bakerstreet | So tiny!

So tiny!

The Borrowers Meme

It turns out it's not just rats and bugs that live in the walls and under the floors of old houses - there are whole families, societies even, living hidden away from prying human bean eyes. They make and gather the things they need, but sometimes...well, sometimes they need to borrow a few things from their unwitting bean hosts.

Post with your character's name and any preferences you have, including whether you prefer your pup to be a borrower or a bean (presumably if your character is a borrower, this is an AU where they've always been one - though you can always say they've been transformed, too). Feel free to either leave your initial comment blank or to put in a little text showing what sort of thread you have in mind. You can make up your own story, or pick (or have RNG pick for you) from the following scenarios:

1. Borrower Sighting: Now you've done it - you've let a bean see you. What are you going to do about it - and for that matter, what are they going to do about it?

2. Borrower Reunion: Hey, it's tough living spread out among bean houses. Sometimes borrowers need to come together, whether deliberately or by accident along their travels.

3. I'm Not Crazy: One (or both) of you is a bean who knows the truth - but no one believes them! Cue the search for proof!

4. Borrower City: Some places - bean shopping malls, for instance - are able to support lots and lots of borrowers, rather than the usual single family per bean house.

5. Animal Attack: The trouble with being so tiny is that even a rat can be a fearsome enemy.

6. Moving Day: You can't stay where you've been living, or you've chosen to move in with some other borrowers. Either way, moving day poses peculiar challenges to borrowers.

7. Life in the Great Outdoors: Forget depending on beans. You live wild and free, even if that means smelling manky and eating bugs.

8. Mix and match/make up your own.

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The bean bustled about for a few moments, humming to herself and shifting something heavy, causing vibrations that rattle the somewhat brittle old wood of the porch quite unpleasantly. At her whistle, a big, shaggy dog ran up the steps and into the house and she was halfway back through the door when there was a thump from above.

"Kurt Adelbert Wagner, get off the roof!"

"Ja, Mutti," came the reply, and another set of vibrations moved very oddly above, coming down the support pillar like a very large squirrel was running down. Very large. "Can I stay outside?"

"Yes, yes, wild child. Just no roof."

Another few thumps came as the smaller bean sat down on the porch and the door closed.

Bruce breathes a sigh of relief. He wasn't spotted.

However, curiosity gets the better of him and he slowly peeks out to see what sort of bean would be on the roof. Usually they didn't like being up so high.

"Verdammt." Kurt likes the roof. He likes trees even better, but he's not supposed to go into the woods without at least one parent, and the only good climbing tree right by the house is just as forbidden as the roof. It's mostly because someone might spot him from the road, at least. They don't think he'll fall. He never falls.

Absently, he picks up a pinecone with his tail and tosses it across the yard. Now he needs something else to do.

....Bruce has to rub his eyes for a moment. For a second he thought...

No, that person is definitely blue. He's never seen a bean that was blue before. The tail is even more incredible. Curiosity getting the better of him, he actually steps out from his hiding place, a hand still on the wall as he leans to see more of the bean. What kind of bean was blue? Did he have blue parents with tails too?

The small sound of a tiny creature shifting would go right past most beans. They lack for both pointed ears particularly well attuned to high frequency little noises. And most Beans don't live their lives entirely within a small house and the few acres surrounding it, vividly aware of every blade of grass. He looks over immediately, though all he expects to see if a field mouse.

Kurt has a great capacity for belief. He skips over the denial stage entirely. His eyes are meant for low-light and he can make out every fascinating detail. "What are you?"

He's gone too far. Bruce's eyes are wide, deer in the headlights style as he realizes he's been seen.

In a panic, he turns to run and trips over his own feet, half crawling to try and get inside the hole in the wall as fast as he can. "No, no not here," he's begging himself aloud, trying to keep calm as he presses against the wall, hoping the bean will think its seen nothing.

Is that English he hears? He's actually a bit of a polyglot. His parents are very particular about education, even if he can't leave. "I didn't mean to scare you! Are you alright?" He'd like to chase the little thing, but small things are easy to hurt, and he's afraid to get too close. "I wouldn't hurt you..."

"S-s-stay away!" he stutters out, hoping that beans weren't partial to reaching in and pulling out smaller people from mouse holes.

But his panic is too consuming, he can't stop the transformation once it's started. His eyes glow green, his arms growing larger and greener as his yells turn to low growls.

"Hey, hey, shh," he says, then realizes he sounds like he's talking to a cat. Probably not the approach he should take to someone who can talk. That it--he also growls doesn't strike Kurt as that odd. He'd probably growl in that situation. "I'm pretty strange too, ja?" He's rather good at keeping an even tone to his voice.

Be prepared, Kurt. This is going to get even stranger.

There's a small roar (yes roar) of defiance and the wall suddenly gets a new mouse hole. The Hulk making it with his fists as he shoves right through, looking around for a fight.

Seeing only the blue Kurt there, Hulk boldly charges right at him, intent on hitting him with his shoulder football style.

At least, hit his feet.

It hurts more than one would expect from something the size of a large hamster. Shapeshifting isn't the first thing to spring to mind. His theory is that the little one he saw has a protector, but he has no more interest in upsetting this one than the first. "Hey! Ow. I'm not going to hurt you! Und you better be quiet or Mutti might hear." His mother's quite canny.

The green monster glares up at the blue fuzzy face with an expression of contempt and anger. This was obviously the person that had scared puny Banner.

"Hulk smash!!"

And with that, he slams his fists down on Kurt's toes. That has got to hurt.

Yes, it does. Kurt's pretty delicate, nothing but skin and bone and possessed of rather light bones that make climbing around like a monkey perfectly viable, but taking a superstrong blow to bare feet, not so much. A bit frightened now himself (though the actual damage is comparable to accidentally kicking a rock, nothing dangerous), he gives in to instinct and teleports, popping up to the underside of the porch's roof and hanging upside down. "Ouch!"

....where'd he go? Hulk grunts in surprise, looking around to find his foe. Not sure how he got away so fast.

Then he looks up to see him hanging upside down. "Get down here and fight!" he yells up at the blue man, fists in the air.

This would be so intimidating if he wasn't so small. Maybe Hulk doesn't know he's so small.

"Nein. Why would I do that?" He's annoyed now. "It'll hurt if you hit me und you can't catch me. And I didn't do anything wrong. Tell your friend I'm not going to hurt him." His working theory seems like a good one! He'd still like to get a better look at either of the little people. He's curious, but he's also very lonely. Tiny people turning up at his home ought to be like a fairy tale, but this is more awkward than anything else. He's not well socialized, but he suspects it wouldn't help if he was.

Meeting Hulk is more like a small nightmare than a fairy tale. He frowns sulkily, knowing he was right, he could jump pretty high but not that high. Kurt was out of reach for now. So he just paced below, looking up.

"Hulk has no friends," he says back.

"Oh." Well, he can't fault a guy for that, though he's more confused now. "Well, that's alright. Me neither." He'd sort of like to get down now. He's perfectly comfortable hanging like this, but he can't see very well. He suspects the chances of getting toe-punched again are high if he drops, though.

You just attacked a guy with no friends, nice going. Bruce's voice in Hulk's head. He looks annoyed, though it might be more aimed at Bruce than Kurt and heaves himself up onto a cement block off to the side, sitting with his arms crossed grumpily. He doesn't care...Hulk doesn't need anyone.

It's like trying to talk to a tiny brick wall, but Kurt doesn't have enough experience with people to see that as strange. That and this is way too exciting to let go just because it's not actually pleasant. "Um, so... It's going to be cold tonight, and there are foxes and owls in the woods. I guess you can stay in that hole, but it's nicer inside..." Meet inexplicable, fey creatures; invite them in for dinner. Why not?

Hulk gives him a suspicious look. "Why?" Why would he want to offer him shelter.

He did punch the guy in the foot. He was expecting some sort of retaliation.

"I have talked to about five people in my entire life, that's why. Us freaks of nature should stick together." And they were fascinating and kind of cute, but he didn't want to say that.

Tired of carrying on a conversation like this, he jumped back down, landing in his habitual crouch. He usually tried to fight his bent back and digitigrade feet, hid his tail as best he could and covered up his ears with his hair. It didn't make him look human, but it did get a little easier to pretend. But since his point right now was that he was weird enough to be an ally, he stood comfortably instead of fighting his spine.

Hulk doesn't jump him when he comes down, looking more apathetic now instead of angry. He didn't like being out when there wasn't anything to fight, he didn't know what to do with himself. It was much like Kurt being unsocialized, he didn't know how to act with other people.

"You're a bean, why'd you want me in your house?" Hulk may have a point, borrowers were always hiding from beans.

Plucking out what "bean" might mean is beyond his English, so he lets that go. "Why not?" For all his toe still hurt, the little guy and his not-friend couldn't possibly do much damage even if they wanted to. "I mean, you might not want to be in the house. It's usually kind of a mess. But it's probably better than a mousehole." He's trying to make a joke, which usually comes easily, but it's hard to chat amicably with a tiny, angry guy.

Hulk actually looks like he's thinking about this. "You got food?"

Hulk was always hungry.

"Ja, plenty." Kurt is a glutton. He can't help it; he's a fourteen-year-old boy and teleporting burns calories at a ridiculous rate on top of that. There are always leftovers for him to raid, and he's perfectly willing to share. Even assuming the little guy can eat as disproportionately as he can hit, there'll probably be some left over. "We had sauerbraten for dinner."

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