling away from Tim.
“Letting you meet her,” Tim said. Before Jen could respond, the human was already looking down at them, towering over them as she moved closer.
“Aww, Tim, who's this?” The humans said, kneeling down at the two tinies.
“Rebecca, this is Jen,” Tim said looking up, before turning towards Jen. “Jen, this is-”
Jen started running away as Tim was talking, sprinting as fast as she could away from the human. She pulled her sewing needle out from her belt as she felt vibrations in the ground caused by the human chasing after her. Suddenly, she felt something grab her legs. Jen was stopped dead in her tracks, dropping her needle and nearly falling over but then being lifted up by what grabbed her. The human hand wrapped around Jen as she kicked and squirmed, trying to get out of its grip. Jen forcibly was turned around towards human'sman's massive face, which was warmly smiling.
“Hey there,” the human said, “I’m not gonna hurt you, don’t worry.”
“Let go of me!” Jen yelled, kicking and biting at the hand. “Let me go!” she screamed desperately.
“It's ok, it's fine, you’re fine little one,” the human said, cooing Jen. Jen kept struggling in the human's grip. “You’re Jen, right? Tim told me about you,” as the human said this, Jen looked down at Tim, angry.
“Uh, Rebecca, maybe we should sit Jen down somewhere to explain all this to her,” Tim said, “she doesn’t get what's happening with us here,”
“Good idea,” Rebecca picked up Tim and began walking through her house with both borrowers in her hands. Tim sat comfortably in her left palm while Jen had to be squeezed in Rebecca’s right fist to keep her from breaking out of her grip. Jen looked at Tim in the hand across from her.
“You told her about the rest of us?” Jen said, brimming with anger.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t say where any of you lived or anything,” Tim said.
“Where the hell is she taking us?” Jen yelled. Rebecca raised her right hand to her face.
“Calm down, I’m taking you to where Tim stays,” Rebecca said, as Jen fell silent. “We’re gonna talk, ok?”
Rebecca placed Tim and Jen on a table where Tim's dollhouse was. Upon being placed down, Jen started running towards the edge, before being blocked by Rebeccas' hand dropping in front of her.
“Hey! You don’t want to fall now, do you? You tinies are so small, it wouldn’t be very pleasant for you to fall from this table,” Rebecca said, in her overly sweet, infantilizing voice.
“What have you done to him?” Jen yelled, her hands balled into fists. She knew there was nothing she could do to this human without her needle, but she still had to try to show some strength.
“Well, last winter, I found your friend eating bread in my kitchen, so I gave him food and a place to stay, and we’ve been friends ever since,” Rebecca said, looking down at Tim.
“See Jen? Rebecca’s fine, she doesn’t want to hurt any of us.” Tim said.
“Ugh, I can’t believe you!” Jen said to Tim, “Becoming a human’s pet and selling me out to her.”
“I told you, I’m not a pet!” Tim said, “All Rebecca wants to help us,”
“We don’t need help from a human who could crush us at any moment,” Jen argued. Rebecca looked down at them both.
“Aw, you’re both so cute fighting like this,” Rebecca said, making Jen seem angrier. “Don’t worry Jen, you have my promise that I won’t harm any of you,” Rebecca smiled at Jen, who didn’t believe it for a second. Jen tried looking angry at the human, even though she was actually scared out of her mind. What could she possibly do? Even when the human was sitting at the table Jen andwerem were standing on, she still towered over them. She couldn’t fight or get a chance to run away without her sewing needle, so Jen didn’t have any choice other than trying to reason.
“What do you want?” Jen said to Rebecca, “For me to be your new pet, like Tim here?”
“No, of course not, you and Tim aren’t pets here, silly,” Rebecca said, “Tim’s my friend, and I helped him so he wouldn’t have to steal food and supplies anymore, so if you’ll let me, I want to help you too,”
“So you do want me to be a pet,” Jen said, accusatorily. “Why should I… ever even consider trusting a human like you?”
“Well, Tim took my help, and he’s fine, right?” Rebecca looked at Tim.
“Yeah!” Tim said, before approaching Look “Look, Jen, I’m not asking you to live here and everything, but I just want you to at least try to trust Rebecca.”
“Tim, I’m sorry.” Jen sighed, “But you’ve seen what humans have done to us before. You’ve seen what they’ve done to me,”
“But Rebecca isn’t like that,” Tim said, “just give her a chance,”
“I don’t have time for this,” Jen swallowed her fear and walked towards Rebecca, looking up at her as she sat at the edge of the table. “Human, you need to…you will let me go!” Jen said firmly.
“But it's the middle of the night, tiny,” Rebecca looked down at her with concern. “There are cats and other animals that would hurt you, are you sure?” Jen sighed with frustration over Rebecca speaking down to her.
“I know that. I neleave, nowe, now,” Jen said.
“Well, at least stay for the night,” Rebecca suggested. “It’ll be safer for you to go in the morning,”
“No!” Jen sighed, “I need to go now to save my sister!” Tim looked surprised at Jen and walked up behind her.
“Gabby?” Tim asked. “Did something happen to her?” Jen then turned towards him.
“Our hideout got discovered by some visiting human kid, and they took her home with them. I’ve been walking in the direction they went in all night.” Jen told Tim.
“Oh no,” Tim said to himself,
“Your sister is missing? You should’ve told us sooner, Tiny.” Rebecca said, looking down pitifully at Jen. “oh, don’t worry, we’ll help you find her.”
“Yeah, we’ll find Gabby, and save her from that kid,” Tim said, patting Jen's back. “Rebecca can find out where the kid is since she’s human too,”
“Jen, what did the kid who took your sister look like?” Rebecca asked her.
“Ugh..fine,” Jen looked down, “blonde hair, green eyes, like ten years, I’m guessing? And they were pale,”
“I think I’ve seen someone like that, there's a family at the end of the street up the hill, and they all have green eyes,” Rebecca said.
“Thanks…” Jen said, speaking through her teeth, not believing she was thanking a human. She approached Tim.
“You’re helping me, right?” Jen asked him.
“Yes, both of us are,” Tim said. Jen turned around and looked at Rebecca, who smiled.
“No, just you,” Jen said, looking back at Tim. “I’m going to save my swith the helphof help of a human.” Rebecca looked offended and disappointed at this.
“Aw, come on, tiny, you don’t have to worry about me hurting you, or Gabby,” Rebecca said.
“Call me tiny one more time,” Jen said, sounding annoyed.
“Jen,” Tim said, causing her to look at him. “Please, just trust her. I promise she means well, even if she is a human.”
“Tim, if you want to be some human bean-” Jen stumbled over her words, “human being’s pet for the rest of your life, fine. I’ll respect that. But I’m not letting that human do whatever she did to you to me and my sister,” she said.
“Well, if you don’t want both of our help, you won’t get mine,” Tim said firmly.
“Fine!” Jen said, walking away from Tim and Rebecca. She got halfway to the edge of the table when she stopped and thought to herself. How was she going to do this? She was completely alone trying to save her sister, she could find Liam and Nora, but she didn’t know where they were. She still had some trust for Tim left, but she couldn’t imagine what this human’s true intentions were. Then, she had an idea. She walked back to Tim.
“So, you’re working with the both of us?” Tim asked.
“If you don’t help me find my sister, I’ll tell the rest of the borrowers you’re ‘friends’ with a human,” Jen said sternly. Tim was silently shocked. He stumbled over his words, looking at Rebecca, then Jen, then Rebecca again, before turning to Jen and saying,
“Can we have a second?” before walking towards Rebecca and having her pick him up. Rebecca went to the other side of the room, whispering to Tim while holding him up to her face. Jen couldn’t hear what they were saying, but at the end of it, Rebecca smiled, looking nervous. She walked back to the table and gently placed T
“Ok, we’ll go to save Gabby tomorrow, and Rebecca won’t come,” Tim said.i“She won’t be involved at all?” Jen asked. Rebecca leaned on the table.
“If you two don’t come back by the day after tomorrow, I’ll go out to look for you, m'kay?” Rebecca said.
“Me and Gabby aren’t coming back here,” Jen said, crossing her arms. Tim sighed.
“Don’t worry, I’ll let you know if they’re ok,” Tim said to Rebecca.
“Thanks, Tim,” Rebecca said, “Jen, if you and your sister have any issues finding a new hideout, or anything at all, you’re always welcome to come here, ok little one?” Jen scoffed, turning away from Rebecca’s smiling face.
“You said we’re going tomorrow?” Jen asked Tim.
“Yeah, it’ll be better to get some rest before we go in the morning, especially you,” Tim said.
“Fine, but I’m not sleeping out here with….her…” Jen said, looking at Rebecca from her side, scared.
“I have extra room in my dollhouse, come on, I’ll show it to you.” Tim led Jen into the plastic, tiny-sized building. Jen took another look at Rebecca, who waved at her as she entered. Jen shuddered and closed the plastic door behind her.
Sometime later, Tim had moved an extra toy bed into the room he slept in and put it next to the bed he usually slept in. Tim had changed into different clothes to sleep in, which was unusual for Jen. Both tinies were lying in their own beds, while Rebecca was elsewhere in the main house.
“Y’know, that was a pretty low thing to do,” Tim said, lying down.
“What?” Jen asked.
“Blackmailing me,” said Tim, “you know the other tinies can’t know about me and Rebecca,”
“You’re worried about them knowing you’re a pet? Trying to save you?” Jen asked,
“I don’t need saving from her, if anything she saved me,” Tim said.
“She caught you, Tim,” Jen said. “You’re her prisoner. Her pet.”
“No, I’m not,” Tim defended himself.
“She lets you do whatever?” Jen asked.
“Well, not anything, I can’t destroy her stuff or anything, but she's not oppressive. I don’t have a curfew or anything like that,” Tim said, looking away from Jen.
“Did you notice how she spoke down to us?” Jen asked. “She called me ‘tiny,’ ‘little one’, ‘cute’, it’s humiliating. Does she not do that to you?” Jen asked.
“I know she seems…condescending, but that's just how she shows she doesn't want to hurt us,” Tim said, “she’ll lighten up on the baby talk when you get more used to her,”
“I’m not planning on getting used to her,” Jen said. “And be honest with yourself, the real reason she talks to us like that is because that's how she probably sees tinies. Cute little animals she gets to own.”
“You don’t know her,” Tim said.
“I know humans,” Jen said, “and humans don’t see us as equals,” Jen said, turning away from Tim.
“You don’t know a thing about humans,” Tim said, covering himself with his blanket. “See you in the morning.” With that, Tim went to sleep. Jen laid down in her bed, staring at the plastic ceiling over them, thinking about the situation Gabby was in, but also about her own situation, in a house where a human knew exactly where she was, a human that could do anything imaginable with her, and she couldn’t stop it. Jen didn’t sleep for a while, she just laid down with a sense of fear, until she eventually drifted off to sleep.
m down.
“Ok, we’ll go to save Gabby tomorrow, and Rebecca won’t come.” Tim said.
“She won’t be involved at all?” Jen asked. Rebecca leaned on the table.
“If you two don’t come back by the day after tomorrow, I’ll go out to look for you, m'kay?” Rebecca said.
“Me and Gabby aren’t coming back here,” Jen said, crossing her arms. Tim sighed.
“Don’t worry, I’ll let you know if they’re ok,” Tim said to Rebecca.
“Thanks Tim,” Rebecca said, “Jen, if you and your sister have any issues finding a new hideout, or anything at all, you’re always welcome to come here, ok little one?” Jen scoffed, turning away from Rebecca’s smiling face.
“You said we’re going tomorrow?” Jen asked Tim.
“Yeah, it’ll be better to get some rest before we go in the morning, especially you.” Tim said.
“Fine, but I’m not sleeping out here with….her…” Jen said, looking at Rebecca from her side, scared.
“I have extra room in my dollhouse, come on, I’ll show it to you.” Tim led Jen into the plastic, tiny sized building. Jen took another look at Rebecca, who waved at her as she entered. Jen shuddered, and closed the plastic door behind her.
Some time later, Tim had moved an extra toy-bed into the room he slept in, and put it next to the bed he usually slept in. Tim had changed into different clothes to sleep in, which was unusual to Jen. Both tinies were laying in their own beds, while Rebecca was elsewhere in the main house.
“Y’know, that was a pretty low thing to do,” Tim said, laying down.
“What?” Jen asked.
“Blackmailing me,” said Tim, “you know the other tinies can’t know about me and Rebecca,”
“You’re worried about them knowing you’re a pet? Trying to save you?” Jen asked,
“I don’t need saving from her, if anything she saved me.” Tim said.
“She caught you, Tim.” Jen said. “You’re her prisoner. Her pet.”
“No, I’m not,” Tim defended himself.
“She lets you do whatever?” Jen asked.
“Well, not anything, I can’t destroy her stuff or anything, but she's not oppressive. I don’t have a curfew or anything like that,” Tim said, looking away from Jen.
“Did you notice how she spoke down to us?” Jen asked. “She called me ‘tiny,’ ‘little one’,‘cute’, it’s humiliating. Does she not do that to you?” Jen asked.
“I know she seems…condescending, but that's just how she shows she doesn't want to hurt us,” Tim said, “she’ll lighten up on the baby talk when you get more used to her,”
“I’m not planning on getting used to her,” Jen said. “And be honest with yourself, the real reason she talks to us like that is because that's how she probably sees tinies. Cute little animals she gets to own.”
“You don’t know her,” Tim said.
“I know humans,” Jen said, “and humans don’t see us as equals,” Jen said, turning away from Tim.
“You don’t know a thing about humans,” Tim said, covering himself with his blanket. “See you in the morning.” With that, Tim went to sleep. Jen laid down in her bed, staring at the plastic ceiling over them, thinking about the situation Gabby was in, but also about her own situation, in a house where a human knew exactly where she was, a human that could do anything imaginable with her, and she couldn’t stop it. Jen didn’t sleep for a while, she just laid down with a sense of fear, until she eventually drifted off to sleep.
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I still didn't make a full drawing of my girl, but all I have are only a few things as I get very nervous to even show game media tied ocs as I keep overthinking of not doing well enough or being called cringe:[
This will be very messy, but I'm trying to kinda summarise her as best as I can, writing full fledged bios is my main skill issue
Gabriella Garland, likes to mostly go by
Gabby, but some people still use Gabriella instead of her preferred way to be addressed
5'1 in height with flat shoes
Kind hearted, at times naive, somewhat childish and is prone to get frightened easily when people scare her enough/make her uncomfortable/restrain her
Doesn't know how to react when people start using cute nicknames to address her(doll, darling and the such), especially when catcalled, might bring her some kinda discomfort aswell
She has never explored early adulthood to know about a lot of things due to how strict grandpa was(often locked her rooms door shut in the evening when she's home or at night, during house arrest she used to climb out of her window when he wasn't home to at least sit in the backyard for a while before he comes back)
Some think of her as a crybaby
Quite flexible physically
Nose tends to leak blood/bleeds occasionally. Sometimes more or less frequently or heavy. Happened to start a while during her time in the facility, doesn't get better as expop. It's possible the lesions found in everyone's scans could potentially be the cause of it
Gets somewhat uncomfortable when it comes touch which it requires her to get used to it mainly stuff like hugs, holding her hand, grabbing her by the shoulder, picking her up and the such when meeting people for the first time, it does stay uncomfortable with expop and primes until she learns that maybe playing along and/or trying to reason/say things that boosts egos(she doesn't realise at first) or to offer comfort could help her in some way to diffuse situations as a survival tactic without really realising some people may take advantage of her kindness just to feel better
Terrified and uncomfortable when people happen to take interest in her looks, very awkward when it comes to not understanding certain things or threats when those involve invasive physical harm etc
She also gets uncomfortable and upset when she happens to get flaunted around as if she's some kinda trophy, she hates that so much, as much as getting stashed away and the such when she was absent from the sleeproom again
Even if she hurts people out of self defense she oddly feels bad for it even though she shouldn't at all, feels absolutely horrible later as expop for being forced to hurt reagents or handing them over to primes so she can avoid punishment
Wears a leg brace(the one on the scouts outfit set ingame) as a reagent, but also later as expop as during her first time in kill the snitch, she almost got her leg broken by Coyle until a sudden fire emergency taking the attention away from her, a reagent she never saw again after this pulling her up to help her leave
During her time as a reagent she's been abducted by prime assets a few times, first being Gooseberry who took interest in how obedient she gets when scared, eventually slowly manipulating the girl into slight loyality
Going as far as locking her into a room, telling her to change into something tidier that happened to be prepared on a chair before she returned, removing the leg brace to make it harder for her to walk stable by herself so she had to depend on Gooseberry to move her around as the contusion wasn't fully healed just yet, until it came to violently brushing the young womans teeth even if she plead Phyllis to stop, only stopping once everything was "clean" comforting her afterwards as if she were a child who just fell and scraped a knee on the hot asphalt
Second being a bride under the name of Matilda Newman who prefers to be called Tilly who she met before as she took the young woman who has somehow escaped Phyllis property during her first abduction despite the difficulties of properly running and walking she still had to use the reagent as her personal dress-up doll, Phyllis of course demanding her back by sending Coyle over to retrieve her, doctors did have to take the former reagent away from Phyllis a while after to send her to the infirmary as the cattle prod stab wound didn't stop bleeding
She still has this as a scar somewhere on her abdominal area later on once it healed up in some way
When Tilly got her the next time, she was handing Gabby over after finding out she knew the new guy in the prime family when she was younger for some contraband goods Barbi somehow got his hands on. She made sure to doll her up just to ensure she's getting what was asked for+ having him leave her specifically alone for a while at least, otherwise the bride probably would've gone physical if he didn't bring or hold promises on what she demanded
It's possible she was a test stone to see if Eastermans family dynamic works out, she has no father, no mother, no one. Best way to test around before the "son" was found, even if a official daughter gets introduced in the future, he'd still keep her in there, especially as expop as Gooseberry does treat some of them as her own children
More background info:
Daughter of a journalist who maybe pissed
off the wrong people, caused him and his
wife to get abducted, the child not being
taken with them as she was at a group
meeting as it happened
Unaware it was actually Murkoff who took them as the father eventually got too dangerously close with his journalist work
Neighbours reporting that something doesn't feel right which resulted in cops checking the place, as the door got kicked open, 10y0 Gabby quickly hid under her bed upstairs as she assumed it was thiefs or the "bad men" who broke in only to have a officer eventually check under said bed, pulling her out and soon after scooping her up as she stubbornly refused to move while starting to panic, flailing legs and arms around as she got carried to the vehicle, almost kicking whoever tried to get her to sit down in the backseat in the face to get to the PD
Later growing up in a abusive household
once her grandpa moved in who was widowed for a while at that point(and turned alcoholic which got worse over the years)as she told them he was the only close family, she barely knew him since her dad made sure he never showed up to her birthdays due to grandpas hateful views towards Gabbys mother being a Polish immigrant
It's possible that if she didn't tell about grandpa, she either would've landed in a orphanage or Murkoff would finish what they started by pretending to be unknown relatives to take her "home"
At age 18(few months later 19) sent to
therapy to get her "corrected" after
sneaking out to attend the senior girl scouts
roundup in Colorado Springs in 59
At age 20 or 21 she gets kicked out of the reagent
program, demoted to expop as punishment
Her father did try to find dirt on Murkoff, but when he took a trip to other states, taking his kid with him once she was old enough, they took a trip to Louisiana since someone told him he might find something of interest
So he dropped his 6yo off at a cookie and calendar sale held by the parents of a child who used to be in her group in Colorado before moving away. Not a while after a to her unknown roughly 12yo boy walked up not from the front, but the nearby alley as if he didn't want to be seen
At first startled, the girl didn't hesitate to ask if he's here to buy something, only to be met with nodding
She noticed quickly why he came from the back, other kids would probably stare at him weird if he came from the front instead
She reassured she won't laugh and asked what kinda cookies he wanted so she can sell those without anyone seeing them both.
Once it was done a while later it was offered to hang out a bit for fun which yes Gabby used to be that stupid to just follow other kids when fun was involved and her dad wasn't around
So she told the stands parents she's on her way back to her dad, but in actuality she's hanging out with a random kid she just met, on the second day she didn't even return to the cookie stand either to hang out again
Making funny faces in shop windows, throwing stones into water, rambling about how cool some cars looked etc
(Ngl I'm actually not used to having fun with art like this😭)
On day 2 evening her father worried sick, searched the entire area for his baby, she did eventually hear her name being called out, quietly exused herself and apologised that she had to leave and ran forward into her dads arms who sounded like he was close to crying as he thought something horrible happened to her, asking where she was the whole time only for her to respond "wanted to see the city myself" without mentioning she wasn't alone
If she told him she was hanging out with kids he didn't know he wouldn't have allowed her to see them due to how nervous he is that people who see him as a threat could potentially do something to his child to hurt him which was his first assumption when he stumbled upon the info that a crime family was residing here, which made him abruptly travel back to Colorado on the 3rd day with too little research against Murkoff. Gabby always assumed Grandma fell or got sick again and that's why they returned
Eventually as she grew older she did forget this memory specifically as most other childhood memories only for it to resurface sometime during her time as a reagent..
But once it returns she'd have a lot of mixed feelings and in some way doesn't want to believe the truth while feeling somewhat uncomfortable over the extreme changes in personality and how she's being perceived in return with either weird remarks, wanting hugs and/or aggressively questioning her etc
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