Tiny Witch Cottage

You see a lot of art and stories with borrowers/fairies/etc riding or taming mice, rats, crows, hawks, etc - and don't get me wrong I love those - but I feel like there's not enough art or writing of borrowers interacting with bugs.

Just think of how many spiders you find in your home on a regular basis. Think of how many other bugs are crawling in your walls and void spaces. Think of how many bugs are in a square meter of your yard. I have to imagine that borrowers, especially if outside, would constantly be running into critters.

Consider the following:

Picking aphids off crops. It's probably like a human plucking grapes off a vine, except they can move and have legs. If you're very patient you might get a ladybug to eat one out of your hand

Going into your dug-out cellar and there's 3 hibernating woolly bear caterpillars just curled up in a corner somehow

Trying to get back into your house at night but the humans left a light on and there's one of those giant silk moths in your way and even though it's literally harmless you're too scared to shoo it because it's bigger than you

Keeping a wolf spider as a pet in your house. It darts across your floors at all hours, keeping your home pest free. But sometimes it just jumps on you out of nowhere

Maybe they just use citric acid a lot and gave grown accustomed to sourness (you can use it to preserve, as a cleaner, antibacterial etc...) or maybe it's just borrower catnip.

• the sentence “I like holding you like this”

• the giant asking “can i hold you?”

• the giant brushing the tinies arm with their thumb.

• tinies being just as facinated with the giant as the giant is with them.

• the giant looming over the tiny while the tiny is in awe over them.

•giants giving big fat cheek kisses to tinies

•giants giving the softest most delicate kisses to tinies

•giants absolutely smothering their tiny with kisses

giant lying down on the couch, tiny resting on their chest watching the movie displayed on the laptop like a theater screen in front of them. the giant, however, has a hard time focusing on anything but the way that their friend/partner rises and falls ever slightly with every breath they take

alternatively, giant sitting up on the couch facing a widescreen TV. to the giant, it isn't anything special, but to the tiny craddled in the crook of their shoulder, the screen takes up so much of their vision, the characters larger than life.

the giant scoops a handful of buttery popcorn, and without any thought at all plucks one out and raises it to the tiny on their shoulder, who accepts it with both hands.

maybe they're watching a cheesy romcom, and with each heartfelt confession from the screen, the tiny on their friend/partner's shoulder can feel a warm blush start to creep up under them. (perhaps mercilessly teasing them about it). maybe the giant hears a near imperceptable wistful sigh or squeeful giggle next to their ear, and has to focus very hard not to crack into a huge smile. (or maybe they also tease them about it)

maybe they're watching a tense horror movie, and with each dread built jumpscare, the giant can feel the tiny curl up closer to their neck. the giant has to be very, very careful of not startling too hard or they might send the tiny toppling towards the couch. in the end, the giant gently picks the tiny off their shoulder and craddles them in their grasp against their chest. when the tiny rests their head aganist their friend/partner's chest, they can hear their spiking heartrate (and you better believe they're teasing them for it)

Alright thought this would be fun, so i managed to cook this up. Love the image of a giant being super serious, intimidating when protecting. But then go back to being a softie immediately afterward.

Finished :]

Instead of being something scary they could be seen as protectors. Whenever there’s a storm, birds, rabbits, etc. will come to the giant for shelter. The giant can also be a source of water and food! They can use their hands to cup water and hold it down for thirsty deer to drink from. But even for transport; a bear has strayed too close to human settlements and the giant takes them back to the forest.

I mean, in a way, that already happens in nature with sharks and remoras (suckerfish), and whales with barnacles. There’s plenty more symbiotic relationships between huge predators and smaller animals in nature. So why not in g/t?

. Tea .