#hermitvore

There is an imbalance in this world. No one is normal sized, they're either too big or too little. The two groups identify themselves as giants and tinies respectively.

Tinies are often nomadic, travel in groups and are often untrusting of giants. Giants will stay in small communities, in one place, and more often then not feel they are above their smaller counterparts consequently resulting in the untrust of tinies. Despite the feelings towards each other, tinies and giants are bound together and must rely upon each other.

With Giants being too big they are unable to produce enough energy for themselves. Giants are forced to sleep more often in order to have enough energy to function properly. During the summer they will find themselves having more wakeful moments but once colder months come around, giants will go into a hibernation that results in brief moments of consciousness every day, lasting 30 minutes to an hour, just long enough to eat and drink before their lack of energy forces them back into unconsciousness. Giants often die in hibernation when they do not properly set up a way to stay warm or if they don't prepare enough food or water.

Then, with tinies being so small, they produce too much energy for themselves. Tinies are afflicted with insomnia, especially during warmer months. They are unable to sleep and this can have an affect on their psyche. During summer months if tinies don't stay active this energy may become too much for them, like how too much adrenaline can kill a person, so too can an accumulation of energy within a tiny. This is why tinies are nomadic and are constantly moving. During colder months tinies can manage more moments of sleep and will often move into the walls of a giant's homes. As tinies are much more susceptible to the cold and unable to travel through it. Giant homes are often kept warm and tinies are drawn to them due to the inherent connection between giant and tiny.

Once it begins to warm up and the snow melts, tinies will leave as soon as possible too avoid being seen by the giants.

It's a difficult life for both giant and tiny, but evolution had provided them a solution. Every giant and tiny has a soulmate or two of their opposing size. The soulmates energies are intrinsically intertwined, and if one is able to find their soulmate they can balance their energy levels. The giant can take the overwhelming energy a tiny produces, and the tiny can provide for the lack of energy giants produce, allowing the energy levels of both giant and tiny to be normalized.

Unfortunately, the only way for this to work is considered quite unsavory and only furthers the mistrust tinies have of giants. In order for the energy of a tiny to transfer to a giant, the tiny must be as close to the core of a giant as possible. In more technical terms, a giant must swallow their tiny soulmate and the transfer occurs whilst the tiny is in the giant's stomach. Giants have evolved to be unable to digest living breathing things. The only things giants "digest" from a tiny, is their energy.

This transfer can only occur between soulmates, so majority of giants don't make it common practice to just swallow any tiny they see. Especially, since consuming a tiny that is not a giant's soulmate can result in unpleasant side effects: nausea, stomachache, headache, dizziness, etc. Effects vary depending on giant and tiny. Tinies are relatively unaffected if swallowed by a giant that is not their soulmate.

There are quite obvious signs when one has met their soulmate. Both will have instinctual feelings towards their soultie.

The tiny feels a compulsion to be near and stay near their giant soulmate as they feel nowhere else can possibly be as safe or comfortable then with their soulmate. Sometimes simply being near them won't feel like enough and the tiny will want to be as close as possible to their giant soulmate, often times initiating the process to transfer energy themselves. This often occurs during summer months when more energy accumulates in the tiny and they wish for a way to be rid of it.

The giant feels the need to protect and care for their tiny soulmate. They also may feel a craving for the tiny, craving the energy that only they can provide to them similar to a way one would crave certain types of food when lacking in certain nutrients or water when dehydrated. This feeling is amplified during winter months when their energy is at its lowest.

Culturally in tiny communities, it is actually frowned upon to even want to stay with your soulmate if you do find them. Tinies view it as giving up who you are to act as an energy source for a giant. This is a common misconception as both tiny and giant do benefit from this exchange. Tinies often assume giants are selfish and do everything for their own gain, also a common misconception as only few giants are such.

The concept of soulmates isn't frowned upon in giant communities. Despite some giants being unkind or uncaring for tinies, there are communities that do treat tinies as equals and often try to be safe spaces for tinies that pass through for winter. Most giants look forward to the day they may meet their tiny soulmate(s).

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Extra notes: I did forget to mention that the whole "soulmate" concept isn't really meant to be romantic in a lot instances, it really is just that their energies are tied together. I intend for it to be used in a lot of platonic instances as well.

Extra Extra notes: I also intend for my own personal Au to have poly relationships so it's possible for one individual to have more than one soulmate! This was decided after I had written all of this out and I edited it slightly to signify that, but I figured I'd point it out here.

Reminder: If you do choose to use this concept, I would love if you tagged it "Too little Too much" or tagged me in it!

I shall post the fic I have written later, so keep a look out for that, and I will eventually post more about my own au later.

Joel winced as Doc poked at his shoulder injury, and Doc gave him an unimpressed look.

“Seriously, Joel? Putting yourself in a dangerous situation, alone, no less?” Doc scolded, turning away and grabbing bandages and gauze from a cabinet nearby before returning to Joel’s side. “You’re lucky I know how to dress wounds.”

Joel bit his tongue as Doc applied gauze to the wound, turning his head away and closing his eyes.

“Relax,” Doc instructed, and Joel forced the tension out of his limbs. It only worked for about a minute, until Doc jostled the injury, and Joel let out a pained hiss. “All done,” Doc declared as he stepped back, giving Joel another once-over.

“Now that that’s settled, should I even ask how you ended up in that situation?” Doc asked, his tone unimpressed.

“Just a stupid mansion raid, they swarmed me,” Joel muttered, frowning.

“Wonderful. And, I suppose, your first lesson on the Hermitcraft server is; Don’t go into woodland mansions alone,” Doc commented dryly.

“Yeah, thanks,” Joel muttered, wincing as his hand drifted to his shoulder once again. He grabbed his bloodied shirt, that was laying next to him on the cot, his face scrunching up at the thought of putting it back on.

“Here, take this,” Doc called, throwing him a white shirt that he had grabbed from the closet. “And don’t even think about moving, you’re gonna be staying here tonight.”

“What?!” Joel exclaimed, a dismayed look crossing his face as he turned back to Doc.

“You thought we were letting you go? You just tangled with a vindicator, we’ve gotta make sure you haven’t got magic poisoning. Cub will be checking up on you, he’s much better with magic sickness than most Hermits.”

Joel let out a melodramatic groan as he fell back onto the cot, staring at the ceiling of the carefully-constructed medical bay. The thought of staying in the sterile, white building made him nauseous.

Wait, no, that was from the Admin inside him, moving.

Joel listened as Doc closed the door to the room behind him. He pulled the shirt on after a few seconds of silence, and he let out a frustrated sigh. These hermits and their worry. He was fine! Probably. Though it didn’t matter if he was or not, Xisuma was less okay than he was, but he needed a chance to let him out. If he did it now, before Cub got here, could he say that Xisuma had come in here and he had found him? Would they believe it? Better question, would they push it?

“Smallbeans?” came a soft murmur, followed by a hand pressing against his stomach lining, which drew him out of his thoughts.

“Hey, Xisuma,” he answered, resting a hand on his stomach. “Welcome back. Ready to come out now?”

“Where are we? Is it okay to?” He still sounded out of it. Was it safe to let him out? Joel didn't know what his mental state could be. Maybe he shouldn’t.

“Joel?” That wasn’t Xisuma. Joel sat straight up, the movement throwing Xisuma against the lining of his stomach. Joel looked over to the door as Cub came in. He was dressed in his usual open lab coat, but in this setting, it made him look like a doctor. “Ah, you are still here,” Cub noted, “heard you had a bit of an incident in a mansion.”

“You could call it that,” Joel muttered.

“I’m sure,” Cub chuckled, walking over to Joel and looking him over. “Feeling weird? Numbness or tickling in your extremities, buzzing in your head, warping feelings, headaches, unexplained pain?” He rapid-fired, not letting Joel get a word in.

“No,” Joel answered weakly after Cub fell silent. “None of that. I’m fine, why won’t you people believe me?”

“Yeah, well, I’ve heard that before. Besides, it could have delayed effects,” Cub answered, turning away.

“Smallbeans?” Joel heard again, and he froze. Dammit, Xisuma! Not the time!

“Hm?” Cub hummed, turning back to Joel. “Did you say something?”

“Nope!” Joel exclaimed a little too loudly, and he winced internally. He was so caught.

“Smallbeans? What’s going on? You okay?” He listened to the words coming from his stomach. They weren’t too loud, but for Cub and his unnaturally sharp hearing, he could probably hear them as clear as day.

“Where’s that coming from?” Cub asked, looking around, for show. His sentence may have been phrased like a question, but there was no query in his tone.

“Where’s what coming from? I don’t hear anything,” Joel insisted, his voice a bit too shrill.

“Really?” Cub pressed, stepping closer to Joel, his movements smooth. He looked Joel up and down before he spoke again. “Give it up, Joel. What’s going on?”

Joel was caught between two possibilities at that moment. So, in his panic, he chose the latter.

“What? I’m not hiding anything.”

Cub sighed, brushing his hair out of his face and revealing his dark blue eyes entirely. They were a remnant of his sculk infection from when he was on Empires, or so Joel was told, and they drove an uneasy feeling into him. “Come on, Joel. One more chance.”

“Okay, okay!” Joel exclaimed; and the resignation drew a subtly satisfied look to Cub’s face. “Xisuma came with me and got shrunk by a vindicator!”

The content look on Cub’s face fell into a frown. “Interesting. And how he ended up…”

“If I hadn’t, I would’ve died. Or Xisuma would still be in there. SO don’t say a word,” Joel threatened.

“Alright,” Cub agreed, looking unbothered by the threat. “Can we take him out? If he’s shrunk, we’ll have to have a look at him.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Joel muttered, pulling his legs onto the cot and crossing them.

Cub raised an eyebrow at him. “Joel, we can’t use magic, he’s been hit by too much already today. Get him out yourself, or I’ll get you something that can help you.”

Joel groaned, frowning at Cub. “Fine. Get me something if you don’t want your damn sheets dirty.”

Cub shrugged, opening one of the cabinets and producing a metal bowl that he handed to Joel. He returned the annoyed look that Joel gave him, with a slight undertone of ‘this is what you asked for.’

In a practiced move, Joel forced Xisuma upwards, letting him - and the stomach fluids he was covered in - fall into the bowl. (He would’ve felt bad about it if he hadn’t learned years ago that his ascent into godhood meant that people could be semi-comfortable inside him and not digested.) The clanging sound from Xisuma’s armour hitting the bowl was startling, but it didn’t take long for Joel to recover and hold the bowl out to Cub.

Cub took it from him, looking into the bowl at Xisuma. Once it was out of his hands, Joel laid down, turning away from the two and closing his eyes, letting himself drift into a state of limbo, ignoring the noises surrounding him.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Bright lights blinded Xisuma as he laid on his back, the back of his head throbbing from how hard it hit the inside of his helmet. He looked up at the ceiling through tinted purple, and he watched a face come into view. Who was that? Cub?

He was lifted up, held safely in Cub’s grip, and he was placed down onto another surface. He placed his hand on the surface, though he couldn’t feel it through his gloves. A small noise escaped him as he was suddenly enveloped in darkness once again, his body suddenly being rubbed against. Cub’s hands? They pressed against him from every side, and he felt himself being picked up again as the material was taken off him.

Xisuma blinked up at Cub blearily, the latter looking down at him with a soft expression.

“Hey, you," Cub said softly, “feeling okay?”

“Hmm, sleepy,” Xisuma murmured.

“Yeah? Okay,” Cub sighed, setting Xisuma back down on the counter. Xisuma watched Cub pull his communicator out of his pocket and turn away from Xisuma. Despite how he craned his neck and tried to see what was on the screen, he wasn’t able to catch a glimpse. He tried to stand up, but his legs were too shaky, and he had to sit back down before he fell.

He watched Cub intently until he turned back around, looking down at Xisuma once again.

“Your armour is gonna be hellish to clean, isn’t it? That’s a later problem, I guess,” Cub muttered to himself. “Okay… come on, let’s get you fixed up, hmm?”

Xisuma nodded numbly at his words. Getting fixed up sounded nice. Cub lifted him off the towel, moving him across the room and setting him down on the counter. He watched Cub grab some colored vials from the cupboard above him, and he set them down on the counter beside him. Xisuma looked at them curiously, and he reached out to touch them before Cub put his hand between Xisuma and the vials. Xisuma sighed and sat back down, leaning into Cub’s hand.

“Oh, Xisuma. That really messed you up, huh?” Cub sighed.

“Did it?” A new voice asked, and Xisuma sat up again, looking around for the source. His eyes found Zedaph, moving towards them quickly from across the room.

“You got here quickly,” Cub noted, to which Zed shrugged.

“And? I’m here, aren’t I?” Zed replied, scooping Xisuma up from off the counter. Xisuma let out a small squeak, looking up at Zed. “Hi there, I heard you got a little mixed up,” Zed cooed.

“Yeah, and how do we fix him?” Cub asked.

“Well, it’s vindicator magic, shrinking… okay, I’m not exactly sure. I’ve never heard of this happening before,” Zed admitted, his gaze landing on the vials on the counter. “Oh, good idea!” He exclaimed, placing Xisuma back on the counter. Zed grabbed the nearest vial, containing a shimmering blue liquid, and uncorked it.

“Be careful,” Cub tried. Zed nodded as he tipped the vial over Xisuma’s head, letting a few drops slip out and land on the admin’s helmet.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Joel rolled over as he woke up slowly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He yawned, sitting up as yesterday’s events clicked back into place. He looked to his left to see Cub and Zed curled up on a cot together, Cub at the head of it and Zed at the foot. He looked to the left, and his eyes locked onto a mop of messy brown hair, covered by sheets on the cot next to him.

Joel stood up quickly, moving around the end of the cot, and he crouched down in front of the person’s face, frowning as he looked up at him. There was a mask on his face, which looked like a gas mask, covering his nose and mouth with tubes sticking out of it. They were see-through, and he could see something black in the tubes, though he couldn’t tell if it was moving or stationary.

“You’re up! Morning!” Zed exclaimed, the sudden noise making Joel jump. His head snapped over to Zed, who was now standing at the end of the cot.

“I thought you were asleep!” Joel blurted out, his eyes still wide with shock.

“What? No, just resting,” Zed replied, “Anyway, glad you’re awake. Cub said you might have magic poisoning, how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Joel muttered, annoyed that this was brought up again.

“Okay, if you’re sure,” Zed shrugged, stepping around Joel and standing next to the person. “Hey, Xisuma,” his voice was softer now, "can you get up?” Zed gently shook Xisuma, trying to wake him up. It took about a minute of him trying for Xisuma to open his eyes and look up at Zed.

“Hey! How are you feeling?” Zed asked gently, the tone uncharacteristic for the mad scientist.

“Zed? Um… better, I think,” Xisuma replied, pushing himself up.

“Joel,” came a voice, pulling Joel away from the interaction. He turned to see Cub, looking a little disheveled, gesturing to him. “Come over here, I’ve gotta change your bandages.”

Joel frowned, but he headed over to his cot and sat down, knowing in the back of his mind that he’d never win against Cub. Cub had bandages and gauze already laid out on the cot, and he started to peel away bandages on Joel’s shoulder. Joel was fixated on watching Xisuma and Zed conversing softly, though he couldn’t hear them.

“Hey-” Cub spoke up, causing Joel to look back at him. He discovered Cub had taken the bandages off entirely, revealing only a faint scar where the wound had been before Joel had rested. “What?”

“God genes,” Joel flashed him a grin, and Cub sighed.

“You’re- okay,” Cub muttered, gathering up the dirty and clean bandages, walking away to the other side of the room. Joel looked back over to Xisuma and Zed, to see Zed pulling away from Xisuma and walking away. He tracked Zed’s path as he met Cub, and they started talking lowly together.

Joel got up and walked back over to Xisuma’s bed, moving around to the other side and sitting down. Xisuma looked over at him, but didn’t say anything, and an awkward silence fell between them.

“…so-h…” Joel tried. “Do we agree to never talk about that again?”

Xisuma chuckled softly, his eyes crinkling up at the edges, “if you want. I don’t remember a ton, so it might be easy.”

“Great, wonderful,” Joel replied, letting out a sigh. “Have they determined that you’re okay?”

“They say no concussion and I’m not tired or dizzy anymore. I think that constitutes ‘okay,’” Xisuma answered.

“That’s great,” Joel murmured, opening his mouth to say something more, before he bit his lip and they both fell into silence again.

“Look,” Xisuma sighed, “it’s fine, okay? We would’ve both been in for a painful respawn if you hadn’t, and that magic may have gotten even more messed up with it. It’s fine,” he repeated.

“It’s fine,” Joel echoed, nodding slowly, “of course it is! Why wouldn’t it be?” He added, his words bolder than they had a moment before.

“Just promise me that you’ll raid another mansion with me that’ll hopefully go crisis-free, yeah, Smallbeans?” Xisuma joked, the edges of his eyes crinkling up again.

“We’ll see,” Joel returned, “let the dust settle though, yes?"

“Of course,” Xisuma chuckled, “maybe after I’m not monitored twenty-four-seven.”

“Maybe. And it’s Joel, alright? Joel’s fine,” Joel replied.

“Joel,” Xisuma confirmed.

“Yeah," he nodded.

“Are we there yet?” Hypno asked, his small, fragile wings fluttering behind him to keep him off the ground.

“Not yet,” Wels replied, glancing down at the little bee hybrid as he shivered in the cold. The sun was shining down on them, but the snow coating the surrounding landscape was brighter, and Wels had to squint if he wanted to look further than a few paces ahead of himself.

"Really?" Hypno complained, a small pout crossing his face as he hugged himself, his bare hands digging into his heavy jacket. “But... it's so cold... we’ve been walking for so long...”

“You haven't even been walking,” Wels pointed out, pulling his shoulders up to his ears as slight shivers ran through his body. He pressed his hands over his ears in an attempt to warm them up, but now that his hands were away from his body, they were getting colder, and his ears weren’t much warmer than before.

“Yeah, but... I can’t touch the ground,” Hypno muttered, and Wels' expression softened as he watched Hypno's body trembling in the cold. Wels pulled his hands back against his body, feeling them getting even colder against his freezing armor.

“Fair point,” Wels answered, keeping a close eye on Hypno as the shivering only got worse. There was only so much his small body could handle, not to mention that neither of them were even close to being dressed for the weather. It wasn’t like they had planned to walk through the snow, but they couldn’t find a way through the mountains.

"Cold..." Hypno murmured, slowly sinking towards the ground as his wings fluttered, attempting to lift him back up into the air. Wels' eyes widened, and he reached out, taking Hypno in his hands, making sure to be gentle. Hypno didn’t protest, instead settling into his grip with a soft, incomprehensible murmur. Wels stopped walking for a moment as he focused on the still-shivering form in his cupped palms.

Hypno curled up in his hands, shivers wracking his body violently. His wings settled, and when Wels took a closer look at them, he saw they were slightly off color, and seemed more veiny than they were before?

The realization hit him like a brick wall a moment later. There was ice forming over his wings.

Wels let out a low hiss, and he picked up his pace, pulling Hypno closer to his body. Hypno let out a grumble of complaint as Wels' hand closed around him, and Wels quickly loosened his grip, worry that he had accidentally hurt the other shooting through him.

“Are you okay?!” He asked hurriedly, uncurling his hands and looking down at Hypno.

“Cold,” Hypno replied tiredly, before mumbling something Wels couldn't hear under his breath. The response wasn't any different from what Wels had gotten just before, but he was panicking now. If Hypno stayed in the cold any longer, his wings could be damaged - or worse, and Wels couldn't warm him up.

“Sorry for taking the scenic route,” Wels apologized weakly. It was his fault that they hadn’t brought their elytra - he wanted to spend a little time adventuring with Hypno.

“Mm?” Hypno mumbled, an eye cracking open to look up at Wels. “Tired,” he commented after a moment, his eyes closing again. No, no, damnit! He wasn't this weak five minutes ago, he went downhill so fast-

Calm down. You're the only one who can help him right now, Wels reminded himself, taking a deep breath. There was still one option he hadn't tried.

Wels murmured a soft, “Sorry,” before he placed Hypno gently in his mouth. He could hear Hypno make a soft, confused sound, but Wels wasted no more time in swallowing Hypno. Wels was tense as he felt Hypno slip down his throat, but he relaxed slightly when he felt Hypno's weight settle just under the left side of his ribcage. He hadn't messed up. Hypno was fine. Wels took in another slow breath, and started walking again, taking extra care of where he stepped as the ground started to slope down beneath his feet.

Hypno had stopped protesting fairly quickly, which made Wels' life much easier; he was more able to focus on where he was going.

Wels wasn't sure how far he walked, but he made his way to a spot where the snow had melted, and in another couple hundred metres, he stumbled into a sparse forest. Beams of sunlight shone through the leaves, patterning the ground with small spots. Wels let out a sigh of relief, and, on now-shaky legs, he found a large tree and collapsed at the base. His armor pressed into his back, his clothes thankfully shielding him from the freezing metal, but the ridges along it were uncomfortable. He reached up to his ears and shivered as he ran his fingers along the slightly pointed tips. They were numb; he just had to hope that he hadn't gotten frostbite.

Wels felt a light stirring from inside him - probably because he had sat down.

“Sorry,” he apologized softly, crossing his arms over his midsection, but he was careful to not press against Hypno resting in his brood pouch.

Wels could've sworn that he heard a soft mumble of "warm,” from Hypno, but he definitely felt a pair of hands press against the wall of his pouch, which caused Wels to let out a soft sound of surprise.

“Warm, hm?" Wels asked, "You feeling okay?"

“M-hm. Warm,” Hypno repeated, louder and more insistently.

Wels felt the hands press harder into him, and he let out a quiet squeak, “What are you doing?”

“Feels nice,” Hypno answered simply, and Wels could feel him starting to work his fingers into the walls of his pouch, causing Wels to let out a slightly flustered noise. “You okay?" Hypno asked when Wels didn't say anything more, too caught off-guard at the feeling to form words.

“Tired. Still cold, but okay,” Wels answered after a moment, biting his lip as he felt Hypno pressing his hands into him a little harder as he kneaded the wall closest to him, but an involuntary purr still escaped him. Hypno must've heard it, because he started pressing even more firmly. God, that felt good.