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neonthewrite · 1 year

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Missing Freedom

Today's prompt, "Melancholy", gave me an idea pretty much the moment I saw the prompt list. Glad to finally get around to it! The inspiration for this came from a Giant!Jacob AU created with the inestimable @borrowedtimeandspace - Be sure to check out their prompts for the month too!

TW for some themes of dehumanization.

~~~

Jacob wasn’t free, though no chains adorned his wrists. He was trapped all the same in the sturdy walls, reinforced with a few layers of metal. His cage had come a long way from the quick construction it had originally been, back when they lured him there with promises of protection and help with the impossible situation he’d found himself in. They added to it all the time, making it more and more efficient for its true purpose. While they worked on whittling away his resistance, they built up his prison at the same time.

And through it all, he’d never been able to seek answers to why he was like this in the first place. No one was all that interested in the why or the how. He was giant, and that was all that drew their interest.

What looked like a warehouse from the outside was really more of a holding cell for him when he wasn’t being marched around his training grounds. Concrete floors, fluorescent lights, and a broad open floor space made for an unwelcoming home on their own. Add to that the catwalks around the upper walls, putting his guards at eye level with him when he sat up, and the whole thing felt oppressive indeed. No one came near him without the usual body armor and gun, the silent, thinly veiled threats of what he’d face if he didn’t comply with orders.

They were soldiers. He was not. But they sure were doing their best to make him one.

No, not even a soldier. He was to be an attack dog, a beast to be broken. They’d even built an automated system to dispense food to him in a container in one corner, a chute that delivered a precisely calculated diet for maintaining his health. His basic needs were met in that building, but little more. Jacob wasn’t even supposed to speak to anyone unless directly addressed, so building a rapport with his guards was out of the question.

Jacob didn’t have any windows in his cell, aside from a few small ones low in the walls, all of them definitely sized for the normal sized folks and their coming and going. He didn’t dare get too close to those little windows, though, lest they decide they need to warn him off with a glancing gunshot. He couldn’t look outside in the idle times they kept him locked up.

It rained a lot in that remote countryside where they had him stashed away. Usually a light drizzle, it drummed a familiar pattern on the roof overhead all the same. He used to be neutral to the sound of rain, back in another life when he’d been normal. Now, he welcomed something to break up the monotony that wasn’t one of his drills or other training sessions.

When he could lie there on the concrete, staring at the ceiling and listening to the rain outside, he let his mind go blank. The melancholy emptiness was better than thinking too hard about the constant exercises they had him doing during the day. It was much better than thinking about the interrogations he’d participated in.

He wasn’t a war machine just yet. But with the right lighting and ambience, he could be put to use scaring someone into talking about all kinds of things, whether he wanted to or not. It started with denying him food; even if he did nothing at all, his stomach growling in the dark was enough for some of them to crack.

Of course, he faced his own consequences if he didn’t at least try to play the part. No matter how much Jacob told them he wasn’t made for it, he couldn’t put on a convincing act to matter how they punished him for it, they kept tossing prisoners in the warehouse with him. From there, he was to figure out ways to prod them into talking. The impossibility of a giant helped him a surprising amount. To those prisoners, he might as well already be the dangerous monster his captors wanted to make of him.

He drummed his fingers where they rested idly on his abdomen. He hadn’t seen a prisoner for an “interrogation” in a few days. That meant he should probably expect another one sometime soon. They weren’t routine, but he’d learned to expect them.

He closed his eyes as the rain picked up outside. He could imagine it, soaking the dismal facilities that had built up around his prison in the months since he’d been captured. Beyond them, the hills and forests would be more vibrant green against the grey backdrop of the sky. It would be an amazing place to hide away from civilization while he figured out what had happened to him.

He imagined it again, one of his recurring daydreams. He wouldn’t be slowed down all that much by the walls, even reinforced as they were. They might scratch him a bit, might resist his strength for a moment or two. But he was a giant. It was hard to imagine something holding him back.

But they had weapons. They could easily find him. Hiding away was a lost cause at his size. And though he was tougher than he was at his normal size, he wasn’t invulnerable. They could and would hurt him if he left.

They couldn’t punish him for just imagining it though. Jacob imagined it a lot, because it was really all he could do. He had yet to become the mindless, dutiful soldier that they hoped for out of him, and he liked to think his daydreams played a large part in that. It would be hard for them to take that away from him.

No, Jacob was far from free. But even if they did eventually put chains on him to keep him in line, they couldn’t put chains on his little daydreams. He could imagine freedom as much as he wanted.

#gtjuly #gtjuly2023 #mywriting #jacob andris #giant!jacob #gt #g/t #giant tiny #tw dehumanization #captive giant

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neonthewrite · 11 months

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Shoot the Breeze

I have another GT July Prompt ready! The next up was "Secret" and I'm not sure why, but I really wanted to return to our little buddy borrower Chase. Takes place directly after Lies Under Duress. Can he actually keep a secret? Let's find out ...

~~~

Chase put a hand over his chest, outwardly mimicking a look of offense. Inwardly, he felt like the motion was necessary to keep his heart from fluttering right out of his ribcage. Even up on the table, even with the human sitting down, he felt so small. He’d been small for so long, but it didn’t hit him quite as hard as when he was forced to compare himself to a human. He hardly believed, in moments like this, that he used to be on the same scale. The disparity had long ago prompted him and Minnie to stop calling themselves human.

They were a world apart now. The living wall before him was proof enough of that.

Against such a foe, Chase’s only weapon was talk. “Sneaking around? You make it sound so, I dunno, nefarious or something. I just wanted an orange, man. You saw how big they are to me, you saying you wouldn’t go for a, a giant orange if you had a shot at one?”

At least the guy was easy to read. His brows knitted in clear bemusement and he even had to fight a smile that tried to come over his face. That meant he wasn’t mad, at least. “Dude, you … you keep avoiding my questions. Why?”

“Well, I don’t wanna answer ‘em,” Chase shot back, for his part letting a grin settle on his face. “If I really wanted to answer a bunch of ‘Oh my god what are you’ and ‘Why do you have my stuff’ questions I’d have let some giant someone catch me sooner.”

He saw on the human’s face that he had given something away. An instant later, the man leaned forward slightly, looking closer at him, appraising something. “So you’ve been doing this a while? Stealing stuff and hiding out right in my apartment?”

Chase shrank back a bit, shoulders inching up to his ears and stomach quivering. “Wh-who said that?” he countered, quieter but trying to keep up his relaxed tone. “You’re making the assumptions anyone would make, that’s all. Not my fault people are predictable. So I tend to avoid … everyone.”

The human’s mouth twisted into a thoughtful frown. Then he leaned back in his chair again. One hand absently drummed at the edge of the table‒Chase felt every tap where he sat‒and the other dragged through his wavy brown hair. “Okay. Okay. We’re off to a weird start, little dude. We can at least agree on that, right?”

Chase’s eyebrows shot up. Did he actually convince the guy of something? “Sure, sure, I mean it’s understandable, right? But I can get out of your way shortly‒”

“Hang on,” the human interrupted, that amusement returning. “You’re not off the hook yet. But I’ll take a step back here. I’m Jacob. Nice to meet you, maybe, if you’ll tell me why you’re sneaking around in my apartment, mister …?”

Chase pursed his lips and didn’t take the bait. “So what’s your secret, Jacob? One of your parents a, what’s it called, a bulldozer? A mountain, maybe?”

Jacob sighed. He was disappointed, but not quite angry, based on the smile that still twitched at the corner of his mouth. Chase was entertaining him, which was probably a good sign. An angry human would be too much to deal with, no matter what few advantages he and Minnie had discovered since shrinking down. Keeping the guy laughing kept Chase out of worse trouble.

The human leaned his chin on his elbow, a casual stance that loomed overhead all the same. “Something like that,” he answered. Chase hadn’t expected him to roll so well with his banter, but it made him like the guy a tiny bit more, despite everything. “Got a long, storied tradition of being mountains in the family. Are you part mouse?”

Chase winced. It was a fair turn. But having his own size pointed out always came with that old sting. “Oh he’s got jokes! Low hanging fruit, dude.”

Jacob shrugged. “You can’t reach anything higher, short stuff, might as well keep things fair, right?”

Chase’s jaw dropped in a stunned grin. “Ha! Okay! You are‒you’re funny, Jacob.” Chase was surprised to find himself really meaning it. In another life, he probably would have been friends with this guy.

“Thanks. I try. But I’m still wondering what you are, little dude. And why you’re really here.”

“Why are any of us here,” Chase shot back, though his following chuckle was a bit more nervous than he wanted. Jacob, still amused, wasn’t budging. He remained looming overhead, calm as could be but putting pressure into the air all the same, and Chase still had no ideas on how to help himself. “I mean. You said it yourself. I’m just. Just a little dude. And I said it myself. I was trying to take an orange. No big secrets there.”

Jacob pondered it, and Chase watched for signs of frustration, or maybe of further amusement on that giant face. The guy had never seemed like the angry type, from what observations Chase had made of him in the past. He might be a reasonable person in most respects. Finding some miniature thief in his home could well test those limits.

“Will you at least tell me a name? I don’t want to just keep calling you ‘little guy’ or whatever else. It’s a little weird.”

“That … is a reasonable ask,” Chase admitted. He also wasn’t sure how long he could stand the nicknames, and Jacob wasn’t demanding anything. What could he possibly glean with just a name? “I’m Chase. And it’s not because I like having things coming after me. So no cat and mouse, Jake.”

That earned a bemused frown, Jacob’s brow knitting and his mouth twisting. “Noted. Don’t think that’d be necessary, seeing as I already caught ya.” He glanced away for a moment, straightening where he sat. “Listen, Chase, I don’t think this talk is over, but I didn’t expect getting a single straight answer would take that much time, and I have some other stuff I need to do today.” His focus returned to Chase and felt like a physical weight. “What are the chances you’ll still be here when I get back?”

“What? If you just leave? Zero, buddy. Are you kidding? Soon as you’re out of sight I’m gonna bounce.” Chase’s heart fluttered again, and he scolded himself inwardly. Would Jacob have believed him if he said he’d wait? Then he could just leave anyway.

“That’s what I thought,” Jacob said, that faint smile returning. His hand approached, prompting Chase to all but leap to his feet again. “C’mere.”

Chase stumbled backwards and came up with a hundred stupid lies, all running rapid fire through his head but none of them sounding like they’d even make Jacob pause and think. He was usually so good at coming up with plans, at getting by just in time.

He was all out of close calls. Jacob’s enormous hand was upon him seconds later, fingers longer than Chase was tall curling behind him, gathering him up in a grip he wouldn’t be able to see out of if Jacob closed his fist entirely. As it was, Chase had a view of the ceiling as he was hoisted all too easily off the table, like he weighed nothing. His few ounces probably didn’t feel like much at all, really. He left the table behind, and the world lurched as Jacob stepped around the furniture towards whatever goal he’d decided on.

“Waitasecond, Jacob,” Chase said, pushing against the palm he was pinned to. “I’m totally ready to talk more. Let’s chat now, about whatever you want. Let’s, what do they say, let’s ‘shoot the breeze’ or whatever.”

Jacob chuckled and it shook his hand with the noise, enough that Chase felt every bit of it. “We’ll shoot the breeze all you want, later. I gotta make an appointment. Won’t be long. You’ll be fine chilling here ‘til I get back.”

Chase, surprisingly, didn’t doubt it. He’d be unharmed, and so far Jacob held him carefully, if securely and almost entirely obscured in a hand. But he’d be trapped. He heard a cabinet open, then close. Then another. Jacob must be looking for something to trap him with.

That sting was back, with the reminder that a simple kitchen tool would be enough to trap him.

His stomach lurched as Jacob turned, maybe towards the kitchen counters. He’d found something. Chase suddenly squirmed, tried to do something to change what was about to happen. He’d been out of his depth since the human came back and found him on the counter. All because he’d wanted to one-up his sister in a made up game that didn’t matter at all now.

He opened his mouth to spout off another protest, some more fast talk to get Jacob to hesitate, keep the human distracted. As he did, the hand lowered again, far too fast and sudden, and the only sound Chase managed was a strangled yelp while his whole body flinched from the falling sensation.

He was set down quickly on the counter top, and there was a shadow looming over him. He threw his hands over his head on instinct. It meant he missed whatever it was settling down on the counter over him, though he felt it hit the surface under his kneeling posture. When he looked up, a metal dome sat over him, pocked with holes in an even pattern all around and letting in dappled light.

A strainer. It left him in a space the size of a decently sized room. He could even stand up if he wanted and probably not reach the top of the dome if he stretched his arms.

The light changed on one side as Jacob leaned in to peer through the holes. Small, disjointed glimpses of his face loomed just outside of Chase’s prison. “Just … wait in there for a while, okay? I won’t be gone that long.”

Chase huffed and slumped in an obvious pout. “Sure, man, I’ll just. I’ll just make myself comfortable. What the god damn hell, it’s almost cozy.”

Jacob retreated again. When he answered, that smile still colored his voice. “You’ll be okay, Chase. It’s only for a little bit.”

Chase had lost his desire to argue. He was barely sure he’d actually had a whole conversation with a human over at the table, without feeling all that much danger. He certainly felt the danger now, trapped under a strainer until whenever Jacob decided to come home. Chase had felt like he might control the conversation if only he said the right words, but it hadn’t worked. He knelt in the dim lighting and listened as Jacob left the room, and eventually, the apartment itself.

“Damn. That really could have gone better.”

#gtjuly #gtjuly2023 #mywriting #chase lisong #jacob andris #borrower!chase #gt #g/t #giant tiny #g/t handheld #trapped #caught #borrowers

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