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your-ne1ghbor · 3 days

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My problems with Magnifico and Amaya and how I would rewrite them (TKoRaT AU)

GOD DAMN IT NOW I WISH MAGNIFICO AND AMAYA IN MY VERSION WERE GOOD PEOPLE AHHHHHHHHH-

Ahem..sorry..what was I gonna say?

Oh yea! Feeling like a long rant again, so prepare your eyes!!!💀

Sooo, I kinda have been off putting stuff again since I had school work and a bunch of ideas like this one, so I decided to just share it so I don't loose the idea (ik I can write it down but idk I felt like sharing it). Plus the fact that I've been more chatty lately lol.

Idk how to transition to my problems with Amaya and Magnifico so here.

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Magnifico and Amaya's Character in Wish 2023

Magnifico

Magnifico in the film is...well is a pretty stand up guy! Sure, he is paranoid most of the time and is pretty stubborn, but he is very selfless and a really generous person!

You can say he is more in line with the kings of original films that deeply care for their children, such as King Sefan from Sleeping Beauty, or King Frederic from Tangled.

In this case, he deeply cares for the people of Rosas. I mean yeah, it is weird that you forget what your goal is in life, but if I had nowhere to go and no roof over my head, of course I would go to Rosas to live there safely. Heck, in perspective, you have a chance of your wish getting granted, and don't have to pay rent to live there. It is a pretty fair deal, especially for families who want their kids to grow up out of harms way. Sure, he can't grant all of the wishes, but his reasoning is pretty valid. The only line I could get from the film that would support this would be when he commented on Asha's Grandfather's Wish (which is to inspire the next generation):

"To create what? A rebellious mob perhaps? Inspire them to...to do what? Uh, destroy Rosas, maybe?"

And a lot of people can argue that Saba's wish is very simple or isn't dangerous, but here is the thing. Simple things can have dangerous concequences no matter how small or big they are. Sure, you can start out small, like inspiring people, but it will cause a domino effect that can lead to something greater. Either for the better or worse. And example would actually be Walt Disney himself! He started out small, but without him, animation would not have gotten to where it is today. With his love and passion to art and story telling and taking risks, we WOULD NOT have gotten Puss in Boots, SpiderVerse, OR EVEN ANYTHING ANIMATION WISE. Walt Disney really pioneered animation and without those baby steps, there would not be an Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, ect. It would just be...well...live action I guess. Hate the Disney company or not, Walt helped get animation to where it is today, and it sucks that his company, even after death, wont try anymore to push the limits of animation except for companies that isn't Disney.

Plus, I don't even blame Magnifico for thinking this way! Although it is sort of annoying that his backstory was told instead of shown (not that there is nothing wrong with telling, but showing for me is a more effective way of story telling for me. You can take the little mermaid for example), I personally understood where he was coming from. In his backstory, his home was destroyed from thieves and barbarians, with his family and possibly everyone he knew being dead. Its honestly tragic, so him making a kingdom for people to not suffer that pain again is very selfless of him and just...feels good in a good way you know?

But as everything in this movie is, it takes the good things and beats it over with a 30 foot pole and leaves it to rot.

He is turned into the villain. And no, it isn't because of Asha not getting what she wanted, and no, it isn't because Amaya, his wife died (she never did btw)! OH NO IT IS MUCH WORSE.

He opens up a mAgIc bOoK oF dArK mAgIc and becomes the bad guy...

...What the fuck. Actually no, applauds to you Disney! This is such a effective way of telling a story. 10/10 forever and ever. Great job! :D

(I am being sarcastic, this is legit the worst way for a good guy becoming the villain, its so fucking stupid-)

He is just simply stripped of his good qualities and only lets his bad qualities shine through. It kind of feels like he was being held at gun point here.

"OH PLEASE BELIEVE THAT I AM ACTUALLY THE BAD GUY. OH PLEASE GOOD CIVILLAIN THEY ARE GOING TO PULL THE TRIGGER-"

Seriously, there was no other way of making him the bad guy? Like legit? Simply remove his backstory and make him evil at the begining. I guess it would be weird if he took the wishes without reasoning, but even then, why give him good qualities when he is supposed to be the bad guy? He became more of a tragic hero than a tragic "bad guy".

I will go more into my problems with him after I talk about Amaya for a bit since talking about her character is more shorter than Magnificos.

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Amaya

The best I can say for her character is that she is like Jimmy Cricket but fell in love with Pinnocio (I know that sounds weird pls spare me).

She is like the voice of reason for Magnifico, and it is best shown when Magnifico FIRST concidered on using the book for "his evil deeds". This scene specifically:

youtube

Other than that, she wasn't really a character in the film AT ALL. It sort of sucks concidering what the original concept was (WE WILL GET TO THAT) and instead degraded her character to...well...nothing.

I can't really say anything about her since she just was "I am loyal to my husband" to "actually fuck you I will believe a 17 year old instead of the man I trusted for the amount of years it took to get the kingdom to it's feet." I want to, but I can't. SHE HAS NOTHING.

I wish I can say more about her character, but it would just be me ranting about how trash her is character and was handled. Speaking of that, lets get into why I dislike how they were handled.

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Why does their character bother me so much?

Well it is sort of hard to explain, but I'll do my best.

Magnifico was supposed to be the return of the classic villains. You know, on the levels of Jafar, Ursala, Evil Queen, Malificant, ECT, he just...wasn't. Although he had a bunch of Evil Queen inspirations thrown into his character, it felt like more of refrences to a better film than being apart of his character. Plus, I feel like I sympathized with him way to much. I personally felt more emotion when he was on screen instead of the main character because I understood where he was coming from. Its honestly baffaling to me, since if he didn't have his backstory told to us, I still would not rooted against him. Even without his backstory, it just sounds like he was doing this at the bottom of his heart and empathizing with people who are doing far worse than what he is going through. Its honestly heartwarming seeing a person trying to do good in the world and provide a safe place for everyone to be free from the burden of this world. And want to know something? None of the classic villains had tragic backstories. They are evil for the sake of being evil. There probably was some with sympathetic traits, but from what I recall, there is none. So going with the sympathetic rout is not on par with classic villains.

However, there is nothing wrong with giving your villains sympathetic traits. It makes them feel more rounded as a person/character, and you can get a lot of emotion from that alone. I just think that Magnifico being the villain doesn't make sense since as I said, they made him so generous and kind in the begnining and only destroyed it since "oh wait, we need a villain, so why not make the good guy the villain" and threw in the dark magic book and called it a day. Not even that, but he is not threatening in any way. What I mean by that, is that his powers don't really get an upgrade at all. His magic just sort of turns green and thats it! I even bet that he can crush wishes even without the powers of the magic book.

Going off topic, but making plushie..COUGH... star...(plusie = wish 2023 star) less "stronger" to make the female lead stronger just makes Magnifico's reason for going after plushie's powers even more useless. Even with plushie's powers, HE IS JUST THE SAME. I guess he can now create vines? BUT IT JUST DOESNT WORK. It makes more sense for Magnifico going after plushie when it is powerful because he could see that power as a THREAT to his own powers and his kingdom.

Now for Amaya, her turning against Magnifico is just stupid. Haven't you went through a lot with him? Why the hell did you give up after "oh he can't be saved"? I feel like she could have done a "true loves kiss" sennario which breaks the spell it has on him. Not only that, she barely contributes to the plot at all. The only thing she contributes to the plot is just "getting the teens into the castle so they can free the wishes" then disappears, then reappears at the finally when Magnifico got a little too silly with his drugs-I MEAN wishes haha... Then she becomes the ruler of Rosas. It feels weird and out of place, especially concidering her character MOST LIKELY went through so much with Magnifico only to turn on him when he gets a little mad. It is so stupid. Also, if you just remove her, nothing would really change except the first scene where Magnifico has the book, only this time, no one is there to stop him. And as I said, HER CHARACTER IS NOTHING. But here is the thing...

When concidering the concept version of Amaya, she would have been the villain along side Magnifico. Not as a selfish love relationship or they are together at ones expense (gaining something from one another for only themselves) no, THEY WERE MADLY IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER. Something to note here is that there is barely ANY villain couple or ANY VILLAINS who are like this, let alone love each other for the sake of it instead of a "selfish love relationship and then one gets redeemed " situation (im looking at the mayor of paris from miraculous ladybug). So that, THAT RIGHT THERE, would have been a brilliant idea and brings something new and fresh to the table. Not only that, it is so brilliant that it would have respected all of the male/female antagonists we had for the past 100 years with the company. It is also A RISK. Walt was all about taking risks, even when his company would have floundered at the expense of making art. Snow White for example had a lot of money put into it that if it failed, well Disney would not exist in this timeline so to speak. So taking that risk is also RESPECTING Walt's legacy in a really good way.

I personally just see this as a fun way to explore their characters, especially when you can reflect their characters off of our main characters, Asha and Star (boy), if you want to of course. I can imagine Magnifico kinda be like Gaston from beauty and the beast with some Frollo flare to it (not the lust thing tho but yk what I'm getting at) and Amaya can be like Ursala or Gothal. Plus, it works as a power balance. In the original concept, Amaya was the potion maker while Magnifico does all of the magic. Its honestly a fun way to play with power set ups. Magnifico can just be for show and Amaya can just be a drug dealer (or basically Ursala).

But NOPE. WE HAD TO SHIT ON WALTS LEGACY TO GET THOSE SHINY DOLLAR SIGNS $$$$$$$$$$$$$

Here is the thing: I can get over Star Boy not being in the film, like I get it. We gotta have that girl power in Disney movies now, and they have to be emotionless people. But a Disney power couple? WHAT THE HELL??? LEGIT THE BEST IDEA YOU HAVE EVER HAD IN 100 YEARS. AND YOU GOT RID OF IT BECAUSE WE CAN'T TAKE RISKS ANYMORE??? BUT WALT WOULD HAVE TAKEN IT. YOU WANT TO RESPECT HIS LEGACY? THEN TAKE THE RISK TO DO SO YOU SELFISH, INSUFFERABLE, PIECES OF SHI-

(This section was removed because I went a little crazy there. Sorry about that. I'm not sure how I can transition into the rewrite section, again, soooooo here:)

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How I would rewrite the characters

There is no wrong or right way of rewriting a character, especially when a lot of people interpret them in different ways, and that is completely fine!

This will also fall into somewhat Asha's character and she will be mentioned to fit what I am going for with the characters. I will also leave out what they both do to the wishes since I am making a whole reimagined scene and it is going to include what they do to the wishes there. It will leave out some stuff I had with it here, but I will do my best interpritation of the characters the best I can, even when I can't really say much about it :)

Magnifico:

🌟 For starters, right off the bat, he does not have any of that sort of backstory they gave him for the original. For what I am going for, his backstory will not fit his reasonings for what I am going for, especially for his character.

🌟 He is more on par with the original personality from the original storyboard, specifically this one:

youtube

(This also goes for Amaya too personality wise)

🌟 Something that is very different from a lot of villains is that he has sympathetic traits. Although he has more negative traits than positive, he has more of a caring side. Mainly to Amaya, but Asha as well. When Amaya found Asha at their door steps (they aren't holding me hostage as I write out this specific part guys, I swear) at first he saw her as an opportunity to boost his and his wife's popularity that would have other people come more to their kingdom (its more of like they are seeing their "generosity" side and dismiss the problems the kingdom has). But as she continued to live with her adoptive parents, Magnifico became pretty close to Asha. Its mainly because of her passion to what she strives to be, to be like him. Probably feeding into his ego, but you know, nice to know he cares.

🌟 Just because he treats Amaya and Asha well, doesn't mean that the kingdom gets that same treatment. He doesn't care about the people at all. He actually has enjoyment when he hurts or breaks people's dreams. He gets all excited about it and you guys can ask him why he finds enjoyment out of it cause idk it would be more fun that way and gives you guys the chance to interact with him :D

🌟 The wishes boost his powers temporarily. It fades away after either a few days or hours. When his powers are boosted, he has more control over the people. And, to who he consumes the wishes of, can see through their perspective for a little while. It also makes civilians more compliment with him and not question his authority. This does not work with people who have not given up their wishes though. Only to people who have already given up their wishes. He can also make people forget certain memories (that might be Amaya's thing though but I'm not too sure) and can put on much more longer "light shows" (think on the level of: Playing with the Big Boys, but more flashy and crazier). He can also manipulate his surroundings with images, but not at a physical level. (Like hallucinations so to speak)

🌟 His powers without the wishes are more of what he uses to do simple things or put on small light shows. Not as flashy than ones when he has his powers boosted, but he puts on the smaller ones to "gain more people to comply when they have to give up their wishes", one might say, inspire them to do so. He also uses it to help Asha practice with magic (She can't even do magic STFU I KNOW.) It also can be used to take desires that you have deep in your heart.

🌟 If hair jell were to exist in his time period, he would eat it with no regrets (Amaya would make it so he can eat it without getting hurt)🔥

🌟 When he consumes a stars powers, he legit goes insane and can shape shift like one, but more corrupt with no consistancy to what he turns into since he legit gone insane. With a star, a star can shapeshift to whatever it wants or to express it's emotions. With him, it is all over the place. He can't control it.

🌟 Like Frollo, he tortures anyone who is against him, and will not hesitate to take it to the extreme if needed too (or that he wants to, to please himself).

🌟 What his wife says or does, he will willingly go through with it. After all, he loves her with all his heart.

🌟 He can't let Asha out of the castle often to make sure that the people will not take advantage of her generosity (thats what he thinks though, in reality everyone is just scared of the royals.. most of them at least) or learn-

Magnifico then breaks the forth dimention and destroys my house.

Ah...right...

🌟 He is such a silly goober!!1!11!1!11!1 o(*￣▽￣*)o

(He told me to write that or else he will kill my dog and cat. HELP ME PLEASE-)

Amaya

🌟 For starters, she is much more involved in the story than she is in the original. She doesn't have a backstory like what Magnifico had in the original, nor does she need too. Not sure how they would meet at the moment, but I'd like to think that they met and then were like: love at first sight and became more silly as time went on...including their insanity <3

🌟 As I said for Magnifico, she is more on par with the concept version personality wise. But she is more of an Ursala and likes to put herself as the victim to get more people to feel bad for her (MANIPULATION AT ITS FINEST 😜)

🌟 Just like Magnifico, she has sympathetic traits. And she only has it, because of our main character Asha! She just found her one day at the castle doors. She didn't understand why, but like Magnifico, only let her stay for as long as she did to post her popularity with the commoners, and grew closer to her as she became more of a mother figure to Asha. (Ruh Ro, anyone sensing Mother Gothal vibes?) Unlike Magnifico though, she uses her sympathetic traits to get people to comply with their ways better. Her main trait she is good at looking at the person's situation and understand it well, or aka being empathetic. She uses that to her advantage when manipulating them to do whatever she pleases.

🌟 She is more of a witch than anything. I imagine her somewhat like Ursala (yes a heavy load of Ursala), Evil Queen, and Yzma (Emperor's New Groove) when in terms to what they make. She does make a lot of poisons to use if anyone is getting a little too close to the close and they gotta...TAKE THEM OUT without anyone knowing. She can also use it for like a form of medicine too.

🌟 Some potions, like turning people into animals or certain poisons, requires people's desire. More so with turning people into animals as a form of punishment. She can also use her craft at potion making to have her wield magic for a certain amount of time WHEN NEEDED. (Gee I wonder what she will use that for). It can also be used like a drug, or to get someone to comply with what they want a little better than Magnifico. She can put on pretty shows too, but more smoke themed and is better at manipulating her surroundings.

🌟 Although Amaya would teach Asha how to make potions, she worries that the people of Rosas would take advantage of her kindness and use the skills that she would teach Asha to their advantage and form a revolt to take them down. (Which really, with them ruling, who can blame them?)

🌟 I would say she is more of a planner than Magnifico. She plans ahead and makes sure everything is in line with what they want and makes plan Bs or Cs even Ds in case anything would go wrong. Asha actually gained that trait from her believe it or not!

🌟 Magnifico is more reckless than his wife. Amaya is more so less confronting and tries to keep up their image. She actually have certain gestures that Magnifico would take notice too. And since he trusts her a lot, he complies and lets Amaya take lead in certain situations.

🌟 Yes...she also finds enjoyment of seeing people getting tortured. They actually made up a game on how they would torture a certain civilian 💀

🌟 When it comes to how she treats the people of Rosas, she is as I said, less confronting and puts on more of a fake smile and gaslights everyone that their kingdom is fine or whatever (It is not gaslighting when it is telling the truth. I feel so offended right know! DUDE LADY CHILL I AM CREATING YOU RN AND YOU ARE ALREADY TRYING TO GASLIGHT ME WTF😭)

🌟 When she has a star's powers, I feel like it would let her create whatever the fuck she wants at an insanity level. Wishing stars create items that would help users on their journey, so with her, she can use it to her advantage. Also she becomes just as insane as her husband. It also gives a difference in terms to what they would do when they have a star's powers. Magnifico would be able to shapeshift at a corrupt level, and Amaya can manipulate her surroundings that would become reality so to speak at an insane level. I chose this one since it fits her not being more confrontant while Magnifico is more so on that. She be lurking in the shadows like a cat :3

🌟 How she knows so much about the people, is by her cat! I think the cat would be called Custos. Idk the name yet, might go with the concept version of the name.

🌟 I learn more about my prey before I strike at their weakest point. (Nah that's very catnap of you. Unless you want to fall asleep for 100 years, I suggest you choose your words carefully. Bruh alright lady💀) And yes she wrote that in...

🌟 She is such a silly lil guy...AMAYA STOP LET ME BE SILLY U SON OF A BI-😡

Erm anyways...(she tried to eat my dog and steal my cat. GRRRR)

I feel like it would be fun if it is just expanding their empire for their main goal or taking over the world. Kind of like this song as their modivation:

youtube

I want this to be their goal since it kind of feels like some of the old Disney Villains, for me at least :3 (And I am having WAYYYY to much fun with their characters already hehe)

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Final Thoughts

On a final note, I will mention that there is a possibility that all of this wont make it into the final version. And in all honesty, I'm actually shocked I was able to compose all of this together without mentioning what they do with the wishes, like what- 😭

I also am still debating if Amaya and Magnifico made the kingdom or it was passed down through generations. Don't know yet tbh :^

Also, Amaya was sort of difficult for me to jot down since I didn't know how to get her into the story, and I think I am slowly, but surely getting there :D

I also really tried to make it different and fresh from the other versions and I am very excited to show that "I DECIDE WHAT EVERYONE DESERVES" when it is done (it is now We decide what everyone Deserves).

You can also ask both Amaya and Magnifico questions regarding the info you know about them now and about how they feel with the other versions of them if you want to of course (and I can show off their designs HEHHEH)

And yes...I had too much fun with writing out how they would interact with the post. DW, they wont interact here in the Final Thoughts section hehe ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I might also do a post on Asha since I have been pretty quiet on her character design/rewrite and another post about Star Boy since I wanna get more in depth with the ideas of Wishing Stars in my AU.

Speaking of Au...

what to call this AU of mine hmmmmm

I'll go with The Kingdom of Roses and Thorns, or TKoRaT. Feels fitting to me, at least for what I am going for story wise and character wise. Might change it since I can't stick with one thing, but rn it rolls off the tongue nicely.

Until then, I hope you have a great day and I hope Magnifico and Amaya don't steal your dreams 💀

@oh-shtars @annymation @chillwildwave @signed-sapphire

(They are thinking of working with your versions of Magnifico and Amaya oh boy not good 💀)

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bearsinpotatosacks · 6 months

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It Must Be Difficult (Dealing with the Concequences of Your Own Actions) - Whumptober2023

People don't change, time does

Summer was nice in Hawkins, she thought, staring at the blue sky. Not California nice, sandy beaches, surfboards and ice cream. It was vibrant green trees against the cloudless sky, hiking in the woods and barbecues in backyards. Also Steve had a pool, which helped.

Black suited a blue sky and emerald trees. So did the church, brown brick with a full garden of flowers out front. Picturesque and manicured. It was a shame it was for a funeral, and not even for anyone good or pretty. Billy didn’t like flowers, or anything that wasn’t his car, himself or heavy metal. Although now she was wondering if he’d even loved himself.

The ceremony had been insufferable. Stuffy air filled the room and not from the heat. There was an arbitrary picture of Billy next to an open casket, they’d cleaned up his body enough that with a suit, his prom suit, it almost wasn’t like he’d been killed by a monster from another dimension that he’d helped to create.

For day 20 of @whumptober . Also on AO3

Words: 3768

She didn’t know why she was doing this at night, it wasn’t like she’d get in trouble, Neil hadn’t involved her in any of the funeral arrangements, even when he made all the wrong decisions. Billy was going to hate it. It wasn’t exactly all to boost Neil’s ego but it mostly was, make him out to be a loving father who’d lost his only son. Not a dad who regularly beat up his own kid for stepping a toe out of line.

“Are you sure about this?” Lucas asked behind her.

The party were on their bikes, they’d been out all day, trying to forget the horrors they’d seen over the past week. She’d have to go home soon, not that she wanted to. Neil was crying, honest to god crying, like she��d never seen. Her mum was frozen in place working automatically as if nothing had changed, but she could see in the way she moved that she was frozen in shock too.

Max felt sick a lot. Guilt, trauma. The idea that she couldn’t tell anyone how he actually died, Neil just had to live with ‘he saved me and my friends from a mall fire’ and how he went on and on about how he’d been stupid to go in there, they all had. He hadn’t quite stepped over to ‘if you hadn’t gone in there, he wouldn’t be dead’ but she could sense it coming. If she thought the house was tense before, then it definitely was now.

“It’s worth a try, right?” She said, posting the invitation into the letter box and getting back on her bike.

Lucas just shrugged, “My mom says you can stay around again if it helps.”

“So did my mom.” Added Will, El was on the back of his bike, staying with Joyce until further notice.

If there was anyone who was sharing her grief right now, it was her. Although her relationship with Hopper had been much better and less complicated, they still lost people to the same fight, still wondered if they could’ve done better, fought better to save them. She tried to tell herself that she would’ve died but that didn’t seem too bad at the moment, with how much her mum and Neil were arguing.

“And mine.” said Mike.

Dustin nodded. It was great to have such supportive friends, sometimes that house felt claustrophobic, but others it was comforting. It was the only place she really had to feel connected to Billy. His things were there, his camaro had been sold off to someone and they were miles away from California, so it was the only place to go if she wanted to remember and grieve without shame. Sometimes she woke up in his bed of all places.

“Thanks guys but I think I’ll go home,”

“As long as you’re sure,” Lucas added.

She nodded. She’d gotten most of Billy’s things after he’d died, all his music and books and random shit filling up the spaces. They weren’t sure what to do with his clothes. That had made her break down, because she could always keep the music, she actually liked some of the heavier stuff he played, and he didn’t have many books. But his clothes were so uniquely him that didn’t know how she could get rid of them, even if they were of no use to her otherwise.

She just nodded and began to cycle away. She couldn’t look back, she knew she couldn’t because they all looked so worried. Worried about her, worried about the fact that she just sent off that invitation, worried about her going home. They didn’t need to worry, she told herself, she could handle herself.

Neil had cried more. Maybe all of those tears he’d saved up and put out as anger had finally come out in waterfalls. Her mum had stayed still, as per usual when it came to Billy, she wasn’t sure if it was some kind of guilt or relief that he was dead that made her so statue-like but something was making her more and more absent recently, even to her.

They’d sang some hymns that Billy would’ve hated. The Priest talked about forgiveness in the kingdom of heaven and how sometimes god worked in mysterious ways. Yeah, he did, psychic powers, other universes and Lovecraftian monsters were a weird way to work. It was something else that Billy would’ve hated.

Half the people in here barely knew him. There was some of Neil’s family that Billy never talked about, his Nana, his Uncle and some cousins. Some of his ‘friends’ that survived Independence day, Tommy and Carol sat at the back looking uncomfortable. Then there was Max and the Party, Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, Joyce, even Robin. She didn’t expect them to come with how Billy treated all of them but they’d all insisted on coming for her. She tried to hide how that almost made her cry, she knew that didn’t matter.

They’d buried the body, threw dirt in and watched him get covered up. Any chance she had to try again and connect were gone. Even though she hated him, there was always a chance they could try again and get closer. Now he was dead, there never would be.

The rest of the crowd had either dispersed or were hanging around their cars. There was a small gathering happening at their house, Max would have to go even if it was all fake and the memories of Neil screaming at Billy and throwing him against walls were everywhere.

Steve came up behind her and sat down on the grass. Billy’s headstone, void of any personal notes, was behind them. The party sat scattered around, keeping their distance but close enough that she knew they were there.

“I didn’t know Billy was Catholic.” He said.

She looked up from where she was pulling up pieces of grass and sprinkling them back down again. “Yeah, I think Neil is, or was, and his mom.”

Her dress was getting scratchy now. The humid summer was making everything awful. It wasn’t just the humidity making her uncomfortable, of course, but it was nice to blame something else for once. Nothing supernatural, just annoying.

“I don’t think she showed, though,” she said. “Either that or I got the wrong address.”

“Who’s that then?” Dustin pointed to the lone woman standing near a tree behind them all.

The party followed his point and stared at the woman with long, fluffy blonde hair and a black pantsuit. They knew who it was by the way she stood, the tense way she held her body. Sunglasses covered her eyes, she wondered if she was crying behind them or just felt ashamed.

She knew they’d noticed her. Her body jolted upwards and she turned to go. But Max wasn’t satisfied with that. If she’d walked out on Billy, left him to become a piece of shit with Neil then she could at least give him some closure, or was it her getting closure?

“Hey, are you Billy’s mom?!” She shouted across the graveyard.

She stopped and nodded, turning around to them. After a moment of hesitation, she came closer and took off her sunglasses. That’s when they could really tell who Billy looked like out of her and Neil. It was the eyes, the clear blue piercing through you, going steely with that gaze. Her nose too, that was the same, the way her skin wrinkled around her eyes, her facial structure. Billy was kind of a spit image of her.

“I was a bit surprised when I got the invitation,” she said, she didn’t talk like Billy though, it was too gentle, too sure of herself. “I mean, Indiana? I bet Billy hated it.”

Max huffed and nodded. She’d hated it too before she met her friends. She didn’t think Billy got that far.

“I was a little scared that Neil knew my address, or I guess I should be comforted that he knew and didn’t do anything.”

“I sent the invitation.” Max spat out. “Neil doesn’t know you’re here, I don’t think.”

She stepped back a bit, gulped and collected herself. Was that a wash of relief or a touch of hurt? If it hadn’t have been for Max seeing her name on Billy's birth certificate, and finding her in the yellow pages, then she wouldn’t have even known her own son died.

“And you are?”

“Max, Max Mayfield, Billy’s-” she looked back at the grave. “Step-sister.”

“Oh, you must have really cared about him, to try and find me for his-” She didn’t say the word. It must be difficult dealing with the consequences of your own actions

“That’s debatable.” Was all she said.

Flashes of when he almost drove into her friends, when he grabbed her arm and left her at the arcade. All the times he gave Lucas shit just because of the colour of his skin. When he barrelled in and hit Steve so hard he almost passed out.

Then the time when he showed her how to drive. When he said ‘fuck this’ at a family reunion and took her to get milkshakes instead, when he let her play that mixed tape labelled ‘M’. She’d never been sure if that had been a mixtape for her or someone else, but she did like it.

“Debatable? How?” She stood in the middle of the group now and seemed to shrink under their watchful eyes. “What was he like, now?”

“A piece of shit.” Steve said, not looking at her.

“What?”

“He almost killed me once when we fought, just kept punching-”

“-he targeted me because of who I am-” Came Lucas.

“-he almost ran us over with his car-” That was Mike.

“-he took his anger out on me for a while,” Max added as a final statement to their bundle of explanations.

Again, Billy’s mum seemed taken aback. This time something broke through her steely gaze and reddened the white’s of her eyes. Was this guilt?

“That doesn’t seem anything like the Billy I knew,” she said.

The one you left behind, Max corrected mentally. Instead she opted for, “Well that’s what happens when a kid’s left with an abusive father and no one else, you get angry and take it out on the closest thing to you, so in his case, literally everyone.”

Her hand covered her mouth. “I thought-”

“That he stopped? No, he definitely didn’t.”

She looked down. Away from them and at her hands. Max did feel sorry for her, she’d wanted to run too, run away from Billy’s abuse and Neil’s manipulation, but she knew that without her for Neil to use as a pawn to hurt Billy, her mum would be next. And she knew that her mum could turn a blind eye far too easily than she thought she should, but she was still her mum, she was still someone stuck underneath an asshole’s thumb and she couldn’t abandon her. She’d seen what that had done to Billy, and she didn’t want her mum chewed up and spat out, angry in a world that didn’t have a clue.

That’s what Billy’s mum had done, though. So while she could understand, it didn’t mean she liked what she’d done.

“Neil didn’t just hate you,” Max said. “He was angry and turned to the next thing he could hurt, Billy, and he got hurt and confused and must have guessed that this is how the Hargroves dealt with their emotions, that this is what love was and this is how the world worked, so when I came into his life, I was the next thing he could hurt.”

She didn’t go any further. Everything about Billy was this confusing, conflicted mess deep inside. She wanted him back because of how bad everything was now, because everything seemed peachy in comparison, she wanted to see if he really meant that sorry and if he would change, get out from under Neil and just be himself away from their shitty home.

But there was that other voice that reminded her of what Billy was like the entire time she’d known him. She didn’t entirely believe that if he’d lived, he would’ve changed. What if he’d only apologised because he’d been dying with a dirty conscience? If he’d have lived, all the evidence suggested that he’d be the same, now even more traumatised by being possessed by some monster he didn’t know anything about. They’d had good moments but they’d been few and far between.

“He hurt you?” Billy’s mum was just looking more and more horrified by the second.

“Not for most of the time we knew each other, for most of it he was a super dickish older brother, distant, cold, uncaring, but that was it, you know? It wasn’t until we moved here, in ‘84, that he really turned on me.”

With a deep breath, she asked, “What happened? It must have been something big for him to turn on you and for you to move to California, right?”

She was smart for connecting the two. It wasn’t exactly hard to figure out. She just hadn’t told anyone the truth, the full truth anyway, of why the Hargrove-Mayfields had moved to Indiana in the first place.

“It was because of your dad, right?” Lucas said. He was the person she’d been the closest to telling, he was a good listener, I guess you had to be when this was your reality, fighting demons.

“Kind of.”

“What do you mean, kind of? That’s what you told us!” Mike added.

“Well people can not tell you things, you know, omit stuff!” She turned to say to him.

Billy’s mum cleared her throat, “Why did you then? Really?”

Max thought back to that night. Her last summer in California. Rays of sunshine, waves crashing on the beach, meeting her friends at the skatepark and occasionally seeing her dad. She would’ve appreciated it more if she’d known it would be her last. Maybe she would’ve done something differently.

“It was the middle of the summer,” She started, everyone now looking at her. Even Billy, she could just tell. “Billy had been more distant than ever, would always be in a rush to get somewhere, anywhere out of the house but never with me. I didn’t care. Any time away from Billy was time well spent in my book, so what if he barely told me when he’d pick me up before speeding off with a wheel spin and speeding fine? It didn’t bother me.”

“Until one day, it was July 11th and I wanted to go to the skatepark, Neil and my mom were at work and he usually got told to do something with me or take me somewhere in the morning but I guessed that that day he just couldn’t be bothered, because he told me to walk and slammed his bedroom door, turned up his music. I was tempted to just steal his car or some of his money as revenge but I ended up calling my dad, we went for milkshakes and he took me to the skatepark instead.”

It was one of the last meaningful times they spent together. All the rest was arguments with her mum, not Neil, never Neil, and letters that got more and more distant.

“And when I got back, Billy wasn’t alone, I didn’t think much of it because it made sense, he wanted to be alone with a girl, big deal, he always wanted to be alone with girls.” She remembered it exactly. While most of her memories of California were terrifyingly fading after the dramatic events of the past year, this one was like a movie seared into her brain. “But he wasn’t with a girl. When I looked through the crack in his door, he was kissing a guy.”

Mumbles of ‘whats’ from her friends rippled. Billy’s mum didn’t budge. She was his mum and probably knew him before he shielded everything below ten plus layers of emotion.

“I was shocked, but didn’t think about what it would mean, I just knew I had ammunition now. So at the dinner table that night, I told Neil that Billy left me on my own to go kissing boys and I spent time with my dad, two things he hated.” She said. “And I expected him to blow up but he didn’t, he told Billy to be a respecting brother and to not do that again.”

“I was disappointed but Billy, he was nothing like I’d seen him before. Still, quiet, wide eyed and terrified. And he was like that for days. Did everything asked of him and more, didn’t make a sound, almost like he was trying to make it so he wouldn’t exist or something. The tension was horrible.”

Tears pricked in her eyes at this part. Like a lot of things lately, all she could think was all the ways she could’ve done things differently, better. Guilt making her throat stick, eyes sting and hands go clammy. She hated it yet was getting used to it all at the same time.

“On that Saturday, though, all the tension came crashing down.”

She wiped her eyes and felt Steve’s hand on her shoulder. Lucas was sitting next to her when she looked to her right. And Billy’s mum’s red stained eyes bore into her back.

“Neil told me and my mom to go to the movies while he and Billy ‘had a talk’. We saw the Karate Kid and got pizza afterwards, I just thought that they were having another fight, they had them all the time, almost every night they were screaming at each other.” She said. “When we got home there was an ambulance outside the house. Billy was being loaded into it and Neil was talking about him getting into a fight with some other kids on a Saturday night.”

She could see the flashing lights now. Hear Neil’s structured panic and the deathly calm underneath. It fooled the paramedics, and the cops, and her too, for a while at least.

“I believed it, Billy got into an argument and got into a fight because he was mad, he did it all the time. But I realised afterwards, seeing his injuries, the fact that they had to glue his skull back together and the bruising on his chest for a few weeks after, that it wasn’t a fight, he and Neil didn’t just have talks. Neil put him in the hospital, Neil decided that there were too many distractions in San Diego and moved us to Hawkins. And Billy blamed me for all of it, so he turned on me.”

This was too much. Seeing her face, being forced to tell her biggest secret because she too felt like this was her fault. Her hands clenched again as she squeezed her eyes shut to fight back tears.

"But if you'd have stayed or taken him with you then Neil wouldn't have treated him like this, so he wouldn't treat me the same, but he did and we never got close and he died protecting me in a-" she took a breath, she couldn’t tell her about the upside down now. "Mall fire before I got the chance to properly talk to him."

She stood up, brushing of Steve and Lucas' comfort. Firey, just like her hair, as she stopped trying to be careful with this woman she'd never known and tell her how it actually was - to an extent.

"So this is all your fault!"

Billy's mum looked taken aback again. She squinted her eyes and tightened her jaw again.

"Why did you invite me, then? If you seem to hate me so much?" She said.

Max looked at Billy's grave. If he was watching this, she'd love to hear what he thought. Although, saying that would probably cause the upside down to make her see ghosts which she didn't want, so she stopped that chain of thought there.

"Because I thought he might like it."

Max turned around. The tears couldn’t be held back now. They flooded her face as she clenched her hands and walked over to Steve's car at the bottom of the bank. Lucas slipped his hand into her’s, stopping her nails from piercing her palms, and smiled.

The rest of the party joined in, all going into their cars but not pulling away as Max found herself alone with Billy’s mum. She didn’t exactly want to leave her alone, she didn’t hate her with her entire heart and soul. It was just the knowledge that if one little thing had gone differently then most of her life would be different. Well, you could say that about anything to be honest, so it didn’t hold much weight.

“There were good times, you know?” She said, not turning around. “When he taught me to drive his car, or took me to the movies instead of making me study.”

“If things were different, he could’ve been the Billy you knew, again, at least a little bit.”

She was silent behind her. Max went to get into Steve’s car, she could see everyone looking through the windows.

“Thank you for sending me that invite.” Was all she said as Max got into the car.

She watched her turn back to Billy’s grave and kneel down, her hand on her mouth. It was weird, this woman who’d missed so much, was grieving more than anyone. Perhaps you could mourn the living after all?

----

If there's one thing that I really appreciated in Stranger Things 4, it was that it showed Max's comflicted feelings, and part of me does know that Vol 2 was solely written by the Duffer Brothers who probably wanted to just make Max hate Billy, but I like to think that she holds both feelings in her heart. Billy was horrible when he was alive but he died before they could've been close, what if he'd gotten a chance to change? And her time before he died seems so much better compared to her life in Season 4 but it's all nostalgia so was it really better? I love it! Also Billy's mum, I basically put all my thoughts on her in here too, she was hurt and ran but she also left her kid behind to become horrible. I tried to foreshadow something for a future Stranger Things fic I've been planning for a while here with Max talking about seeing ghosts because I would love for her to be able to see them as she's died and also is blind so what if she can only see ghosts?

Thanks for reading! @whumptober-archive

#whumptober 2023 #fic #no. 20 #people don't change time does #stranger things #death tw #max mayfield #billy hargrove's mom #lucas sinclair #steve harrington #mike wheeler #will byers #dustin henderson #neil hargrove #billy hargrove #dead billy hargrove #post stranger things 3 #pre stranger things 4 #bear writes

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etheravie · 2 years

Text

Vulnerability

Chapter 2: Decamp

"Look: if something comes out and tries to jump you I'll stab 'em." "Oh, sure. Have fun poking holes in the ground when I fall!" "You haven't even tried it!" Tommy argued, "Come on, man. We made a deal." "I don't think I remember risking my life being part of the deal," Ranboo retorted. "I'll find something for us. But I'm not going out there." Tommy took a step closer—a simple action that made danger signs fire off like a flare in Ranboo's mind like sunspots. "I risk my life, too, you know. Besides; your idea of fun is shit, and I don't feel like breaking our deal just because you don't want to go camping." Tommy's reasoning took the bitty aback, but not for the insult that he knew wasn't genuine (mostly). But rather for the last of his words that made him all the more confused, apalled, and hesitant. And so he began carefully, "'Camping?' There's no way we can go camping. That's something only beans do." "Then how come I've done it a hundred times before?" Tommy countered with a triumphant grin; one that made the taller of the two know that this was a losing battle. Tommy did, too, for he turned his back again to walk amongst the stars.

· · ─────── ·🙜· ─────── · ·

The sun had begun to set by the time more words were spoken. The piebald's heartbeat had died down, with the events of the day having been jotted down almost immediately after entering his room. What little ink was still left in his pen had just been enough even with his shortened sentences, which was a great pain that the bitty had to deal with. Not everything had been captured, but risking his forgetful mind and losing sight of this memory wasn't ideal. Texting Techno would do little, for the last time Ranboo checked, there were no bitty stores out in the wild. Heterochromic eyes scanned over the contents that had been scribbled atop the page. He chewed his dinner slowly, the world seeming to follow suit as he recalled everything. He remembered parting with Techno, quickly followed by the borrower making his prescence known to infiltrate the bean's phone. They had bonded... that sounded right. A pity he hadn't the space to write the details down. Soon after Tommy had tired himself from the endless game on the screen he had stood to bid the bitty a sudden goodbye, but not without reminding the taller male about their agreement. This Ranboo had made sure to write down before anything else, as facing the concequences for not doing so were simply too dire to ignore. How Tommy would fulfill this if Ranboo didn't sent chills down the bitty's spine. Staying in sight but silent was an option, however a chilling one at that. But if the boy were to stay out of sight—quiet as though he never even existed... The summer's heat had luckily lessened, but not so much anymore to make the heat that wafted in any more bearable. The AC within the home did help somewhat, but suffocating beneath a blanket wasn't the brightest idea. This breeze that turned on with a distant hum didn't send goosebumps along the skin of his arm. He swallowed the last of his meal with a lump in his throat, his stomach feeling as hollow as his appetite. He was free to eat whatever he wanted now—so long as he had access to it. Techno had made sure to give him as much as he could to store in his refrigerator. But the temptation of a berry for dessert made him feel nauseous, and the thought of the blackened hue of a blackberry reminded him of the approaching night that would shroud the room in a temporary darkness with nothing but his weighted blankets to keep him company. The bitty looked down as he ascended the stairs, flashes of black and white entering and exiting his vision. He didn't know whether his blackened half freckled with white was better or worse than his other side consisting of the opposite colors. The wood felt cool against his bare feet, and he had half a mind to lie on the floor to simply soak in the shocking freeze. A shame they didn't have a bitty pool. His room remained as it was, which was somewhat of a disappointment. Nothing surprising, but a strange loneliness washed over Ranboo's chest—as though he expected the borrower from before to have already been waiting for him. But last time Tommy hadn't been waiting for him. Ranboo considered this a blessing and nothing more or less and would continue to for as long as Ranboo had the blonde to keep him company until the beans returned. He wouldn't be here forever, Ranboo had to remind himself as he stripped and shed his old clothing in exchange for pajamas that consisted of a black t-shirt and ivy green pants. The cotton felt better against his skin compared to the fabrics of his jeans and clothes of the day, but parading around in sleepwear was simply a no. Personal preference be damned. Ranboo approached his bed and lie down with a comfortable sigh. He let his body sink into the mattress before turning to his side and towards the window. The last rays of light were slowly but surely disappearing—much more than it had when he had begun to write. Time flew by when one was having fun, but whether this was true or not Ranboo couldn't decide, recollecting the day's events. It had been more fun in the moment than it had been after; this he could say with confidence. Not much had been done, but now knowing that there was someone traversing his humble abode—that he wasn't alone, no matter if he saw no one when he looked around or tried to hear any voice but his own. Tommy wouldn't up and leave for no reason—they had a deal, even though the blonde didn't seem like the most trustworthy borrower. Ranboo didn't know whether this was to be expected of all borrowers or if Tommy was the only one. The bitty knew not to judge a book by its cover, but the strange visitor had seemed... secretive, to put it lightly. Ranboo reached out to retrieve his pillow, and once held in a firm grip, he adjusted it so he hugged it close to his chest, gazing into the dark of night. Specks of yellow blinked in and out of view like the lamps on a streetlight, curious as to what lie behind the invisible screen and into the home. Every so often would a cricket interrupt the peacefulness with its own chirp. The sight of a futile attempt to break inside by a mosquito hawk made Ranboo shudder. Silently he sent a thank you to Techno, from whatever distance the bean may be, for keeping the windows shut. "Psst! Boob Boy! Where are you?" The bitty bolted upright. This action made him lightheaded, and in response he let gravity tug him backwards and onto the bed once more, his hands over his eyes. "Ranboob! I know you're here, you prick." "That's not my name," the male groaned out. His hand slid down his face to rest on his chest. It slid off ever further and onto the bed when a muffled voice tinted with a British accent answered, "It's kind of a dumb idea to lock yourself in when you're bribing me to keep you company." The bitty blinked in confusion after he sat upright again, slowly this time. The silence stretched on as Ranboo fought to find the right words for a rebuttal, but everything turned blank when he registered shuffling from below. Quickly, the tall little emerged from his bed after releasing his hold on the pillow. The stairs beneath him gave no creak, however it was unneeded, as standing in the center of the room was the borrower with backpack and all, and luckily, the needle was tucked safely away point-down. Ranboo tilted his head curiously after reaching the floor. Tommy continued to turn in place, gandering at the home he stepped in, and ignoring the piebald that had approached to greet him. He whistled lowly. "Not a bad place, Boob Man. For a bitty." "Is it similar to your home?" Both of them blinked in surprise at each other, and Tommy's sight snapped to Ranboo's at an alarming speed. The ferocity in the blonde's eyes made him take a step back. "O- Okay. Sorry. You don't have to answer that; it slipped." Tommy huffed through his nose, and it scrunched up afterwards. "Last I remember, I haven't gone snooping around in your business. "I was just wondering! You've seen mine, but I haven't even seen yours or known-" "Good," interrupted Tommy. The bitty averted his gaze, continuing, "-about you. I don't think I'll ever be able to reach you, anyway—especially if it's outside. You don't have to tell me where it is. You can just descri-" "So I do or don't have to tell you?" snapped Tommy with now crossed arms. Ranboo winced, coming to terms with his mistake. "Sorry." "Well?" "No-! No, you don't have to tell me." Ranboo looked from Tommy to his pack, then around the living room. The soft lights glowing within gave it an almost homely atmosphere. An electrical fireplace was situated and attached to the wall, shut off for the night due to the nature of the day's temperature. In the center of the room and on a carpet matching the room's color was a coffee table encompassed by a loveseat to one side and a couch to the other. An open archway opposite of the fire place was the entrance to the kitchen that ranboo kept noticing Tommy pointedly looking towards, only averting his gaze when he was caught in the act. Sanctuary wasn't quite the right word, but in comparison to what he knew about other bitties, not every one had what he did. Sorrow wedged into his veins, infiltrating his heart the more he lingered on it. Tommy was his saving grace. "Your room is upstairs, huh? I don't know if you know this or not, but sleeping on the floor isn't comfortable. You're not making me use your couch as a blanket." Realization kicked Ranboo in the chest, winding him, and so he sputtered at first when speaking, eliciting snickers from the blonde whom tried and failed to hide this. "Oh-! You... want to sleep over? Yeah, that's- that's fine. You could have just asked. But how did you get in if I didn't let you..." he trailed off. "You already gave me my invitation. It's part of the deal, yeah?" said Tommy with an authoritarian air that made Ranboo feel as though he were an itty-bitty all over again. Even without this track of thought he was unable to refute, as the heavy thump of a pack filled with one too many items made a dent in the floorboards just with the sound. Tommy stretched in what the piebald knew had to be relief—Heaven knows he would have been crushed had be even attempted to lift it, nonetheless carry it. Tommy rolled his shoulders, tilting his head from left to right before turning to Ranboo who began to say tentatively, "You don't have to stay if you don't want to. I'd just like your company whenever I need it." "Do you have some sort of alarm bell, then?" Tommy asked. Silence encompassed the room and the blonde broke out into a smile at the answer. He crouched down to access his backpack, pulling up the flap to reveal contents that only the borrower could see. The bitty wanted to peer, but figured it wise to leave the boy to his own belongings. There was no telling what defensive measures the blonde would take if Ranboo made the attempt. Tommy continued, "Besides; I've always wanted to see what it's like inside of a bitty house. A better look, at least, without worrying that they're going to tattle on me." Ranboo's head lifted up at the same time he leaned his shoulder against the wall. It was difficult to be relaxed in the presence of a borrower to potentially scavenge from his home, but he had the other little's promise. He didn't want to be too at ease, anyway, in case his guest needed something. And so it was with this silent reassurance that he stated gently, "You've never been in one?" "Fuck no," said Tommy with a chuckle. At the same time he pulled out a canteen of water he took a gulp from. After tipping it down he glanced at its contents before outstretching his arm towards the bitty who shook his head in polite decline. Tommy shrugged and placed it back, standing up straighter to look into the bag. "No reason to. Now there is one, and there's no backing out for either of us." A sigh left Ranboo's lips before he could stop it. "I thought that you weren't supposed to be in here because of a borrower thing," he said. Said borrower shrugged after retrieving something small that he stuffed into his mouth before continuing to sift around his pack. "Nah. I'm just not allowed to take stuff." "So you aren't going to... phew." The bitty was fixed with a glare by the borrower after pulling out what looked to be a pillow. One end was sewn shut with gray thread, and though the patchwork was enough to keep its contents from spilling out, Ranboo still could spot the unmistakable little whisps of cotton sticking out of the pillow like white clouds in the midst of a darkened day. "I can borrow whatever I want. If I need it I'll borrow it." "If you need anything, you can just tell me. This... this kind of is my house." Tommy turned away before his reaction could be seen. "I don't need your help. If I find out you mean that as in pity I'm... I'm gonna start stabbing shit." Ranboo tilted his head. A blanket had been pulled from the pack, and the design looked oddly familiar. It was just long enough for somebody Tommy's height, just by a glance. On the cotton blanket was a cowprint design, and though he had yet to feel it if at all, a foreign longing in the back of the piebald's mind wondered if it was as soft as the true hide of a cow. Unlikely, of course, as such a thing was extremely difficult to do for a little without the aid of a bean. This thought was ultimately shunned, however, when a memory came to mind. "That's Wilbur's!" Ranboo exclaimed after a short gasp, making Tommy stop short. "What?" "So that's where it went. Wilbur was looking all over for that; that patch in the quilt." Tommy's nose scrunched. "He was looking for that fuckin' thing? That was- that was hideous. Why the fuck would he- wh- why would he ever even add it in the first place?" "I... don't know. I think it was an old one that he made before he even lived here. One of the beans brought it, I think, when they moved in. Or made it. I think Wilbur did." Slowly Tommy nodded with an inqusitive expression, but nothing further was commented as his thumb brushed across the fabric of the blanket before he stood with duvet and pillow in hand, walking to the door where he then kicked off his shoes to leave his socked feet to carry him to the couch. He stretched across all three seats, letting his limbs stretch as far as they dare before he relaxed and placed the pillow behind his back. Seconds after was the blanket strewn across his body. Again the silence stretched, and Ranboo felt ashamed at what he felt. Suddenly speaking felt difficult, feeling as though he had to force out his next words. "You're... not going to change? You can sleep in the bedroom. I can out here." Tommy raised an eyebrow. He tucked his hands beneath his head after adjusting the blanket atop him. His yawn was stiffled by a hand covering it. "Why would I? I'll change in the morning, sure, but it's not uncomfortable." "But you can be comfortable. It wouldn't be borrowing. You... you don't have to keep it if you don't want to." "What? Pajamas?" Ranboo nodded. "Just for tonight? ...It'd help me." He felt guilty for such a lie, but knew that he would feel even more so by just letting his guest have nothing more than a couch and blanket made by scraps of a mischief-making scarf to keep comfortable. An old one used for jokes at that, but memories were attached to the scrap of the still soft material that Tommy often felt with his fingers. The half-and-half could only assumed that the rest of the stitching was done by the owner's own hands, which was some impressive. Not by simply the craftsmanship, but how the necessary objects had been nabbed without anyone else's knowing. Thinking about it in retrospect, the answer was obvious. Even so, it still was something to marvel at. Only Tommy knew what rooms he had borrowed from. Only Tommy knew what his closest encounter to a bean was—or to Ranboo. The borrower looked away from the bitty momentarily without moving his head, and his brows furrowed. For a moment Ranboo feared that Tommy had seen through his lie, but if he did, there was no sign of it when he said albeit reluctantly, "Fine. ...You're going to make me get up to get them, aren't you." This statement shocked the piebald into action, his surprise at the acceptance being replaced by a quick shake of his head. He had already turned to trek upstairs quickly. His voice carried through the living room, only just raising above the sounds of his socked steps. "No, I can get them. The bathroom is here—uh... downstairs; where you are. To the left. I'll put them in there, unless you... want to change in here. I can stay up here." Tommy's only reply came in the form of what he could only assume to be a curse by the time Ranboo reached his bedroom. No time was wasted when the door of his closet was swung open. Within the little room were clothes hangers strewn along a bar stretching from the beginning of the left wall to the middle of the back, with t-shirts, formal tops, and jackets being hung. The right side held a similar sort of structures, with top articles exchanged for that of pants, shorts, and matching formal items. Shoes lined the back wall, and on the shelves atop the clothing racks were miscellaneous boxes, caps, and other items long untouched. The dust didn't provoke the bitty's nose when he entered to inspect the section he recognized as pajamas worn some time ago. He hadn't been as tall as he was then, back at the bitty center, and Ranboo would only minimally complain about his height. It was somewhat unusual in terms of bitty-standards, but the only drawback that he had been able to have an excuse for was hitting his head on the tops of doorframes and ceiling lights (in his defense, at least, he could only say that he had broken three. How was he to know what living in a bitty house was like? The differences between dollhouses and bitty houses were uncanny). A matching top and bottom hanger caught his attention. A black, long-sleeved t-shirt hung from a black clothes hanger. On the midsection of the pajamas was a thick, striking blue stripe, and along the cuffs of the sleeves were two matching stripes, this time thinner in width. The matching bottom piece, shorts, held a similar design at the hems of the leg holes. No middle stripe was present. Ranboo paused momentarily to scan the other fabric articles, even sifting through some more potential candidates before muttering no to each of them with a little frown. He picked up the hangers of the first catch and closed the door when he heard shuffling from downstairs, leaving the objects in the abandoned room to collect dust once more. This time undisturbed. A head of curled, golden hair was easy to spot when the bitty traveled downstairs. Tommy still was sitting on the couch, however an addition to his claimed area consisted of a small stuffed bee. It looked like a marshmallow at first glance, and Ranboo couldn't help but to believe it to be a real one at first before shaking his head to rid his mind of the idea. The makeshift insect wasn't moving, leaving the half-and-half to question from where it had been retrieved. It was no more than a plush, yes, but such a size what somewhat of a marvel. Black and yellow cotton made up its appearance, presumably stuffed with the same material. The scraps had to have come from borrowed fabrics, but approaching the borrower and seeing the thing up close, Ranboo could make out no stitches as prominent as that of Tommy's pillow. Instead the seams were seemingly seamless, with not a thread out of place. It wasn't realistic by any means, but it was cute. A childlike toy that could provide entertainment on end for anyone of any age. Ranboo didn't realize that he was leaning over the back of his couch until the plush met his face. Tommy had jolted away and nearly fallen off of the couch with a squawk, glaring daggers at the piebald like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar. "What the fuck, man!?" he cried, immediately forcing it back down and into the packback. His mouth opened and closed as though he had more to say. The words had been ripped from Ranboo, too, who instinctively stepped back. "Sorry! Sorry. I just... saw it." "No shit, Sherlock. Fuck..." mumbled Tommy. He regained his bearings and sat up, running a hand through his hair. This only seemed to make it more frazzled than before, if ever possible. "Are you always this quiet?" Ranboo blinked. "I didn't think I was. I'm not as loud as the beans, if that's what you mean. I didn't want to... uh.... nevermind. Here—hopefully these are good enough." He held the clothing articles to the blonde who stood and went around the couch and to Ranboo to take what was offered, and when he did he rubbed a thumb over its fabric. Ranboo watched silently as the cloth was scrutinized by the blonde, and in the meantime, shifted his weight from foot to foot. Finding a different set of pajamas would be of no trouble, but there wasn't too much that the bitty knew about the borrower. It wasn't necessary, of course, but it would have been preferred in situations such as this. "I reckon you like to stare at the ceiling. Fuckin' weirdo." "Huh? I wasn't-" Ranboo began, turning just in time to watch the door to the downstairs bathroom shut and become locked with a click that enveloped the little home in silence save for the shuffling of the bathroom's occupant and the ever so faint symphony from outside. The breath the piebald released was an invisible cloud that dissipated as quickly as the words he wanted to speak did on the tip of his tongue. This was the reason he ventured upstairs without further argument to the humming that began behind a door he passed and instead went to his own. It wasn't as messy as Techno's but it wasn't as clean as Philza's either. The most prominent mess was the nest of blankets that lie both on and off of his bed, as well as the pillows that should be closer to the headboard. The clutter that littered the desk placed against the wall of the room's window was more of a controlled chaos, and the dresser pressed against the wall opposite of that of the bed stored his clothes in a much more organized manner compared to that of the rest of the room. Guests weren't too common if not a rare occurrence, and so there wasn't too much of a need for neatness unless it was for the bitty's own convenience. His free time from earlier could have been bided by fixing up his room, but as far as he could tell, there was no way of knowing that Tommy would barge in and propose a sleepover then and there. Ranboo didn't mind—it was certainly strange to have one with someone that wasn't a bean, nevertheless a borrower. What other bitty would be able to strike up a deal with a borrower, if notone so simple? It worked for the both of them, and so there was no cause for concern or warrant of wariness. There couldn't be too much of a difference within their mannerisms, what with being roughly the same size. The monochrome-skinned male deadpanned when he observed the state of the room, and picking his options, approached the side of his bed to fix the most demanding of all of the issues within his walls. The chances were that Tommy would make some sort of comment on it, and though Ranboo wouldn't mind too much if so, it was still better than leaving it be and simply not caring about the state of where his guest would sleep should he choose there. Ranboo chose to linger on this thought as he gathered the blankets atop the matress to straighten it after fluffing it out. He turned towards the door to call, "Do you want to sleep in my room or in the living room?" "I'm taking your room, bitch!" came the reply of an accented voice whose volume was startlingly close. In the blink of an eye a blonde borrower dressed in black and blue threw himself onto the mattress that was Ranboo's bed. The bitty, startled, jumped and quickly apologized when the blanket landed atop the figure now occupying what lie below, causing Tommy to erupt in frustrated shrieks. "What the fuck, man!?" Ranboo protested, "How was I supposed to know you were going to be right there!? I just started!" "That's- that's your fault! This is the absolute worst sleepover I've been to. Ever." "You've had sleepovers before?" "Of course," said Tommy who crawled out from under the blankets when Ranboo lifted them again, his voice finely laced with mock offense. Ranboo didn't see the tongue that was stuck out at him. Tommy meandered towards the dresser and leaned against it, using the mirror atop it to run his fingers through his curled strands. "I've had more sleepovers than you can ever imagine. I'm not the only borrower out there." The bitty paused to look over at Tommy and asked, "Are all of them like this one?" "Like... how?" "Well... you can't have lived here your whole life. Haven't you spent time with other-" "We can live somewhere our whole lives, actually," Tommy intercepted sharply. The tone made Ranboo bite his tongue. "And to be quite frank with you, this sleepover has been shit. There hasn't even been any games, or- or shadow shows, or nothing." "I don't think every sleepover has to have those," Ranboo noted. Tommy immediately shook his head. As soon as the blanket was brought down again Tommy brought his own body down onto it in turn. It was then that Ranboo noticed the plush within his hands, but he wasn't allowed to look for long before he had to move onto fixing the pillows if the glare sent to him was any warning. "But then it'd be rather shit, innit? You've got to do more at a sleepover than just sleep." "But it's called a sleepover. I'm pretty sure that's what you're supposed to do." "'That's what you're supposed to do,' mimimi- look, Ranboob-" "Ranboo-" "-I'll show you how to have fun at a sleepover. The right way. And don't let no one tell you otherwise, alright? Especially no bean." It was with this statement that Tommy used the bed to help bounce him up and off of the bed, landing on his feet. Ranboo had his breath stolen when the borrower took him by the wrist and practically dragged the piebald down the stairs before he found his footing, barely managing to find it before falling over and being dragged on his back instead. The truth of this being a possibility was frightening. "Woah, woah! Wait! Where are we going?" the bitty managed after catching his breath when he was allowed to have his arm back. Still he didn't pause and risk being left behind when Tommy let go to open the front door to dash back out and into the larger room. Darkness now had better blanketed the room to allow the curtain of stars to better shine down within the room. It still was hardly enough for Ranboo to make out the borrower's figure, and though he could only pray that Tommy would come back for him should he get lost or be unable to follow, being left behind wasn't too promising of an idea. "To have fun!" Tommy replied with a rage in his voice that made him sound as though he could run like the flames swinging from vine to vine in a wildfire without losing his breath once. The answer made a sudden surge of adrenaline course through Ranboo's veins as he followed the pitter-patter of Tommy's feet against the carpeted floor. "Your idea of fun is shit, so we're going with my way." "I never said my way!" "Think fast, Bitty Boy!" The force that met Ranboo wasn't enough to knock him onto the floor but it did make him stumble and cause his forehead to erupt with a flare of brief, throbbing pain that lessened by the second. The dull ache still lingered when he heard the shrill, wheezing laughter of a familiar figure nearby. The sound seemed to echo through the walls, forming a dome and erupting everywhere and nowhere. Ranboo reached out a hand to feel for what he had hit only to meet nothing but air. He still could see the his lighter-toned hand when outstretched, but turning himself about to look for whom he had pursued, there was nothing but the humid air to greet him. A pulse of electricity rippled through Ranboo like lightning at the cusp of a pond. "Tommy! Where did you go?" he called, not daring to move for fear of straying too far from him. "Tommy?" No new noise arrived to greet him, and the sudden silence was unnerving. Goosebumps traveled up and down his skin like making a maze out of a game of Connect the Dots. The stillness wasn't so much of a concern when it was a slow descent, for no matter what quiet Ranboo heard, there was always a presence to accompany it. No noise was needed for him to know that comfort was close by. But now any trace of it was gone, and with it true serenity was taken, too. But Tommy had made a promise, and though Ranboo didn't know much about borrowers, what he did know was that borrowers didn't lie for the sake of causing chaos or for malintent. What he didn't know he could only assume, for the one borrower that he was able to get close to didn't seem too fond of answering his inquiries about him and his connections to other borrowers. Ranboo certainly wasn't going to pry. But who was to say that one would believe his knowledge about borrowers without being one himself, or having one nearby to verify his honesty? Who was he to believe himself? It was within the walls. It was faint at first; only just audible above the sounds of the creatures of night that wandered outdoors. It was difficult to hear anything otherwise, try as the bitty might to strain to hear anything. The longer he tried to listen the more his headache grew and uncertainty bubbled and brewed within his abdomen. The shadows had not yet infiltrated his throat yet he could feel them begin to constrict his airway like a serpent-woven necklace. Borrowers were supposed to stay silent, weren't they? Tommy was boisterous and energetic—it would be impossible not to hear him. He would be louder. The sounds of night refused to release its hold on the piebald, refusing to help matters, and the more Ranboo counted the seconds, the more the cacophany of cicadas started to sound like shrill static that rose and rose into an uproar of an encore. It was not yet deafening but he knew it to be growing louder and louder. "Oh, for the love of..." he thought he heard a muffled voice say. He opened his eyes that had managed to shut, and in doing so the night, too, began to waver and shift. Again something swung, all but mere inches away from sending him barreling down once more. Ranboo's breath hitched when his wrist was gripped again, this time harsher and tighter. Although disoriented he followed where he was led, though this led to him tripping in the process when entering wherever Tommy had gone to in Ranboo's time of losing track. The latter's heart was too occupied in trying to beat out of his chest when he heard Tommy's laughter, and the bitty's only tell that it wasn't in a mocking manner was how quick the blonde was to extend his hand to help the other back up albeit with more chuckles. "If you need a light to get around I'm going to be pissed," said Tommy with a tone that Ranboo couldn't place. He reached up and took the borrower's hand in his own, and almost immediately after his assistance Tommy let go to put his own hand against the wall, trailing as he started to walk towards a direction Ranboo didn't know. "Now I know you weren't lying." Ranboo put a hand to his head, hoping the action would stabilize his mind and calm his heart that lingered with the static electricity of the previous moment's rising panic. The new area they lingered at was by no means any brighter, but at the very least it seemed much more tighter and compact, judging by how cramped his limbs felt when he attempted to spread them out. The sounds of Tommy's footsteps, too, sounded much closer yet so far away, as though they had entered the cavern that was beneath Techno's bed. But such a place didn't echo. Such a place wasn't cramped. The bitty made haste in hurrying his pace to catch up with the borrower that was moving with a swift, expert ease that made Ranboo somewhat envious. "Lie about what?" began the piebald, wincing once when he heard his own voice resound and reach him from everywhere at once. The insects from the outdoors and the ever so silent thrum of the air conditioner had become but muffled music that vibrated the walls. Their steps were war drums within Wonderland. He never did put too much thought into what lie within the walls of the home he dwelled in—there was no reason for such a thought. The concept of one or more borrowers living with him and the beans had been an idea that had crossed his mind once or twice, but even if he could prove that there were more little people living alongside them, he hadn't the ability to prove their existence, nevertheless find where they lived. Borrowers lived up to their name, being sly, secretive, and swift in order to accomplish their self-appointed tasks. They were more so surreal to Ranboo in the times that they had crossed his mind. The most of an experience that he had ever imagined with one was spotting them scampering away whilst trying to trek back to their home that lie hidden behind or within whatever common appliance neither him nor the beans would ever have thought twice about checking. Ranboo hadn't the faintest of ideas of how to begin imagining what the dwelling of a borrower may look like. They were just like him, after all, in terms of size. They may not have the luxuries that he did: a little home that functioned just like a bean's, whatever item he wanted upon request (with reason), and doting beans whom he loved just as much as they did him, to name some. As far as the bitty was concerned, borrowers didn't have such privelage to be considerate of the decor of their abodes. Not when it would risk stunting their accessibility, if ever. And so was to the taller's surprise when a sudden light flooded the room after the sound of something encased in plastic shaking. Ranboo blinked a few times to adjust to the change in visibility. He needed to adapt more when his feet landed on what felt like pure ice, sending shockwaves of frostbite rippling from his feet to his head. Tommy didn't look back as he carried on with ease, but with the lighting from the little bulb that he now held in his hands, it was easy to see the effects that the change in temperature had on the boy's skin, too. "About you being a pussy and needing me to stick around," answered Tommy dismissively with a wave of his hand for further emphasis. He took a pointed step to the left, continuing, "You can never be too sure—watch your step—about- about you bitties. You and your... fuckin'... beans and whatnot." Tommy's words were white noise against the abyss of light that flooded Ranboo's vision. The inside of the walls were just as tall as they were outside, but there was no ceiling in sight. Whether this was from the absence of light that gave this illusion or whether there really was no end to what lie within the walls Ranboo couldn't say. But, looking down, the bottom appeared just as intimidating from the height at which he stood. The panelling looked as rusty as withered wood yet strong as steel, but he wasn't about to place his hand on one of the boards to test its sturdiness. Scratches from an unknown cause scraped the panels from what the piebald could only assume could be from years of use if not more, however the structures within the short space gave him more security than what the sides ever could, for a glance up made it seem like a whole new world. Jungle vines of wires stretched down from thick metal branches, making it so that it was difficult for him to discern these from the occasional cobweb that tried to intrude on the controlled chaos that was the inventor's city lying just feet away from the bitty's home. No ceiling was needed for him to judge just how high up the systems and structures went, but it whether this was more comforting or more intimidating Ranboo couldn't be too certain of. "Here. Hold this," said the boy in front of him, and before the other could question the light was thrust within his hands. Ranboo blinked a few times at the sunspots that now dotted his vision. "What is this place?" asked the bitty with a sight that was now mostly clear, though he could still see shrinking circles of every hue wherever he looked. "Did you make all of this?" "If you think this is cool, you're going to lose your shit when you see what else is lying around," said Tommy with a ear-splitting grin that made a show of his own giddiness. He looked more excited than Ranboo felt. "Come on—it's not too far." "But how are we going... to..." Ranboo started to wonder, bringing his sight down from the box that he could see in the sky. In doing so he followed the rope that hung down from nowhere only for it to end nearby another thick rope attached to a plastic pulley that Tommy now stood in. Further following the path showed a metal pipe, and along this brought Ranboo to where he stood above the abyss that was once the ground. The world felt like it was collapsing around him, crushing him with a striking ease that beans could lift so easily. Everything around him was built to be just his size, but all encased within a bean's dwelling and away from view of all but its creator. He was in the lion's den who's occupant was the same size as him. Ranboo's breath hitched and caught in his throat when he took another step, suddenly aware of his mind's state at the realization of how far they had gone within such a short span of time. And how high up he was. The pipe was thick enough for there to be little issue in balancing—Tommy had had no trouble. But each step made the cold try to freeze the half-and-half in place, refusing to let him travel any higher. He was tempted to surrender to its commands and remain grounded. "Are you sure that this is a good idea?" he asked, spreading his hands out to help him as he took another step. His grip was practically pulling the boards, and he almost jumped at how his voice cracked. Tommy put his head in his hands and let out a muffled groan, letting them run through his hair again before falling back to his sides. "What the fuck do you mean? We just got in here. It's not that far." Ranboo looked up to him incredulously. "And you built it here." "Oi! I didn't put the pipes here! Just keep your hands on the walls; you're a few feet off the ground." "Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down!?" "Oh my fucking... here," Tommy said, and started to walk towards the bitty who only released his breath from the dizziness within his head that had started to take over. The blonde reached out to again take the half-and-half's wrist, guiding him back towards the platform. "How come you're only now having problems?" Despite the borrower's pull the bitty tugged on his own restraints, forcing his feet to move at his own pace but with the guidance of the blonde. His grip on the panels made his light skin impossibly paler, and the same could be seen for the other hand which was now clenched into a fist. The chill of the area made his bones feel stone stiff. "Oh, I don't know... maybe because we're high up, going higher, and you haven't told me where we're going." Tommy seemed to hesitate before answering, "Because that's the point of a surprise. I've gone through these walls more times than you could ever imagine, Boob Boy. They're not dangerous." "It's not the walls I'm worried about," said Ranboo. "I'm worried about this-!" The borrower was pulled down by the force of Ranboo's fall, bringing him down and onto the pipe that creaked with the sudden weight. He was quick to recover and get to his knees, his grip on the bitty having yet to falter. It was now as tight as Ranboo's was to his as Tommy slowly got to his feet, pulling up the other that had managed to lose his footing and slip through the space between. He grunted, "Come on-! Use your feet!" It was with this command that made the bitty snap out of his stupor at the situation, and after gripping onto the sleeve of the borrower, lifted a leg to press his foot to the wall and propel himself upwards enough to land him back onto the beam. Tommy kept his grip still, expression concentrated as he took his own steps backwards and towards the plastic pulley. Ranboo breathed heavily only when he was sure that his entire body was back on the pipe and safe, gulping in the air like a fish out of water. His chest still felt too tight despite how he swore he could hear his heart echo. "Now do you see what I mean!?" Ranboo panted, exasperated with his limbs wrapped around the pipe as best they could as though it would prevent him from another fall. It didn't feel too unlikely with how clammy his skin felt from both the humidity and the adrenaline of how easy it was for everything to end without another moment's notice. Tommy's nose scrunched briefly as he shrugged and nodded his head sideways in motion for them to continue. He let Ranboo's arm go in exchange for him to walk back to the pulley. "I saw what you mean, yeah. But that's your fault, really." "You dragged me!" "Hey! There's a fine difference between dragging and helping," Tommy defended with a glare. It was he who now carried the bulb, and in its light the smile Ranboo saw was hard to miss. "If I wanted you to fall I would have at least done it in a funnier way. That was just pathetic." The bitty grimaced and began to get to his feet slowly but surely, using the walls as his stabilizer. The cold of the metal was easy to miss. "Oh. That's... reassuring," he said as slowly as he walked the rest of the way to the platform. He collapsed into the pulley the moment his first foot left the pipe, letting himself sigh with a breath of relief in the motion. Tommy's grin only grew wider. As he set down the light and began to tug at the cables strung through the plastic, he said with a tone that made the bitty anxious the more the seconds ticked by, "You're welcome. Now hold on to something. This thing doesn't have a door." "Hold on to what?" Ranboo asked, but his question only went unanswered when creaking filled the room, echoing and bouncing off the walls of the narrow space. The pulley was already slinging upwards by the time the bitty grabbed onto the edge of the plastic box with a vice grip. The pulley swayed when Tommy fell backwards and beside Ranboo with a whooping cheer as the slingshot pulled them higher and higher into the unknown. The wind was a roar in Ranboo's ears as yet more structures passed him by. He didn't dare to creep forwards to get a better look or even move for near of being launched out. If a simple slip made him fear for his life, he didn't have too much confidence in himself to be able to pick himself up from a fall as great as this and rising. The transparent container did allow him to see the vague shapes of all that zoomed past, and watching it all made the bitty's heart dizzy. The wind was taken out of his lungs not only from the air leaving him at its mercy, but from the further revelation of all that was hidden just feet away from his home. More and more pipes stretched out as far as the eye could see, leaving Ranboo to wonder halfheartedly if they were going to run into one on the way up to wherever they were headed. Structures were in and out in the blink of an eye, and it was hard not to blink, but what glimpses Ranboo could catch were that of more platforms, pulleys, and most notably, buildings. They were no more than open boxes within the walls, but there was lighting within them that the piebald had not been able to catch before. A rope hung from the opening of one, and in the entrance of another was what looked to be a trail of paperclips. On another were what looked to be storage containers, but its contents came and went before anything else could be made out. A shove to his shoulder made Ranboo shout in yet more fear, only to get a wheezing laugh in return. The voice's owner coughed before saying with a raised voice, "Isn't this fun!? It's better when you're not laying down!" "This is fun to you!?" Ranboo exclaimed with widened eyes. The breeze carried their voices away, leaving little room for echoes. "This is terrifying!" "It was my first time, too!" Tommy laughed. "You'll get used to it! Just don't swing around too much and we might not fuck it up!" "Might!?" "Yeah! Just-! Oh, shit! Hang on!" A lurch threw Ranboo into the side of the box, and though he heard a crack below him he felt no difference in the plastic that held him. Still the slingshot continued upwards without a care in the world, making the bitty all the more fearful. Had he not been forced to trust the borrower with his life he would have assumed that just breathing would send him barrelling through the bottom of the container. "Oh, come on! I didn't do anything!" he shouted above the whistle. "What!?" With a groan that only he could hear, Ranboo forced his arms to push himself slowly upright. When he turned to speak to Tommy he hesitated, for he saw the borrower occupied with the rope that remained still in the whole journey. Tommy dangled out of the pulley with only his hand on the rope to keep him secure while he used his other hand to take a hold of the other, nearby rope that was pulling them up and up. His efforts didn't seem to be of the best use, but despite this a manic grin was on his face that was filled with what could only be named as euphoria. Ranboo was riding with a madman. "I said, did I do that!?" The bitty was lurched back onto his stomach with a shout when the pulley came to an abrupt halt that stilled the Earth. His abdomen roiled with bubbling nausea, protesting the sudden stillness, and in the silence that followed the stop of the plastic, only he could hear the painful throbbing of his head that kept him glued to the bottom of the container. In its transparency could he see what he once couldn't from above. The home-like structures still were difficult to make out, for their roofs were only flat planks. He could see yet more wires and cables, but the light that now rolled around beside him made it diffucult to see down under. The male turned his head to avoid looking beneath him, and in doing so noted that the pulley still was rocking side to side. It was far from enough to lull him into sleep, for what he could see in his peripheral vision was nothing enough for him to make out but more shadows in a shade darker than the night's sky. A muffled boom from above elicited a shout from the bitty, nearly sending him back to the floor in another panic had more laughter not accompanied it. He didn't need to see its source to know who it was from. Tommy let go of the rope and regained his footing, walking easily as though the pulley weren't swaying with each little breeze. "You didn't—just the pipe it always runs into on the way up," Tommy said easily with a shrug. He ran a hand through his hair quickly before stepping off of the pulley with the rope in hand, making the system sway ever more much to the bitty's dismay. "Come on, Boob Boy. You've got to learn to lighten up a little, man." "That's not my name," the bitty groaned. Still he carefully got to his feet albeit unsteadily, gripping onto the sides of the container like a lifeline until he deemed it safe enough to stand. Tommy was luckily occupied enough in tying the rope to what looked to be an unmovable lever to not notice Ranboo's stumble at full height. If he heard the noise the impact made when he stepped off, it wasn't commented on. The bitty couldn't see the borrower's face to know if he was smiling or not. "It is now. Come on—you're not going to drop out on me," said Tommy, though it sounded more so a command. "And pick up the light, unless you're scared of the dark." Ranboo straightened his own hair with a slight glare to the back of the other boy's head but heeded his unspoken command, scooping the bulb off of the floor and taking more care in exiting the pulley so as to not hit his head on the ceiling. The floor still felt as though it were still swaying when he stepped off in follow of the borrower that he caught up with with ease, but it was easy enough to dismiss with the knowingness that he didn't have to fear falling off at each subtle movement. A fear in the back of his mind reminded him of how high up they were, but there was nothing too major about it. The ground was always more comfortable no matter where he was, but being carried or placed on a table or counter was something he had become used to from being an itty-bitty so long as the surface was stable. It was mildly concerning how each step made the planks beneath them creak, but then again, so did the floors in the living room when the beans stepped on them. Perhaps not as much, but he'd digress. A question came to his mind that he couldn't not ask. He rubbed his hands up and down his arms as he did so, hoping to bring some warmth back into his limbs. His hands, too, had become numb. "Please don't tell me that we're going to get on that again." Tommy snorted and looked up to Ranboo from the corner of his eye. "What—do you want to parachute down? I should have some paper or plastic lying around somewhere." Ranboo blinked. "Like... parachuting? I thought that that was just a thing that beans did." "Oh, you poor, poor thing," Tommy said with a sigh and a shake of his head. He sped up his pace and waved the borrower along. "Hurry up; we're almost there." I'm only following you, thought Ranboo, but said nothing of it when he strode along to follow the blonde's footsteps. A turn was taken some steps further, and in doing so a light was seen at the end of the corridor. But it wasn't the same as the light that Ranboo held in his hands, and with the realization he almost set it down then and there. "No... oh, no, no, no. Are you crazy!?" "What?" Tommy hummed, stopping to turn to him. "You know what! We'll die out there!" Ranboo protested, gesturing to the stars that felt inches away. The borrower followed his gaze and huffed, crossing his arms impatiently. "We won't die. Its been forever since I've been outside, sure, but I remember some things." "Some?" "Alright, alright! Most things. Just- come on, man. You won't have fun if you don't try something new!" "Having fun and risking being killed by everything out there are two very different things." "Look: if something comes out and tries to jump you I'll stab 'em." "Oh, sure. Have fun poking holes in the ground when I fall!" "You haven't even tried it!" Tommy argued, "Come on, man. We made a deal." "I don't think I remember risking my life being part of the deal," Ranboo retorted. "I'll find something for us. But I'm not going out there." Tommy took a step closer—a simple action that made danger signs fire off like a flare in Ranboo's mind like sunspots. "I risk my life, too, you know. Besides; your idea of fun is shit, and I don't feel like breaking our deal just because you don't want to go camping." Tommy's reasoning took the bitty aback, but not for the insult that he knew wasn't genuine (mostly). But rather for the last of his words that made him all the more confused, apalled, and hesitant. And so he began carefully, "'Camping?' There's no way we can go camping. That's something only beans do." "Then how come I've done it a hundred times before?" Tommy countered with a triumphant grin; one that made the taller of the two know that this was a losing battle. Tommy did, too, for he turned his back again to walk amongst the stars. Startled, Ranboo started to take his own steps towards the borrower. "That doesn't change anything! What if- what if something happens?" "I guess you'll have to come and find out." Ranboo exhaled deeply through his nose, the breath doing him no favors in keeping him warm. Dying to the unkown was one of his biggest fears; a close second to falling. None of the beans would have allowed it, and even then, it was difficult to dismiss the concerned glances they threw his way when he wandered one step too close towards the edge of whatever surface he was placed on. And reasonably so. Ranboo wasn't one to tempt fate, nor did he have any future desire to do so. But the thought of the loneliness that would result in declining the offer had always been his first fear for a reason that he had yet to understand. There were many things that beans could do where bitties and borrowers couldn't—the numbers were too great to name, and the idea was dismissed before it resulted in greater headache than what was already induced. But camping... the offer had been placed before the bitty twice now. Of course, he would have rather done it in the company of the beans; with Techno to hold him and protect him from all harm that the wild tried to inflict, and with the company of Wilbur and Phil to keep his spirits high. To go now in the presence of a borrower would be betraying them for a stranger. But the idea of being alone after so long of being surrounded was simply intimidating and unfathomable. Not when the option could so easily be avoided. And the idea of being able to do a bean activity using resources his size... Both sides of the coin promised something horrible, and the positives were impossible to help determine which side would provide the least amount of pain. And after knowing the blonde for little more than a day, even though the bitty wasn't too concerned with telling on him, facing the wrath of a borrower didn't seem too appealing. At least to one such as Tommy. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." Ranboo muttered. He swallowed the lump that had surfaced within his throat, and it still felt tight as he looked to the outside world. The breeze outside was as heated as it was within the walls, and if there was a cool draft, it was too far away within his reach to feel. The diamonds that danced in the stage of the sky were immobile but moving all at once, ever so graceful and carefree. He hadn't had much reason to think about them too much, but now truly looking at their vibrance against the curtain of such a deep blue, he couldn't help but to wonder if there was more to them than first thought. If they, too, were afraid of the ground when they fell. If they, too, felt total petrification just looking down. If they embraced the thrill of the wind whistling past—something that they never had been able to experience before. The thrill of wondering who would be there to pick them up when finally they lie still against the blanketed grass. The roots of what the planks once were tried to grasp his ankles and bind him in place. The weights still felt as though they were there as he placed one bare foot in front of the other, but Ranboo didn't dare to look down for fear of seeing them turn back and face the mechanism. Stepping outside brought him no closer to the stars than he had been a mere minute ago. "Took you long enough," came Tommy's voice. His grin could practically be heard as he spoke. Ranboo almost flinched when a twig was offered to him with a little marshmallow pierced through its end, and looking behind the borrower, the piebald's mouth went agape when he saw the bag of similarly stuffed sweets. "How did you steal a whole bag of marshmallows?" Ranboo wondered aloud as the took what was offered, grasping it as though it were his first time. The statement wasn't too far off. Tommy laughed in answer. He corrected, "Not steal; borrow. A borrower never reveals his secrets." The borrower in question sat himself at the ledge of the window, nearly eliciting a shriek from the bitty had he not stopped. Ranboo's breath still felt tight as he took the other's lead and sat not too far beside him after scooting farther away from the edge, situating himself to sit on his knees. The surface felt oddly cooler than the air around despite the breeze's heat, and the thought of an insect wandering too close for his liking made the half-and-half's skin crawl. A strong breeze could just as easily sweep him off of his feet. The boy beside him appeared as unconcerned as could be; a frightening aspect. Rather, the male looked much more at peace than Ranboo had ever seen him before. A smile graced Tommy's lips as his legs swung in opposite directions like a child sitting on a swing as he happily ate his sweet. His sight was set on the sky, but following his line of sight proved incorrect. Following it, Ranboo could see the great willow tree that hung overhead and filtered the moonlight like the morning sunrays through the blinds. Stars shone like sparkles between the filter, and the sound that swept through when the wind took hold of its leaves was a melody nothing short of a wind chime if one listened close enough. The insects that sung and flew through the air to join the symphony was somewhat irritating, but it only added to the melody. Ranboo didn't think twice about braving what lie below and taking a gander down; that time would come if the worst approached. But from where he sat side by side with the borrower, it was peaceful, oddly enough. It still wasn't disturbed when the other spoke with a hushed voice no louder than the wind. Ranboo almost missed it. "Its been forever since I've been outside," said Tommy with a melancholy smile and a mouth full of marshmallows. The piebald had to bite his cheek to stiffle a chuckle at the muffled words. "I would have come here with or without you, but... yeah." "I didn't actually," said Ranboo with a huff of laughter after taking a bite of his own sweet. "Ouch." This reaction was in no thanks to the hit in the side of the arm from the male beside him before he reached for the bag of marshmallows to grab another. He fell on his side to reach it and grab its plastic opening, pulling it closer to his side so as to be more accessible. A curiousity pricked at him as he looked at Tommy expectantly after finishing his own marshmallow, and ignoring the look sent to him, looked over his shoulder and around him as he stuck it on his stick. The windowsill looked no different than it did in the times that he had seen it from within the home, but the cobwebs he saw in a not too far corner made him anxious. He sent a silent prayer that its occupant was at bay. The ledge was just about twice his length, allowing them ample room to lie down if they so wished. It wasn't too big of a surprise as he had once expected in the back of his mind, but the scenery afore them was plenty enough. It was no campfire or guitar-filled songs filled with snacks consisting of sweet berries and corny jokes that made you groan, but it was better than risking being crushed by a bean even if on accident. "Are you cold?" he heard the boy ask from beside him. A look over showed he was smirking. "You're shaking when it's hot as fuck out here." "It's not that hot," Ranboo huffed with his own smile. But as he lifted his marshmallow he spotted his freckled hands shaking ever so slightly. He let his other hand rest on the ground with the hopes in keeping it still. "So that's why we don't have a campfire." "I can make one," shrugged Tommy. "I just figured you didn't want to set the house on fire." "Yeah, no, that's- that's not what I want to do. Then you wouldn't have a home." "Damn right. And I'm not rooming with you." Something odd struck at the bitty. "Ouch. What do you have against me?" he asked with a lighthearted tone. Tommy shared his smile. "Borrowers can have a lot of things against bitties. It depends—for example, you're a clingy bitch that can't be left alone." Ranboo's mouth fell open. "Hey—that's just not true. I've been on my own plenty of times." Tommy lifted a leg to rest his elbow on his knee and his cheek on the palm of his hand with a mouth upturned into a smirk. The smugness radiating off of him was more vibrant than the sun. "Well... I haven't had the whole house to myself before. But being alone in a room counts." "There were beans in the room over." "They still weren't around!" "Yeah, yeah," the piebald huffed, but it was hard to keep down the grin that had begun to grow across his own lips. Another marshmallow was offered to him with another thank you to accompany it. "But you can't call me clingy because you're the one who came to me. I haven't even called for you yet." The blonde wrinkled his nose and shook his head fervently. "You're the one who can't handle me leaving once I'm around." "Oh, yeah? Where is your proof?" "You almost left me a little while ago." Ranboo paused after he swallowed, and though he didn't turn his head, he faintly saw Tommy's outline stop in his eating, too. He hated the eyes that stared at him in anticipation for an answer, but his cheek was beginning to sting from how many times his fangs had sunk into the skin. "I..." A flash of bright, brilliant white in the distance took his attention. The bolt lit up the sky in a shimmer of color for all but a second, making the world go blind and blotting out the stars' light. It was over as soon as it came, and looking further into the horizon, he could see a darkness deeper than the night beginning to roll in. Its cotton clouds, too, were vaguely filled with the same shocking message within. No words were needed to anger it in its presence, for any attempt was quickly shunned by the sound of a roaring grumble that sounded as though it could carry on for miles. It may as well have had Ranboo not known any better. Another light took him by surprise, and as soon as it ended, he began to count to one. To two. To three. To four. To five. The second roar still took him by surprise and shocked him to his core. Laughing started at his side, and though his fear of storms was reasonable, it was nothing compared to the next thought that invaded his mind. Tommy's voice was no better. "You're scared of storms, too? It's just water." Droplets of goosebumps dotted his skin though they were sheltered by the overhang of the roof above, and though his stomach let out its own hollow roar, unsatisfied with how abruptly its income had stopped, his dry mouth begged for no more. It almost hurt to talk. Almost. "Water can hurt, but that's... that's not it." "Huh. Case in point." Ranboo didn't give the other the satisfaction of an answer, for the faraway crackle of lightning was enough to send shivers down his spine. Wordlessly he placed the stick down and clasped his hands together, folding them in his lap. He ignored the way they trembled, and if Tommy took notice, nothing was said on the matter. Instead it was only the sky that spoke volumes, for the progressing thunder that grew louder and louder with each strike would inevitably block out whatever was attempted. The next question to come was not one that he expected. "Why don't you?" "Why don't I what?" "Want to be alone. I mean—I get it, sure. But are you sure you don't... like, have a phobia about it or something of the like?" The bitty's mouth closed as soon as it was opened to answer, for what he himself would say he didn't know. It had definitely been a thought brought up not only by himself, but by the beans, too. There was no mistaking how often he preferred to be in the presence of another, and not in the typical affectionate way that all bitties were. Sleeping on or alongside their respective bean was nothing new, and neither was the slight favoritism to being held even when not being carried. But it was difficult to stay still when he was uncertain that a bean wasn't downstairs or in the next room over. He had had his fair share of times in becoming panicked after realizing that he no longer could see one such bean; especially with being unable to hear them. Ranboo never did consider himself to be clingy—not in the physical way, at least. He never did have any preference in distance when it came to the other bitties at the center. He was just fine around the beans of the home, but when they went away? It was a mystery that he had yet to solve. Even as he sat at the edge of the windowsill with a racing heart that was fearful of what lie beyond as he gazed into the unknown only sent alight by stars and bolts of approaching lightning, he had yet to feel anxious about the borrower. The thought of leaving Tommy's side was just as daunting as it was when he was left alone at whatever entrance was shrouded by the dark back on the floor. A feeling of dread hung suspended over his head when he found what he was looking for. Ranboo admitted with a shrug, "I... don't actually know. None of the beans do, either." "I thought you bitties had doctors or something. Health centers or whatever," Tommy commented. He had leaned back to place his hands behind him and prop himself up. His sight had yet to leave the sky. "We have the same fears." "I don't think they always have to worry about being crushed." "Well... it's not impossible." "That's not helping," Ranboo deadpanned with a huff. He tucked a monochrome strand behind his ear and slowly looked down to his feet. It was almost comical how small everything seemed in contrast to him from a height such as this. The illusion was deceiving, and although he knew better, it was still unnerving all the same. "But... I mean, yeah—I could technically go, but it's just a..." He hesitated. A silly little fear? Something hindering his independence? "Something I've always had," he settled for. "It's just annoying, I guess." "Then do something about it," Tommy said just as easily with a tone that suggested such a thing were as easy as breathing. "You didn't have to come out here, but look at us: just two littles camping outside! We're living life on the edge! I don't know about you, but this is something I could get used to." "Sitting on the edge of a windowsill to wait for the wind to take us away? I'll pass. I'm going inside no matter what once the rain comes." "Look—it's miles away. We're a few steps from the door." "Our miles or their miles?" A marshmallow to the side of the head made the bitty cry out in surprise, only for it to turn into a dismayed moan when the sweet bounced off and fell to the floor for what felt like hours until coming to a stop on the ground. Ranboo was quick to avert his eyes, his limbs already starting to feel likes the leaves of the willow tree. He didn't have too many doubts that he would have collapsed by now had he been standing. "If you worry about something one more time I'm going to push you off." "Please don't. That doesn't sound fun." "You did say you wanted to go parachuting earlier. I'd be doing you a favor," Tommy chortled with a grin. Ranboo tensed when the blonde fell backwards and onto the surface of the sill, unphased by the temperature. He lifted his hands to place his hands behind it, letting out a sigh sounded to release hours upon hours of something atop his shoulders. A connection Ranboo found himself surprised at making. "But seriously, though. You're friends with them. What are beans scared of, do you think?" "Not borrowers that carry a sewing needle," Ranboo snickered, earning him another marshmallow to the head that only prompted him to laugh harder. "Stop wasting marshmallows!" "Then stop making fun of me, prick!" "I didn't make fun of you last time!" "Bitch!" Ranboo rolled his eyes and slowly copied the blonde from his action earlier. His limbs still felt like jelly when he rested them behind him, but the adjustment was much more comfortable than how he was positioned before. It was nearly enough to let him feign lying down like the boy beside him. "I mean... sure, they're scared of the same things. I don't think they have to be scared of being killed if they're stepped on by accident, but we're all humans. Just not the same size." Tommy hummed, but no further comment was provided. Ranboo didn't pry as to if this reasoning was from a sheer lack of words or from a taboo subject he had managed to strike, but the quiet was welcomed on a night like this. The thunder wasn't yet anything to stiffle their conversation, and what exchange they did have had been nice to far. Nerve-wracking, yes—a factor that had yet to change. But if prompted, Ranboo wouldn't lie and say that he wasn't at ease. It was intimidating just being beside the blonde, height be damned. Wilbur was the first person that came to mind when thinking about who could challenge Tommy's enthusiasm and energetic stature, but even then he was still outmatched by the borrower who walked with the confidence of someone with no weight on his shoulders. Whatever he did carry with him he seemed to do astonishingly well, balancing them equally to be stock still and invisible. Speaking with a nonchalance like he wasn't lying inches away from the edge of a windowsill. Ranboo's hands still shook whenever he heard the thunder or felt a particularly strong gust fly by. It was nothing but serene where they sat, and yet even in the calm quiet Ranboo couldn't quell the curiosity that buzzed in his mind. He didn't mind answering questions about his personal life. There wasn't too much to answer; he had to be the most boring bitty in the world were it not for the beans that cared for him. But a boring life was a safe life regardless. The little was happy and loved and content, so there wasn't much that he asked for other than the occasional request of more notebooks and more pencils. But glancing to Tommy and watching him pop another marshmallow in his mouth, his hands behind his head as he stargazed... it was awestriking in retrospect. The borrower had built a city of machinery within the walls of the home, and in his presumed years of living amongst them, nobody had been any wiser as to his whereabouts. It was truly impressive, and Ranboo sent a silent prayer that he wouldn't forget to write down a reminder to not let the borrower's presence slip from the home. So much had been revealed about him in so little time, and though they hadn't spoken too much, more and more questions began to arise that he wasn't sure of how to ask. What was it like being a borrower? Just where did he live here, in the walls? How long did it take to make everything back there? "What's your favorite berry?" Tommy blinked, turning his head to look at the piebald. A hand now rested on his stomach and he had stopped eating. "What?" "What?" Ranboo echoed, and a beat of silence passed between them. Suddenly it clicked and Ranboo felt his cheeks begin to burn. "Did- did I ask that out loud?" "You just asked me what my favorite berry was, so probably. Yeah," said Tommy with a breath of laughter. He looked up to the bag of marshmallows and ultimately seemed to decide against it. "It's raspberries. You?" "Strawberries. Even though they're not... you know. Berries." The borrower sat up and stared at the bitty like he had jumped off of the sill. "What the fuck. But there are so many raspberries in there! Besides—it has the word 'berry' in it, so it counts." "The... fridge...?" "No, in the oven. Yes- the fridge!" "Techno likes those. I have my own in my fridge." "You have your own-!? Oh... oh, I forgot about that. What the fuck..." Tommy drew out in exasperation. The reaction made it close to difficult not to laugh, and even more so when he spotted the glare sent to him. If looks could kill he'd be dead where he stood. "Shut the fuck up! I've never been to a bitty house before!" "That's not true. What about earlier today, or yesterday?" Ranboo grinned triumphantly when he caught the third marshmallow tossed to him, pointedly ignoring the twitch of Tommy's eye as he popped it in his mouth. "You're a right prick," Tommy grumbled as he stood and stretched his limbs with satisfying pops. Ranboo's eyes widened and he hastily began to stand, too, before debating his options. He had been mildly concerned that he had truly offended the borrower, and even still was so when he saw Tommy walking towards another hole in the wall that he had not yet noticed. It was remotely similar to the entrance that they had used to venture to the outside air: an archway as though made by a mouse, though jagged in some areas and by no means intended for aesthetic or decorative purposes. Ranboo made a mental note to take special care in avoiding it, for fear of inflincting an injury worse than just a headache. "Wait, I- I didn't mean it-!" Ranboo said hurriedly after finishing his sweet. When he stood he rushed to return to the borrower that had led him there. His heart pounded in his chest with an all too familiar fear. As soon as he reached the archway he started to call out the blonde's name, only to pause when the male in question reappeared right in front of the bitty. If he wasn't nauseous at looking to the ground, he was just at the sight of the fabric within the borrower's hands. He had to swallow the bile that threatened to spill then and there. "You're... not serious." "It's either this or taking the pulley again," Tommy answered with a shrug. He easily walked past Ranboo who would have continued to stare in terror had he not felt the makeshift parachute brush against the skin of his hands. It wasn't enough to startle him, but it made him shiver as though he were carrying the weight of the world. The look in Tommy's eyes made him wilt. The blonde shrugged on the straps of a parachute Ranboo couldn't fathom bring them down to the ground, if not partway through before either falling apart entirely or straight from the beginning. The borrower adjusted the string by tying the two loops together from the middle, using a smaller, tertiary string to secure the knot in place. He wasn't going to survive this. Of every death that he could think of having, falling from a parachute hadn't been one that had crossed his mind. Again he looked down at the cloth within his hands. His fear of the flimsiness didn't uphold for long, for it wasn't dysfunctional. The strings looked no thicker than that of a spiderweb, provoking wariness for even touching it. But the cloth he once thought to be one layer was in fact multiple albeit difficult to see at first glance. This was due to the immaculate stitching the piebald now noticed that brought the layers of thin cloth together, as well as the string. Ranboo wasn't a seamstress, with the most experience under his belt being watching over what stitching was performed back at the bitty center. Such a sight had been witnessed months ago. He would have paid no mind to the fabric he held in his hands that would inevitably seal his doom if the blonde beside him were to give him a "helping" nudge, but the blend between the string and the parachute itself was seamless. Both were luckily roughly the same in color, but it was admittedly impressive. "You aren't going to get it on by just staring at it," said a voice. Ranboo jumped out of his skin and whirled to see the borrower standing at the edge of the windowsill with feet halfway off of the ledge. Tommy faced the half-and-half with crossed arms and a bored if not impatient expression, stirring more anxiety in the pit of the bitty's stomach. "You can put it on yourself, surely." "I can," Ranboo insisted quickly. His mouth felt dry and the lump in his throat returned. He drew in a shuddering breath and blinked a few times to clear his vision of the fog that threatened to roll in. How fitting for the thunder to sing a mourning song. A shame the overcast sky wouldn't let him see the light one last time. "Its just... do I have to?" He tried not to flinch when Tommy groaned, "If you want to take the lift down, then fine. Just let it fall the rest of the way when you get off. But I'm going with or without you. Getting string takes fuckin'- fuckin' ages." Ranboo looked tentatively at the parachute then back to the safer route. Either way spelled torture. Operating the lift had to be much more difficult than it seemed than just loosening and tying a rope a few times, and who knows what he would do if he were unable to locate Tommy and ask for his company should the borrower chose to have "fun" more than once. If today is Ranboo's death day, then he would rather it be as quick as possible if not as painless. Lying on the floor within the walls with no one to hear him, suffering from who-knows-what kind of injury... A numbing, electric stated nearly pulsed through his veins as he put on the straps just as the other had done. Vitiligo hands shook in his attempt to fasten the third string, and spotting this, Tommy rolled his eyes and approached with a beckoning gesture. Ranboo shook his head fervently despite everything, wordlessly insisting that he could manage on his own. But each loop only ended in the previous, and part of him was thankful for the trembling to give way for stalling. Guilt tugged at him when the thought of this display being his only chance to convince Tommy not to go when fearful tears started to prick at the corners of his eyes. The borrower was insistent—he didn't have to stop just because the piebald did. The most ideal situation would consist of the both of them backing out, returning to Ranboo's home, and either sleeping the rest of the time away or being quietly comfortable in their respective ways. Instead the blonde had yet to be detterred much to the bitty's disbelief and horror when Tommy nonchalantly swatted the taller's hands away from fiddling with the string—since when had he given up?—and began to tie it himself with a practiced ease. "Don't tell me you don't know how to tie a knot," he heard the shorter mutter, only sending another pang through the other. "I wo- I do! Its just... I- I don't..." he paused and bit the inside of his cheek, feeling the striking sense of a metalic tang touch his tongue. During the short duration of Tommy's work he did what he could to avoid glancing down at him for fear of the reaction he would recieve. Still could he feel the tention in the air that the storm continued to stir from above. The bitty's own furious fear did nothing to ease the static. Each touch to his person felt like pins and needles that all pointed away from the ledge. The wind continued to blow the opposite way, forcing him to take part in an unwilling game of Tug-of-War. At least the heated summer breeze wasn't cruel enough to only take him away, too. Tommy was no more at its mercy than he was. "I chickened out my first time." Ranboo made a noise from the back of his throat and slowly looked Tommy's way. The borrower had taken a step back, and more dread seeped into the piebald's stomach from the knot that rested against it and the cloth of his clothing. It was difficult to keep his attention set straight when the world had become blurry. Tommy's voice had yet to become muffled as he continued, "It was a friend's idea; pushed me to do it and make the parachutes. Fucker survived even though I tampered with his." His knees nearly gave. "O- Oh. That's... yeah. That's nice." "Sure was," Tommy grinned. "Laughed it off and said, 'Nice try.' Was a cheeky motherfucker—got me back by pushing me the second time when I almost left again." "So are you both just trying to kill other people, or..." Tommy chortled. "No—just after each other. But- look. The moral of the story is that it wasn't that bad. The hard part is getting back up." "Of course it is..." "If there's a spider." "A what!?" "Yeah, but those times were just because I needed to find silk." "That's not going to help us at all! Do you want us to die!?" The borrower scrunched up his nose in distaste. "No? That would not be very pog- I've got so much to live for, Boss Man. Of course it'll hold us. That's why I always use it." "Please don't tell me what I'm thinking about is true..." "I mean... if you don't want me to. I won't. "Here, I'll show you," Tommy said, offering a hand. Ranboo looked from it up to his face, expecting nothing but judgement. Why he was even putting up with him, still, was a mystery. But when he met the other's eyes all he saw was a sympathetic understanding. Whether it was this or pitty the bitty couldn't care less, but it wasn't at all not comforting. Nerves of what lie below had yet to fade and not make his body feel as though it were on fire with every thought of moving an inch and his shaking had yet to still. "Just stick close to me." Vitiligo fingers twitched as he slowly placed his hand into Tommy's, in which the borrower tightened his grip and practically dragged him closer to the edge. Almost immediately Ranboo froze, causing the blonde to grunt when now neither of them refused to move. Tommy looked over to the bitty and huffed, loosening his grip. Ranboo's muscles fought not to be tense. "Come on. You'll be fine." "If I die, can you tell Techno that I want alliums?" Tommy visibly tensed and tightened his grip again as Ranboo was pulled to the edge. He heard his heart beat when he dared to lean over. Looking down made everything seem so small and just his size had they not been feet up in the air with nothing but a thin board for them to stand on. Hundreds of thousands of creatures were down there, and any one would be just as dangerous as the next or the last. A hand in his own prevented him from bolting away, for his limbs felt like limp steel. He nearly missed what was said when Tommy began, "When you go, you want to keep the chute tucked as close to your chest as possible, alright? Don't let it catch anything or else it'll fuck up your direction." He pulled the cloth close to himself for emphasis. If his pause was to wait for an answer, it wasn't recieved. "It's when you start to feel the wind pick up that you'll let it go. Just lean towards whatever direction you want to go, but try to maneuver the chute to the way the wind is blowing." "What if we land?" Ranboo asked quietly. "When," Tommy corrected. "You want a- a wide berth to run, otherwise you'll run into a wall or rock or whatever." The borrower grinned at the look given to him from the bitty, and without regard to what his explanation entailed he dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Just stay as close to me as you can, alright?" "I- I... don't..." the piebald began, shrinking in on himself. The ground that was hundreds of feet away would soon become inches and then centimeters and then he would be there, but whether standing or lying flat on his face he could only pray for the former, as chances were the latter would result in him escaping with not so pleasant injuries should he still be breathing. Because no "camping trip" involved parachuting. No camping trip involved jumping to their death. No camping trip involved- "Geronimo!" A scream ripped from the piebald's throat and split the sky when he felt his feet leave the platform of safety, leaving him at the mercy of the wind. He could barely hear Tommy's shouts from beside him, and along with them came wheezing laughs. His mouth was spread wide with a grin, and he spotted little tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. Trails of them ran down Ranboo's own, and not simply from the wind that now seemed to try and push him back up to safety. It wasn't merciful against the gravity as it took them both and down towards the grass-covered ground. "Look up!" Ranboo's shouts grew louder when Tommy tugged his wrist, eliciting even louder laughter. How the blonde could do such a thing so easily and carefree Ranboo still didn't know—only a phsycopath would find jumping to his death entertaining. If Ranboo himself was going to die, then he could at least humor the borrower and make his last moments memorable. It was with this train of thought that the piebald tilted his head up and subesquently widened his eyes despite the faucet of tears that flowed and were promptly swept by the wind that battered his clothes and his hair. As him and Tommy fell from the second story they watched the moonlight filter through the leaves of the willow. Stars shone like sparkles and fireworks, and in the flashes of lightning that lit up the sky was a spotlight that flickered in and out of view. It wasn't blinding, but rather only appalling. The wind had again taken his breath away from him yet again, for as he traced his vision further and further down, he let himself look around as best he could. The house, sky, and everything afore him was falling, too. Suspended between the Earth and the sky, Ranboo felt almost weightless. His heart had sunk into his stomach and yet it fluttered with an undiscovered thrill now exiting his throat in the form of screams with the subconscious prayer that it would save him. But the borrower beside him had yet to remove his hand from his freckled wrist, and the bitty was certain that this was one of the only things keeping him from drifting away and crashing into the side of the home. "Are you ready!?" he heard Tommy shout just as he had the thought of throwing an arm out to feel the wind slip through his fingers like sand; just enough to feel but not enough to hold. A look to what the blonde clutched to his chest made him thankful for his hesitation. "Ready for what!?" Ranboo shouted back, the force of his fear winding him again. Each inhale felt like ice and his exhales flames that fueled the storm overhead. "The fun part! Let go!" Tommy let go of Ranboo's wrist to the latter's horror, watching as Tommy, too, released his grip on the cloth that he held in his arms. The wind blew the chute higher and higher into the air until it unfolded and sharply tugged on the little figure. Ranboo couldn't watch. He shut his eyes tight and forced himself to look away, turning stone still. Tommy's last words weren't what he expected it to be. "Ranboo! Your parachute! Now!" He wasn't swearing. He wasn't crying or screaming or begging for help that couldn't be provided. He was shouting a warning that may already be too late. Ranboo would have thrown the parachute to the ground and taken himself with it with the force that he practically shoved it out of his arms. The cloth flew upwards but he still felt himself hurling towards the ground at a speed no bitty could ever imagine until the very end of a cut-off life. Few learned to tell the tale, and the roar of thunder overhead mocked him, whispering that he wasn't to be one of them. It choked him in the next second, adding salt to the wounds that would soon be inflicted. Hands tried to race to his neck to free himself from the strings that tried to bind him, but another sharp pull to his arms left him grasping at the ones that were straight; a last attempt to have something to hold onto. To keep himself grounded in case he were to be left for dead on the ground rather than having to grasp at the dirt. Maybe the beans would find him soon. Maybe Tommy would fulfill his final wish. Part of him doubted it because he could hear the boy's laughter just as loudly, if not louder. The breeze had fallen to a hush. The draping leaves of the windchime sung lowly, only ruffling on common occasion. The ocean's roar had quelled, but another from the invisible clouds left his hands to fly to his ears to stop the sound. Something muffled sounded from above. He barely budged his hand to hear. "-sy. You can open them, now!" It hurt to open his eyes, because this wasn't what he wanted. Ranboo wanted a quick, painless death. He didn't want to witness himself crashing to the ground. He didn't want to know what he would look like. He didn't want to feel what would come after. He almost screamed when he saw the latter, because instead of seeing the sky, there was nothing but blades of grass slowly yet surely approaching. The wind jostled him around not like it had before, cradling and rocking him gently to an unspoken lullaby. With a glance up he saw himself still tethered to the parachute that didn't look taught enough to snap. Like a leaf it lead him to fall and float just as gently as the male above him that was swinging his feet back and forth like a child on a swingset trying to go higher. Maybe he was trying to run on the air. His grin had only grown wider in the time that the bitty last spotted him. Tommy caught his eye and gave a little wave with yet another laugh. The moonlight let Ranboo see a red tint dust his cheeks like he hadn't stopped grinning for years. "Well? What do you think?" "I think you just tried to kill me," Ranboo breathed with a gaping mouth. Tommy threw his head back and laughed. "That's what Tubbo tried to do to me, too. But if you do it quick and get it over with, you'll be fine." Ranboo stopped paying attention. The world had drawn to a standstill, leaving him to stand on a glass elevator descending to the ground. Thunder brightened what sky was visible and split in veins protruding from the sky's grass that rolled further and further overhead, soon to spill its tears onto the victims of the Earth that lie below. Ranboo tried not to think about when he would feel the first drop of impact, fearing that it would only hasten his descent and bring him farther down. The scenery still was awestriking, but never before had he had to depend so much on the air that swirled around him. Never before had it been more merciful but unforgiving in that moment—trying to make him at its mercy and making him swoon all the time at its dance he had been forced to become entangled in. But the pit in his chest wasn't pulling him down anymore—not for the moment. Briefly the bitty wondered if this was what dandelions felt like. Ranboo lifted his legs when the tips of his feet nearly grazed a blade of grass, another fear taking hold. Though falling to his death wasn't a possibility—he was not going to jinx himself—anymore, he still felt something sieze his mind at the prospect of injury the moment he made contact with the dirt. Tommy had to be some sort of mind reader. He said, "Remember: just get to a wide space and run along with the chute until it's over." Ranboo looked up to him and responded, "How am I supposed to know when that is?" The borrower's grin was unsettling, and after today, Ranboo was now certain that he wasn't going to ever be reminded of such a sinister smile when its outward appearance seemed so sincere. "You just do. You might want to go ahead and do that, now, before you don't get the chance." Flora brushing his face made the piebald reel with widened eyes. He only accomplishment was managing to brush it away from his face, for not long after another greeted him just behind the other. Quickly did he try to spot the clearest space possible which felt impossible due to the dark. Reaching a hand out to feel for what was around him was quickly outruled due to the lingering paranoia that if he did so he would not only be caught, but injured. He didn't know if he could ever write with one hand. "To your right!" he heard Tommy call from not too far away. Ranboo's heart felt as though it were about to burst, but the adrenaline pulsing through him kept it at bay. It was with a steeled expression that he turned back on Tommy's directions and leaned to the right. He glanced up with uncertainty when the chute didn't heed his command, but with a desperate tug on the string, he quickly loosened his hold when the wind whisked him away to the east. The laugh that bubbled out of him was automatic at the feeling of control within his hands. An accomplishment so small, but any bitty would surely beg to go parachuting after this experience. Terrifying, yes. But jumping without being pushed just to feel the thrill of the wind and live to tell the tale of an impact not so suddenly cut off. To go through everything so leisurely... to conquer it. The idea was grand. Further to the right and towards the north guided Ranboo to a clear straight albeit only halfway from the distance that he could spot. Tommy had managed to descend quicker somehow, and he looked up at the bitty to grin as he ran. The parachute still had yet to fall to the ground, still uplifted by the air. Tommy's hold on the strings only released when the parachute almost seemed to deflate and slowly crumple. The cloth feather fell to the ground and only then did the blonde stop. Even from the sky could he see Tommy panting, breathless, but with crinkled eyes uplifted as though he could go even higher and ever farther. To say it was intimidating was an understatement. "I'm not going to catch you if you crash!" he heard Tommy say. It was hard to fight the smile that rose on Ranboo's face. "If you do, you're going down with me!" he exclaimed back, poising his feet as the shortest blade he could see finally reached the top of his head. There was a pause before Tommy squawked with what Ranboo could only estimate to be fear, but he couldn't be blamed. The piebald's own breathing was baited when finally his feet touched the ground. The relief was shortlived when he nearly faceplanted, but no heat was felt in his heart when it rose to his cheeks in embarrassment. He didn't have the chance to laugh at his own imagination of what he must have looked like then, because he forced his feet to pick himself up and carry him upright. He tried to run with the wind that carried him along but the weight on his back tried to pull him back, tugging him further and further away, halting his movements until it felt like he was suspended still. He realised his predicament too little too late when the weight fell behind him, doing little to none in preventing him from meeting the ground with a yelp. Wheezing laughter erupted from in front of him, but he couldn't be angry when he was occupied with embracing the ground with tear-striken relief and pure euphoria. "Wake up, Boob Boy," the borrower said as he approached. Ranboo's drawn out groan was muffled but still reached the blonde's ears, earning a snicker. "We're not home yet." "I'm never going near a window again," Ranboo heaved as he rolled onto his back and caught sight of Tommy untying his parachute. His own fingers trembled when he tried to undo his own, and to his pride managed to accomplish it before Tommy could approach to lend a hand with the job. It was still offered for another reason that the bitty accepted gratefully, but was nearly sent back down to the ground when he was pulled up. Tommy grunted at the weight put onto him. "How are you so fuckin'- heavy!? Gangly- fuck." "You just answered your own question," Ranboo grinned. He couldn't resist his laugh at the expression that the borrower pulled with his sentence, and when he was shoved off he only needed a few steps to regain his balance. His head still felt light and his vision still swirled, but the feeling of his feet finally being planted on the ground instilled him with enough confidence to finally pull some air back into his lungs after what he had just gone through. "No bitty should be this tall." "No borrower should go parachuting." "You don't know anything about borrowers." "I know that you go parachuting and steal whole bags of marshmallows." "Nobody missed it," Tommy dismissed with a wave of his hand. He gathered up the parachute that dragged behind him and turned on his heel, and Ranboo followed quickly after following his lead, catching up with just a few strides. Tommy continued, "Ready for round two?" His eyes were malicious, and the piebald couldn't help but to wonder what the consequences would be if he were to hide their parachutes.

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It is with this that I have broken my character count record for a single chapter: 97.2k! This one was especially fun to write. Please note that their little parachuting escapade was written to little to no research about proper parachuting and from scenery in my own mind, however there isn't very many opportunities for bitties and borrowers to properly do this, either, so this can be our excuse.

The next chapter is only halfway to being pre-written as of writing this note, so it's all running along the tracks from here! We're just past the halfway mark—it's all uphill from here.

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This DSMP Bitty/Borrower AU belongs to me. Any similarities between this work and/or this AU and another are purely coincidental; everything written here comes from my own mind, and any inspirations taken will be listed within the notes of the corresponding chapter. Please contact me if there is an issue that can be resolved relating to this.

Tags will be updated as the story progresses.

Chapters will be added approximately every two weeks until completion.

#dream smp #dream smp au #borrowers #borrower au #bitty au #bitty/borrower au #dream smp tommy #dsmp tommy #tommyinnit #tommyinnit au #borrower!tommyinnit #borrower!tommy #dream smp ranboo #dsmp ranboo #ranboo au #ranboo #bitty!ranboo #allium duo #parachuting

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