#giant!kristin

[cyncerity]

i have no self control so i finished it today

here’s chapter 1 out of idfk! I vehemently refuse to plan things in advance beyond just various scenes I want to happen :D

I’m actually super excited for this one and really proud of it so I hope y’all like it as much as I do!

tw: parental neglect ig this is different from what I normally write

“Honestly, Wilbur, house arrest?!” His mother scolded him. Wilbur sighed and dropped his bags at the door, pushing up his glasses to rub his eyes, pointedly looking away from his mom. “I don’t hear from you in years and I suddenly get a random call that says you’re getting dumped at my house because you’ve been put under house arrest??” “I know, I’m sorry mum-“ “Were you just planning to drop off the face of the earth? Would you have just never come back here if you weren’t arrested? What were you arrested for? Why wouldn’t they just drop you off at your house? You’re an adult-“ “That’s pretty simple, I don’t have one.” “Wilbur!!”

Wilbur walked over to the couch and dropped himself on it, head in his hands. He could feel his mother’s eyes on him, staring and trying to take in how much he’d changed. He couldn’t blame her. He’d left when he was 18 to pursue music, and look at where that got him. Homeless, lonely, and arrested, the court ordered anklet digging uncomfortably into his skin at a measly 21 years old. He was a mess. An exhausted, hopeless mess.

He heard quiet footsteps as his mother came to sit next to him, and a warm arm laid over his shoulder. “You know I love you. I don’t care that you were arrested, or why you were, I really don’t. But…why didn’t you come home? I’ll always be here to help you, you know that, right? Did I…did I do something wrong?” “No!” Wilbur quickly said, head still in his hands. “No, you’re a wonderful mother, i’m just a terrible son. I..I don’t know why I didn’t come home, I’m sorry, but it’s not your fault.” His mother sighed and pulled him closer, and he relished in the comfortable silence. It had been so long since he had felt like anyone around him actually cared, and yet his mothers patience and love for him was seemingly endless, even now, even for a horrible fuck up son like him. He didn’t deserve her. If he was being honest with himself, that’s why he didn’t come back home to her when times got tough for him. Why should she have to deal with him? It wasn’t her fault that he turned out a wreck, she did the best she could as a single mother, even putting aside her passions while she put her whole focus into him.

Speaking of that, since he left, she certainly seemed to pick her interests back up, if the messy house was any indication. Or maybe messy wasn’t the right word, maybe so trashed and horder-like that it was hard to believe anyone actually lived here. Wilbur looked up from his hands to fully take in the mess that completely covered the main floor of the house. Walls were covered in taped up drawings of creatures of all kind, floors covered in similar scribbles and notes. There were some cabinets with small observation cases full of taxidermic bugs and what looked to be small…weapons? Saddles?

Well, her collection had definitely grown in the past few years.

“I see your hobby has been going well.” Wilbur said, trying to deflect the situation. Luckily for him, he knew his mother. And if there was anything that could distract her, it was asking her about her odd fascination with all things tiny. “Oh! Yeah, I forgot it’s been a while since you’ve been here. My collection had grown…a fair bit. I haven’t touched your room, though! It’s the same as it’s been, things have just been…messier.” She said, getting up to show him around. He chuckled softly as he watched her make her way around the room, carefully avoiding the piles and piles of documents scattered around the floor. She stopped at a wall of computers, pointing up at them. “I’m close, though. I have cameras set up all over the forest, and I don’t think they’ve noticed them…yet. They’re fast, but I think I have some arguable proof.”

His mother leaned over the keyboard, frantically searching for whatever new clip she had. Wilbur smiled. He couldn’t say he actually believed in any of it, despite what she had taught him growing up. Of course the idea was fun, but the older he got, the harder it was to suspend his disbelief that there may be tiny people living in the forest. How his mom kept that childlike faith in her beliefs despite the lack of proof for years and years he couldn’t know, but he was happy for her. She had something to put her heart into and believe in, and Wilbur had forgotten what that was like after music had proven to be a bust.

He snapped back to the screen as his mom made an excited noise and leaned back to point at the screen. “See! There!” Wilbur looked for a moment before taking a few very careful steps around her findings and towards the screen. It was a blurry freeze frame; one smaller brown and reddish bird, one small brown-ish spec, and a much larger black blur that seemed almost iridescent. A couple of birds and a bug, probably, the finch looking one in the lead and the large black bird and bug close behind. “Mom I’m sorry, but…what evidence am I supposed to be seeing in a bird chase?” “That’s a raven,” she pointed to the black bird, “that bird is most likely a common redpoll, and judging from the wing color and shape that’s probably a bee. But here’s the thing!” She swung back to Wilbur, an excited, manic look in her eye. And people wondered where he got his crazy from. Certainly wasn’t his father, he never knew the bastard. “The bee is out of the Ravens sight, so it isn’t chasing a food source.” She continued. “Ravens don’t go after other bird species, either, and there’s no reason a bee would chase a potential predator. But look here,” she pointed back to the screen and Wilbur leaned closer, the fuzz of the old tv brushing against his face. “you see it?”

Looking where she was pointing, there were a few thin brown straps on the bird, and a small blurry green and slightly yellow blob on its back. The raven had a spot on it where the black wasn’t as iridescent, where it looked like something was wrapped around it. It also had something on it’s back; a greyish blob with more hints of brown and black and also white, weirdly enough. And looking at the bee, it also looked like it was missing a few legs, and was built strangely, along with having something green on it. He looked back to his mom, who looked more proud of herself than he’d seen her be in years. He was sure everything on screen had a logical explanation, but who was he to break his poor mother’s heart?

“That’s great! That’s really, really amazing mom.” He said as she squealed and hugged him. “I knew you would think so!” she leaned back, hands still on his arms as she made eye contact with him and sighed. “Fuck, here I am rambling when you’ve still got settling in to do. Let’s get your bags and head upstairs, yeah? Your old room is waiting for you, and who knows how long it’s been since you slept in a bed, you impossible child.” She said, letting go and grabbing his two measly bags and guitar case. Wilbur rolled his eyes and took his guitar case from her, given that it was the heaviest. “Hey, I’m not impossible, I’m stubborn, and I get that from you, y’know.” He heard his mom mockingly repeat him and scoff from the top of the steps, and he laughed. God, he’d missed her.

~~~

“I swear to fucking god!” Phil yelled, storming his way through his castle, Techno walking quickly behind, struggling to keep pace. “I need him for one thing and he just fucking disappears! It’s a miracle I haven’t strangled that child with my bare hands.” He stopped momentarily to command more guards to triple check Tommy’s room, and Techno finally managed to catch up, panting slightly. “You know this isn’t unlike him, Phil. He likes to do his own thing, wonder where he gets that from.” “I get that he’s too much like me for his own good, but at least I was always able to take account of myself and get my shit done.” Phil responded with venom in his tone. “He’s irresponsible, he’s brash, he’s rude, I don’t know how he ended up like this or what I could have done better for him.” “I’d respond but I’m assuming that was rhetorical…” he muttered under his breath. “What was that, Techno?” “Nothing, your majesty.”

Phil continued his walk and ended up out of the palace, the sky above them turning a dark grey and a low rumble of thunder cracking through the silence. Phil, however, seemed undeterred, ending up by his stable, his trusty crow waiting for him. He pet the bird’s beak gestured to a few more guards. “Get Brian saddled, I’m heading out for a bit.” “Do you really think this is necessary?” “You forget, Techno, Tommy thinks he’s so smart, but I’m his father. He’s the teenager and I’m the adult; I’m always a step ahead.” He said, holding up his necklace. A chunky green emerald swung from a thin leather rope, identical to one that Tommy wore every day. “I thought that was to help Tommy with his magic?” “It is…mostly,” Phil said, dropping the necklace back down to his chest. “It has a lot of magic stored in it, Tommy’s does, too. His is a chip off from mine, after all. In a pinch, though, it can be used to track. As long as Tommy is wearing his, I can get him to me. If I was truly in a desperate situation, I could call Tommy to me right now. But as it stands, that takes far too much of the necklace’s power, and he just needs to learn a lesson about refusing his duties and disobeying his father.” “It’s a magic session, Phil, he practices all the time, it can’t be that much of a deal. Besides, there’s a storm coming, this isn’t a good idea.” “He’s been blowing them off for 2 months,” Phil said, straddling his bird, Brian cooing softly. “And he knows that I’m rarely ever free for them, he needs to take this more seriously if he’s going to lead. Besides, if he’s still not home before the storm starts, that’s all the more reason to find him before he lets himself get hurt.”

“Phil-“ “I’ll be ok, I promise, mate.” Phil said, eyes softening as he leaned down to his right hand man. “I’ve never lied to you before have I?” “…no, sir.” Techno said, defeated. “Have a safe flight, I’ll see you home soon. If you don’t come back with Tommy by nightfall I’m coming to find you myself.” “Relax, I‘ll be fine. I run this goddamn forest, remember?” And with that, Phil was off, Brian taking off like a shot off the stable’s branch.

Techno couldn’t help the sinking feeling in his gut as he watched Phil shrink into the distance.

~~~

Wilbur was settling in as well as he thought he would be. One thing he’d grown to hate in his short amount of time at his old house was his court ordered punishment. Other than the ankle monitor, he had to do “community service.” Of course, the court hadn’t known at the time that there was literally no community to service for miles and miles at his house, and he didn’t have a license anymore (you do donuts on a private frozen lake one time) (ok maybe 6 but that guy was an asshole). So his “community service” consisted of cleaning up the forest; turns out that the one and only road near the forest was a pretty popular spot for passerby’s to toss trash. Most of his afternoons were spent along the side of a mostly undisturbed road that had way more trash that it logically should for how new the road seemed; he doubted anyone other than the jail car he’d been driven down in had been on the road for months.

Still, he donned the eye-sore yellow “hey! i’ve been to jail and i’m serving my sentence to community!” vest and grabbed a beanie and fingerless gloves. It was spring, but under all the overhang of the trees he knew it’d feel cooler than it was, which he accounted for when he put on a yellow flannel sweater and thick slightly dirty and ripped jeans, ones he wouldn’t mind getting dirty since he was going to be kneeling on the dirt. One step onto his porch told him it was also definitely gonna storm, the sky growing dark and that spring-time smell of rain filling his senses. He decided to lace up heavy steel toed and already worn and muddied work boots and threw a thick grey hooded t-shirt on for good measure under the vest in case it (or more like when it) rained. He wished he had better than a simple hood, but he didn’t know where the umbrellas were. He’d love to ask his mother, but she had already head out that morning to double check that her cameras wouldn’t be damaged by the rain.

He hoped she just got out before the storm.

~~~

Phil flew faster as the wind started to pick up and the thunder grew louder. Brian was sturdy, and above all else fast, but Phil knew his bird’s limits. He was getting tired, and Phil wasn’t any closer to Tommy somehow. He wished his stupid crystal could work better, but it was really a game of hot or cold until he got close enough to Tommy that the shard gave him some magic feeling that his son was close by and could lead him from there. It was stupid and time consuming, but he couldn’t risk just calling Tommy to him. Turns out he probably should have listened to Techno; this storm was shaping up to be a big one, and he knew he’d need the extra magic his necklace provided in order to repair whatever damage the rain caused to his forest.

He ended up near the tar strip through the middle of his forest (the damn humans put it there years ago, and though their cursed machines came through the forest sometimes, those instances were few and far between, thankfully)(still, fuck those humans). He may hate it, but it ran through the forest somewhat evenly, so he’d be able to hopefully sense at least what side of it Tommy was on if he just went down the middle.

The storm was getting heavier, but he couldn’t give up now. There was no sign of Tommy. Phil realized at some point that his concern had shifted from “i have to teach him a lesson about wasting my time” to “oh god where is my son is he ok.” He wasn’t surprised though, really. He did truly, really care about his son, even if Tommy didn’t think so. If he had all the time in the world, he’d spend it with him, he would. But he can’t. He’d wanted to be the one to teach Tom to read, to watch his first steps, to see him grow into the young man he was now. But he hadn’t. Tommy had been raised by royal staff who’s names Phil had never cared to know. He’d been there to hear Tommy’s first word, though, but he wished it would have been under better circumstances.

It had been “Tech,” and he’d said it while witnessing one of the most brutal and gut-wrenching arguments he’d ever had with Technoblade, out of the few they’ve fought. He’d learned that Techno was skipping his guard duties in secret to spend time with Tommy. And he’d been outraged, for some reason. He’d burst into a room where Techno was telling a harmless tale to a baby Tommy and screamed at him for neglecting his duty and fooling off instead. Tommy had people to be there for him, and Phil had never cleared Techno to be one of them. Techno argued that Tommy needed someone who cared about him, not just people who were rewarded for giving him food and attention. He needed people who wanted him, and Phil clearly didn’t. It’d stung like a knife to the chest at the time, but he knew where Techno was coming from now.

The fight grew worse and worse for minutes before he’d heard the desperation in Tommy’s infant babble. They were silenced as tears rolled down his chubby infant cheeks when he realized someone who he cared about was so upset, calling out to the only person who’d ever shown him voluntary affection. And it hadn’t been Phil. It wasn’t his father, it was his father’s guard and friend. Even now, though Tommy didn’t associate with Techno as much anymore since he was always with Phil, Tommy loved Techno more than Phil. And Phil would never resent Techno for that. He trusted Techno with his life, and if Tommy had to look up to someone other than Phil, he was glad it was his most trusted confidant, but he couldn’t stop it from hurting.

His kingdom thrived, his people were happy, and his son hated him. It was just a fact of his life, at this point. Even when Phil did his best to reconnect with Tommy when he was younger, when he was finally becoming his own person, it all went downhill. They’d been the closest they’d ever been for those few years, but it all plummeted in one conversation, and Tommy never saw him the same again after that.

All he could hope is that someday, when Tommy is king, he’ll see how hard it is, and know that his dad did his best to keep him safe and happy.

~~~

Wilbur sighed as he pulled his hood farther over his head to keep his glasses from getting wet as rain started down. Yup, he’d been right. Definitely rain. Should’ve worn contacts. Damn, and he’d just started down the road, it’d be hours till he was done for the day. Still, he sighed and picked up packets of chips and broken beer bottles with his cold slippery metal trash-grabber-thing and shoved them into a garbage bag.

Unfortunately, things only got worse the longer he was out there. He’d made it fairly deep into the woods at that point, but the rain pounded onto him like hail and thunder roared around him. He just honest to god wanted to go home and sit with a cup of tea and listen to his mom ramble about whatever new thing she’d seen in woods. But lucky him, his ankle shackle tracked his movements. He was only allowed to be in the house and a little ways into the front or backyard during the day. During his torture hours (that’s what he liked to call his court ordered punishments), he was not allowed to be in the house. Instead, he had to remain on the road and somewhat into the woods for his designated amount of hours or else he’d get a couple of very stern police officers at the front door telling his mother that he was on thin ice and to do what he was ordered to unless he wanted jail time. He did not, thank you very much.

He flinched as lightning struck a tree a ways behind him. Holy shit, this was actually getting pretty bad. Was his mom still out here? Had she gone home when the rain started? God, he hoped so. But all he could do for now was pick shit up and wait it out.

It wouldn’t be that long till he got home.

~~~

Phil panted, barely able to breathe through his panic as he pushed Brian to go faster. Rain started to pound on him, but he didn’t care. He was becoming frenzied. Oh god, where was Tommy? Was he hurt? Was he back at the castle, having heard the thunder and realizing that it was stupid to be out on his own? Brian softly chittered beneath him, but he could barely process it. Phil had to find Tommy. He just had to. He couldn’t leave his little boy out here alone, cold, scared…

Phil yelped as Brian swerved out of his control, landing on a nearby tree branch that only somewhat shielded them from the storm. “Brian, wh-“ He heard a soft coo and only then felt minute quivering beneath him. He reached out a hand and felt his wings, which were shaking badly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, buddy, you’re probably pretty tired, huh…” He said, getting off the crow and petting his head. Brian pressed his head lightly into Phil’s hand as a response, and Phil reached over to his saddle and pulled out some berries and a water pouch, holding them out in front of Brian. He immediately perked up and opened his beak a little bit, enough for Phil to drop the food and pour water in. Brian cooed and nestled down onto the branch a bit more. Phil sighed and sat down next to him; seemed like they wouldn’t be moving for a little while.

They sat in silence for a while, Phil listening to the raid patter violently on the leaves above him while some stray droplets broke through and struck where he sat. He tried to even his breathing and think with a level head, but to no avail. He tapped his foot anxiously with no other way to get his nervous energy out, pulling at some of the leaves on his wrists. If Techno were here, he’d tell him to stop, but as it was, Phil was left to sit with his own thoughts as the storm raged around him.

Until the worst happened.

He wasn’t sure why his mind hadn’t registered the thunder around him. Maybe he’d gotten so used to hearing it in the past few hours, maybe he just didn’t think enough of it to even process it. All he knew after the fact was that it had been so loud it made the forest around him shake and caused a violent thud in his chest, but he hadn’t heard the warning until it was too late.

The clap of lightning around him was deafening, and snapped him out of whatever anxious spell he was in. Brian practically screamed as the trunk and the branch they were sitting broke with a ear crunching snap and heat engulfed him for a moment. He felt petals burn as pain bloomed in him and felt the gust of wind as Brian lifted in the air to avoid being hit or burned, lurching his wings downwards to try and grab Phil. And as much as Phil loved Brian, he was fast, not agile.

No amount of speed could help Phil as Brian’s beak barely missed one of his remaining petals and Phil felt himself free fall towards his forest floor. Those seconds felt like a lifetime, some parts of him knowing that he could save himself if he called onto his magic, some parts reminiscing on would happen to his kingdom, his best friend, his son…

would Tommy miss him?

He closed his eyes as the muddied grass grew closer and closer. He wasn’t sure what he wanted his last thought to be, he wasn’t sure why he was worried about it, all he could do was accept his death, knowing that once he hit the cold ground the earth would reclaim him and he’d become part of the forest he’d worked so hard to lead.

Phil landed hard, but…it didn’t feel like the cold ground he was expecting. It was damp, sure, but…warm. He heard Brian screech, but shockingly heard a different noise in response. He heard a gasp from a voice he’d never heard. It was a woman, he thought, but he couldn’t focus in on anything she said after or what was going on. He was fading out quickly, but he was alive, for now at least. The ground below him moved, the warmth starting to surround him, and the rain stopped hitting him. He should have been more concerned about what was going on, but he couldn’t find it in himself to stay awake anymore.

As he faded out of consciousness, he didn’t notice the lack of the weight that normally hung from his neck.

~~~

Logically, Kristin knew she should have gotten out of the storm before it got this bad. But she’d never really been on logic’s side, why start now?

She had started to run home when the thunder got worse, though.

Her rain boots pounded heavily on the road as she sprinted back to her house. Jeez, she hoped Wilbur’s officers could cut him a break with this one. She’d lived in this forest for over a decade and this was the worst storm she’d seen in a long, long while. Wilbur was never usually one to take instructions too seriously, so she hoped he’d just given up on the minimum hours and fucked off to go home. But she knew he also didn’t want to be in jail in case the officers were as heartless as she was lead to believe, so she couldn’t really be sure.

She practically jumped out of her skin as lightning hit a tree beside her, the leaves immediately starting to burn as bits of the top broke away and fell to the forest floor. It was getting dangerous out here, she needed to go-

And she would have if a bird hadn’t screamed.

God damn her good hearted nature, it was going to get her killed one of these days.

She ran over to the tree in time to see the bird lunging down towards a broken branch, trying to reach out to somethi-

Holy fuck.

Kristin’s eyes widened as she saw something- no, someone- falling, and falling fast. Someone green, though accented with yellow and a couple white petals, though most of what she could assume were longer ones had now been burnt back.

Holy shit, it was one of them.

Kristin ran faster and practically threw herself to the ground to catch them, the little person falling into her hands just in time. Holy shit, it was a little person. Here, in her hands, was a little man. She could barely breathe as she held him closer, taking in every detail she could. They seemed to be around her age, and they looked like a guy, but who knows how their gender roles worked in their role. God, who knew how anything worked! She had so much to ask! She could barely believe it, she’d finally done it! She got one!

She was snapped out of her thoughts as the bird screamed again, frantically flapping its wings and hopping towards her. She at first assumed it had just been hunting the little guy in her hands as a food source, but she then took notice of the green leaf-made saddle on its back. Ah, so the bird belonged to the green guy, it seemed like she’d been right in her hypothesis that the tiny people rode them to get around. It hobbled closer, and her thoughts were cut off as she gasped.

She hadn’t fully realized the damage to the bird; a few of the feathers were damaged on one side, especially on it’s wing, and it’s feet were swollen, probably from the heat. Along with that, it was shaking violently and trying valiantly to get back to its rider.

She cooed as she gently picked it up with one hand, the other still holding the small guy. It tried to fight, but in its exhaustion she guessed that it couldn’t do much. “It’s ok, little birdy, I won’t hurt you,” she cooed, closing her hand around the tiny and holding him against her chest under her coat to keep him dry. He hadn’t made a move, so she could only assume he’d fainted on impact, if he even could faint. To be honest, she wasn’t even sure if he was alive, but the fact that the crow was trying to hard to get back to him gave her hope. “We’re gonna go back to my house and fix you both up.” She slowly stood, and cringed when she realized her entire front was absolutely caked in mud, but she shrugged it off.

After all, an extra load of laundry and a shower were little to pay to see her life’s dedication paid off.

She couldn’t wait to show Wilbur.

~~~

“Phil? I’m home!” Tommy yelled. Walking into the entryway of the palace he lived in, completely drenched. He hadn’t meant to be out this long, he’s just gotten so caught up with his friends that he hasn’t realized time had passed. It was hard to tell when night fell when the entire sky was dark with a storm.

He’d only gone out to help Tubbo deliver some honey, but he and Ranboo had started talking and Tubbo had more deliveries to make so Tommy and Ranboo went to the tree base and invited Tubbo to join them when he was done. Tommy would have loved to stay at Dream’s place, but in case his dad ever found out where he’d been wandering off to he wanted the Bog king to have plausible deniability. He had started showing Ranboo all the stuff Tubbo had given him after trading with boggins, and it had turned into a fun game of “I’ll give a completely batshit description for this and then you’ll tell me what it’s actually for.” One thing looked like a torture device but was used for cutting rougher letter, and another was just a hairbrush, which Ranboo was surprised Tommy had never heard of since bugfolk used them, but hey, Tommy didn’t get out much.

Tubbo came over for a minute but left when the sky grew darker, since he couldn’t fly in the rain and had to get home before the storm. Tommy only went home once the lightning started, and Henry starting chirping, and Tommy could weirdly tell how concerned she was. Him and Ranboo also agreed that the top of a really high tree was not where they wanted to be in a potential lightning storm, so they’d parted ways for the day.

But Tommy hadn’t expected the palace to be empty, practically. Man, was the storm bad enough that the staff had gone home? He wandered his halls for a bit before he heard a voice behind him. “Tommy?” He spun frantically, only to sigh when he saw Technoblade. He dramatically caught his breath and walked over to him. “Whew, you scared the shit outta me, Blade, where’s dadza?” “He’s not with you…?” That made Tommy pause. “Nooo…should he be?” Tommy asked apprehensively, but Techno looked absolutely panicked. “He…he went out looking for you earlier. Like, this morning. You didn’t show up for your lesson with him and he said something about wasting his time and flew off with Brian. They haven’t been back.”

“…what?” His dad had gone out…looking for him? Wasn’t he more concerned about the storm? The forest? Why was Tommy the concern there? His dad rarely gave a flying fuck when he missed their lessons, why did he have to pick today of all days to throw a hissy fit and run after him? “Oh god, ok…how..how do we find him?” “I have no idea.” Techno answered, as blatantly honest as usual, but the stoic look having been replaced with fear. They both stood in silence for a moment before Techno put a hand on Tommy’s shoulder. “Ok, I’m going to go looking for him. You’re gonna stay here and see if you can bring him back.” What? “But how am I-“

Techno reached to the emerald around Tommy’s neck, held by a thin leather strap, the same as his father’s. Pretty much the only tying them to each anymore. “Phil explained earlier that your crystals are connected. He went out looking for you knowing that the necklace would signal him when you were close by. He also said that if need be, there’s some magic property that can call one crystal to the other, since they’re just pieces of each other. He didn’t earlier since it would have taken too much power and he didn’t know how bad the storm would get, but I think we’re to that point. I don’t know shit about magic, but according to him, you should be able to use the crystal to summon him here.”

Tommy stared wide eyes at him for a moment. “I- i don’t know how to do that…I can’t-” “It’s alright, you can do it, I know you can. If if you can’t, I’ll keep looking until I find him. It’ll all be ok.” Techno said, leaning Tommy into a hug. God, this must be serious, Techno was never this emotional. “O-ok, I’ll do my best.” Techno leaned back, smiling at Tommy before clapping him on the shoulders. “You’re a good kid, Tommy. I’ll be back.” He said, walking off. He hoped Techno would be ok. The storm had been getting progressively better little by little, but it was still pretty harsh.

Tommy went up to his room and sat on the floor. Ok, so he was basically trying to learn teleportation, no biggie, just…teleport someone. Yeah, he could do that. He bring Phil back and he’d yell at Tommy for missing another lesson and he’d yell back that it was how he felt when his dad missed his entire childhood and inevitably someone would bring up mom, god forbid, and it’d end with two slammed doors like it had at least three other times that week. Great, he was so looking forward to that.

…why was he doing this again?

Tommy groaned and hit the heel of his hand against his head. His dad may be a bigoted asshole to his two best friends and a shitty father on the best of days, but he didn’t deserve to die in a lightning storm. His heart clenched at the idea that he may be too late, that he’d never see his father again and it would have been his fault since he didn’t go to that stupid magic lecture earlier.

He tried to convince himself that it was only because he didn’t want the weight of his father’s death on his shoulders. That the sore feeling in his chest was annoyance and minor guilt. He didn’t miss his dad, he didn’t care about him at all anymore.

He didn’t.

Tommy breathed in and out deeply, closing his eyes and taking the emerald off his neck, clutching it tightly in his hands. He could feel the magic practically emanating from it, and did his best to find a similar power. His dad said when he needed to do more intense magic, he used the stone to feel out the life force in the forest that needed help. He’d taken Tommy to a cracked tree once and it had taken a while, but he’d managed to ground himself enough that he felt with the tree, and used his and the stones magic to redirect energy into it and heal it. He imagined the sensation would be something like that. If he could feel specific individual forces of nature, he could feel out a magic gemstone. He could do it.

As he started to concentrate more, and as he felt his own forces spread from himself to the walls of his room and his home and the whole forest around him, the stone started to glow.

~~~

Fucking. Finally.

The storm had…somewhat slowed down. Enough that Wilbur wasn’t getting even more soaked on his way home. Though, to be fair, he felt like he would never be dry again, he was soaked to the bone.

He walked down one side of the street under the branches. Since the storm had let up, the sun had come back with a vengeance and he was wearing very thick and warm clothes. He was already drenched, he didn’t want to add sweat to that.

To give himself credit where it was due, though, walking back, the road looked a whole lot cleaner than it had previously. It may not have justified hauling his giant-ass heavy trash bag all the way back to his house, but at least he was doing something.

After what felt like hours of walking back down the road he’d come up from (he knew it was only a few minutes but he’d been picking up trash in a thunderstorm all fucking day he was exhausted) he came upon the tree from earlier that had been struck by lightning. And shit did it look bad. He couldn’t help his curiosity as he stepped closer, observing the damage up close. The top looked like it had been on fire, all burnt and blackened, but even more confusing was the large section of land right in front of where he was standing where the grass had been shoved forward and it was nothing but a slick patch of mud. It looked like the dirt on a baseball field when a catches had to slide across the ground to get the ball.

As his attention was on the ground, though, something flashed in the dim light that shone through the trees. What in the world was that?

Maybe he’d missed a piece of trash, who knows how far into the woods people can chunk things from their car. He leaned down to get a better look at it, and saw that it was shiny and a dark, deep green. Ugh, another piece of a goddamn beer bottle that someone shattered against something. Though, this one didn’t look like the large smooth but sharp edged pieces he’d picked up like a hundred of. Something was odd, so he dropped his grabber and bag to examine it more closely.

None of it was smooth; it looked somehow natural. It was think and rough, but not sharp, not polished and thin and clear like he’d seen. Maybe it could be a rock? It also had a weird brown strap attached to it, each side of the rope having scorch marks on the end. Wilbur guessed that the fire had split the strap holding the stone on. Maybe it had been…a ring? Who uses a thin flimsy leather band as a ring? He also didn’t know who would have been in the forest to lose a ring, other than his mother. Maybe he should bring this home and ask her, and if it’s not hers, can’t hurt to see what the stone is and how much it could be worth. A little extra money never hurt.

As he looked at it more closely, he realized it was greener than he originally thought. It was brighter, almost. Had the sun started hitting it differently? He held it up to a patch of sunlight, and watched in awe as it looked like it almost started to glow. Woah, maybe he could get some serious cash for this thing after all. But as he brought it back down from the light…it was still glowing. Like, actually glowing. And it was getting brighter and brighter.

He confusedly wrapped his hands around it, peeking in to see if it was still somehow just a trick of the light or if it was glowing. He saw a trickle of green light breaking through the cracks in his intertwined fingers, but when he went to peer in closer, something happened. His hand jerked in the exact wrong direction, smacking him clean in the face and right against the left side of his glasses, shoving them hard enough that he heard a crack. Before he could be too confused about that, though, his hands were suddenly yanked forward, enough to trio him off his feet, but…

He was still upright. There wasn’t any weight on his legs, but he was upright. He looked back up to his hands and saw the glow getting brighter and brighter still, to the point it was almost shining through his hands.

His blood turned cold and pure fear flooded his body as he felt himself get lifter up higher. He frantically tried to let go of the stone, putting all his effort into ripping his hands away, but nothing. He felt tears drip down his face, he wasn’t sure when he started crying, but he paid it no mind. It swung him around again, almost slamming him into a tree. He tried to push away but he was like a ragdoll to this thing. It felt like he was in the tornado scene of the Wizard of Oz.

“Help!” He screamed, his muscles starting to get sore from the useless strain of trying to free himself. “Fuck, Help me!” Nothing moved. His hands stayed firmly stuck around the crystal. “Someone!” He started to feel nauseous, and he felt himself shaking from the fear. “Anyone?!” The world around him started to morph as the edges of his visions turned green. “Mom!!” And suddenly he was gone.

~~~

A green flash filled Tommy’s room as he shot up from where he’d been sitting. Holy fuck, he did it. He did it, he actually managed to do it!! He ran to the figure as the magic began to clear only to stop dead in his tracks, his face falling.

Something stood in front of him. Not his father, not even a leafman, but something.

He wore clothes that were somewhat reminiscent of Ranboo’s, but they were more…patterned. It was weird material, and it’s not like Tommy knew many people who actually wore clothes, but he’d never seen anything like it. The man was also a weird color, not green like him or any shade of grey like a boggin. He was tall, taller than Tommy, but still dwarfed under most boggins. Maybe he was a bugfolk? But he looked too squishy. He didn’t have the hard chitin that Tubbo had, his skin looked like it felt more Like Ranboo’s but without the spikes.

His thoughts halted as he noticed that the man hadn’t even seen him yet. He’d taken a second to look around, but he was just staring at the emerald in his hands-

The emerald.

That was his dad’s emerald.

Tommy went to take a step closer, the dead silence in the room broken for just a second by his footstep. The man’s head snapped up and he just as quickly fell over, mouth agape and breathing heavily. It was only then that Tommy realized he was also shaking like a leaf.

They both just stared at each other for a minute, neither making a move. Tommy’s confusion slowly warping to anger and the other creature’s morphing into fear and apprehension.

“Why the fuck do you have that?!”

“What the fuck are you?!”

[i-am-beckyu]

To Fly Once More

HI GUYS!!! LOOK AT ME!!! TWO FICS WITHIN THE SAME WEEK?! HELLO!? So super super short one and definitely not with characters you thought you’d be reading about today so WOOOO FOR SURPRISES! Literally just wanted to write this even if its a bit generic so hope you all enjoy!!!

cw: past trauma, minor gore details (ripped wing), fluff, minor romance, happy endings. She’s just fluff peeps. Just fluff :3

 wc: 1391

Phil hasn't been able to fly for a long time. 

 His wing was badly injured to the point it was beyond repair. Trying to adjust for survival had been the worst experience of his life. As they say:

 A downed bird is a dead bird. 

 But Phil was more than just his avian roots. 

 He'd survive.

 Even if it meant stealing from humans, he'd make it. 

 Humans were terrifying. They were greedy, selfish but above all unpredictable; but when he’d had his wings, the adrenaline rush of living so close to them had been thrilling. While he’d had his wings, he’d flown from his humble forest abode, to the small neighbourhood of Essempi street, watching and getting to know its residents.

 There were these 3 roommates at the east end of Essempi that would always be rough housing whenever given the chance at one end, with a boy who loved to dress in a flourish of rainbow colours and hoodies that hung out with the fiery one a lot next door. Across the street, a man known for his expertise in gambling and iconic blue beanie. He liked to pinch whatever shiny items he could when they did outdoor poker night. Which was funny when they’d get accused for cheating (because they had been, just not with the shinies :)

 At the opposite end, a pink haired girl and a white haired one lived together, their home always emitting heavenly smells of home baked goods. And across the street from them, a man who wore blue and red shades that would often be around stealing taste testing the pies. Phil tried to only ever take what he would need from them, but sometimes he couldn’t help but take a whole cupcake.

 And then of course there was the middle of the street, which homed 3 rather loud occupants and their mother.

 The brunette was the most talented musician he’d ever heard, the pinkette skilled in the art of the sword in a way that he himself would never match with his needle, and the youngest of the 3 was wild blonde child, who's energy and clingy nature made him endearing despite their loudness.

 But his favourite was the mother.

 Hair a dark brown and looked as soft as clouds, dressed in purples that accentuated her warm hazel eyes and a kindness that could rival no other, Phil loved her. Unlike her 3 sons, she was gentle and cared for those around her with such grace. Out of every human on the street of Essempi, Kristen was the only one he would ever feel at ease with. 

 And the only human that knew of his existence.

 While the rest of the street of Essempi were aware of ‘something’ that would take their belongings, Kristen was the only one who knew what it was that had; the human happening to catch a glance at him in her garden one day.

 She’d never chased him, or demanded he show himself, simply talked and offered him a bite to eat before he went on his way. And Phil had accepted the offer. Albeit it from a distance, but Kristen met her little black bird, and Phil his human giant.

 It became routine.

 Every Tuesday, in the mid morning sun, Kristen would go out to her garden with a small plate and set it on one of the lower branches of the tree for Phil to perch. With her 3 boys at school, the two would chat and bask in each other's company, speaking of whatever came to mind. Kristen sharing of her work and boys, and Phil sharing of his day to day life in the forest and around Essempi street.

Or they had, until that fateful day. 

He’d been attacked by a falcon and in his attempt to break free, had his right wing in shred in half, leaving feathers askew, bones exposed and blood gushing as he plummeted down to earth for his demise.

 Somehow he’d managed to survive, his memory from being in the air and between just immense pain was all but a blur, but he had lived.

 But to continue living? How would that be so?

 He came to Essempi Street for supplies and the rush to not get caught, but he lived far off in the forest, through dense foliage and over rivers. And he had nose dived into a ditch, on the outskirts where the forest met the quaint street.

 To journey home in his current state would spell imminent death.

So he took his only option, and moved into the garden of his favourite residents.

 That first week had been agonisingly painful. Adjusting to not only getting around on foot, but coming to the realisation he would never fly again. It had been his whole life, his freedom, and now what was left of his wings was but a heavy reminder of the life he’d led. Getting food became even harder, resulting in him taking far more than he would normally from the humans’ garden just to avoid over exerting energy to get there.

 He was in so much pain, it wouldn’t be long before he either died from the poor job at patching his wing, or from some wild animal getting themselves a free meal. He was sure he was done for.

Until Kristin had found him. 

The human had been worried about him when he’d missed their usual catch up, but figured he may have been busy. That was until she found the small scattered feathers and trails of dried blood a few days later, leading to a hole inside the garden shed where she had inevitably found the small avian, curled up in a sorry excuse for a nest in his broken state.

 She was the one who had taken him into her home and patched him up. 

 She was the one who gave him a new chance at life.

 And she was the one giving him the chance to fly again.

 “Are you sure this will be okay?” He’d asked hesitantly. 

 It had been almost a year since that fateful day and Phil now knew the Crafts through and through. Wilbur, Technoblade and Tommy had been infatuated with the small avian and quickly he and the 3 boys were acting as if they’d known him their whole life. 

 And Kristin? The two had fallen for each other, and their relationship had only blossomed. She was the first human he had ever fully willingly gone to and been touched by. The first he ever allowed to get so close and know about his whole world. A world that had become the entire human womans being. A bond formed of love and trust. Which led to now, an act of kindness that the love of his life had been planning for months.

He was going to fly again.

Though this was his deepest desire, the phantom feeling of talons ripping his wings to have him falling to his doom ached at his back.

 “I’ve been designing this and practicing for months Phil.” Kristen spoke softly. “I promise it will be fine and even if it's not, I’ll be here to catch you.”

 Phil smiled up at the human from where he sat in her cupped hand. Kristen would never let him fall.

 “Are you ready my love?” 

Phil took a deep breath and nodded, a strong conviction in his gaze.

“Let's do this.” 

Kristen slowly maneuvered Phil into the small seat and placed the little harness over himself. Kristen gently placed the carrier down and walked forward and away from Phil holding a thin piece of string.

“Hold on tight.”

As Kristen ran forward, Phil gripped the carrier, eyes squeezed tightly shut, as he felt the whole thing lift up and into the air. Air rushed around him and he could feel the shift as he went up higher and higher.

“YOU DID IT PHIL! YOU DID IT!!” Kristen called from somewhere down below.

Hesitantly, he peaked an eye open before opening both wide in awe. 

 He was high above the ground, clouds almost in reach as he glided across the sky in his carrier kite.

 He laughed, joyful tears beginning to slowly trail down his face as he slowly lifted his arms from the carrier to spread them out wide in delight.

 He was flying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And bada bing bada boom! All done! See? Fluffy!!!

Thanks for reading to the end and I hope you enjoyed! Really liked writing this one and I can’t believe I wrote this at work. Like seriously, I love this job so much already and its only been 3 days!!!

Not sure when the next fic will be out but if you’ve seen my blog, you may have seen the an announcement about a fic on the way. What could it be? Who knows... 👀

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag list: @local-squishmallow  @brick-a-doodle-do @justarandomsloth @veryfunkycheesecake @munchkin1156 @kayla-crazy-stuffs @da3dm @eiscreme135 @orchid-harmony @the-tiny-lurker

Love all my tagged so much 🍭❤️🍭❤️🍭❤️ Don’t want to miss the next story? Comment on the Tag list here

[beansthough]

....tiny drider phil meet big drider mumza (tech, wil, and tommy are same sizes in SC au)

Also i bloody can't wait for an update I'm hanging on the edge of my seat ;)

take your time and drink water!(or liquid)

-Bruce

YES;-;<3

Tiny drider Philza foraging for a good place to make his web When suddenly a bird snatched him up. He struggles and blocks the birds vision so it flys around aimlessly right into a big web. The bird gets stuck, but philza being a spider could crawl away. Cue mumza feeling the vibrations in her web and coming to see phil.

“Well what do we have here?” She gave a soft smirk. All Phil can do is gaze upon her magnificent and beauty. She is lady death after all. “It was not yet your time to call my web home.” Kristin laughed. “But it appears you’ve already evaded it yourself.”

She scooped the small drider up in a gentle hand, her other limbs working to fix her handsome angels clothes.

Phil would only muster out a soft thank you. She laughed soft and angelic once more and pressed a warm gentle kiss to philza’s head. He was then sat on the plush ground only for him to strain his head to gaze upon her beauty one more. She waved goodbye and left to continue on her way. Philza was left stunned as he tried to process meeting death herself.

AHHHH I love Phil and Kristin so much I would do anything for them<3

[colossal-red]

Tubbee in Tubbox

Chapter: One

Tw: Fear, comfort, a pinch of angst, mentioned vore (none happen) WC: 1800-ish

Guys, I can explain. I finished this before chapter three of TinyHunt- sry.

“Look Phil!” Tubbo froze, he was just flying around France when he tried to get some bread and brought it to a fence post. “Yo Wil, it looks a bit like a bee.” Tubbo turned around and looked into the bright blue eyes of a blonde haired human. Who was WAY too close for comfort, Tubbo was far to paralyzed to even think to scream as the teen wrapped his hand around the bee hybrid.

Ranboo meanwhile was watching this whole ordeal from a window of the bakery that was a couple feet away from where Tubbo was, he really should’ve been doing something, but he’s always been to scared of humans. He watched in horror as Tubbo was taken by the teen and shown to an older blonde and a man with dirty brown hair. “Oh my god, what should I do!” Ranboo was on the verge of having a panic attack, but instead ducked into a crack in the wall to hide away.

Tubbo tried in vain to escape the humans grasp, until he was placed into the hands of another blonde who looked considerably older. Tubbo liked this one a bit better, as they were holding him rather gently, for a human. “Tommy, this is a Tiny,” the human explained to the original human who is apparently named Tommy. “You can’t just go pick up wild tinies or any other animals around any where.” Tommy looked a bit annoyed for a moment. “But Dadza, he looks so cool! Can we keep it?”

Tubbo was alarmed by this, he definitely did not want to be taken by some child. He was tempted to fly away in the direction of his and Ranboo’s home, but he didn’t want to endanger Micheal. With any luck, his Beloved would buzz off and leave him, for Michael. While Tubbo was praying for Ranboo to stay away, Phil had succumbed to Tommy’s will and bought a Tiny jar to keep the bee inside. Tubbo attempted to escape, but a brown haired human who Tubbo hadn’t noticed made sure to keep him boxed in so he could only go into the jar.

Ranboo was busy packing away all their shit, he wasn’t about to let Tubbo be taken away. He was instead going to follow at a safe distance and hopefully get Tubbo out. He thought of leaving Micheal, but decided against it. He instead grabbed the pink haired borrower and flew toward where Tubbo was. He got their just in time to see Tubbo get stuck inside a jar.

He had gotten there a bit too late. He made sure to follow the humans from a safe distance and spotted them entering an airport. Oh god, they had really screwed up! Ranboo tried thinking of any possible way to rescue Tubbo for he was deported out of this country. (Tubbo’s species was from the UK so it was technically the truth.)

He eventually settled that there was no way to do so, he decided that he and Michael would sneak onto the plane. It wasn’t that hard, they ended up hiding in one of those little dining carts that was being loaded onto the plane. Once they were inside it took only a moment for the plane to take off. Ranboo settled in for the long ride hiding in a dark corner of the plane bathroom. As he consoled Micheal, he could only hope his platonic husband was doing alright.

Tubbo whilst extremely pissed was fine, safe even. The teen that had originally found him was holding him in his lap and was inspecting him from behind the glass. “Wilbur, this thing is honestly really cute.” The child conveyed to Wilbur. “Really? Well if we are going to keep. it-“ “Him.” Tommy corrected, “Right, him, then what are we going to name him?”

Tommy thought for a minute, drumming his fingers very annoyingly on the lid of the jar. “How about, Bee Boy? Or BB for short?” Wilbur snorted, “What? Would you name your child, oh I don’t know, Big Law if they looked like they’d be a lawyer?” Tommy looked like he was going red. “Well bitch I’d appreciate if you gave a better idea you prick! Besides, I think it’s a lovely name.”

“Well you’d better take care of them Tom,” Phil chimes in from the back, I don’t want to bury them like we did with Clementine.” Tommy grimaced at the thought, he hated whenever they talked about Clementine. “I thought we agreed not to bring up ✨Clementine✨.” Ah ah ah ah.” Phil corrected, we only said that we wouldn’t unless you got another pet.” Tommy DID turn red at that and was properly pissed off, but Dad was right.

Tubbo in the jar sighed, this would be a LONG flight. But after their conversation subsided, Tubbo thought back to Ranboo and Micheal. If his Beloved had any sense, he’d have stayed and forgotten about him, and raised Micheal. But deep down, Tubbo knew that Ranboo would probably try to find him, he’d just have to hope that in this world where humans eating borrowers was normalized that Ranboo wouldn’t get himself killed…

A few hours later…

Ranboo woke up with a thud as the plane landed, Micheal cooed a bit on his lap as the plane stopped. He’d never bee much of a crier. But there wasn’t any time for Ranboo to sit and eat breakfast, he had to hurry if he wanted to find Tubbo. He hurriedly swooped out of the bathroom and attempted to sneak by the crowds of humans. And oh boy, if humans possessed the ability to smell fear then he’d be certain that every human in a 5 mile radius would turn their head his way.

He eventually tracked them down to a taxi cab, he was already beat from the searching, and now he’d have to keep up with a car! It was too much. But he had to keep going on, for Tubbo, and for Micheal. And did he try, oh he tried to keep his eyes on the car, but eventually he lost them he did catch their names thankfully. Philza Minecraft, Tommy Innit Minecraft, and Wilbur Soot Minecraft. Weird names, but names he needed to know. He’d have to do a bit of eavesdropping, but he swears that he will find Tubbo…

Tubbo meanwhile was being bumped and jostled like a toy as the Taxi went down the streets of London, he didn’t enjoy it, but kept his mouth shut. He was lucky that the young one appeared to want to keep him as a pet and not for a snack. Of course, that didn’t make it any less terrifying. He’d spent the last day worrying about Ranboo and Michael and now that he was actually thinking about his situation, he realized that he was essentially a dead bee sitting.

“Don’t worry little Bee Boy,” Tubbo jumped at the voice of Tommy, “You’ll be safe here with us.” He patted the jar, Tubbo didn’t feel all that safe, but he found some solace in the potential of them not devouring him. Eventually the Taxi rolled to a stop at a house. It was a nondescript house, but Tubbo didn’t get much of a chance to admire the exterior, as he was carried inside. “Hello boys!” A woman’s voice rang through the house as the Minecraft’s headed inside. “Kristin, come we have someone to show you.”

They then proceeded to show Bee Boy to Tommy’s mum blah blah blah, and he was getting bored. “Daaad, I’ll go and show BB our new room.” Phil nodded, “Okay, have fun! And please, be careful with that jar-“ but Phil couldn’t finish as Tommy rushed up the stairs, he was excited to show his little friend his room. He got to the top of the stairs and pushed open his door. “Alright Bee Boy, this is our new room!”

Tubbo wasn’t excited to be the pet of a Child, but at least the room was decent. Their was a bunk bed in one corner, in another a desk, in the final corner directly to the right lay a bay window that showed the backyard and a bit of the street. Tommy went ahead and showed him around his room by laying Tubbo on his desk and pointing. He told him about his favorite YouTuber’s (The Sidemen) and all about their best member. (“Vikkstar, Vikkstar, VIKKSTAR!”) There were quite a few posters of him around the room.

He talked about his YouTube channel where he mainly vlogged his life with his family the Minecraft’s and how he also play’d a game that his grandfather made that was called the same name as their last name. He told Tubbo that he’d have to introduce him to his ‘Vlog Nation” as he called the viewers, and Tubbo had to admit, Tommy didn’t seem like that bad of a kid. Who knows, maybe this whole thing could in fact work out in the end…

Ranboo was lurking around in the airport, hoping that he could find anyone who might be taking about the Minecraft family. He eventually, while taking a break in the park, found a little girl watching a video that looked like The Minecraft’s in Paris. He believes that he has found a lead. He distracted the girl with a shiny object he’d found on the floor and took the iPad from her. She’s left it on the bench, and went back to a haphazardly made nest to analyze the video. He would find Tubbo, no matter the cost.

Philza was wondering what Tommy and Bee Boy were doing up there, he had to pray that Tommy wouldn’t do anything stupid. Alongside that he’d have to make sure that everyone who got near BB knew that he was a friend and not a snack. It would be difficult to have a Tiny as a pet, but he and Kristin would make it work. Who knows? It might bring even more views.

Kristin was just happy that Tommy was happy, and she really enjoyed the idea of having another pet around. Even if a lot of people enjoyed eating tinies…

Wilbur had similar feelings to Kristin. He’d punt anyone who would hurt Bee Boy thus making Tommy sad. No matter how much he teased him, he cared about the little gremlin…

Technoblade, was completely unaware of all events happening, he was trying to find a new house to live in after stowing away on a boat from America. Little did he know that maybe he’s find something more than food in England…

—————————————————

Well everyone that was Chapter One of Tubbee in Tubbox. And just to clear it up, Ranboo’s journey will be told a bit more in a Side Story.

Oh and @baka-monarch @eiscreme135 @piplove3000 @funtimemoth @squishys-soft-stories

[x-pair-o-dice-x]

Not sure if you’ve already talked about this Dice, but would you be willing to share how Phil and Kristin meet in By Nature?

Have a cake 🍰

thank you for the cake, mx. red!!! as for your question,,, i!! do not know how they meet quite yet!!!! but let’s find out together!!!!!

hmmm… i’d imagine it would have to be before the village becomes a thing.. maybe when phil is pretty young? let’s say.. young adult, early twenties?

he travels alone, something that is much easier for him to do than any other borrower, since he has wings, and can travel much faster than the average borrower.

he’s alone — not because he wants to be, but because he likes to explore, and he finds that other people just tend to hold him back.

one day, he finds himself near a house — a human house, that is. odd, this place is very far away from any other human buildings — it’s in the middle of a woods, and your can only barely see a trail that leads away from the house, presumably to a main road.

whoever lives here, clearly prefers their privacy.

they also.. don’t seem to be home right now.

and, well.. he is getting pretty sick of just eating various berries throughout the forest. you can only eat so many of the same thing before growing tired of it.

it’s a risky move — phil has absolutely no idea who lives here, or when they’re supposed to be home. for all he knows, they could come home any minute now.

but, well.. when has he ever turned down a challenge?

he ends up breaking in through a window - it was left unlocked, the human probably either forgot to lock it, or didn’t think any humans would try to break in, considering they live in the middle of nowhere.

and, well.. in a way, they were right — no humans were breaking in right now. just him.

so he gets in, and looks around for the kitchen. and as he looks, he ends up taking in the rest of the house.

it was a one story house, that much he could tell just from looking from the outside. it was fairly plain, for the most part — no decorations, just boxes laying around, only a few open.

did the human just move in? he thinks, as he examines the boxes briefly. sure enough, they were labeled, with various boxes dedicated to various things, like bathroom items, or dishes; stuff for the living room, or the bedroom. there was even a box dedicated to garden supplies.

this is perfect. if the human was in the middle of moving in, they wouldn’t notice a few things missing.

finally, he managed to find the kitchen, and made his way to the pantry.

after a moment of struggling, he opened the pantry door, and took a look inside.

it.. was fairly empty, actually. only a few shelves held food, and even then, what was there was just junk food.

guess the human hadn’t been able to go shopping just yet, phil grimaces, looking at his options. well.. there was a thing of crackers that was already open, it seemed. surely, the human wouldn’t miss one cracker?

he takes one out, and flies out of the pantry, landing on a counter.

it was as he was debating whether or not to stay and see if there was anything else he could grab, make his time here more worthwhile; that he hears the sound of something outside.

he hasn’t been around humans much, but he’s been out of the forest a few times to hear them talk about it, know what it’s supposed to be.

a car, he realizes. there’s a car outside.

and.. if there’s a car outside….

the human is back.

shit, he didn’t actually think the human would be back so soon. he- he needs to leave-

all too soon, phil hears the front door open up. fuck, too late to book it to the window. he’s just glad the kitchen is out of direct view from the front. he needs to find somewhere to hide, somewhere the human wouldn’t think to look, at least until he can make his escape.

he flies towards the top of the fridge nearby, and just hopes the human will leave soon enough.

—————————

kristin lets out a sigh of relief when she opens the door to her new home.

finally, that college class was absolutely just sucking the soul out of her. she knows she needs to take those classes if she wants to get into archeology, but by prime if it wasn’t taking a lot out of her.

at least i can just relax, now, she thinks as she heads towards the kitchen. maybe get some snacks, and put on a netflix show on her phone, spend the rest of the day like that.

she should probably work on unpacking a bit more than the bare essentials she has out already, but… that can wait for future kristin.

(future kristin absolutely hates her, but.. that’s just another problem for her to deal with.)

she walks into the kitchen, and opens the pantry door, before frowning at her options.

oh, right, i don’t have a lot in here, she thinks. she lets out a hum, before picking up some crackers.

she makes a mental note to go to the grocery store sometime(just another thing for future kristin to worry about), before turning around, and making her way towards her living room-

before stopping when she notices something on the counter.

her brow furrows, and she steps closer.

is that.. a cracker?

“what the..?” she mumbles under her breath, confused. did.. did she leave a cracker here last time she ate? she… doesn’t remember doing that, but she supposed if she did, she would have remembered to clean it back up.

she shrugs to herself, before picking it up, and eating it. doesn’t seem stale, so.. it’s good enough for her.

as she makes her way towards the living room, she notices that.. the.. the window is open?

well, that’s not supposed to be like that, she thinks, before closing the window.

did.. did she do that? but, no, she definitely doesn’t remember leaving the window open — hell, she doesn’t even remember opening it in the first place.

did someone break in?

oh hell, she really hopes no one broke in — she’s five wrong steps from being a broke college student, she really doesn’t need this right now.

she hurriedly examined all of the boxes she’s yet to unpack, but as she moves through them, she finds… nothing’s missing?

frankly, besides the window and that cracker, everything’s been looking normal since she got home..

did.. did they just stop in to steal a cracker?

..no, that just sounds absurd. she shook her head.

maybe i really did just leave the window open by accident..?

it’s unlikely, but nothing else seems plausible either.

she shrugs, and moves to lay on her couch. she pulls out her phone, adjusts the bag of crackers, and opens up a netflix show.

……..

it’s as she’s halfway through the episode when she hears a loud thunk on her window. she startled, dropping her phone on her lap, nearly doing the same with her crackers, before she sits up and looks at where she heard the noise.

laying right on the floor, presumably having fallen from banging against the window, was a little bird.

kristin jumps from the couch, and immediately runs over to it.

how in the world did a bird get in here? she thinks as she makes her way over. maybe through the open window?

but, as she steps towards it, she looks closer, and…

that’s…… that’s not a bird.

sure, it’s got the wings of one — ones that resemble a crow, she notes — but.. as she looks over it, she realizes… it..

it looks… a lot like a human..

if a human had crow wings, and was tiny — so, so very tiny.

as she stares at it, it seems to finally come out of the daze it was in, after it slammed into the window. it shakes its head, moving to push itself up — before freezing when it sees the shadow looming over it.

for a moment, it doesn’t move, until it.. it slowly looks over its shoulder, and makes eye contact with her.

blue eyes meet dark ones.

they stare at each other for a moment, while kristin takes the- the little bird-person-thing in.

it has blond hair, reaching just above its shoulders. it’s wearing a green cloak, and it’s got talons. sharp ones, at that.

the feathers on its wings, which look black on first viewing, seem iridescent in the light, now. and as she looks closer at its face, she realizes the feathers are also scattered around its cheeks, looking almost like freckles.

and as she takes a closer look at its face, she also realizes that… it.. it looks terrified.

am… am i the reason it looks so frightend? she thinks, eyes widening. oh, she doesn’t like that..

“uh, h..hello?” kristin speaks up, moving to sit down on the floor instead of looming over it. “uhm, hi. i don’t- mean to scare you.”

the- the bird, she guesses she’ll call it for now, doesn’t say anything. she’s not even sure if it can talk. hell, she doesn’t even know if it can understand her.

instead, it just backs away slightly.

“are you hurt?” she tries again, glancing up at the window, “i- i wouldn’t have closed this window if i realized you were in here.”

again, the bird stays silent.

a moment of silence, before suddenly, she moved again. she can hear the bird gasp a bit, shooting itself away, but she ignores it, moving until she’s on one knee, leaning in towards the window.

she pushes it up, until she’s sure it’s been moved high enough, and then pulls away.

kristin finally pushes herself off the floor, trying to pay no mind on how the little bird tenses, before she makes herself walk away, back to the couch.

she spares only one glance back at the little bird, before she picks up her phone and the crackers, and lays back down on the couch. she puts her show back on, and tried to not think about the tiny person in her house.

a few minutes pass, until she sees movement in the corner of her eye, and the bird flies out of her house, out the window.

she waits a bit longer, until she finally allows herself to relax.

in all honesty, kristin.. really wanted to talk to it a bit more. she has no idea what it was, and.. that piqued her curiosity.

but she could also tell that.. it was so.. so scared, so terrified. of her.

she.. she didn’t want that.

so, despite her curiosity.. she let it go.

maybe it’ll come back, she thinks to herself, but she knows, deep down.. it probably won’t.

still, though.. she can hope.

—————————

because it’s been almost two hours since i first got this ask and i don’t wanna write anymore,, i’ll just tell you what happens next.

after a few days, phil decides he wants to go back, against his better judgement.

he knows it might not end well, the human could change their mind, but.. they… they really did seem nice.

so he comes back while the human is gardening, much to the human’s surprise.

and, after a moment of hesitation, he decides to talk back to them.

they introduce each other, and he finds the human’s name is kristin.

and, over time, they get to know each other.

and.. little by little…. they fall a little bit in love with each other as each day passes.

[data-expunged-0]

Spirit Au

Okay so I'm gonna list a few main concepts and lore bits for this au

Spirits are essentially assistant gods/goddesses, helping the actual gods/goddesses do their thing.

For example, Kristin would be the Goddess of Death, and Philza would be the Spirit of Death, Techno would be the God of War while Dream would be the Spirit of War, and so on and so forth.

(also I was going to put a bit where Schlatt was the god of alcohol and Quackity was the spirit of alcohol and that led to me doing copious amounts of research on his dsmp character to see whether or not he had any history of drinking alcohol)

The Gods themselves tend to be Giants, Spirits tend to be Minigiants, and most mortals tend to be about human-sized.

I will take suggestions from asks for this au (mention lil wayne and I will beat you to death with a fish)

[beautifulgiants]

[missarchivistdoodles]

Tommy and the Beanstalk: Chapter 1

(AO3 Link)

Chapter 1: Once Upon A Time

Tommy crouched behind a watering can taller than himself and tried to remember how he'd come to be here, hands clasped over his mouth as his death approached with ground-shaking steps.

He could blame Henry for this whole thing, but it wasn't her fault - not really. She wasn't an old cow, but with what little they had to feed her, it was inevitable that eventually she wouldn't be able to give milk anymore. He'd thought they'd had more time before it happened, still a season more where he could sneak out to the barn and sleep against her soft stomach after another day of hard labor, and listen to her heart beat steadily beneath her white and brown hide. But no, the time had come, and he'd walked into the kitchen with an empty bucket and excuses on his lips.

Dream hadn't been impressed - hadn't been willing to listen. The knight had been sitting at the small kitchen table, pouring over one of his many thick tomes, making notes in the margins of text too cramped and small for Tommy to even imagine reading. His mask had been pushed up, resting on the top of his head so he could squint at the complex runes laid out in a diagram, and he'd barely flicked a glance to the boy as he came in from the barn.

"No milk?" There was no surprise in the question, no shock or horror at the idea of their beloved cow starving. Just acceptance. She'd been giving less and less lately, and Dream had already mentioned selling her a few times in passing, though Tommy always vehemently argued against it. Silently, the boy set the empty pail by the sink, trying to think of a reasonable excuse for the lack of milk.

"Tommy, I asked you a question." Dream's voice was still-water calm, but his actions weren't. He slammed the book shut, and the jars of ink on the table danced, one nearly falling over. The boy did his best to hide a flinch.

"Sorry, sir." He straightened his spine a bit, shoulders pulled back, and folded his hands behind himself. "Henry - I couldn't get any milk. Sir."

Dream sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he sat back in his chair, looking exhausted. "Tommy," he said, his voice weary, "I know you care about the cow, but if it can't make milk, then we can't afford to feed it."

Tommy's shoulders crept up to his ears, and he folded in on himself a bit. "I - I know, but we can't just sell her! She's - she's Henry!" He tried to argue as Dream climbed to his feet. "She's - she's family! We ca-"

The hit shouldn't have been a surprise, but Tommy was so busy defending the cow, he didn't see it coming. Dream had always been able to move quickly, silently - it was what made him so dangerous on the battlefield and during tournaments. The backhand snapped his head to the side, cutting him off mid-word, as Dream loomed over him.

"We do not use that word," the knight reminded him, tone tight and dangerous. Tommy shrunk in on himself, one hand reaching up to cradle his cheek, which was already beginning to turn red. He fixed his gray eyes on the floor and wrapped his other hand around his stomach, making himself as small and unobtrusive as possible, just how Dream liked it. 

"I'm sorry," he whispered, all indignant rage on Henry's behalf gone.

"Why are you sorry?" The knight threaded his fingers through Tommy's hair, gripping it tightly.

"I'm sorry I said - I said the word."

"What word?"

Tommy swallowed, hesitated, and Dream gave his hair a yank. "What word, Tommy?" 

"Family," he whispered.

"And why don't we use that word?"

"Because family always leaves."

The grip on his head loosened, then those fingers were carding through his hair, soothing the pain it had caused. "Families always leave," Dream agreed. "You can't trust them. You can't make attachments." Once more, his golden tangles were caught in a tight grip. "Do you remember why?"

"Attachments make you weak."

"Good." Dream heaved a sigh, as though exhausted from having to hold a conversation with his ward. He released Tommy, taking a step back and folding his arms over his chest. "We can't be weak, Tommy - you can't survive in the world that way. Not with your…handicap. You're better than that, I know you are." 

"I'm sorry," Tommy kept his eyes trained on the ground, not wanting to look his mentor in the eye and see his disappointment.

"I know you are." Another sigh, and the guilt in Tommy's gut began to squirm. He hated disappointing Dream - nothing made him feel worse. Dream stepped past him, to the coat hooks hanging beside the door, and pulled down a lead. "Here. If you leave now, you can reach the market in time to sell Henry to the butcher."

"What?!" Tommy recoiled as the woven rope was held out to him. "But - but-"

"Are you going to butcher it yourself?" Dream demanded, his annoyance returning. "It's a cow, Tommy - it's just food." When he still didn't reach for the rope, the knight's face darkened, and a noticeable edge lined his voice. "Either you take it to market and return with the gold, or I'll make you butcher it yourself." 

He would - Tommy knew he would. Dream wouldn't hesitate, not if he thought it would teach Tommy a lesson. He took the lead in numb fingers, the side of his face throbbing, and nodded as his mentor gave him instructions, including how much he expected Tommy to return with.

Because Tommy would be returning with gold, gold he earned by selling his only friend. As soon as Dream gave him permission, he fled from their small cottage, barely able to stifle his sobs. He couldn't let Dream see his attachment, not if he wanted to make sure Henry's last day was perfect.

~*~

They took the long way to the village. The cottage Dream owned was a few miles from town, on the other side of a small but thick forest. Tommy knew every inch of the woods around the path, including the small clearings full of flowers, and the babbling brook that sometimes held little wiggly minnows that flashed in the sunlight. He made sure to take his time, plodding slowly along Henry, letting her stop to nibble at the daisies that grew along the edge of the dirt path or pause to sniff at the bushes heavy with early-season berries. At one point, when the sun was at its highest, he gently tugged her towards his favorite clearing, leading her carefully through a thick copse of trees to a small, hidden glade. A brook bubbled beneath a large willow tree, and there were wildflowers and clover a plenty. He took the lead off and watched as she trundled about, taking a long drink before discovering a thick carpet of clover near the roots of the willow and setting about eating every one she could find.

He sat near her, slowly munching on the bruised apple Dream had shoved into his hands before he set off towards town. They were still about an hour away, if they didn't stop to sniff the flowers. But he fully intended on letting Henry smell whatever she wanted, so he estimated they'd reach the village by late afternoon. His stomach twisted anxiously, and with a grimace he tossed the apple aside, confident a squirrel or chipmunk would make a good meal of it eventually. 

When he returned home tonight, it would be alone, no gentle lowing or soft hoofsteps accompanying him. By the time he curled up in his small room, Henry would be gone. He would never get to spend time with her again, never seek her out after a nightmare, never brush her soft coat or laugh as she nuzzled him for attention. He could never go to her with bruised ribs and aching scrapes again, seeking comfort after his lessons with Dream. And he would never be able to speak to someone about his handicap, about the weight he carried like an albatross around his neck, about the secret he had to hide lest he endanger not only himself, but Dream and everything they had worked to build. He would be alone in his head again with the secret, with the knowing, with the damned weight on his back growing heavier every time he redid the bandages and had to hide part of himself…

A cool, velvety snout nuzzled the side of his face, pressing against the darkening bruise that was spreading along his cheek. He jerked away, but couldn't help but smile as Henry lowed at him, shoving her face into the crook of his neck, huffing against his pale skin. Wiggling beneath the ticklish touch, Tommy twisted so he could throw his arms around her large neck, pressing their foreheads together. The pair would have been content to stay like that for as long as time allowed, but a branch in the forest at the edge of the clearing cracked, and both of them whipped their heads towards the noise.

A woman was standing there, looking equally startled by the noise. She slowly lifted a booted heel from the branch she'd stepped on, giving them an embarrassed smile. "I'm sorry," her voice was soft and kind, "I didn't mean to startle you two."

Tommy pushed himself to his feet, but kept one arm thrown around Henry's neck. The woman was…odd. She wasn't too tall, and didn't appear too old, but her clothing was dark, and there was a black veil attached to the wide-brimmed hat she was wearing. Flowers and gems were tucked in the band around the hat, and matched the gold stitching along the edges of her dress. Tommy was sure he was taller than her - for a fourteen-year-old, he was a bit of a beanstalk, tall and skinny - but she seemed to fill the whole clearing with her presence, the same way Dream could fill a room. Unlike Dream, however, she radiated…kindness. Softness. Something warm and comforting that had his shoulders dropping from his ears, and his grip around Henry loosening. 

"I'm Kristin," the woman introduced herself, taking a step into the clearing proper. Her skirts brushed over the bobbling wildflowers, which seemed to reach towards her as she moved. "What are your names?"

Tommy didn't hesitate the way he normally would - Dream didn't like him interacting with many others, especially adults. They only needed each other in the world, nobody else. No friends. No family. It was safer that way, easier to keep a secret and stay safe. But here in the clearing, under the gentle gaze of Kristin, he answered. "I'm Tommy," he motioned to himself, then gave the cow a gentle squeeze where he was half-hugging her, "and this is Henry."

"Hello, Tommy." Kristin moved the veil away from her face, throwing the long, sheer fabric back over the hat so she could smile at the pair properly. "Good afternoon, Henry. What are you two doing out in the woods today?"

"We're on our way to the market." Tommy reached up and fiddled with one of Henry's soft, silky ears. The cow whuffed and shoved her large head against his own in a gentle, loving headbutt.

"Oh?" Kristin asked, prompting for more. 

"We can't afford to keep her anymore." He wasn't sure why he blurted the words, the secret. The constant struggle for money was something that set Dream off more than anything else, even Tommy's smart mouth and rude comments. Whatever he won from tournaments, or gathered from his work as a knight for Lord Schlatt, went to fund his studies into enchanting. Tommy was in charge of keeping their small farm running, gathering eggs from the chickens to sell in town or eat for breakfast, and tending to the small vegetable plots in the fields. Sometimes, when there were a few coppers left and Tommy was especially good, Dream let him get some penny candies from the general store in the village. It was beyond rare, but that just made the treat all the better.

"Are you looking to sell her, then?" Kristin had kept moving forward and now stopped only a foot away. Henry made a soft noise and sniffed at the hand the woman offered, frame tensing for just a moment before relaxing. She rested her large snout in the woman's hand with a huff, dark liquid eyes falling half-closed. "Aw, what a sweetheart." 

Tommy gave the woman another quick look up and down. Her clothing was clean and made of what looked like silks and dark-dyed, evenly-woven linen, and her boots were sturdy and clear of dust and mud. She was a well-to-do woman, from a family with money. And she was looking at Henry the same way he did - with affection and care, seeing not a walking side of beef but a wonderful, beautiful friend who was the greatest comfort he knew. 

"She's really sweet," he agreed, patting Henry's head, right between her soft ears, "and smart, too. She never causes any trouble, either - except for that one time with the alfalfa, but we don't talk about that." He gave Kristin his best smile, playful and charming, eyes brightening a bit as hope flickered in his chest. If he could convince this rich woman to buy Henry, there was a good chance she'd live on, even if it was away from him. He tried to widen his eyes a bit, giving his best puppy-dog stare as the woman considered the pair of them.

"Alfalfa, hmm?" Kristin was smiling widely now, cradling Henry's bottom jaw with one hand, the other gently petting her nose. "Are you an alfalfa girl, then? Better than clover, is it?" She leaned forward, looking the cow right in the eye. "I can see it - you may look all sweet and gentle, but there's still a flame in you. A desire to survive. To grow." 

For some reason, the last word made Tommy shudder. The way she said it - grow - like it had a meaning beyond a heifer fattening up for the colder months sent a shiver down his spine. There was power in her words, the same way there was power in her presence. He glanced up and found her staring at him, not at Henry, an odd look in her eyes, though it vanished so quickly he thought he must have imagined it.

"How much?"

"Eh?" Tommy straightened abruptly at the question.

"How much for Henry?" Kristin pulled her gaze back to the cow, gently petting one of her silky ears. "I have a friend who would adore her."

"A - a friend?" That wasn't as ideal as the woman herself keeping Henry, but maybe the friend wouldn't be interested in eating her either? 

"Yes. He likes to take…damaged things in and fix them." She ran the back of her hand against Henry's cheek, cooing when the cow closed her eyes and made a low, happy noise.

Tommy, however, bristled. "She's not damaged," he bit out. "She's perfect the way she is." Kristin paused, going almost unnaturally still, and for a moment he was sure he'd just messed it all up, but after a moment she nodded.

"You're right, I apologize." She gave him that soft, sweet smile again. "I mean he enjoys helping those who need a little extra love, and Henry here would thrive in his care. She would live a long, happy life with him." 

He squinted. "Is he vegan?"

That startled a laugh from her, loud and delicate, like the chiming of bells in clear winter air. "Oh heavens no," she giggled. "He loves a good ham sandwich." He had a feeling he was missing a joke, but didn't ask. "But for a beautiful soul like this? He'd be happy to let her live her life until Lady Death comes. Besides, he owes me a favor."

At the mention of the Lady Death, Goddess of the Afterlife, Tommy had automatically drawn a rough heart shape over his chest with his pointer finger, the symbol of the lady. The motion was so ingrained he didn't notice he'd done it; he also didn't notice the amused tilt to Kristin's brow or the way her eyes flashed gold for just a moment. 

"So, how much are you asking for her?" Much to the cows disappointment, Kristin pulled her hands from Henry's head and rustled about her skirts for a moment, before pulling a small, jingling pouch from her belt.

"Fifty gold." The number felt enormous - it was more than he'd ever held in his hands at once, but it was what Dream had demanded of him. Fifty gold, and don't bother coming home until he has it. Even if that meant he had to stay in town and work odd jobs to make it.

"Oh, she's worth far more than that!" Kristin exclaimed, making a kissy face at the cow. "You're priceless, aren't you darling?" Still, she opened the clinking purse and examined it with a stern eye, before nodding to herself. "I have exactly what she's worth here." She held it out to Tommy.

He was expecting something priceless - a hundred gold, maybe, or even a gem of some kind! Dream would be singing his praises for weeks if he brought home an honest-to-goodness diamond - but when he took the bag and dumped it into an open palm, he was confused, then disappointed. 

Beans.

Five beans. 

Five small lima beans - at least, that's what he thought. Then he tilted his hand, sending them rolling, and the beans went from the usual pale green of a lima to shining with gold and something…more. They sparkled, a thin layer of purple shimmering atop them, and where they touched his skin began to grow warm. He'd seen something like this before, in Dream's study at the cottage. On a piece of armor he owned - a single pauldron made of odd dark metal he'd found in an antiques shop years ago. 

"That's…magic?" 

Kristin, who had taken Henry's lead in hand, nodded, not looking surprised by the question, or that Tommy recognized the shimmering purple sheen. "Yes. Those beans possess a life-changing magic." She leaned forward a bit, pressing a finger beneath Tommy's chin and tilting his head up, drawing his eyes away from the beans to meet her own. They flickered with something gold, something knowing and wise that made him feel calm and protected, but at the same time set his nerves on edge. It made him feel small. "There are big things in store for you, Tommy Innit," she smiled, and before he could move or ask what they were, she was pressing a kiss to his forehead and pulling away. "Don't worry, Henry will be well taken care of. I'll be seeing you soon." Then she was gone, moving swiftly - too swiftly - from the clearing, Henry trotting happily after her. 

Leaving Tommy standing in the middle of the wildflowers, five magic beans in hand, wondering when he'd told her his last name. 

~*~

He'd dilly-dallied enough that Dream wasn't suspicious when he got home, not even expecting that he hadn't reached the town proper, or sold Henry to Punz, the local butcher. The man was in his study, pouring over the same thick tome from breakfast, scribbling in the margins in bright red ink whenever something caught his eye. Tommy lingered at the cracked door for a moment, taking a deep breath to settle his nerves before knocking against the frame. 

"Dream? I'm home."

"Welcome back." Dream didn't sound particularly welcoming, and he didn't look up, just held up his empty hand expectantly. Swallowing down his nerves (which didn't work and just made a weird, lumpy feeling in his throat), Tommy dropped the bag of magic beans into his mentor's hand, grimacing when Dream's arm dipped, as though he'd been expecting more weight. 

After all, fifty gold coins weighed a decent bit, unlike five beans.

Magic beans, he reminded himself, tensing as Dream went unsettlingly still, even his pen scratching to a stop, leaving a large, red blob on the page where it hovered. 

"Tommy." It took every ounce of self-preservation and strength he had (and some he didn't) not to flee at the way Dream said his name. "What is this?"

"Payment. F-for Henry." 

"Tommy." He did flinch this time, and hoped his mentor hadn't noticed. He didn't tolerate weakness.  "Tommy, this is not fifty gold. Where is the money?"

"It's - it's better than gold!" Tommy scrambled to explain. "See, I met this woman on my way to town, in the woods, and she was interested in buying Henry-"

"Tommy." Dream carefully set his pen aside and pushed his chair back, rising to his feet, as the boy kept talking, desperate to explain.

"-and she offered me magic!" The boy gestured wildly to the bag, which was still clutched in Dream's curled fingers. "Five of them! Just look, Dream, I swear - they're gold and they look like that shoulder plate you have, the - the same weird purple sparkle thing! I promise, they're magic! "

The knight paused, eyes narrowing over his freckled cheeks at the words. They rarely discussed his focus of study aloud - after all, magic was taboo, a dangerous thing that had been taken from the world after the war five hundred years ago. Those found studying it, trying to learn about it and how to use it, were often executed without a trial, killed within the walls of their homes or libraries before the buildings were set aflame to remove any trace of the information and send a message to others foolish enough to try the same. Tommy had his secret, his albatross around his neck, but Dream had one too.

Slowly, the knight tugged the drawstring bag open and upended it over his palm. Tommy held his breath, partly in dread that the bag would be empty, it all a fever dream or a ruse, partly because he was excited to see them again, the sparkling gold seed coats and shimmering magic that danced above them. 

Out of the bag fell five small, shriveled beans, dried and dead. 

~*~

All things considered, he was lucky.

Tommy spat blood on the ground, grimacing as the yellow wildflowers were dyed a deep, ugly orange as a result. His lip, split and swollen, wouldn't stop bleeding, no matter how much pressure he put on it. Still, it wasn't his first split lip, and he doubted it would be his last. It wasn't his first bruised rib or black eye or swollen wrist either - just another series in a long list of injuries, all of them justly deserved.

And he'd be damned if he didn't deserve this one.

Dream had been sure to teach him where exactly he'd gone wrong. It was a simple lesson, but one he seemed incapable of learning.

Obey.

His head throbbed, and he paused to lean against a tree, pressing his forehead to the bark in a vain attempt to make the world stop turning. Gods above he was stupid - Dream was right. He was naive and idiotic and nothing more than a rube, falling for a pretty face and a sweet voice that promised more than he could ever hope to achieve.

Magic beans.

What a pile of shit. 

And he'd eaten it all up.

Tommy curled his uninjured hand into a fist and pressed it to his cheek, right where the bruise from that morning had blossomed, creating a dark flower along the side of his face. The pain grounded him, helped him shove his self doubts to the back of his head. He could hate himself later - first he had to figure out where to spend the night.

After educating Tommy on where he'd gone wrong, Dream had given him his punishment: exile. For two weeks. The knight was heading to the capital for a tournament (which, without the money from Henry or her milk, was more important than ever now), and Tommy wasn't allowed within a mile of home while he was gone. The boy hadn't argued - he'd expected Dream to take the cost of the loss from his hide, sure that the knight would finally give up on his incompetent squire and sell him into slavery like he'd threatened so many times before. Instead, he had to spend the weeks in the forest, something he did whenever he had free time anyway. 

Sure, he couldn't go back to the house to get food, and Dream hadn't let him grab anything to take with him, but it was fine. There would be berries to eat in the woods, and if he was lucky some fish in the brook he could catch. That was water and food, and he had trees for shelter. It wasn't winter yet, so he didn't need to worry about freezing to death during the night. He could do this - two weeks would be over before he knew it, and by the time Dream returned with another tournament win under his belt, he'd have forgotten all about Henry and the beans, and Tommy could return home and go back to training to be a squire like nothing had happened. 

The beans. God. Tommy reached into his pocket and pulled out the small velvet bag Dream had thrown at his head in the midst of his lecture, grimacing as they clinked and clattered together. This was all because of the beans. Because of Kristin. He thought he could trust her, but no - no, he put his trust in her, and she'd ruined him. She must have switched the bags when he wasn't looking, leaving him to give Dream a bunch of worthless withered seeds. He snarled to himself, promising that if he ever saw her again, he'd give her a piece of his mind. Crushing the velvet in a fist, he pushed away from the tree and kept going, deeper into the woods. 

Without realizing it, his feet fell along a familiar path, and he emerged in the same glade he had brought Henry to only a few short hours ago. Were they short? Or had they been long, endless, the time he spent wandering the dappled woods with his friend the best he'd spent since his childhood? He couldn't remember. He could remember her dark, liquid eyes, so full of wisdom and care, peering at him as she chewed on the clover, not understanding why they were out and about for the day, but knowing that as long as he was with her there was nothing to fear.

But there was something to fear, wasn't there? His naivety, his stupidity, his inability to think things through, to see what was right in front of his eyes. Kristin - if that was her real name - had been a scammer, a person who preyed on the foolish of the world to make themselves rich. She'd watched him be affectionate with Henry, picked up on his reluctance to continue to the town, and had played him like a fucking fiddle. And he hadn't hesitated - hadn't even asked the most basic questions, like where she was from, or what she did for a living, or how she found five fucking magic beans and why she would just willingly give them up to a kid she didn't know for a skinny cow who couldn't make milk.

Gods above, no wonder Dream had so much trouble teaching him. He really was pathetic. 

He turned his back on the glade, on the half-eaten patch of clover and the browning apple crawling with ants, and headed deeper into the trees, away from the path to the village, away from the cottage and Dream, who'd be preparing for tomorrow's trip to the capital. What sky he could see between the heavy crowns of leaves adorning the trees began to streak with reds and oranges, before darkening towards purple as the sun set. Shadows began creeping from the underbrush just as he reached a small clearing, one not nearly as impressive as the glade, but good enough for the night. 

Tommy limped over to one of the large oaks that surrounded the clearing like soldiers on watch and sunk down between its roots, grimacing as the movement pressed against his back and squished his ribs together. The bandages wrapped around his torso were tight, probably too tight, but he didn't want to unwrap them and risk having someone passing by see something they weren't supposed to, so he left them on. His stomach complained at being empty, and he pressed a hand to his gut, trying to quiet it. He'd find some food in the morning - for now he just wanted to sleep and try to forget his aches and pains. He shuffled and settled down in the space, huffing as something poked at his hip. With a growl, he yanked the bag of beans from his pocket and emptied it into his hand.

To his shock, the beans that fell into his palm were plump and gold, sparkling with that odd purple-silver sheen once again. He picked one up between his fingers and examined it closely. The bean was perfectly smooth, the size and shape of a large lima bean, and warm to the touch. Silver and purple sparks fell from it, vanishing before they landed on his skin. He couldn't believe it.

The woman had given him magical beans that were enchanted specifically to fuck him over.

He growled and, with a flick of his finger, sent the bean spiraling through the air. It landed in the middle of the clearing, disappearing into the grass with a wholly unsatisfying lack of noise. For a minute he entertained the idea of tossing the others, but restrained himself. If the beans were truly magical, he could probably find someone to take them off his hands, hopefully for a decent amount of gold. If he didn't get arrested for being in possession of a magical artifact.

Okay, maybe he wouldn't try to sell them. Still, he dropped the remaining beans back in the pouch, then dropped the pouch to the ground. He'd deal with the stupid 'fuck-over-Tommy' beans in the morning - right now he just wanted to sleep and put this awful day behind him. Drawing his knees up to his chest, he settled between the large roots of the oak, trying to make himself comfortable against the rough bark. It was a fruitless endeavor, and he fell asleep with a knot poking at his shoulder and a root digging into his ankle. 

~*~

Tommy woke to something draped over his legs, keeping away the chill of morning. He shifted a bit, blindly groping for the edge of the blanket, wanting to tug it over his head and block the early sunshine from his eyes. He didn't remember having a blanket on his bed - Dream gave him one for the colder months, but it was mid-summer right now - but he wasn't going to argue against a bit of comfort. Not after how angry Dream had been yesterday. 

He tugged the blanket again and, oddly enough, it tugged back, springing out of his hand and sprinkling him in a fine, cold mist. With a yelp he jolted upright, back and neck sore and protesting from hunching awkwardly against a tree all night, and looked around. Everywhere he could see was - green. Just green. 

Tommy rubbed his eyes, wiping away the remains of sleep, and took another look. The majority of the clearing, which had been nothing but tall grass and wildflowers the night before, was now taken up by what appeared to be a giant green tree trunk, too large for him to wrap his arms around. The 'blanket' he'd been pulling on looked like a leaf, though it was easily large enough to be a bed. Slowly, careful of his sore ribs and throbbing ankle, he pushed himself to his feet and tried to make sense of the plant.

The middle was twisted, several separate trunks spiraling upwards, seeming to vanish into the clouds far above the forest. The leaves - all as large as the first, looking thick and rubbery, some dripping with early-morning dew - sprouted from the trunks, perky and green, healthy. Some small vines curled along them, and at the sight something in his mind clicked.

Beans.

The snap-pea vines in the garden had the same kind of curly-q stems that always emerged before growing a pod. He wasn't staring at a giant tree trunk - he was staring at a giant beanstalk. Pushing the leaf he'd been holding onto earlier aside, he hobbled forward, craning his neck back to try and take in the whole thing. He couldn't see any bean pods - would it have bean pods? If this thing grew from the gold magic bean he'd flicked away earlier, would the pods be gold? Or would they be green? He pressed a hand to the stalk and an odd, shimmery feeling washed over him - the same weird warmth the beans had radiated in his hand, but stronger, all-encompassing.

If there were beans hanging higher, how big would they be? Tommy stretched his arms out to either side, comparing his reach to the leaves around him, and concluded that any beans growing on this stalk would be more than enough to feed him until Dream came back from the tournament. Hell, one pod would probably be enough for a month of food! More than that, it would be enough to sell, to make up the fifty gold he owed Dream and beyond. They could have a fully-stocked larder for the first time in forever! No more scrounging for mushrooms at the forest edge or hoping the chickens laid enough eggs to sell and eat. They would be set for at least a year, if not more!

Backing away, he pushed aside the nearest leaf and squinted up at the stalk. It looked like it went into the clouds, but that was impossible - he always had to fix stakes and lines for the snap-pea vines to cling to. The vine likely ended just past the canopy, where the tree branches blocked his vision, and that's where the beans would be. He'd just have to climb up and shake a few loose! His ribs ached at the idea, and his back groaned, but he wasn't worried - he'd gone much higher, with much worse injuries. Besides, the bandages around his chest would keep his ribs in order. As for his back - well. There was nothing he could do for that.

Wiping his hands off on his shirt, Tommy stretched his fingers and examined the stalk. The twisting, spiraling vines made for plentiful handholds, and within moments he was off the ground, climbing easily around the leaves and curly-q stems that brushed against his shoulders and bounced with his weight. His ankle protested every time he had to put weight on it to shift around another leaf, but he ignored it, keeping his eyes on the prize. Not that he could see the prize - all he could spot as he climbed higher was more leaves, more stalk. 

After ten minutes he paused, straddling a thick leaf stem and resting his front against the stalk, flexing his fingers as he caught his breath. He figured he was halfway to the top by now - he hadn't taken his eyes off the stalk, too busy looking for handholds - and near the crown of the forest. Shaking out his wrists, he glanced down, ready to see the few meters of progress he had made. 

He did not expect to see the tops of the trees nearly twenty feet below him, swaying gently in the morning breeze. Jaw dropped, he stared out at the world, the rippling sea of green that swallowed almost everything he could see. To his left, the forest dropped off to a small valley, where the peaks of the houses could barely be seen. Far, far to his right, he could see where the forest began to thin, giving way to rolling hills. Tucked near the woods was a single, slightly-crooked chimney, where Dream's cottage and small farm was. 

Tommy should not be this high. Clinging to the stalk, he peered down again at the trees, at how the branches surrounded the stalk, brushing against it. He couldn't recall climbing past them, pushing leaves and twigs out of his way as he grappled the stalk to keep his balance. The sun didn't seem any higher than when he'd first started his climb, meaning he hadn't lost track of time and zoned out (as he sometimes did during boring chores and lessons). 

As if sensing his unease, a warmth pulsed against his hand from the stalk, and the nerves in his stomach quelled. Obviously he had been too focused on the end goal to notice a few silly branches in his way. He was Big Man Tommy Innit, some twigs and leaves weren't going to stop him from his adventure up the giant beanstalk! Pulling his gaze away from the trees, he tilted back a bit, trying to see if he was near the top yet. There were no hanging pods in sight, gold or otherwise, so he supposed there was still a ways to go. Pressing his feet firmly against the swirling stalk, he resumed his climb, ignoring the heated pain in his ankle and the protesting throb of his ribs. The magic leaking off the stalk, flowing through his fingers like a warm drink on a cool night, soothed the worst of the pain, urging him every upwards.

When he came back to himself, it was because of the cold. Blinking, he pulled back his hand, staring at the water droplets clinging to it, then looked around. Clouds - though they look more like thick fog this close up - surround him, soaking his shirt and pants and tickling his feet through his tattered shoes. A quick glance down showed the forest, town, and cabin in one view, and then beyond. He could see the large river to the east, and the capital city of Manberg just a speck at its far end. Beyond them, the ocean is a mere thread of silver on the horizon. Looking the other way revealed mountains, more villages and hamlets dotted in valleys and nestled among other forests, all trailing off to a patchwork quilt of farmland.

He hasn't been this high in years, not since before his parents left.

Tommy dug his nails into the stalk at the memory, and sap leaked onto his fingers. Instead of the thin, clear-green that came from his snap peas, the ichor was gold, thick like molten metal, and warm. He almost yanked his hands away - almost overbalanced backwards and threw himself from the stalk to what would inevitably be his death - but a warm, calming pulse slid down his arms, soothing away the shock and calming his heart. 

He had nothing to worry about - nothing to think of, except getting to the top and finding the bean pods. Heights had never bothered him, and the chilly wind and embrace of the clouds was invigorating. His aches and pains were nothing but a faint memory now, the magic dripping from the stalk a balm to his bruises. Once he was at the top - once he reached his goal, had his prize - he could worry about other things. For now, all he had to do was climb. That's what the magic told him.

So he did.

~*~

Awareness snapped back as the sun bathed his face, warm and welcoming, a drastic change from the chill of the towering clouds he'd pulled himself through. He paused, curling his fist around the nearest leaf stem, and tilted his head back to enjoy the warmth. The air felt warmer, too, which was odd - this high, above the clouds, should be freezing. His father had always made him dress warmly when they went anywhere near this high, and that was only for special occasions. Shaking away the thought with another pulse from the stalk, he looked around.

And promptly fell from his perch.

Luckily, the ground was not far - in fact, the ground was only a few feet away, dark soil damp and soft. He landed on his back, which cried in protest, the air knocked from his lungs. The sun continued to shine down cheerfully from the blue sky above, only a few wisps of cloud visible as they scuttled along in the higher winds. He wanted to move - he should, he doesn't know where he is, what dangers could be lurking - but his ribs and ankle both protested the idea, the pain bleeding back into his senses without the magic of the beanstalk to soothe it away. 

Speaking of the beanstalk, it had come to an end. It burst through the earth, as though this was where it had been planted, and hadn't grown to astronomical heights. From his vantage on the ground, he could see the way it twisted upon itself, growing thinner and thinner, until finally it began to bend, the stalks separating into a flare of curly-Q vines.  For a minute, Tommy doubted himself - doubted the ache in his fingers and toes, the chill still clinging to his damp clothes, the memory of staring down at the forest far below as he touched the clouds. But when he slowly pushed himself up and glanced around, he saw nothing familiar - this wasn't the clearing where the stalk originally grew. 

It reminded him of a jungle - he'd seen them before, etched in green ink in picture books and world maps. On either side of the dark dirt path he was sitting on were towering plants, though they seemed oddly separated, the ground cover rather sparse. To his left were bushes with thick, wide leaves that hung close to the ground, thick with veins and curling along the edges. To his right were thin stalks of what almost looked like bamboo, but they split apart just above the dirt and burst into leafy ferns near the top. The roots of some looked oddly orange. Beyond them were more plants - dark purple bushes made of overlapping, frilly leaves, short green trees clustered in the center of large, wavy fronds, and beyond all that were towering trees with thin gold trunks and no branches. The path stretched out to either side, vanishing into the horizon on one end, and at an odd cliff face on the other. 

When nothing jumped out from the jungle, Tommy pushed himself to his feet, rubbing at his ribs as they throbbed in protest. There were a few odd structures he could see - in the distance, partially hidden in the not-bamboo, was what looked like some strange, collapsed tent, alongside a giant metal sled. Farther down the path he'd landed on (which was strangely wide and devoid of wagon tracks and footprints) was a large, metal building with a domed room and an odd chimney curling up from the side. He'd never seen something like it - all the buildings in the village were made of stone and wood, with glass windows if the family had the money. 

Maybe there was a door or something on the other side - it couldn't hurt to take a look, see if there was somebody there who knew where they were, and how he could get home. The dirt didn't crunch beneath his feet - it was damp and loose, and clung to his shoes in crumbling clumps as he walked. Unlike the soil at home, which was mostly dust and rock and required constant watering, this was loamy, perfect gardening soil. If the ground back home was like this, he'd never need to worry about his carrots or potatoes again! Maybe he could bring some home with him - just a couple sacks, enough to cover the vegetables and give them a better chance. 

He was halfway to the house before something moved in the leaves. He jumped, staring at the strange bushes on his left as the leaves shook, then shifted, and a bright red creature marched out. It was the size of a cat and had six legs and a round body, which was a mixture of black, white, and red. There were antennas sticking out above its eyes, waving wildly as it trundled past Tommy without a passing glance. The red shell on its back was split down the middle, each side dotted with a reflection of black spots, and as it brushed past him part of the shell parted and little clear wings buzzed before settling back down. Without a sound it crossed the path, disappearing in the odd almost-bamboo. 

That…was a ladybug. 

Tommy stared at where it had disappeared, trying dazedly to get his brain to restart. That had been a ladybug, an insect that shouldn't have been half as big as his finger nail, but he could have easily picked it up and given it a hug (not that he would). So he had ended up in a jungle that had giant ladybugs. That was, uh, something. Something great! Never let it be said that Tommy wasn't anything but respectful to the ladies! His many, many wives would agree with that. And if the ladies here were bigger than normal, well, good for them. 

Shaking off his shock, he started towards the metal house again, and if he was walking a bit faster than before, well, that was his business. He'd nearly made it, veering slightly off the center of the path to approach the wall, when the ground shook. It was barely a tremble at first, just enough to make him pause before putting his foot down. There was an accompanying sound - a booming thud that seemed to roll through the jungle - and he paused, but nothing emerged from the trees. A moment later the sound repeated, and the ground shook more noticeably. He picked up his pace until he was right next to the building, ignoring the screaming of his ankle as he leaned against it, glancing at the foliage as he tried to pick out where the noise was coming from. 

It repeated again, over and over, growing louder like a fast-approaching storm, and the trembling of the earth grew with it. Tommy flattened himself against the building and moved around it slowly, until the weird bushes were at his back and he could peer down at the path that stretched into the horizon without being spotted. The sound felt like it was almost upon him, and then a shadow fell over the path and the plants, and a mountain stepped into view.

The mountain had two arms, two legs, pink hair, and was at the very least seventy feet tall. Tommy's father had taught him all about estimating heights and distances - it was important for them to understand, to avoid obstacles, so he'd learned and practiced, even after being taken in by Dream. Now, he felt a flicker of regret - maybe if he didn't have a good grasp on space and size, he wouldn't be leaning so heavily against the metal building, trying to keep his trembling legs beneath him as the mountain stepped onto the path, which was just large enough for it to stand without crushing any of the plants.

He (at least Tommy thought it was a he, the boy wasn't about to go up and ask the walking mountain for their pronouns) was looking around at the plants, hands on hips, dressed in a pair of dark trousers tucked into leather boots and a white shirt with flowing sleeves. His hair was a soft pink, tied back from his face and falling over one shoulder in a loose braid. Gold glinted in his floppy pink ears, and more shone from the tusks that curled from his mouth, which was drawn in a relaxed line as he surveyed the land. When the giant turned slightly, Tommy caught sight of a tail, long and thin with a tuft of pink fur on the end, waving slowly behind him. 

There were two reasons what Tommy was seeing was impossible. 

The first was that giants were extinct. They had been for five hundred years, their entire race brought to an end by the famous Jack the Giant Slayer. All of the kingdom knew of Jack - he'd been a young knight-in-training at the time, when the giants had begun to grow too powerful, too dangerous, to coexist with the humans in the kingdom. A war had started, and many humans had been killed by the giants. Then Jack had been gifted a pair of enchanted goggles (everyone argued about whether they had red or blue lenses) and tasked with destroying the giants by the king himself. Jack had set off into the forest with his most trusted warriors and killed the last of the giants. He'd returned alone, his friends and allies killed in the final battle, and at last the land had been safe.

The second was that hybrids were illegal and not to be seen. They had magic, the same kind as giants. At first they'd been accepted with the giants gone, them being the larger threat. Then a botched assassination attempt on the royal family by a group of hybrids had soured that relationship, and the overwhelmingly human population had turned against them. Most left, escaping through the mountains or over the seas to kinder kingdoms that welcomed their magic and odd traits. Some stayed, hiding ears and tails and other features as best they could to remain in their homeland. There were rumors of small villages, communes, of hybrids deep in forests and high atop mountains, who lived openly with their magic, unafraid of the kingdom's hatred towards them. As the generations shifted, less and less hybrids appeared, and eventually almost none were born. Those that remained hid as best they could, never touching their magic, not knowing how to light the spark that laid within them. They were still dangerous, however - still inhuman, still not meant to be among the normal good folk of the kingdom. 

That's what Dream had told him, at least - he could remember the picture books about Jack from when he went to school in the city, but everything he learned about hybrids came from the knight, after he'd taken him in. The giant standing at the end of the path stood in direct contrast to what he'd been taught - a dual contradiction to what Tommy knew was true. 

Giants were extinct, and hybrids weren't to be seen.

Yet there stood a giant, with very obvious piglin hybrid traits on full display.

While Tommy wrestled with his inner turmoil and the trembling of his legs, the giant knelt down and examined the leaves of the odd bushes. He wrapped his large hands (large enough to pick Tommy up, large enough to snatch him, large enough to crush him without a thought) around one bundle of leaves and carefully pulled them up, revealing a large brown lump dangling from the bottom. 

That was a potato.

That was a potato that was bigger than Tommy.

Tommy dug his nails into the side of the metal building (not a building, he glanced up at the chimney - the spout, it was a goddamned watering can), trying to keep himself upright. He'd never, in all his fourteen years, thought he'd be in this situation. Not outside of playing pretend with Tubbo, not outside of his own imagination.

The giant examined the potato, brushing away the dirt that clung to it, before nodding to himself and setting it aside. He dusted his hands off on his trousers and glanced around the garden (a garden, not a jungle - neat rows of plants growing eagerly beneath the summer sun in the rich soil, thriving beneath the giants' care), inspecting them all with a critical crimson eye. His gaze swept over the path and he paused. Tommy's heart leapt into his throat - had he been seen? The giant was standing now, and Tommy flattened himself against the watering can, praying that the hybrid's ears couldn't pick up on his racing heart or stuttering breath. 

Lady Death must have been watching out for him, because the giant passed without even glancing at the watering can. He cast a shadow over the path as he stomped by, steps shaking the ground enough that Tommy sunk to his knees, still leaning against the can to keep from landing on his ass. The giant stopped by the beanstalk, bending over to examine it, and the human felt his stomach fall in a sick swoop - the plant barely reached the giant's knee. 

Said giant didn't seem very pleased to see a stalk he hadn't planted growing strong and healthy from the soil. He humphed and muttered something to himself, sliding one of the leaves between his fingers and giving it a tug. A bit louder, he grunted, "Why is one of her plants here?" Another tug at the leaf and it slipped between his fingers, the whole plant snapping back before swaying into place. He ran a large hand down his face, before growling and wrapping a fist around the stalk, squishing the leaves in his way. An odd glow surrounded his fingers, a strange thrum lit the air, and in seconds the plant withered, all life drained from it, leaving only a decayed brown stem and some dried, crinkled leaves behind.

Tommy couldn't breathe.

Not only had the giant - the hybrid giant - just destroyed his only hope of returning home (probably), he'd done so with magic. Magic he'd used as easily as breathing, without an incantation or spell circle or potion. Magic that was dangerous, that was deadly. Magic that had been stamped out in the kingdom for the safety of everyone, magic that he had no defense against, magic that made something within him flicker and wake for the first time in seven years, magic that worked, unlike Dream's. 

He pressed a curled fist to his chest, trying to drag a breath into his lungs, which felt like shriveled grapes on a sun-scorched vine. They fought against the air, and he wheezed, faintly recognizing that he was panicking but unsure of how to calm down. His usual counting breaths tactic didn't seem like enough with the enormity of the situation. He shuffled back, pushing his heels against the dirt so he was better hidden around the curve of the watering can, out of sight of the giant, and grabbed his hair, tugging harshly on it. The pain was grounding, somewhat, snapping him out of the overwhelming fear. It was still there - still crawling up his throat, still cramping his empty stomach and making him nauseous, but he was able to drag in a strangled breath, and with one breath came a second, and then a third, all loud and gasping like a dry docked fish but there nonetheless. 

The giant shifted, ground trembling beneath his boots, and made a curious sound - like a 'heh?' only far too loud. Tommy pressed himself closer to the watering can, as though he could meld with the metal and vanish from sight if only he got close enough. The giant's shadow grew longer as he stood, enveloping the can and Tommy, and the ground began to quake as he stepped closer. 

Oh god, this was it. Even if he wanted to run, to try and disappear in the foliage of the potato greens ahead of him, his ankle wouldn't hold him up. His ribs were screaming in protest at his breathing, as shallow as it was, and the world was tilting a bit with the lack of oxygen. The giant would find him, no doubt, and he'd be easy pickings. Fee-fi-fuck-him, there was nothing he could do against a giant piglin hybrid that could use magic.

"Techno!"

The shout - loud enough to rattle his eardrums - startled Tommy, the back of his head crashing against the watering can as he jerked at the sudden noise. He whipped his head to the other side of the path, the one that stretched out into nothing instead of ending at a cliff (a fence, now that he could place it - a wooden plank fence that seemed to surround all of the garden but the entrance, bleached gray-white by the years in the sun). Another giant had appeared, this one blonde and wearing a stupid-looking bucket hat, and a black shirt beneath robes of gold-trimmed green. There was some weird backpack or cloak peeking over his shoulders. He had a wide smile on his scruffy face, blue eyes sparkling as he pushed his hat back and hailed the other giant.

"Phil." Giant number one - Techno, apparently? - greeted with a grunt. "There a reason your wife is growing plants in my garden again?" 

The shadow moved past his hiding spot, and Tommy watched as feet large as wagons passed him by, heading down the path to greet giant number two - Phil. What kind of terrifying giant name was Phil? Techno he could get behind - there was something sinister about the harsh sound that came in the middle, the ch, the te-CH-no. Tech-no. No. No mercy. But Phil? That was all rounded corners and soft curves, and the man looked it, too. He was shorter than Techno by a bit - Tommy squinted and remembered his fathers lessons on estimating, and figured he must be about sixty feet, maybe sixty-one. The odd outfit covered most of his frame, but his fingers were thin and delicate, his cheekbones defined. Compared to the absolute brute that was the piglin hybrid, he looked like a stick. 

Phil grinned, reaching up to pull off his hat so he could run a hand through his tangle of blonde hair. The white feathers that framed his face in place of ears fluffed up as they were freed from his horrible choice of headwear, flicking before he soothed them down. The not-a-cloak shifted, then stretched out into a truly impressive pair of large wings, the feathers a deep blue-gray, striped with thin lines of white and black. The avian hybrid - and why not, why not two giant hybrids, honestly how could it make this whole situation any worse? - shook out his feathers, then let his wings rest half-folded against his back, a relaxed pose that Tommy had once seen often on his own father.

His back strained, atrophied muscles stretching in a vain attempt to mimic what he had seen, and Tommy had to bite back a jealous warble at the sight. He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the rough bandages beneath the worn fabric of his shirt, reminding himself that he couldn't stretch his wings, that he hadn't been able to for a long time. The giants spoke as he battled his instincts, oblivious to the mental war happening among their potatoes.

"Phil, why do you look guilty?" 

"Mate, it's not what you think!"

"And what do I think?"

"Well it's nothing bad, I swear. It's a gift!"

"...a gift."

"From my wife. Y'know, the La-"

"I know who your wife is, Phil."

"Yeah, well, she just popped by an hour or so ago and dropped her off for you."

Techno shuffled, kicking up dirt with his heels, nearly crushing a beetle that was trundling by without a thought. The beetle seemed unbothered, but the sharp movement rattled Tommy enough that he jumped, pulling himself to his feet so he was in a better position for proper fight or flight. Shaking off his instincts, shoving them back down into the well Dream had helped him build and locking them away, he refocused on the giants and their conversation. The two seemed completely oblivious to him, so he dared to edge forward a bit, still pressed against the watering can but able to see more of the pair.

Phil was holding a rope, leading to something just out of sight behind the fenceline. Techno was leaning against said fence, staring at the avian with a truly impressive flat expression. Tommy was pretty sure he'd seen more emotion in Dream's mask. 

"Your wife stole you a cow as a gift? What anniversary is that?"

The avian sighed, a full-body affair - he rolled his eyes heavenwards and slumped his shoulders, wings ruffling with annoyance. Tommy's dad had done the same thing when he asked too many questions, or interrupted boring adult conversations. The familiar movement made him feel - fond, oddly, of the giant, though he quickly shoved the very idea into his well of feelings-we-don't-think-about alongside his instincts. What a stupid idea, feeling fond of a giant!

"The fourth," Phil's deadpan wasn't nearly as good as Techno's, but he gave it his best shot, "but it only counts if the cow jumped over the moon first." The piglin's mouth twitched at the corner, and he leaned back, still looking skeptical. "But it's not our anniversary," the avian gently tugged on the rope, pulling what was apparently a cow closer, "and Kristin bought her for you." 

Said cow clomped into sight, large head hovering at Phil's shoulder, and blinked her large, liquid eyes as she took in Techno. The piglin huffed, but raised a hand and rested it between her ears, giving her a gentle pat. She lowed, sniffing at his arm curiously, tilting her head to the side so Tommy could see the scar lining the side of her cheek, ending just beneath her left eye.

Tommy knew that scar.

He'd been there when it happened.

He could still remember the smell of blood mixed with stale hay, the dripping of the wound as Henry cried in pain, the stern expression on Dream's face as he pulled the knife back.

Standing between the two giants, now towering a near-unfathomable height herself, was Henry.

Huge thanks to Moonstone for beta-ing for me! So this started out as a crack idea and then the worldbuilding got away from me so...have some lore-heavy Dream SMP in Mother Goose Land! I already have ideas for a couple other stories (Wilbur and the Three Bears and Rapunzel starring Technoblade). I hope you enjoyed, if you did please PLEASE leave a comment! Even just an 'I like this write more!' really helps me stay motivated!

Cheers, all you lovely, lovely peeps!

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

LOST IN EMPTINESS feat. Liv Kristine ► TALES OF A SLEEPING GIANT (Official Video)

[ratgrinders]

The rat grinders' first order of devil's nectar being immediately after spring break, right after Kristin very publicly broadcasted the bad kids' defeat of the nightmare king and resurrection of Cassandra?

the original purpose of devil's honey being used to lie in prayer?

that DEFINITELY seems to me like the rat grinders were inspired by Kristin to bring back the dead god, and were going to lie about praying/believing in Ankarna to do so.

And with the rat grinders spending all this time at the mountains of chaos on their adventures (at least, before deciding to go grind rats in the woods), that definitely provides the means for the rat grinders to have found out about Ankarna in the first place, as it is the ancestral land of the giant gods.

(this is becoming more and more likely to me)

[nightoffdiary]

Putting on my “Religions” and “History” proficiencies in real life to use

I have a huge feeling that the Bobby Dawn is a direct descendant of the people who were responsible for translating Ankarna’s story from Giant to Common, much like there were translations of the Bible from Latin to English by individuals.

However, translation from one language to another is very rarely a 1:1 ratio.

In Hawaiian (I’m a second language learner), one word can encompass multiple meanings. A first-language speaker and listener would be able to discern which context to use which meaning. The cooler thing though, is that there is meaning in using a word and allowing ALL meanings to matter as well.

When when Portuguese and English settlers began translating Hawaiian language into English for their own records (which, fun fact, Hawaiian was entirely oral so P/E settlers had even less clue of mechanics), they did similar things.

The way Bobby Dawn acts is right on par with the dozens of religious figures of monotheistic religions (remember his pause before “deities”).

Most monotheistic religions despise polytheistic religions, and when translating, they tend to also try to translate the actual written words to be replicate their goal to eliminate polytheistic religions because while polytheistic religions can survive the entering of a new god to the pantheon, a monotheistic religion is rocked to its core and can not logically survive.

In Hawaiian, with the influence of Christianity and Catholicism, LDS— the word “nā akua” (nā = plural the, akua = divine beings) was almost always translated to Ke Akua— THE god.

Followership influences the domain of the gods. If the people of the church of Sol caught wind that their deity had participated in the wedding of Cassandra and Ankarna, it would mean Sol is NOT the only god.

It only takes one follower to change the narrative, to choose power, to rewrite the narrative. And maybe, like Hawaiians, Giants were seen stereotypically as either brutes or hedonist crazy people for having different domains and complex god systems BEYOND one-god-one-son type religions.

It seems power is huge here and no one else can coexist, like how extremists of monotheistic religions can be.

Lucy represents a giant who honored a domain so kind, but maybe her own reaching into her goddess’ powers were helping to awake the REAL Ankarna story.

Kristin being in a polytheistic world where it focuses on the interconnection of parts in order to balance and keep each other in check. Cassandra is seeking her connection to Ankarna again, to need the conviction to doubt, wouldn’t destroy Sol at all— but reveal the INSTITUTION of Sol/Helio’s followers that committed a harm a long time ago for a human grab at power over others.

Kristin I believe WILL bring her family with her, but wishes, like many, that they could all coexist and see the goal is balance and not one story that triumphs all.

[masu483-cubitos]

"Philza, Missa and the Goddess of Death are a happy family and love eachother very much" well fuck that what if there's beef between them.

What if the reason qMissa is so weak is because Kristin cursed him?

Missa used to be a oh mighty evil villain but Kristin got tired of his shit and took his powers and memories as punishment. She threw him back into the world to live as a pathetic wet cat but he ended up meeting qPhil and now they are together.

Kristin is beyond furious ofc but Phil is so happy with his new husband and technically Missa is a new person now so she just. has to live with that.

Missa doesn't know the giant scary lady dressed with the colors of the void that torment him in his dreams and Phil's Goddess are the same person. He also doesn't know the reason he feels so weak and pathetic is because deep down he's aware he used to be strong and powerful but he has lost it all. But life isn't so bad! Phil is with him and he's very handsome <3

and Phil? well he's bisexual. Try to tell him that tho.

[colossal-red]

Alright spill. I’m your new au just a normal life: I mean obviously it’s a small civilisation being watched over by spectators so what’s the deal? Are they like an experiment now or like a zoo kind of deal experience? PLEASE JUST RAMBLE ABOUT EVERYTHING

:)

*Typing noises intensify*

So, first off History Lesson: Long ago, humans discovered the existence of borrowers, and they did the classic human thing of treating them like pests and or food. But, come a little while later, the borrower species came to be Endangered, so a Scientist going by Doctor Soot, proposed taking the remaining borrowers, and keeping them in enclosures to examine their behavior and keep the species alive. Over time, the borrowers forgot about the existence of humans, and thanks to Genetically-modifying plants, they were convinced that they were in fact normal size. Because humans made miniature trees that actually functioned as trees, a variety of flowers, and domesticated spiders. The way the borrowers completely forgot about the existence of humans, was because eventually all the Elders passed away mysteriously, leaving only one Elder still alive, Philza Minecraft. He’s not technically an Elder tho, he was just a baby when the walls went up, and is the only person in the village of L’Manburg who was alive back then. Nowadays, humans are only known about in old Fairy Tales. The humans mostly leave them alone, occasionally coming by and dropping off food. To the borrowers, it seems as if it magically appeared, and they eventually built a Church near the drop-off place and due to some old notes they found, they call this God, Soot. And that’s about it for History Lesson. Oh wait, one more thing, Doctor Soot isn’t actually Wil, it’s his grandfather.

Now then, who is our main-cast?

Tommy Innit Minecraft, the son of Philza, he is Wilbur Soot’s personal favorite Borrower to watch.

Tubbo Schlatt, son of Jay Schlatt, he usually just does his own thing and hangs out with Tommy.

Philza Minecraft, the oldest man in the colony, accidentally spotted a human and was scared out of his mind, but now they talk all the time.

Ranboo, last name unknown, he is a human who somehow got into a borrower exclusive Discord Server, but he doesn’t know it yet, as far as he’s concerned, he’s talking to humans.

Wilbur Soot, the head-scientist, he takes care of the L’Manburg colony, and observes quietly.

Technoblade, close friend of Wil’s who usually vibes at his apartment.

Kristin, a fellow scientist who helps Wil out with the L’Manburg colony. But, she was spotted by a certain Old Man and now comes by to talk to him as much as possible-

Last thing, next chapter is gonna be interesting, because Tommy and Tubbo are gonna try to get out, now what will their reactions be when they see just how small they actually are? :)

[nomsfaultau]

Every time I see giant goddess Kristin this is all I can think

[fallingdown98]

FHJY Called Shot

Mostly making this post so if this is right i can say I called it. Obviously, thanks to the preview we know that the Bad Kids are gonna have to do the "Last Stand" exam. I'm aware that on a meta level, this was always going to happen because of how production works but I think this may also relate to some of the Teachers being in on the conspiracy w/ the RatGrinders + Ankarna. In on the conspiracy in this case, does not necessarily mean bad guy though because I have an inkling based on absolutely nothing that this conflict may involve more than just one conspiring group. Might even be willing to think the teachers may be the ones putting the RG up to the shit theyve been doing. Specifics under the read more because i have a lot of thoughts. Listed in most sus to least sus but worth noting

Porter - First to mention the Last Stand, Warhammer = Akarna’s Scales theory, Rage, his Giant lineage (Through Earth Genasi), Ancestral Paladin relates to prior point, Steering Fig away from Cass, “Barbarian” healed Ragh post prom before he was able to see Kalina (Also, didn’t use Lay on Hands which we now know he would have had access to), Paired with Jace Stardiamond (AKA another sus mf), unsurprised at the carnage on the first day of Freshman year

Jace - Current VP so has power even if he keeps claiming he doesn’t want it, Seen most w/ Porter (See above), Ragh saw him talking to Arianwen (And Kalina) post prom (Aka I think Spy’s tongue curse will lead to this), first to inspect the hellmouth magic FY and recognized both the divine and Nightmare King stuff, Yolanda specifically said she would go to Jace over Grix with the Lucy Info, Speculation: Divine Soul Sorcerer, Of Note: Would have had most contact with FY Villain Penelope Everpetal as she was also a sorc, Also also I DO NOT trust the fact that he put Riz on the faculty we still need to check those school Bylaws

Henry HopClap - Not on OG FY Faculty Roster, Grix’s hard drive, His connection with Ruben, Could have encouraged Gorgug w/ the intention/assumption he’d fail and thus would have to take The Last Stand, Frosty Faire Fest had some clearly evil artificing with the wires thing and would have the most knowledge in this regard

Zara Sool - Also not on OG FY Faculty Roster, Showed up at Mordred during Baron’s Game (I know they said in AP that it was a riff on Horror Movie Monsters but she was still the only one without a direct connection to the Manor), Lover of Celestial (Could be either pro or anti Ankarna), Also seen with Sus Porter, Agreed w/ Porter against Cass

Rogue Teacher - Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one, Maybe the Rogue teacher has put KLCK up to some amount of her plot or assisted in some way leading to Teach finding Student rather than Vice-Versa. 

Bobby Dawn - This mf is last just cuz we already know he’s up to some shady shit and I can’t wait for the Bad Kids to murder his pompous ass, Probably the one to expel Kristin which gives him both satisfaction but also leads to Last Stand

TLDR: I think there’s a conspiracy within the Faculty and that it’s possible Porter, Jace, Henry, Zara, and/or the Rogue Teacher are all working together. If they are pressuring the RatGrinders, that would give added motivation to fuck over the Bad Kids for a good grade. Also think something catastrophic will happen at the Last Stand and that it was part of the plan since day 1 (Im aware on a meta scale this may just be me overthinking and we just needed to give a reason to use the cool battleset)

[valelvjy]

I fucking LOVE aus where Kristin is just a giant- like 100 feet tall goddess of death- and Phil is just a tiny little guy :D