#borrower lore

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An injured or sick borrower admiring their human friend who studies medicine, admiring their technical knowledge of anatomy, amazed as they are able to perform a surgery or to quickly identify a disease thought to be lethal for them.

A borrower thought to be clumsy, amazed as their human friend makes them their first ever pair of glasses, and realizes they weren't even 'clumsy' in the first place.

A borrower amazed at realizing the scale of the world, just by explaining the continents and oceans, or being taken to a really tall building or astonishing landscape.

A borrower amazed after realizing how many humans exist in the world, and then wondering if borrowers are really that scarce.

A borrower completely amazed after witnessing a magic trick, thinking the human genuinely read their mind for a sec.

A borrower, amazed after seeing the human taking care of a bug, rodent or other creature humans normally fear or disgust.

A borrower amazed after finally being able to show the human their living place inside the walls, through a videocall.

Borrowers are extremely practical. Not to say they can't be materialistic like Keepsakes, but they tend to err on the side of what will aid them in surviving and thriving in their tiny communities.

First off, all borrowers have tail wraps! A tail with no wrap is considered being nude in Borrower society, and just isn't done. The tail wrap not only protects their modesty, but it has cultural significance too! Borrowers are oral story-tellers at heart, and they consider wraps to tell their "tale" (they're also fond of puns). The longer the tail/wrap, the longer and more exciting a life a borrower is supposed to lead. Borrowers will use scraps and sacred borrowings (considered to be good luck charms) to create their wraps.

As well as being practical, borrowers choose their clothing to blend in to their environments. Indoor borrowers are partial to various textures and colors that blend into their houseland, and outdoor borrowers may opt for more animal-like clothing, or things that shield them from the elements.

Ease of movement is usually preferred, although Watchpots (borrowers that don't actually borrow, i.e. family members that remain in their respective nooks like house-wives/husbands etc) may dress a little more fanciful. But still, always, practical.

Here are some fun examples I found on Pinterest, with a mix of indoor and outdoor styles:

Also, borrowers have different feet than humans do, being a little more rodent like for climbing, so they either don't wear shoes or those shoes tend to be less rigid, usually made of mouse leather.

-last names included in the books: Clock, Hendreary, Overmantles, Harpsicords

- do they change when they move, or do they try to move to a place fitting to their last name in hopes of finding possibly similar surroundings?

Some of them are really specific but anyway I hope you like them. <3

📍;; Partners in crime, the human and the borrower are both thieves who help each other in the lower cities.

🫀;; Borrower siblings who lost their parents, and now have a human friend looking over for them.

🍀;; A clumsy, loser borrower who is basically a nerd; and would do very good if they were a human instead. Maybe they discover with the human that this borrower is a math genius.

🌱;; A middle aged borrower who is not as agile as they were when they were young, still very distrustful from humans but manages to slowly open up.

🐺;; The human gets shrunk to the borrower's height and learns how to live with it.

📂;; The borrower shows the human their family traditions, such as food and stories. Much to the human's surprise, some of these stories are blatant human-targeted.

🧵;; The borrower wants to gift something to the human, and ends with really small gifts, such as a tiny scarf (that the human thinks it's a bracelet), or small baked goods. Alternatively, the human is gifted a drawing by a child which features the height difference.

📖;; The human teaches the borrower how to read and write, who never had the chance to do so.

👁️;; A blind human who believes their house borrower is just a ghost, until they reveal themselves as their true self.

🪲;; The borrower has a pet, such as a pill bug or a bee.

💌;; The borrower uses a piece of clothing of the human to make their own clothes, and later the human finds a hole in them and the little guy wearing a new pattern.

The borrower knew something was wrong from the start, the way the human would clumsily walk, how they would dangerously narrow their eyes trying to read the small words on the TV.

He just didn't expect it would get worse.

🥀;; It's an unusual punishment for a borrower to finally get along with a human, just for them to suddenly not being able to see them clearly anymore.

This human can't see things from far away. But tiny things, they're even more difficult to make the details of. Even though the borrower can see the human with an almost obscene level of detail, whether right in front of him or even several feet away. It feels almost unfair.

The borrower had to start getting used to just... not being noticed again. They didn't feel relieved like before, when they would swiftly sneak behind humans, no. They want to get seen now when actually close to their roommate. It's not fair.

❗;; I'm wearing bright colors now. Maybe I'll wear a bell around, maybe it helps my friend to 'notice me' and not accidentally swat me when seeing a small blob quickly making its way towards them.

...

⚡;; Wait, what do you mean you can't even see my face features? Or my face expressions? Maybe it's because I'm so freaking small to you, that your brain simply thinks I'm not important, I don't know if to blame your brain or your eyes. Or both.

Now this borrower has to get... pretty damn close to their bean's face if they want to get their friend any kind of illusion of a 'normal view'. Maybe this human is now a little afraid of accidentally hurting the borrower, in a lazy attempt of giving physical contact.

Although finding a food that is inherently toxic to a borrower is very difficult these days, due to their natural adaptation to most forms of poison, it is strongly advised not to share with them a single drop of alcohol; due to their small size, they get drunk far too easily. Normally, borrowers don't tend to indulge into this drink due to the strong smell. If something like this happens however, please carry them to their home as soon as possible and make sure they go to sleep

There are certain gifts that a borrower does not normally give others unless it is a special occasion, for example, in some borrower cultures (it is not universal, but common) it has been found that gifting a traditional hand-crafted knife or dagger is a symbol of familiar love, it is special between siblings or from a parent to their children, but to make it for someone that isn't a part of their family usually means inviting this person into it, being the closest equivalent of asking for marriage. The tool usually has the name or a visual equivalent of the maker engraved onto the blade.

The weapon holds this high value due to the sacrifice of scavenging for metallic materials and the time it takes into making it a functional tool.