A coffee a day keeps the sleep away

During the beginning (pre-Accepting Anxiety) him being any different size would make it more difficult for him to be part of the group. If he’s too big, he’s seen as overbearing. If he’s too small, he’s dismissed by the group.

Logan understands the feeling of being ignored. He’s unintentionally sweet by putting in a bit more effort to listen to Virgil, working off of the anxious side’s thoughts even when Roman tries to change the subject, despite the side being hand-sized, or a silent giant.

Virgil would actually be more quiet and standoffish as a giant. He doesn’t want to come off as too scary if he gets too passionate in an argument, so he rarely chimes in before he’s accepted. He thinks fear of failure is a good way to make Thomas learn, but he doesn’t want to be the source of all the fear from his physical manifestation’s size.

He’s a case of a gentle and worried giant that looks absolutely intimidating and mean before you get to know him. Really, he’s much more terrified of something like picking someone up than they are of being picked up.

Similar to that, if tiny, he is extremely defensive about his space. He gets overwhelmed if surrounded and has a flight or freeze response, since fighting isn’t much of an option. He bit Roman once when he tried to scoop him up, he bites Janus anytime, he avoids Remus, he squirms when held by Patton, and he tolerates Logan since the logical side doesn’t have much desire to hold him in the first place.

Being taken seriously at  a tiny size isn’t gonna happen. Either way, Roman makes many slights about him for both sizes. ‘Tiny terror’ ‘the littlest vampire’ ‘grumpelina’ ‘gothzilla’ and ‘BFG (but it’s for Brooding, Frightening Giant instead) are just a few I think he’d think of.

Logan is by far the easiest side to be around because of his lack of pestering. Still, Logan is curious about giant or tiny Virgil, and occasionally asks questions about his habits, diet, and sleep patterns. Logan knows all about the Square-Cube Law, so seeing Virgil break it is intriguing.

I genuinely don’t know how Virgil would fit in his stairwell spot if he were big, unless he just looked hilariously squeezed into the smaller space, since he’s good and making his posture smaller anyway. If tiny, I can picture him just perched on the railing of the stairs next to Logan, he knows better than to try staying on the ground. 

I think the sides changing their sizes because they aren’t really physical beings, similar to their shapeshifting, is fun. Though, realistically, Virgil would NOT take part in that because of the vulnerability. If another side shrank around him, he’d also avoid them like the plague.

I’ve always loved the idea of their sizes being controlled by Thomas’ actions. Like, anxiety medication reduces Virgil’s size so he’d have less of an effect on Thomas. Or bad panic/anxiety attacks/stressful periods make Virgil grow to a larger size. It’s so interesting how creative people can be for those things.

V has a very unpredictable and unstable personality, getting close to her would take time because of the drastic personality, and size, difference.

During the first meeting, she's extremely intimidating. She loves seeing the fear she inflicts on people, even if she doesn’t kill as much anymore. Seeing a tiny girl that's shy would make you a target for that immediately, though I’d say she’d realize pretty quickly that she enjoys the company almost more than the fear.

V would be shockingly receptive to boundaries in a case like this. If she was caring about someone so much more vulnerable and weary than her, she’d make a point to be more gentle with her more fatal appendages, like her tail. Still, she would definitely be the type to tease a significant amount.

Her nicknames for you would be things like ‘Babe’ when she wants to seem nonchalant. If she’s flustered she’d call you ‘idiot’ or ‘tiny’ in a non-malicious way. If she was trying to flirt she’d still use ‘idiot’, but alone she may use ‘angel’, though very reluctantly at first.

She knows being tiny is weak in a literal sense, so she’s overprotective almost as soon as you befriend her. She’d eventually find you more easy to talk to because of how you aren't judgmental and are easily kept close to her. 

V opens up to you about things like her secretly needing glasses to see things far away. After that, when she wants to really see you in detail (without the blurriness) she’d rest her chin right in front of you on a table to commit your smaller frame to memory.

V’s flirting style mainly consists of threats. She’d grin to purposefully flash her fangs, or sneak up on you to scoop you up with her clawed hands, but she’s careful and precise about it. She just wants to see your reaction, especially if she knows it makes you flustered.

The drone was reprogrammed for killing, it would be a steep learning curve for her to have a girlfriend that needs her to be less murdery. It would be a bit rough, but V could compromise with some small warnings from her shoulder, or a small weight in her hand to keep it occupied.

She absolutely gets cuteness aggression to the extreme around you. If you do anything clumsy, or get too nervous to speak up to others, V would subtly have to bite her tongue, or scratch the wall, just because she’s still figuring out how healthy feelings work.

In the starting flashback, when Kinger and Queenie recognize each other, he scoops her up. I like to think after that he rarely put her down all the way up until her abstraction, learning to do things with only one empty hand.

When Ragatha first arrived, it was the first time a stranger had ever met him after he’d been settled as a giant. He caught her in one hand when she fell and held her at eye level to keep her more at ease around him.

It would be difficult to add Kinger into the musical number, he couldn’t line dance with the others. So I raise you this: Caine made him freeze with his hands out so the crew did their little line dance in his palms while he was like the big platform stage Caine conjured.

Rather than putting a bucket on his head, I can picture Pomni finding a big tarp/blanket and attempting to drag it over. Ragatha realized what she was trying to do and helped drop it over his head while he’s all hunched inside the little cafe.

The iconic line “Hey Pomni” once he finally becomes sane? During that part, his hands gently hovered around her. Not picking her up, but just letting her know he was really there in the same way he was in the horror ep.

Kinger is, of course, the father of the group. He’s very familial once sane and it shows, especially if he’s giant compared to the others, which is seen in his slow and patient movements.

He’d likely have a stronger urge to hide the tiny members from Caine’s wrath, given that they’re all hand-sized to him. Since they’d have to be a distraction, he’d be conflicted, but ultimately let them keep him busy

Kinger wasn’t there to take the brunt of Caines crash out. However, if he had seen it, it would be the first time anyone (including Caine) was close to his larger size. It would disorient him a bit seeing how Caine manhandled the others with gloved hands that look just like his…

Imagine the guilt he’d feel if he had to work on an average sized computer and, because of his size being much larger than everyone else’s, he accidentally screwed up and deleted Caine.

It actually makes so much sense that the sea monsters would have a size difference, especially because of all the sea monsters portrayed around Portorosso as larger than humans. Would their human disguises shrink them or would they just stay big? I’d assume they’d shrink to fit in better, which would make the dramatic moments of the movie more interesting.

Luca and Alberto searching for human items and collecting them together like little figurines. It’s a lot more difficult to figure out their correct uses when you're too big to use them properly, like cards or other trinkets.

It would have been a lot more disorienting for Luca to first see his new friend shrink on land, then experience the size change himself. It would be more than just learning to walk, like adjusting to a completely new size is difficult.

Those two had to have made their DIY vespa over and over for testing. However, instead of hitting the water and destroying it each time, I could imagine Alberto just telling Luca to stay in the water and catch human him, and the vehicle, at least once. Luca would panic at the bottom of the cliff each time while trying to catch his tiny friend.

Getting wet in the town is a disaster waiting to happen, some of the moments couldn’t have happened the same way, like them getting wet at the dinner table, or when on the fishing boat. Still, I’d say there would be funny moments where they get soaked somehow, and have to immediately hide behind a building to keep hidden from the now tiny townsfolk.

The reveal scene with Giulia would be a lot more frightening than the original. I mean, your friend starts acting more defensive around you, then dives into the water and turns into a gigantic sea monster with fangs and claws bared? Yeah, Alberto clearly wouldn’t injure her, but it’d likely take a bit longer to get used to those two being their true selves.

I’m trying to figure out how the bike race would work, I mean they’d be too big to fit on a bike but let’s not focus on the logistics. Instead, imagine Alberto sacrificing his secret in the rain, and proceeding to run beside Luca’s bike while holding his hands over him to keep him dry and human while Ercole and his crew chase after them.

Giulia still being slightly cautious of them, just from the size difference, but still ramming into Ercole to protect them. Then, trusting them when they come back to help her. Luca and Alberto would scoop her up when they saw her scraped knees, shielding her from the shocked town with gentle clawed hands despite knowing she wasn’t the one they’d hurt.

It would be hilarious to see Giulia, a tiny human, acting so confident around them in sea monster form, still telling them what to do and slightly feuding with Alberto once she processes that they're the same people as before. Once comfortable, she’d sit on their shoulders, or even climb up their arms if she had something important to tell them up close.

I also think it would be a cute added moment if the town still got used to sea monsters, and having Luca or Alberto help them with tasks whenever it rained, like getting things out of trees or off of roofs. It would make them feel useful and trusted, especially if we got to see more of Alberto being a lifeguard for the kids in sea monster form. He’d keep an eye on weak swimmers and use his giant tail for them to hold onto for breaks.

Giant!SM is very teasing and likes to manhandle everybody, it's both a habit and intimidation tactic. Tiny!PV doesn’t react as much as others would because he knows it's harmless.

A massive rage-baiter in a more traditional sense: he’d grab PV and dangle him by his robes to get a reaction, or make comments on how other cookies would be easy to play with, PV especially.

SM would have a lot of fun concerning the other ancients by randomly scooping up PV, definitely the possessive type in a way that PV doesn’t mind but others do.

One of his overused bits with PV is leaning his giant face super close to the tiny with a huge smug grin on his face. Like with only a few inches between his face and PV’s whole little frame on a table or something. It doesn’t matter if they're in the middle of a conversation, or if it was completely unprompted. PV doesn’t really react to it anymore, though occasionally the tiny would tap his nose and cause SM to be flustered at the unfair embarrassing act.

Even though SM would not be the best giant to be around, he learns about how PV often forgets to take care of himself. After that, SM would scoop him up with mealtime plans regularly, not listening to any complaints from his palm or letting him go until seeing him eat. PV finds it extremely endearing, but also annoying for getting work done.

˚✧₊⁎Giant! Pure Vanilla⁎⁺˳✧༚

Giant!PV  is calm and steady with a stereotypical gentleness you’d expect, even for his larger size. Tiny!SM thinks he’s too soft, yet won’t complain too much about the pampered feeling.

Also a rage-baiter, more in a subtle sense: He’d make a passive comment about SM being adorable, or if the tiny is already fuming about something minor, he’d act oblivious just to see SM crash out (e.g., watch their Hot Eats spicy jelly video).

He is sweet and patient with SM for the most part, and is very neutral about forming his own boundaries. As a giant, he’d take into account more of the tiny’s feelings rather than his own. Like if SM wants to be held or not, he does not take his own comfort seriously enough.

PV is a healer, he would be naturally inclined to worry if seeing SM fall or even get too close to the edge of whatever piece of furniture he’s standing on. Even though SM can levitate and really rarely gets injured, it's a reflex. Once SM learns this, he ‘accidentally’ falls off things so PV rushes to catch him.

PV finds peaceful moments with a cup of tea to be refreshing, however, SM finds chaos during boredom to be refreshing. As soon as the giant sits and takes his eyes off of his cup, he’d hear a little splash and see SM tampering with it, attempting to add salt or spice, or just trying to look nonchalant while laying in the cup he claimed, like a hot tub.

˚✧₊⁎⁺˳✧༚˚✧₊⁎⁺˳✧༚

He’s a gentle giant in the sense that he isn’t clumsy or oblivious to his strength. Logan is precise when it comes to being around the smaller sides.

When holding one of them, he would naturally hold a tiny in a firm but gentle fist, since it’s the most logically secure. However, he’d change it to an open palm right away if asked, with only minor comments on inefficiencies.

The size difference between himself and the other sides + Thomas furthers his feelings of being ignored. Having a physical difference isolates him more from being relatable, thus his advice isn’t taken most times (much to his irritation)

Arguments during canon videos annoy him greatly, no one listens to anyone else. He would get to a point where he’d abruptly grab the sides at fault (likely Roman and Virgil), holding them each in separate hands away from each other and ignoring the squirming. It makes catching people’s attention easier at least.

 The only comfort he has is that he is technically an imaginary manifestation. He is logic, obviously if anyone tries to ask questions about the logistics of his giant size he’ll start ranting about the square-cube law and how it would be impossible for a being of his size to exist outside of the mind.

Logan would still scream FALSEHOOD with as much conviction as human-sized him. It would be hilarious to imagine he takes the other's eardrums into consideration, so when he needs to, he’d stand up, silently walk to the other side of the mind palace, then scream it from a reasonable distance away. Everyone has learned to prepare themselves with the few seconds they notice him walking.

He unfortunately is a target for Remus’s commentary because of his size, think like ‘Working Through Intrusive Thoughts’ but every time they’ve ever interacted and much worse, despite Logan being more active in trying to avoid or ignore him. Your own intrusive thoughts can fill in the gaps for what Remus could possibly say to a giant.

In reference to his anger issues/the orange side, his outbursts would be much more terrifying just from a tiny perspective. He wouldn’t raise his hand to anyone, but he’s still a giant and that’s intimidating enough when he is clearly angry.

It is unfortunate, but he’s too big for normal jars of Crofters to be satisfying. Of course, that only means he’d have to conjure up giant jars himself from Thomas’s memory of the flavors. You can’t leave him without his favorite food (Even if they don’t need to eat).

—————————

Logan is the type to be very strict about boundaries, especially his own. He’d also have a few basic likes and dislikes for each side memorized:

Virgil doesn’t like being picked up, but would lean against a part of him if in the relaxed mood

Patton wouldn’t be against being picked up, but also wouldn’t enjoy it that often if he knew Logan didn’t care for it

Roman would be most likely to forget boundaries and climb on him or something for dramatic effect in a discussion, but being grabbed would offend him

 Janus does not like to be in a hand but wouldn’t mind a shoulder, logan walks without jostling too much

He refuses to touch Remus, but Remus blatantly ignores boundaries so that doesn’t do much good.

——————————

This absolute menace would be terrible for anyone who has the displeasure of being in his general zone of sight. Even tiny, you’d think he’d be easier to deal with, but it just means he’s able to get into smaller spaces. 

Jax would climb up people to sit on shoulders, not accepting a giant hand for help or asking the person beforehand, just doing it himself when most convenient for ONLY him.

During adventures, he was told he always needs an ‘adventure buddy’ to watch him, but soon that annoyance became flipped as he applied the mentality of ‘I’m not stuck with you, you're stuck with me’. Now he takes pride in having one of the others be irritated from watching him.

The bunny bites. Canon. You saw those sharp teeth, he will bite hands if people get too close. He’d be a literal ankle biter just so he could laugh at the others hesitating to let their guards down when he’s hidden from view.

 He would purposefully get lost so much that the other members would get Caine to make a balloon to tie to him, like what some people do for turtles in the grass, to keep track of him. OR stick him in a hamster ball. He’d hate it.

I feel like he would still try bullying Gangle, she’d still be hurt by it, though he can’t really break her comedy mask as often. It would definitely lead to everyone being slightly less stressed and hostile by association. Zooble would antagonize him at any chance for revenge though.

He’d take any form of kindness/attempting connection as being seen as lesser. With his decreased size, he’s got increased insecurity issues. When forming a friendship with Pomni, he eventually convinces himself that she’s just a girl that likes cute things, and he’s a small cartoon bunny, so he’s a cute novelty. 

Who needs to collect keys when you could just crawl under the doors themselves? He’d still steal and hide keys from the others just in case, to make it more inconvenient for them of course.

Jax would hate being picked up. It would have to happen just to make sure he's not underfoot, whether purposefully trying to trip someone up or not. It makes him feel extra vulnerable, like a baby animal, so he’d squirm and be difficult to compensate for that.

He would appear randomly in places, like on shelves or tables, without people noticing. He’d act all cool and nonchalant, especially if that person got jumpscared from noticing him. However, behind the scenes, he’s actually extremely out of breath and struggling to climb up things without people noticing, he wants to feel cool for a moment.

N has a personality that’s bubbly, but he also murders without care, he’d be very intimidating if big during the 1st episode, before he gets past the whole ‘kill all worker drones’ thing and switches sides.

He’d be very clumsy if having to go into the worker drone base, not used to the smaller furniture, though he always apologizes if he breaks anything. He tries to piece it back together even if his hands are too big to fix it properly.

The disassembly drones having a spire of worker drone bodies would make more sense if all, or even just N, were giants. He’d definitely need more oil than the average worker drone has and I have no clue how he’d sustain himself once friendly with the drones :’).

N would be the kind of giant to listen unconditionally to any tiny. If someone asks him to pick them up, move a building, or break a wall, they just get an enthusiastic ‘okay! :)’ from him, no questions asked (unless it's really crazy, but he's a massive people pleaser).

His injector tail is fully prehensile. He can control it completely and I feel like he’d use it to help someone smaller up, or wrap the wire part around a tiny to pick them up in a hurry.

When he gets to hold people he’s close to (like Uzi or V) he is very gentle and concerned with making sure he’s doing it right. It can be annoying how many times he asks them ‘am I holding you too tight?’ ‘Are you comfortable?’ ‘is this okay?’

N would definitely get cuteness aggression from tinies, just gushing over how small and cute they look doing mundane things. He wouldn’t actually act on it, but he would ramble about it and say the overused line ‘I could just eat you up’ before realizing he probably shouldn’t be saying that as a disassembly drone (still a bit too soon).

Being a giant, and also unable to be in the sun without overheating, he has to stay in either the disassembly drones pod, or the worker drones base. If Uzi takes him to the base, he’d try to curl up as small as possible so he doesn’t take up as much space, even though it doesn’t really do much.

Speaking of overheating, disassembly drones run hot. So, being much bigger, he is great to use as a living heater in cold temperatures. His core is warm, so he can hold a tiny to his chest to get them toasty very quick.

During his time as a butler to the Elliott family, if he was giant then, he’d have learned his love of physical touch from Tessa. She seems like the type to be very casual about letting her drones hold her or carry her around, so he’d come to see it as a major show of trust between friends.

Miles is the opposite of nonchalant, especially as a giant. He’d be fumbling around in a universe where he was the big one. His spider-sense would keep him from actually causing damage, though it would look hilarious while he nearly knocks over a building, turning to apologize only to nearly run into a billboard instead.

All of the events from Into the Spider-Verse, but everyone who came to his dimension is just tiny in comparison, though still are more effective/agile in fighting his world’s villains because of their experience 

He and Gwen couldn’t have met at school if she was comparatively so small to his universe. Instead, hear me out, they met much more bluntly, with Gwen just showing up in his room, standing on his desk in her suit. In canon she was drawn to the school because it felt safe and her sense guided her to miles, but for this she instead was led to his apartment, leading to a minor freakout from a guy who’s never seen someone so small in his life.

If he’s with friends, he’d have them lay down on his sketchbook so he can trace their outlines for a souvenir/to remember them well enough to keep drawing them after they’ve all gone back to their universes

He is still completely smitten with Gwen, which makes their relationship funny. Especially if she knows about his feelings. Miles would be too scared of screwing it up to make the first move since they’ve got such a large size difference, he doesn’t want to come off as condescending or intimidating (he does not at all)

Miles thinks the ultimate show of trust is when a smaller person asks him to hold/carry/stay with them. It just blows his mind that someone the size of his hand could blindly put their life in his hand, he gets very serious about it. His friends, especially Peter and Gwen, would make him melt by doing that. Both would be so casual about it while he treats it like an honor, constantly asking if they’re still comfortable

He’d be the type to get a form of cuteness aggression towards others, but not fully understand what the feeling is, so he’d get very concerned. However, after realizing what it meant, he’d be more open about complimenting or being close to them. If they’re comfortable with him, miles would tease them just a bit about their height for fun

You’d think The Spot would be easier to take care of, but combine a small size with teleportation, and the guy is annoyingly hard to keep hold of

When he turns invisible, I think he could be able to hold someone in his pocket or hidden on his person and they’d vanish with him. It makes stealth a lot easier during missions, even if the others aren’t used to being around a giant

During the events of ATSV, part of the reason he wanted a watch was for the ability to be matched to the size of the universe he goes to. If Gwen came back to his universe his size? He’d want to have that more often, even though he does enjoy holding her and seeing her adorably tiny

He’d take his thought process of ‘I have to save everyone’ to a much more personal level. If everyone he’s trying to save is small enough to hold, then he makes it his fault when he’s unable to get everyone to safety in time. It takes a large toll on him, as it takes away the excuse of not being strong enough or not having enough space to grab people, leaving it all to his own mistakes in his mind

He forgets how big he is very often, he’ll often ask the others why they’re so small. If they mention him being the differently sized one he’d panic every time in confusion, he’d say something like “I’m big? Oh… AHH-!”

If he finds a bug in the circus, he’s worried about hurting it while trying to catch it, so he’ll try to get someone to grab it for him and place it in his hand instead. He asks very nicely so very few people say no

When he first entered the circus with other coworkers, Kinger was so stressed about being anywhere near the others. He was convinced he would be clumsy in this new body and scare people, especially since they were all already scared. As each person had their time entering the circus, everyone is freaked out by him at first, including Pomni, but he’s easy to warm up to

During adventures, Kinger uses his height to their advantage, he wants to make it easier for everyone involved. When he has enough sense, he’ll carry them all so they don’t have to walk long distances, or keep them covered from dangers 

Literally the sweetest giant while in the dark. Genuinely, the father energy paired with the giant size makes even the toughest of people partially have the urge to be near him, get advice or get approval. He is happy to provide that based on what they need

When his wife was first abstracted, and he found that the dark calmed her down, he hid her in his giant pillow fort for a while. During that time, since they were about the same size for once, he would hug her abstracted form tighter than he had ever tried while she was small. He was finally able to without hurting her, but only after losing her.

He has been the object people chase each other around at least once. Kinger will stand completely still at times while dissociating. During these times, I can picture a tag adventure, or just Jax being a jerk, and it’s two tiny circus members running in circles around him on the ground like siblings chasing each other

His gloves are very plush, he’ll absolutely be a pillow or comfort for anyone that needs it. Being the oldest member, and the biggest, he really does his best to comfort and support. Not opposed to missing a hand for a while if someone wants to lay in it (His hands don’t have to be near him)

He is too big to interact with most things, though somehow always has a giant version of what he wants to use, like a butterfly net or something. The others thought it was just circus cartoon logic until he mentioned to them how anyone can create things in the circus, he just does it to match with the others sometimes

This man is extremely agreeable and will not hesitate to let his smaller friends use him as a vantage point, or to avoid Caine, or if they want to be alone but not truly alone. While he doesn’t always understand what's going on, he tries his best to be supportive

If given enough time in the dark to remember, he gets extremely embarrassed about his actions while in the light. Kinger would cringe at the kinds of things he says does, its worse since he knows it is very noticeable when a giant does things like that, and apologizes to the others whenever he can despite them reassuring him there's nothing he’s actually done to warrant an apology

————————————————— The constant thrum of life in New York City was calming after the many years he’d spent living in the center of it all. The streets were never empty, the sidewalks never clean, and the people were never silent.

This had been Stephen Strange’s memories of the city, all the way up until about a year ago. 

It seemed immediately after gaining the title of a sorcerer, the world–or at least New York–was in constant danger of crumbling.

He did not appreciate the amount of creatures, people, and aliens that didn’t care in the slightest about his want for a relaxing weekend, just one time. 

Right on time, he heard the telltale sound of chaos incarnate from whatever decided to make the city its playground for the afternoon. The crunching of concrete and screeching of metal rang loud in his ears. It did not make him flinch anymore, only narrowing his eyes in a grimace.

For a moment, the sorcerer stood in the Sanctum Sanctorum. Looking out of the circular window on the second floor, Doctor Strange debated whether it would be worth his time to see the mess.

With the amount of heroes present in the city, there was bound to be at least one dealing with the issue. 

Still, the job of a sorcerer was never truly done, much to his dismay. That, along with the fact that the noise of destruction would bug his peace and quiet, anyway. He might as well get this taken care of sooner.

With a disappointed sigh, he floated down the large steps of the foyer, and flicked his wrist to open the double doors without contact. His cape dramatically bellowed in the wind as he elevated to a higher vantage point, looking for the signs of a fight. Part of the doctor thought it looked admittedly cool, the other–much more cynical–part of him was annoyed that his cape never listened when he said to tone it down.

In the corner of his eye, he spotted movement and turned to view it.

There, among broken down buildings, was a mediocre fight going on between Spider-Man and some small group of criminals in what looked to be an armored vehicle of some kind.

“Hey, Doctor Strange! I-uh- I think I got these guys. It’s so cool to see you, though.” The young hero shouted up at him mid-fight.

For once, the kid seemed to be right; the fight looked to be finishing up. There didn’t seem to be a need for his magic in the fight. Plus, it was good for Peter to not rely on him just because he was in the area.

“Good. Did you see people evacuate these buildings?”

“There were a bunch of people running out, so–I think so. I don’t know for sure!”

Well, at least he didn’t come all the way out here for no reason. Doing the safety check for injured civilians was always an important part of the job in this line of work.

So, the tired man started a spell while still about 20 feet in the air to avoid the fighting below. A simple location spell to detect any human signatures within the radius of the destruction.

It was only about five buildings, apartments and a small store. He knew to expect five signatures, one for himself and four for the fight under him. Anything more would alert him to the general area of the civilians still around.

As the fiery orange rings circled him, he became aware of himself and everyone else on a soul level. Just as expected, there were five presences. No one else seemed to be in the area that he could sense.

Still, despite knowing magic was never wrong, he floated around a bit. He was raised as any other person. Of course, he’d still have the urge to look around.

As he did, something made him stop. Another sense. A very faint one. It hadn’t been easy to pick it up but there was definitely something. He felt it in a nearby building, near an upper level apartment that had taken some damage.

Silently, he moved closer to the window of the building. This had never happened before, even if injured or dying, the soul senses were always the same. Having one so faint made him genuinely worried something odd was going on.

Going through the frame of broken glass, he landed on the floor of the apartment, boots crunching with shards despite his best effort to land slowly. The doctor let his magic guide him to the source. 

For some reason, the sensation was coming from inside the wall. What he had originally thought was inside the building was quite literally inside the building. Though, physical barriers were extremely easy to get through since he started practicing magic. 

Strange pushed forward, his hands subconsciously flicking a small glowing circle against the wall, making an opening right in front of where he felt the oddity.

As the spiraling mana expanded, he got his answer in the form of a small gasp and wide, terrified eyes.

In having access to almost all knowledge, worldly or otherwise, shock was not a fair description for his discovery. He knew that borrowers were said to exist in his universe. He had mainly skimmed the pages known of them because they seemed to be of little importance to the supernatural. If anything, he recalled he had admired how long they’d remained out of the public eye, despite their close location. 

No, this was more of a surprise to him. Knowing about them was one thing, but he had never seen one in person before. This one looked worse for wear. 

The poor thing was sitting against the opposite inner structure of the wall from his portal, their eyes unblinking, limbs trembling. He spotted blood on the cloth near their side. It seemed the chaos outside had affected the inner walls enough to get them injured, likely from a fall or poorly placed object.

“Hello there. You seemed to have picked an inconvenient spot today.” His tone was blunt, unsure of how to approach this situation.

At the sound of his voice, they flinched. He expected that, though it still stung. 

“Look, I can get you away from this, but you have to trust me for a moment. Can you do that?” After waiting a few more seconds without them so much as breathing, he sighed, “Or you can stay here, though I doubt our criminal friends out there will watch where they’re driving.”

That got their attention. It made the borrower frantically shake their head at the thought of staying any longer. The injuries they were sporting would likely cause issues in evacuating on their own. 

“Great. Glad we’re on the same page.”

Though, even though the small one had agreed to it, they still covered their head with their arms as his hand reached for their tiny body. It made the sorcerer pause and reconsider his blunt approach.

“Ah. Right. Don’t worry, I used to have anxiety about my hands before as well. Granted, it wasn’t in the same context, but I can understand where you’re coming from.” His voice was quiet, intent on easing the clear fear to a manageable level.

The battle on the street below got a bit too close to their location, causing a sudden shake of the surroundings. A not-so-subtle reminder of their need to get out of there.

Doctor Strange made a few movements with his hands, weaving and inspecting a glowing orange line of summoned magic before rolling it into a small hollow bowl about the size of an apple. It descended slowly toward the borrower in the wall.

“Get in this. That way, I can carry you out of here with no need to use my hands.” The clear explanation seemed to be enough to get them to comply, wincing as they scrambled into the physical magic. 

It levitated closer to him and he summoned a portal back to the Sanctum Sanctorum.

Once back in his home, he had the bowl land on a nearby table and dissipate, leaving the borrower shakily standing there. 

“Can I heal you? I won't touch, but I need to get closer.”

When they slowly lifted the side of their shirt, showing a deep-looking gash, he winced almost unnoticeably. It wasn’t like he, a medical professional, hadn’t seen an injury before. It was more so that the injury was on someone so small, who had no say in any of that situation.

Strange hovered his hands a few inches from their body on both sides, pooling a small amount of spirit magic into healing their physical body.

Once it was done, he looked down at them to ensure the wound was gone. 

However, as he went to move his hands away from them, the small creature moved to the side. Before he could react, they hugged the closest finger to them. He did not move his hand an inch.

The tiny one was still shaking like a leaf, clearly scared as ever, but the show of gratitude made it clear to him that they were trying to meet him halfway in this unfortunate situation. 

As of now, the Borrower had nowhere else to go, but that could be dealt with after this moment. The man let the hug stay as long as they needed to stop trembling, and a short time after that, as well. He was already far too attached at this very moment.