Chapter Text
In a certain house on a certain street, there lived a girl named April. She was a rather normal looking girl who loved exploring and finding things, but when it came down to it, was a bit of a scardy cat. The kind of girl who really wants to make friends. Well, it’s kinda hard to make a lot of friends when you’re an inch tall.
In that same house, there was another girl, named Claire. A determined girl who just got a certain new house on a certain street. She was surprised to see how well the house had been kept, considering that, to her knowledge, no one had lived in this house in months.
April watched from a window sill as the new giantess walked through the house. She hasn’t seen a giant since the last one left. She watched as the giantess moved things around, paying close attention to her old movement routes and seeing about new ones. A shelf was moved over an escape route. A lamp gives a new vantage point. She looks for more resource opportunities. A new giant will mean fresh food. The pillows could hold stuffing she could use. And one part of her was excited to have her here and see what challenges she might bring. The other part, however, was terrified. She didn’t know how this giantess acted or what would happen if she was caught. Would she be kept like a pet? Dissected? Eaten!? She was caught up so much in her own thoughts, that she barely noticed the giantess walking straight towards her.
Claire was just about finished with getting everything from her car into her new house. It wasn't a big place, but a good enough size for her. She did wonder why the rent was so cheap however. As she put down the box she was carrying, she noticed that it was rather stuffy in that certain house. She started moving towards a window to open it. As she was, something on the windowsill caught her eye. From this distance it looked like a bug, but not like any bug she’d ever seen. As she got closer the bug seems to have stopped. It’s looking at me, she thought. So she looked back. It was an odd little bug, she thought. It seemed to be standing on two legs, but was too small and too dark to be a praying mantis. It almost looked… human. Unfortunately, as she got closer, the bug started moving quite quickly towards a crack in the wall. Claire’s curiosity got the better of her and she rushed forwards, grabbing the odd bug. She felt it struggle in her hands, trying to escape. Carefully, she opened her hands.
April was panicking. She put her guard down for a second and the giantess had caught her. She beat against the huge fingers that have her trapped. All of her worst fears were coming true. She nearly fell forward as the fingers started to open, giving her a chance to escape. Without thinking, she ran out and jumped off the giantess’s hand. Only when she was halfway to her target, the nearby table, that she realized just how high up she was. The giantess was taller than she thought and she still had a ways to go before she hit to table, probably very hard. She flails around in the air, trying to right herself and minimize the damage. She lands on her feet, and her knees buckled, sending her tumbling forwards. When she came to a stop, she was a few centimeters away (or to her, a few feet away) from the edge of the table. She hoisted herself up, trying to ignore the pain in her leg and arm, and tried to make it to the hole in the wall, a way to get back to her hideout. She barely made it two inches before collapsing in pain. Her leg was too broken, and her also broken arm way just the icing on the cake. She curled up into a ball and started crying. This is it, she thought, this is how I die. Broken, alone, and at the hands of a giant I don’t even know. I just hope it’s quick. She was surprised to see, however, that she was not dead yet, and the giantess had not touched her.
Claire looked down at the tiny girl in shock and in pity. She had just caught a tiny girl who was in her house, who then jumped out of her hand and onto the table, and now seemed to be injured and crying. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what the girl would do if she left her alone, but at the same time, she didn’t want to hurt her more by trying to help. In the end, she didn’t want to leave the tiny girl to die, and carefully reached over and picked her up, setting her in her hand. Claire brought the tiny into the kitchen and started gathering some supplies.
April remained limp as the giantess brought her into the giant kitchen. So this was to be her death? Being eaten? Fine, she just hoped that it would be quick. She then felt something press up against her. She looked back and saw it was a toothpick. April wimped and tried to scoot away. She looked up at the giantess, expecting to see cruelty, hunger, or even just indifference. But instead, she saw care and pity. Was the giantess trying to… help her? Maybe the toothpick was for making a splint for her. April winced as she did her best to extend her broken leg. She watched as the giantess snapped the pick in half and carefully placed the halves next to her leg.
Claire was trying to be as careful as possible. She didn’t want to hurt the tiny girl even more. She carefully placed the broken toothpicks near the tiny girl (the existence of which she still wasn’t over.) and grabbed the strip of tape. As carefully as possible, she bound the tiny girl’s leg in a makeshift splint. She said a quick “sorry” as the tiny let out a gasp of pain. Even being as careful as she is, Claire’s little finger was still bigger than this tiny girl. Once finished, she pulled her hands back and let the girl recover.
April did her best to see the giantess’s handiwork. She sighed, as this would make her immobile for about half a season, and pretty much eliminated her escape options. Her arm still needed tending to, and if she could make it back to her hideout, she could get her sling. Before she could do that, however, she needed to get away from the giantess. Yet, the more she looked at her monolithic captor, she couldn’t help but feel, attracted. April didn’t know a giant could be this beautiful.
“Hopefully that splint will work well enough,” Claire says as she examines her handiwork. “I’m not sure about what to do about your arm, though.”
“If I can get to my hideout,” April says, “I have a sling there I can use. If you can help me get my sling, I will be indebted to you.” Better to be a giants pet, she thought, than to be it’s lunch.
Claire, shocked from the tiny talking too her, nods. She picks up April, who leads her in the direction of her hideout. She was lead to the compost box outside, where she found a small box jutting outwards.She put the tiny girl down in front of the box and helped her get inside.
The sling itself wasn’t hard to find. April had been using it as a way to carry food for a while now. The hard part was weather or not she should come back out. Despite her adventurous nature, she was frightened. If she came out, she gave her entire existence to this giantess she didn’t even know. This could be a big ruse and she could be squashed or eaten as soon as she walks back out that door. On the other hand, why would the giantess go through all this trouble just to kill her? If she did go alone, it would be rather hard to live like this, as she didn’t keep a lot of backup food and can’t go out crippled like this. As she secured her arm in the sling, she made her decision.
Claire waited patiently outside the tiny girl’s house. She was finally taking this all in. Not only had she moved into a new house, but an inch tall girl was living here before her, then broke her limbs trying to get away, and because Claire was helping her, the tiny was indebted to her in some way. Claire just wondered what the tiny girl was to do after all this way done. What was this debt she was talking about? As she wondered, she saw the tiny girl walk out of the house. She knelt down to hear her better.
“As you have helped me,” says April, “I am now in your debt. Do with me as you will.” She was ready to take whatever the giantess was willing to put her through. Whatever it was, it was better than starving to death or being picked off by a bird. She held her head down, waiting for the giantess’s first move.
“Well first,” says Claire, “I think I would like to know your name. I don’t want to keep calling you ‘the tiny girl’. I’m Claire.”
“My name is April,” she says.
“And second,” Claire follows, “What does this whole debt thing mean?”
April hesitates, and says, “In short, I now belong to you. You may do with me as you wish.”
“Well then, I then want you to rest and heal,” says Claire, “If you want to help me, you can’t do much like that.”
And so April did rest and heal. And through the rest of the season, April and Claire grew very close. April never left Claire’s side, and Claire was never without April. April was true to Claire’s wishes, and Claire was very careful with her new companion. And in that certain house on that certain street, there was something blooming between it’s tenant and it’s tiny.
But those are stories for another time.