I havenât really seen this concept anywhere before (let me know if you have). This isnât about a tiny who eats giants, but rather a tiny who eats other tinies.
Content: fatal, unwilling prey,Â
Imagine thereâs a giant who finds a borrower hanging around their home, and so they capture it to keep it safe. Theyâve always wanted to have a tiny, they know everything they need, theyâve got a nice little enclosure set up. And yeah their borrow friend doesnât talk to them, and bites them sometimes when they try to pick it up, but itâs fine they havenât known each other for that long.Â
One of the giantâs friends who also has a (more friendly) borrower suggests that they let the two meet. The giant considers warning them about their borrowerâs antisocial behaviour, but they decide it probably wonât be an issue. It makes sense that a tiny would be aggressive towards a giant who would pose a threat, but being around their own kind should be fine, and they probably would appreciate the company.
So the two borrowers are placed in the same enclosure, and since they seem to get along, theyâre left alone together for a little while.Â
When the giants return to check in, they find both of the borrowerâs are gone.Â
They panic and start looking all over for them, but thereâs no hope. The borrowers arenât responding to their calls, and there is no trace of either one anywhere. They must have ran off together, is their conclusion.Â
The giantâs friend doesnât want to give up, but eventually they leave without their borrower. After their friend leaves, the giant returns sullenly to the abandoned enclosureâŚÂ
only to find that it has not been abandoned. Their borrower has reappeared, seemingly out of nowhere. It sits on a wooden toy chair, resting their hands on an engorged stomach.Â
It takes the giant a moment to realise whatâs happened, and even still, they canât believe it. They are distraught; horrified. But then, their borrower speaks to them for the first time:Â
âYou finally fed me. And it was a good meal. If you plan on doing it again, I might stick around.â
âNo- you werenât supposed to eat them! You have to spit them out right now-â
âItâs too late for that now,â the borrower croons, âbut itâs okay, your friend doesnât have to find out about this. You donât have to tell them, you can just say that you never found us. If you let me go, you wonât have anything to worry about.â
âLet you go?â The giant scoffed, âyouâre obviously a danger to other borrowers, how could I let you go?â
âWhat are you going to do, kill me? And you expect to befriend another borrower afterwards? How could you be able to befriend another borrower after youâve already killed one? Would you tell them what youâve done? Or would you just keep it a secret? What do you think they would do if they ever discovered what youâve done?âÂ
The borrower paused to pick at their teeth, âand another thing, why are you even surprised? You had to have realised that Iâm not a regular borrower. You me alone, hungry, with prey species, and you get upset when I eat? And why are you upset? Do you kill a spider when it catches a fly?â
âIâm not- Iâm not going to kill you,â the giant said, exasperated.
âWell if youâre not going to kill me, and youâre not going to let me go, then youâve decided to keep me. And if thatâs true, then you have to feed me better. I can't live off of your table scraps. I need something.. Like this.â they gesture to their well fed belly.
The giant canât believe that they managed to find the most sinister borrower ever. They didnât want this, they just wanted a nice tiny just like their giant friend had, but now their friendâs tiny had become a meal.Â
This was a different type of borrower, one that the giant had never heard of. They wondered if anyone else knew about this species
âYou do talk a lot.â The giant said eventually
The borrower laughed a little, âonly when I have something to say.â
âOkay so, Iâll let you stay, and⌠I guess Iâll feed you,, you know. But- in exchange, you have to tell me about yourself. Like, what are you? I thought I knew everything there was to know about borrowers, but then⌠thereâs you.â
The borrower smiled, and told the giant everything they wanted to know.