#minnie lisong

[neonthewrite]

How do you write Chase and Minnie's full names in Chinese?

I haven't got the hanzi or anything like that for their names, I probably should resolve that ...

Their family name is Lisong.

Chase’s given name is Qi shi or Qi-shi (which his parents decided to anglicize to Chase). So he's Lisong Qi-shi.

Minnie's given name is Mingxia. It was a little easier to get Minnie from that. She's Lisong Mingxia.

I have to acknowledge: anglicizing names is a tricky topic, and not everybody decides to do so when they move to the US/UK/etc. The reason I chose this option for these characters is their backstory: the family made a somewhat hasty decision to move to the US when the kids were under 10 years old, for health reasons. Their parents chose to give them nicknames that might help them fit in in a new school/environment where they were already playing catch up to learn English.

[brothersapart]

Official knacks in the Brothers Apart multiverse

Though there are many different stories, no matter what, a knack will always remain the same for a particular cursed human!

That said, here is the full compilation of canon borrower knacks that we have for the characters within the stories. Any that say unannounced has a knack, but we haven’t revealed it at this time! Any that say unknown, we’re still working on!

This list is subject to change as the stories evolve, and more characters/knacks may be added at any time.

Main Characters

Sam Winchester–

Enhanced Awareness: This can either enhance an already understood sense to supernatural levels, or give the borrower a ‘sixth sense,’ much like how Sam can feel if he’s being watched. His ability does not work on other borrowers, the angelic Grace around their souls keeping the perception from working on them. 

Dean Winchester–

Enhanced Tracking: Trackers, like Dean, are able to use their ability to track down their target with undeniable accuracy. There are limits, as Dean can only track down objects he needs. He is unable to apply this to people, and if he can’t conjure up that sense of need, nothing will happen. This is not limited by distance, though if he’s far from an object, he only gets a sense of what direction it’s in. 

John Winchester–

Perception Filter: The ability to be unnoticed and/or ignored in presence and actions. John’s ability is unique, so far as he’s discovered. He is unable to apply this ability to himself, but has found that if he concentrates, he is able to hide his family from notice, even if a human opens up the walls and looks right at them. This allows him to leave without worrying that they will be found, though of course, stuff doesn’t always go to plan.

Mary Winchester–

Terrakinesis: The ability to control the earth. While John’s ability tends towards more protective with his family, Mary is ready to go on the attack. She can’t affect entire buildings like the angels, but she can rock the ground just enough to knock a human off balance, buying time for her to escape. This works when there’s concrete, rock, stone, ect underneath the ground. She is unable to affect wood paneling at all and is cautious if she needs to go over a wood floor. With this ability, she was able to slowly carve out a safe home for her family underneath the ground. Adding in John’s ability to keep the family undetected, it seemed a good place to raise their two boys. Mary keeps several pebbles on her that she can flick at an attacker in case she needs a quick escape. Dean certainly got his accuracy from his mother.

Bobby Singer–

Psychometry: Bobby’s knack allows him to learn from books and artifacts at a glance or a touch. He’s unable to read people, but if he gets an item of theirs, he can know what it was used for, how it will be put to use in the close future. This includes seeing that a knife will be used for a murder, before the murder happens.

Jacob Andris–

Supernatural Strength: Some, like Jacob, grow stronger than even other borrowers. This comes from their innate ability to turn their knack on their own bodies by instinct. While Sam and Dean receive the standard borrower strength boost while cursed, allowing them to lift around 12x their body weight, Jacob is able to lift, at only 18, a colossal 42x his natural body weight. If he was human-sized, he could bench a car without breaking a sweat.

Oscar–

Pyrokinesis: The ability to manipulate fire in limited forms. Oscar would not easily discover this knack, as a fire in the motel room walls might cause the entire place to go up in a blaze.

Walt Watch–

Telekinesis: The ability to manipulate objects outside of their direct reach. This can often cause a borrower to be mistaken for a ghost, moving objects in a house without touching them for a distraction. Walt Watch has taken the ability further, freezing two humans in place and later directing his power at himself to force his razor blade through Celeste’s neck despite her angelic invulnerability. This came close to burning out his knack. 

Mallory Watch–

unknown

John Watson–

unannounced

Sherlock Holmes–

unannounced

Stan Baker–

unannounced 

Moira Wainscot–

unannounced

Side Characters 

Chase Lisong–

Emotional manipulation: The ability to influence the emotions around him, with no need for physical contact. A way for Chase to keep the peace among whichever group he’s in, or, if he can manage to get close enough, make a human tired or inattentive enough to escape notice.

Bobby Loran–

Power borrowing: Bobby is able to borrower the knack of other borrowers for a limited amount of time. One at a time, and since he’s not used to them he wouldn’t have as much finesse with them. He’d be quicker to burn them out than the actual “owner” of the knack.

Minnie Lisong–

Life detection: Very useful for finding out if a human is in a room, or seeing if there is a possibly dangerous rat or spider hiding in the walls.

Kara Bolt–

unannounced  

Christian Bolt–

unknown 

Mikael Foyer–

unknown 

Mark Bend–

Supernatural Strength: Unlike Jacob, Mark’s ability only applies to his legs. His legs are supernaturally enhanced, able to leap high into the air compared to a regular borrower.

Sean–

Invisibility: Though the borrower does not make themselves actually invisible in most cases, the invisibility knack allows them to camouflage and blend in to their surroundings. In Sean’s case, he can cause a cloud of distortion that hides himself and any of his friends that stand close enough. 

 Bardolph–

unknown 

Xander–

unknown

Garen–

unknown

Harmony–

unannounced

Adriana of the Woods–

unannounced

Stan Baker’s brothers–

unannounced for all

[neonthewrite]

Nailed It

For "Impulsive" I just had to return to Borrower!Chase. Chase Lisong is impulsive at any size, but it's a lot of fun to imagine him getting into shenanigans for it when he's extra bitty. The mini Lisong siblings do their best.

There were a few of these in last year's GT July:

Forbidden Fruit Snacks | Fried Potatoes | Minnie's Supply Run

~~~

Chase stood stock still, hidden behind a bag of chips on the counter and several inches away from his safe entrance back into the walls. A bag of chips sucked as a hiding place, though not because of the size; he was under four inches tall, so a large bag of chips more than eclipsed the view of him. No, it was more about the risk of a sound, if he happened to brush against the darn thing just a little bit. That’d draw attention right to his hiding place, and if the human in the room happened to be curious enough about it …

He’d definitely never hear the end of this one whether or not he got out of it.

His heart fluttered with nerves as the human, one of the tallest ones he and his sister had ever seen, wandered past the counter again. He was putting dishes away, not in any hurry. Chase wished he could kick himself for his decision to be out in the open. He could try to defend himself with the reasoning that the human had been in the living room, distracted with a book and the TV playing, but really that meant he wasn’t all that engaged in either.

Snooping around in the kitchen cupboards would have been a reasonable risk. He probably could have found some food in there and never worried about where the human went. It still wasn’t the safest option, but it’d have been reasonable.

Instead, Chase Lisong, tiny king of impulsive idiots, had wandered right out onto the counter, enticed by snack containers just like the bag of chips that had become his lifeline. In the midst of his wandering, the couch in the other room had creaked in a familiar pattern. The human had sighed, and then the unmistakable rumbles of his footsteps approached the kitchen. Chase hadn’t had the luxury of choices when it came to hiding places.

At least the human hadn’t come to the kitchen for those chips. But he hadn’t left yet, so Chase couldn’t count himself lucky. Maybe the guy would decide to have a snack after finishing off his task of putting away the dishes. Chase would do something like that. If he still had to worry about chores like putting away the dishes, he’d reward himself with some chips after the fact.

Instead, he had to worry about chores like not being discovered by the human that they regularly stole from. Much bigger stakes, and much smaller rewards. 

Come on, man, he thought to himself, fidgeting in spite of the situation. Staying still while his fate hung in the balance felt so wrong, but there wasn’t much he could do. Put those dishes away with a little more urgency, maybe. What if you’re missing your show or something?

Okay, so he didn’t know if the guy even cared about the TV show he’d abandoned. The guy was pretty chill, from their observations of him. Built like a brick wall, but relaxed for the most part. He didn’t do anything in a hurry. Quite the opposite of Chase’s inclination to be in constant motion.

The room filled with the unmistakable whumpf of the dishwasher door being closed up again. About time. Chase tensed, ready to dart for the loose tile in the backsplash and get back into the walls. His excursion, a failure so far, wasn’t over yet. He could try another angle‒

A shadow crept over the section of the counter where he hid. Chase’s eyes widened and he had to desperately hold a noise back before he squawked out in alarm for the human’s sudden approach. His hands flew to his mouth and he watched that shadow for signs of what was going on. He hadn’t made a noise, he had done things right (aside from coming out onto the counter in the first place).

The bag crinkled behind and above him. Large fingers curled over the folded top of the bag, hanging ominously just inches over Chase’s head. He stared up, watching things as if in slow motion as the human grabbed his hiding place in a terrifying grip.

All this because he felt like he needed to one-up Minnie’s recent supply run. She’d come back home the other day with an entire wrapped candy in her bag. Her smug attitude was well-earned, though of course it grated against him. She wouldn’t even tell him which apartment she’d found it in, instead coyly taunting him I have my sources! and leaving him to wonder. It was usually a healthy sibling rivalry between them, seeing who could bring home the best take from the various humans they “borrowed” from.

With his discovery only seconds away, Chase couldn’t deny that the sibling rivalry was suddenly very unhealthy indeed. Minnie probably didn’t even know where he’d gotten to, and with no reason to worry about him she wouldn’t be looking either. This human could discover him and that would be that.

The bag scooted back along the counter as the human dragged it closer to himself. Chase scrambled to follow it, backpedaling awkwardly and staying as close to the bag as he could while he still had the chance. The bag came to a stop inches from the edge of the counter, and Chase’s heart fluttered. If the human leaned forward just a bit, he would have a clear view of Chase standing there behind it.

In the other room, a familiar tinny chiming broke the tension. The human’s cell phone, insistently drawing his attention and saving Chase’s life.

Mostly. The human turned, the bag of chips still in hand. The smallest squeak escaped Chase as the protective barrier behind him suddenly swept away, leaving him nowhere to hide. He stumbled backwards one step before toppling in surprise.

He winced as he landed, but then focused on his upside down view of the kitchen and the doorway leading out of it. The human didn’t even look back. The call of that ringtone ensured he’d be occupied for at least a few seconds.

It was plenty. With a grin, Chase shot back to his feet and dashed for his hidden door into the walls.

Nailed it. He’d gotten out of it almost completely unscathed, and already the terror of moments ago softened at the edges.

“Next time, Chase,” he muttered to himself once he was back in the dark. “Next time.”

[neonthewrite]

yo, Neon does Chase celebrate Chinese New Year with his family when they all can?

I need this information for research purposes. It's really important. ☝🏽👁👄👁

👁 👄👁pls

Yeah! The Lisong family celebrates the Chinese New Year with some good food, some red envelopes for the kids, and maybe something in the nearby city if they have time. They probably watch a stream of a fireworks show back home, as fireworks laws tend to be a bit restrictive in the Plains states and I don't think they'd want to risk it themselves. Chase and Minnie usually get to invite a friend or two each to join the celebration.

Happy New Year!

[neonthewrite]

I can't believe I forgot to ask this omg.

Does Bobby have any siblings or he just an only child like Jacob?? lol

Also, what does Chase's family usually do in the day, does Chase also bother Minnie a bunch, like at all?? >:^)

Bobby is an only child, yep. He's used to getting all the attention.

I haven't really given the Lisong parents specific jobs, but they're very busy most days. The kids are kind of trusted to take care of themselves a lot. Chase bothers Minnie like any healthy brother/sister relationship. He has to exasperate her, it's part of his job as the elder brother.

[neonthewrite]

Neon, do the wood sprites have any musical instruments??

Or any other of your characters have a favourite instrument they like to play?? :0

Great questions!

Wood sprites definitely have instruments. The variety they have might depend a bit on locale and the materials that are available, but they'll make things like pipe flutes, shakers, and drums. String instruments are probably hit or miss for some communities; all depends on if they can find the right kind of silk for the string, or if they're ok using animal byproducts (some communities, Wellwood for example, would not use any animal products in instrument making).

Of course, wood sprites also like to sing and hum a lot. In Wellwood they vocalize a lot without any set lyrics. Bowman Leafwing actually has a pretty decent singing voice, though he doesn't put it to use as often as his wee cousin, Rischa Songbird.

Aside from them, I have a few characters here and there that play instruments. Chase and Minnie Lisong have both had a few years of piano lessons (enough to be able to play for fun and hold a tune). Elias Dawn likes to dabble in all kinds of instruments, much like his mum. I'm sure we all know the type of person who can just pick up most instruments and figure them out, and Elias is definitely one of those. His favorite is probably the flute.

[neonthewrite]

Orange You Glad

(I can't think of another title now that that one's in my head, sorry not sorry)

Day 5 of GT July is "Caught" and well, I'm back with Borrower!Chase. It was only a matter of time, honestly. Hope you enjoy reading how Caught might apply to the tiny king of impulsive idiots.

Forbidden Fruit Snacks | Fried Potatoes | Minnie’s Supply Run | Nailed It

~~~

Chase’s failure to secure snacks on the counter was two days ago. In that time, he and Minnie had managed one supply run to the cabinets, specifically the ones over the fridge where the human kept things like rice and oats and other long-lasting bulk items. Essentials, certainly, but quite safe and worst of all, plain. There was no glory, no finesse to those ones.

Minnie always pointed out that they didn’t need anything fancy, and they didn’t need some daring story to come with every supply run. But lately she said it with a faint smirk and a subtle nod to the spoils of her most recent escapades on her own, the chocolate caramel that Chase knew had come with some kind of intense adventure she refused to tell him. The trouble with the two of them living in secret was that no one else could witness their shenanigans. So whatever they got up to on their own stayed with them unless they deigned to talk about it. Minnie never wanted to share her adventures, no matter how Chase tried to wear down her resolve.

To that end, he was back in the kitchen with the aim to outdo her. Not knowing what exactly she’d done, he simply aimed big and would go from there. Chase Lisong could not let his baby sister outmaneuver him.

Some fresh produce ought to quiet her down for a while. At least, that’s what he told himself as he surveyed the plastic mesh bag of tangerines pushed against the back of the counter near the fridge. Their resident human didn’t bring those home very often, but with the warmer weather outside they would be a refreshing change of pace. The air conditioning wasn’t designed to cool their home in the walls, and things could get stuffy in there.

Chase’s only roadblock now was to get one of the darn things into the walls. They’d be able to fit into his door behind the toaster (he was about 80 percent sure). Their round shape would make them easy to move, no matter that most of them came up to his chest.

He hadn’t accounted for one thing, though. The mesh bag. It didn’t have an opening like most other bags; it was stapled over with a brightly colored flap of plastic with the branding and nutrition labels on it. The human hadn’t opened up the bag yet, which usually meant something was entirely off limits to them. They couldn’t risk him suspecting anything. But if Chase could figure out how to undo just one of those staples, well, it would simply look like the bag had torn.

 No suspicion, plenty of risk, and an incredibly good reward. It was the perfect mission. “Top that, baby sister,” he muttered as he strode over to the stapled part of the bag.

Their human was out for the day. He had a pretty good routine during the week. He had work, or maybe classes, that kept him out of the house all morning and into part of the afternoon. There was so much time to make this happen, and Chase dove into the task with a healthy amount of optimism.

~~~

“Come on, you stupid…!” Chase muttered, straining at the mesh. He’d managed to free a couple inches or so from the stapled plastic flap. His hands ached from tugging on the thin plastic for so long, but he was so close. One more bit of that grid free of the staple and he’d probably be able to get one of those stupid oranges out.

“Eyes on the prize. Eyes on the prize.”

A bit more of the mesh slipped free, and Chase pumped both fists in the air. He wasn’t done with his task by half, but he couldn’t help the relief of getting past the hard part. Chase massaged his palms with his thumbs, but even that soreness couldn’t dampen his spirits.

Moments later, he ducked a bit to clamber into the mesh, watching his steps so as not to tangle his feet. Once he was in among the oranges, he scanned the pile for the smallest one he could easily see. They didn’t need too much, and besides he wanted to make the next task as easy as he could on himself.

The modest pile of fruit, altogether, was bigger than their house in the walls. Chase spotted one about halfway up the pile that could only be two inches across. Quite big to him still, but definitely simple enough to move, and an easy climb besides. Even with the mesh bag restricting some of his movement, he scrambled up to it fairly easily.

Giving it a shove, Chase discovered that it wasn’t as easy to move as he anticipated. He and Minnie had found themselves with a lot more strength than they’d ever expected relative to their size. If they were still human, they’d definitely be able to push furniture around a lot easier than anyone might expect out of a pair of petite siblings. Moving the oranges around shouldn’t be an issue.

This one was a little more stuck among its fellows than Chase anticipated. After setting his sights on it, though, he wasn’t about to take no for an answer. “Come on, Chase,” he muttered to himself. “Minnie’s face, shocked at your audacity. You can manage that.”

He gave the orange another shove, and it shifted. One shove more and it was free of the pile, spilling right towards the opening he’d worked so hard to make. It’d be perfect if it didn’t also come with a small avalanche of oranges that Chase couldn’t quite dodge. With a yelp, Chase tumbled to the countertop, plastic mesh beneath him and the inexorable weight of several tangerines on top of him. He could barely push himself up on his arms to survey the situation.

This sucked. It didn’t hurt, but Chase couldn’t really move. In front of him, the red mesh taunted him with how close he was to freedom. He glared at the orange he’d pushed free as if it had personally betrayed him rather than the simple force of gravity collecting on his hubris.

And then, just when Chase was about to think to himself that it could be worse, the apartment door opened.

“You gotta be shitting me,” Chase grumbled as the undeniable sound of their human coming home echoed from just the other room. Keys clattered onto the side table. A plastic bag of something dropped to the floor. The lock slid shut. All normal sounds that Chase did not want to hear while he was trapped in a mesh bag under a bunch of oranges.

He squirmed with renewed energy, shifting his legs to free them from under the fruit. He didn’t have a lot of time. Glancing back, he managed to maneuver himself in a way to get mostly unstuck. He wriggled free, tiny inch by tiny inch, until his back was pressed into the mesh and his legs were no longer weighed down at last.

Hell yeah! He thought to himself. With that optimistic thought ringing in his head, he glanced over his shoulder.

And found a tall human standing in the kitchen doorway, staring right at him.

[neonthewrite]

hey, i think i can provide the hanzi for minnie's name. iirc you mentioned that minnie's name means bright halo in a post i can no longer find, so her name would very likely be 明霞.

if this comes off as rude, i am so sorry

Ooh, not rude at all! Thank you for looking into it! I'll definitely keep this one in mind whenever I go to put them all together. I've had more trouble with Lisong, though I know that's a name I didn't just make up (I knew a Lisong in school). This is the kind of thing that I want to make sure I research properly since I've not really worked with hanzi before and from what I can tell, sometimes they can have multiple possible configurations.

[neonthewrite]

Fried Potatoes

The prompt today is "Borrower" and I had to return to the borrower Lisong siblings, because of course I did.

~~~

It wasn’t all bad, being tiny.

Sure, Chase and his younger sister Minnie had to worry about a lot of things people their age didn’t even have to think about. Dogs, cats, even squirrels and cute little birds posed a problem to them at their heights of only a few inches tall each. They couldn’t open doors or buy food or shelter or anything else they might have taken for granted once upon a time. They also couldn’t under any circumstances be seen by or talk to anyone but each other. The risk of being caught as a pest or a prisoner was too great.

But on the other hand, Chase had decided on some perks of the situation since the pair of them found themselves so small. Silver linings were very necessary after such a life changing and mysterious event, after all.

They didn’t have to go to school anymore or worry about grades. Their health had improved more than it had under the various medical treatments they’d tried as little kids, with neither of them having had any breathing problems in years. While their size was bad for defending themselves, it was great for staying hidden. Minnie had even developed a fascinating but amazing ability in the last few years, somehow gaining the power to detect other living things nearby. Chase hadn’t noticed any similar abilities of his own showing up, but he figured he could be a late bloomer; superpowers had to be in store for him eventually, it was only fair.

The biggest perk he’d found, though, was the food. The Lisong siblings might be small enough to make beds out of matchboxes now, but at least all the best food was enormous in scale. It had been tough, at first, finding enough of it for themselves and learning how to live a tiny life. But once they hit their stride, every meal could be a feast.

It helped that they had chosen an apartment building to live in. There were many options to choose from at all times. Even if the human in their nearest apartment wasn’t leaving much out during a given week, one of the neighbors had something. They lived comfortably, even if it wasn’t ideal, having to hide away in the walls most of the time.

Despite a close call a few days ago with their main human, the guy hadn’t seemed to be on the alert. He still went about his business, spending his days at work and his afternoons and evenings relaxing or working out or whatever else. He was a chill human by any standard Chase could come up with, which suited the diminutive siblings. They could figure out his schedule easily, and he wasn’t so overly tidy that he missed things when they raided the apartment for supplies.

Chase liked to call them borrowers. Minnie insisted they weren’t even close, since they never intended to return anything. Semantics arguments fueled a lot of their banter, which was a lot of fun.

Minnie hadn’t been willing to come check the kitchen counter to see the evening’s possibilities. After their last near-miss, she had been reluctant to even let Chase go check on things. He’d had to promise her he wouldn’t do anything reckless or hasty, and then he’d had to promise her he’d keep that promise. He still didn’t think she believed him, but she hadn’t stopped him from heading out.

And he’d hit the jackpot. Their human had indulged in some fast food that day, apparently. A foil-wrapped burger and a pile of fries sat on a plate on the counter, all but throwing their greasy, delectable aroma into the air. Chase stood behind the microwave, staring at the plate intently. 

He was absolutely going to “borrow” one of those fries. He didn’t know how yet, but he would.

The human was still in the kitchen, though, rummaging in the fridge for something. Chase couldn’t run out onto the counter yet or he could get swatted by a giant hand, and then Minnie would be proven right. He couldn’t let that happen for many reasons.

The human finally retrieved what he was after, setting a can of coke on the counter next to the plate, already beading with some condensation on the aluminum. The can looked way too huge to Chase’s eyes, standing so much taller than him, but it also looked small in that human’s hand. Despite his self-assurance, Chase ducked further behind the microwave for a moment.

And then, to his delight, the human left the room.

Chase didn’t want to question it, didn’t even want to wait, but he exercised just enough patience to make sure he heard the bathroom door closing in the distant hallway. As soon as the latch clicked, he was off like a shot across the counter, slipping the strap of his knapsack off his shoulder as he ran.

Minnie could scold him all she liked. They were having fried potatoes for dinner.

[neonthewrite]

Minnie's Supply Run

The prompt this time is "Candy". I do love the thought of having a giant-sized candy. Decided to go with Minnie Lisong for this one, in the first solo Minnie adventure I've ever written! No one tell Chase.

~~~

If Minnie and her brother didn’t benefit so much from a human being messy and leaving clutter everywhere, she would be far more annoyed by it. Most of the apartments in the building they called home seemed to have at least one member of the household that left their things lying around everywhere they could. When they’d chosen which apartment would be “theirs,” where their home in the walls would have the most access, she had insisted on a middle ground. Their human lived alone and kept things decently tidy, though he had a few areas that attracted clutter. Minnie appreciated knowing the schedule and knowing with pretty good accuracy where they’d be able to find something they needed.

That didn’t mean she never visited the messiest apartments, though. Up a floor and a few units down from their human’s apartment, Minnie found herself scanning the room of a teenage boy who hated picking up after himself. Her viewpoint from the intake vent at the base of the wall looked out over a floor begging to be swept up (and probably mopped). Dirty clothes scattered near the bed and hamper, papers and a few pens lay near the desk, some kind of sports padding lay in a pile near the door. And of course, under the bed was a nightmare labyrinth she or her brother could get lost in.

Definitely not her first choice for a supply run, but she was guaranteed to find something here. Chase was still bragging about managing to steal some french fries the other day. She needed to find something to shut him up, if not one-up his find.

To that end, she scanned the floor until she found something that brought a faint, proud smirk to her face. Perfect.

She stepped back from the vent for a moment to check on her bag and make sure she had room in it. So far she only carried her climbing string and hook, a small twist of copper wire, and an abandoned pen cap she’d already found in one of the other rooms. The pen cap she set aside, thinking to come back for it later if they decided they needed it. Then, she took the copper wire and used it to tie her hair back in a tail.

Next, she returned to the vent and leaned as close as she could to eye the clock on the human’s nightstand. She was pretty sure school had already ended for the day. And on a weekday, he had stuff to do out of the house right after. He would be out for long enough.

Sometimes, she felt a brief pang of envy for the humans they lived around, with their busy schedules and their comfortable lives. Minnie was a few years older than that teen boy, but she hadn’t set foot in a school since she was grade-school aged. Back then, she didn’t stand only a few inches tall. Back then, she and her brother were normal.

The envy never lasted long before she could box up the feeling again into a tidy package. She shook her head to focus, and then squeezed through the openings in the vent and into the room.

A field of clutter stood in her way, but Minnie wasted no time. She darted out into the open floor, dodging around a shoe and then a nearby sock (to which she gave a wide berth). The room loomed overhead, and if she were to look up she would probably make herself dizzy. The posters on the boy’s wall leered down at her as if they might spill her secret themselves. She’d never liked the look of most metal bands.

It felt a lot longer than it did before her sprint ended at a bag of wrapped candies near the foot of the bed. It lay on its side, spilling out the faint aroma of caramel despite the layers of plastic. Minnie grinned and stooped to lift up the opening of the bag. Just one of those chocolate caramels would last them weeks if not months.

Before she could grab one, a distant sound in the apartment preceded a rumble in the floor that set all her nerves on edge. Looking over her shoulder, Minnie’s eyes widened. Someone had entered the apartment, well before she’d expected any of the residents to be home. Her ability to tell where other living things were told her with a certainty; this wasn’t someone across the hall or in the next apartment over. It was this one.

The boy’s voice echoed in the hall. “Yeah, mom, I’m at home,” he said. When no reply reached Minnie’s ears, she assumed he was on the phone. “I’ll clean it up later, okay? No, just because practice got moved doesn’t mean I suddenly have time to deep clean my room, mom!”

He was coming closer, though his annoyed phone call slowed him down at least. Minnie glanced around and found that she had no nearby hiding places. None, except …

Well, she had to hope he wasn’t coming for any candy in his hurry. She dove into the bag, well past the opening and the clear portion that showed off the treats within. The wrappers crinkled all around her and she winced, but she had to move quickly to reach the far end of the bag.

Right as she settled down, the door all but burst open. Minnie had a view only of some sneakers as the human stormed into the room. “C’mon, mom, I said I’d clean it this weekend,” he reasoned as he went first to his desk and knelt down. He grabbed a few papers, sifting through them awkwardly with one hand, while he debated with his mother on the phone. “No, of course not! I don’t - okay, fine, I will pick up one thing while I’m here and get the rest of it later, like I said I’d do.”

Minnie rolled her eyes from where she lay among the caramels. It was such a boy thing to avoid such a simple task until it was way too big to accomplish easily. Chase used to be the same way.

The boy found the paper he’d come looking for and folded it in half a few times until he could shove it into a back pocket. “Alright, mom, I’m going to move one thing to where it goes. And then I’m heading back out, okay? I’ll see you after the study group. Bye.”

His phone beeped somewhere high above. Minnie couldn’t see him anymore now that he’d stood, but she watched his shoes. All she needed to do was wait for him to pick up one thing (if he even did; she doubted anyone would notice either way), and then she was back in business.

He turned and took a step towards the bed. Okay. Lots of clothes on the floor and probably some more on top of the bed too. His footsteps shook the floor underneath Minnie and she tensed up despite knowing she was perfectly safe. Out of sight and surely out of mind.

The sneakers stopped in front of the bag. Minnie clenched her jaw and had time to brace herself just before a fingertip appeared at the opening of the bag and hoisted the whole thing into the air. She swallowed a yelp of terror as the world seemed to bottom out and then she and the candies all tumbled to the bottom of the bag as it swung in the human’s pinch grip. She found herself partially buried under plastic-wrapped candy that didn’t exactly pin her, but was heavy all the same.

The rustling of the wrappers hid any sound of her disturbing them, but still she looked up as if she expected to see a pair of human eyes staring in at her. She could only imagine what would happen if a teenage boy found her, and she was as good as caught, stuck in that bag of candy.

He wasn’t even looking. He’d already turned to leave his room, the bag swaying in time with his movements. Whatever kept him busy most days might have changed a bit, but he was still in a hurry as was his usual.

She recognized the ceiling in the kitchen as he arrived there, only moments later that felt like an eternity basically in his hands. A cupboard door squeaked open. Minnie took a breath, ready to sigh in relief, only to choke on a gasp as the human’s other hand dove into the bag.

Too close too close too close … !

The greedy hand, too big and too strong to really understand, scooped up a few of the wrapped candies from the top of the bag. Minnie was somehow untouched, but the layer of camouflage she’d fallen under was now gone, dragged out of the bag with the casual strength of a human. Surely he would glance in and see her now, now that she didn’t have anywhere to hide at all.

But instead, the bottom of a cupboard shelf appeared overhead, and the human let go of the bag. Minnie stared upwards, stunned as the door closed somewhere behind her and cast the snack shelf into darkness.

She didn’t move again until she was sure he’d left the apartment. Then, with shaky limbs and a pounding heart, she shifted around until the candy bag tipped over, spilling her and some wrapped candies out onto the shelf.

That could have gone better. It could have gone … so much better.

“What Chase doesn’t know won’t be used to taunt me forever,” Minnie muttered, picking herself up and stuffing one of the candies into her bag at last.

[neonthewrite]

Forbidden Fruit ... Snacks?

Today's prompt is "snacks", and it's kind of difficult to choose what direction to go with ... until I had an idea for some borrower Lisong siblings. Chase and Minnie are, well, mini in this AU and naturally that leads to trouble somehow.

~~~

Minnie had a skeptical look on her face, but that was nothing new. She always viewed Chase’s plans with some level of denial. Even though so far things had always worked in his favor, she just didn’t want to admit he was pretty good at thinking things through. Even the risky things.

It didn’t slow him down. Chase walked backwards as they navigated through the walls of the apartment kitchen, all the better to make sure his beaming smile faced her. “C’mon, Minnie,” he cajoled her, waving a hand in a grand gesture at the drywall next to them. On the other side, the kitchen cabinets hung from the wall, huge cliffs with unforgiving drops to the diminutive borrower siblings. “Even though the human’s at home, he’s in the other room. You said it yourself.”

Minnie rolled her eyes and sighed, but didn’t hang back or stop following him. “Yeah, I did, but that doesn’t mean he can’t just walk to the kitchen at any time!” Her voice hissed at the low volume they had to use outside of their home, and it lent her an extra sense of venom.

“Suuuure,” Chase drawled back, his own whispers far less charged. “But what are the odds he’s going to want to grab snacks at this exact time from that exact cupboard? They’re low, my abundantly cautious little sister. Astonishingly low.”

They reached a part of the wall where a chunk of drywall had been whittled away. Beyond it was the wood of the back of the cabinet, where they’d cleverly disguised a small door. It would be exceedingly easy for them, only a few inches tall each, to slip into the cupboard among the food stored there and take their pick. Chase didn’t push the door open just yet, as he watched Minnie’s face for signs of her relaxing a bit.

“I don’t know, Chase,” she finally murmured. “It seems pointlessly risky.”

“That’s the great thing. There’s hardly any risk at all!” Chase countered, putting a hand on her shoulder for assurance. “We’ve got your radar to make sure we always know where he is.”

It had only cropped up in the last year or so, but so far it had been right every time. Minnie could, somehow, detect where the resident human was. She could detect the neighbors, too, and even sometimes she noticed when mice were on the move nearby. Without ever seeing or hearing something, it seemed that as long as it was alive she could tell where it was with startling accuracy.

So when Chase had asked and she’d told him the human had settled down in the living room, Chase had decided they’d be getting some food. The human would be occupied for a while, at least long enough for them to go and stock up on some things.

Minnie scoffed. “Okay. But I’m staying by the door. If he moves, we’re leaving.”

Chase grinned again and leaned over to nudge their hidden door. It swung open, into the gloomy dark of the cabinet. “Knew you’d see it my way, Minnie. Let’s get the good stuff.”

~~~

The “good stuff” was cereal, mostly, but Chase managed to open up a clip on a bag of chips so Minnie could retrieve a few shards. He was quite proud of himself for getting the bag closed up just like it was before, even if Minnie rolled her eyes and reminded him he had to do it right or they’d be in trouble.

He’d also grabbed a packet of fruit snacks from the tall box near the front of the cabinet. The boxes never contained very many packets, but he figured he could risk taking one and the human probably wouldn’t notice. Humans misplaced things or miscounted stuff all the time. Hell, borrowers could miscount things from time to time, no one was immune.

He was busy lugging the packet towards the back of the cabinet when he saw Minnie freeze from her absent pacing near the door. She looked at Chase, laden with a bulky plastic package almost as wide as he was tall, and shook her head rapidly.

Chase made the mistake of turning his head to look towards the door of the cabinet. Beyond it, he did indeed hear the telltale sounds of a human on the move. A second later, he confirmed that those sounds were indeed approaching the kitchen.

The human might not open this cabinet. Then again, he might.

Chase dropped the fruit snacks with a pang of disappointment and darted towards the door, where Minnie had already squirreled through and waited for him with a frantic worry on her face.

The human had reached the cabinets. Chase was steps away from the door.

The cabinet door creaked as it swung open faster than Chase would ever move anything in his life. He dove to the side behind a cereal box just before the light fell over the spot he’d been an instant before. He leaned against the box and held his breath, staring at the space on the back of the cabinet where their door was now closed; all they had to do was wait this out.

Luck was not on Chase’s side, it seemed. The box behind him shifted abruptly as the human grabbed it in a powerful hand. Chase clapped his hand over his mouth to stop a yell of surprise even as he topped over and hit the wooden floor hard. He had an upside down view of the nutrition information on the side of the cereal box retreating from him. Any second now, and he’d be exposed -

“Huh?” The box paused with the human’s confused sound.

Then it shoved back into the cupboard absently and Chase barely had time to sit up before it shoved him along with it an inch or two.

To his side, the human’s hand appeared, huge and impossible to fight with fingers longer than Chase or his sister stood tall. For a heartstopping moment he thought the hand was coming for him.

But instead, it settled on the dropped packet of fruit snacks and dragged it back out. The human hummed thoughfully, and then suddenly the cabinet door closed with a slam.

Chase sat against the cereal box for several seconds more, just in case the human came back. His whole body shook with adrenaline and the thought that he could well be caught by a human this very instant, if he hadn’t tried to take those fruit snacks.

He couldn’t decide if the risk had been worth it, but a grin slowly came over his face as it sank in that he had made it out of that situation completely unscathed.

Minnie burst through the door at the back of the cabinet after the human had retreated and rushed to Chase’s side. He perked up in time to catch her in the desperate hug as she threw her arms around his neck, and he patted her back gently. “See, Minnie? Not a problem at all, and we got the goods.”

Minnie scoffed, still clinging to him. “You stupid stupid idiot,” she muttered. “Get up. We have to go home and I think you need to be grounded.”

He stood and let her lead the way back to their exit, but he put on a comically aghast expression. “Grounded? You can’t ground me, I’m older!”

“And look where that got you!” she hissed, her attitude thankfully returning to normal after the scare. As much as he teased her, Chase didn’t like seeing his sister actually upset. “You were so close to getting caught, Chase! We’re never doing this again while the human is awake.”

“I dunno, I think I almost had it that time. One of these days I’ll manage to drag those fruit snacks into the walls here and we will eat like kings, Minnie. Kings!”

“Whatever, Chase. Let’s just go home.”

[neonthewrite]

If you don't mind answering this ask Neon, where are Chase's and Minnie's grandparents? :0 - Cadmi Hater

I do not mind!

Chase and Minnie's grandparents on both sides still live in China (probably in or around Jiuquan). The family had to make a fairly quick decision to move when they learned both of their kids had significant lung problems, and they wanted to find the right climate to help them. That's how they ended up in Iowa, but the grandparents couldn't also make the move at the time. I imagine Chase's parents are probably working on arranging a move for the grandparents though, so they can better care for them. They visit as often as they can.

[neonthewrite]

Washed Up Winchesters 3

Everyone's awake, and there is No Need to panic! No need at all! Someone let the Winchesters know that before they give themselves heart attacks...

Cowritten with @nightmares06, the writer behind the @brothersapart multiverse!

( 1 ) ( 2 ) -3- ( 4 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 ) ( 7 ) ( 8 )

Story Tag

~~~~~

Sam blinked, several times in rapid succession. "Lilliput?" he repeated, the name slowly sinking in. "We're in Lilliput? That means the ship must be--"

They had been hoping to keep this situation contained, and hearing that they were not only in the wrong place at the wrong time now, far from their targets, but also they'd already reached Lilliput across the bay, sent Sam's slowly spinning plans crashing to the ground.

Pounding Dean's shoulder, Sam barked at him. "Dean, wake up! "

With a start, Dean jolted from his spot. The water spilled all over his face and the covers, leaving him sputtering and looking around for a threat. The fact that they were in a quiet, peaceful home did nothing to ease his confusion as he searched for the reason for Sam's panic.

"Th-the skinwalkers!" Sam exclaimed. "They've already reached Lilliput! We have to hurry!"

“Wait. The what?” Chase asked, before holding up his hands as if he might slow down the strange turns the whole conversation had taken. “Skin … what?”

He didn’t get a chance to elaborate on his confused question, as the rumbling grew closer and harder to ignore. Chase glanced towards the door, then back at the Blefuscan pair that he’d taken into his home. It seemed like a few kinds of trouble were on a collision course. “Jacob’s almost back, so maybe we should head out and like … figure out what the hell is going on with you two?”

“Skinwalkers,” Sam declared grandly, as though that might clear up the confusion.

Dean was still trying to fully wake up and figure out where the water attack had come from when a hand clamped around his collar and hauled him, the blankets, and the empty glass up off the couch with little warning.

“Ack!”

Sam dropped Dean in place, leaving him wobbling on unsteady legs. Wrinkling his nose, he gingerly moved one foot, discovering that his socks were completely soaked and his feet squished in place. Then, his attention was torn away yet again when Sam shoved a jacket into his arms.

“We need to go,” Sam said firmly as he collected the last of their remaining possessions.

Chase almost flinched back from the sudden energy Sam had on display. Only minutes ago, the guy had been barely awake, gingerly coming out of a near-coma from his trials out at sea. The way Jacob told it, they’d nearly drowned out there, and would have been lost beneath the waves if he didn’t get to them in time. Even he wouldn’t have been able to find them if they sank too far beyond his reach.

“Dude, wait,” he said, stepping closer and holding his hands up. He had to tilt his head back a little to meet their eyes. He was flustered that his words had largely been ignored, but he could try to bounce back from it. “You don’t even … I know Lilliput’s not like, the biggest place around, but you don’t even know your way around!”

The rumbling came closer. At the next step, the windows rattled faintly in their panes and a shadow crept over the outside of the house, stealing away much of the natural light in the room.

"We can't wait, there's no time," Sam protested, not pausing in his preparations.

Dean, finally shaking off the effects of his extended time at sea and the sudden wake up, felt his stomach drop as he spotted what was happening outside. "Sam..." he said warningly.

Sam ignored Dean as much as he'd ignored Chase. "The ship should be down at the pier, we can find where they docked..." he was mumbling as he tucked his jacket closed.

"Sam!" Grabbing Sam's arm, Dean jerked his attention to the windows. "They have a giant!"

In the following pause, Chase held up his hands and grinned as if presenting something exciting. “Surprise?”

Another rumble came, this one even more noticeable than the last, and then a final one as Jacob presumably stopped outside the house. He had learned well how to step into the Lisongs’ backyard without damaging anything, and more than once Chase had wandered outside to find him kneeling by the house. Even sitting down, Jacob was taller than the house.

“That’ll be Jacob,” Chase explained, gesturing towards a doorway out of the living room, through which a kitchen and a back door could be seen. “He’s just out back. Don’t panic though.”

"Jacob?" Sam blinked in surprise, momentarily derailed by such an ordinary comment.

"The giant," Dean corrected. "Why does Lilliput always get the giants?"

“Lucky, I guess?” Chase grinned and shrugged. “Maybe he can even help you with your … secret mission, or whatever. Do you want to--”

His voice cut off as the back door he’d indicated shuddered in its frame once, then twice. Something heavy had bumped against it, in what was Jacob’s gentlest attempt to knock on the door. Chase pursed his lips and then nodded absently as Jacob finally spoke outside, his voice an unmistakable rumble. “Hello?”

The sound of the voice made Dean jerk back from the direction it came from, a gun appearing in his hand as though by magic.

"No way, nuh uh, I am not dealing with a giant, they're never on our side!"

Chase’s eyes widened and he stepped back in alarm as the gun glinted in what warm light remained in the room. “Dude, what the hell!” he blurted, his hands lifting up to try to wave Dean away. “Put that away!”

Sam grabbed Dean's arm, jerking it so the gun was pointing at the ground. "No one's shooting anyone," he insisted, giving Dean a pointed look.

Dean ignored the meaning that Sam was trying to get across, jerking his arm free. "I am not letting a giant tell me what to do!" he snapped, stomping towards the front door. "We will figure this out ourselves and get back to Blefuscu!"

Throwing the door open, Dean looked left, then right, then dashed out, leaving Sam with the other two.

Sam blew his bangs out of his eyes. "That went better than expected."

Chase threw him a bewildered look, but recovered as quickly as he could. “Really? Were you expecting him to shoot at me?”

The back door opened before he could list off any more irritated questions, and Minnie reappeared. She leaned around the doorway to announce her return, and stopped with her mouth open. One person was missing. “Chase, what happened?”

Chase rolled his eyes. “The other one took off. Be right back.” He hurried to the front of the house, hoping to intercept Dean before he made it too far away from the house; there was no telling what a jumpy guy like that might end up causing if he got lost in town.

“Chase!” Minnie’s call went ignored as he hurried out, and then she loosed a frustrated sigh before glancing back at Sam. “He didn’t want to warn you guys at all and I told him that wouldn’t go over well! Jacob’s really not a danger to anyone, if you’re worried about that.”

"Oh..." Sam looked over his shoulder, where the sounds of a giant were coming from. "Neither is Dean," he replied lamely, knowing that his older brother's actions weren't exactly in line with his assertion. "Not unless you're a monster of some kind."

~~~

Quick and furtive, Dean dashed from tree to tree, keeping a sharp eye on the sky to watch for the giant.

He did not want to get caught now.

"Goddamn giants," Dean muttered under his breath, pausing in the shade when the coast looked clear.

Admittedly, growing up he hadn't really believed the stories of the giant that came and helped Lilliput, back when they were at war. It sounded fantastical, like a fever dream. Some random giant just shows up? Decides to help the people that caught him?

Of course, learning about monsters and then dedicating most of his life to rooting them out made Dean reassess his belief on giants. Which left him at least semi-prepared to come face-to-face with the reality.

On Lilliput's side. Again.

Chase wasn’t that far behind him. There weren’t that many shade trees out in front of the house to offer cover, and the town itself wasn’t far ahead. The last thing he needed, however, was to let a Blefuscan loose in town going who knew where. They hadn’t made a lick of sense since they woke up and started talking about their “mission”, and he had already gotten some trouble for bringing a giant home.

His chest was tightening from all the excitement, but Chase ignored it to keep moving. Until he almost hurried right past a figure huddled behind the trunk of one of the trees.

“Dude!” he blurted, not bothering to keep his voice down. “What the hell! What’re you taking off for? You don’t even know where anything is!”

“What do you think?” Dean hissed in annoyance. His gun was lowered, the safety on so long as the giant wasn’t coming directly for him, but held at the ready just in case.

This case was turning into a giant pain in his ass. He certainly had no plans on sightseeing in Lilliput anytime soon, but there wasn’t much chance they’d get back home until they’d seen it through.

“The giant might be on your side, but he ain’t on mine,” Dean said, his voice heavy and full of emotions. “There is a ship out there, possibly already docked, full of shapeshifters that we’re trying to track down before they hurt innocent folk! We have a job to do, and all of this is just wasting time!”

Chase’s confusion didn’t wane, but that had never shut him up before. “What do you mean ‘this’? ‘This’ is you running off really soon after almost drowning. In the ocean. Jacob’s the one who saved your ass!” He waved a hand back at the house. Behind it, Chase barely noticed the giant figure leaning to the side to track the source of the noise they were making.

“Look, dude, no one cares where you’re from or anything, but really. Think about chilling, maybe?”

“Chill?!” Dean was wholly offended by even the concept. “Are you even listening?” He waved a hand in the general direction he had been making his way before Chase had caught up to him, though without any map or compass, he had no idea what was actually in that direction. “There’s an entire ship full of monsters making land somewhere in Lilliput, and you want me to chill?”

Chase shrugged one shoulder. “Okay, I get that that’s really, uh, freaky,” he admitted, though he wondered how much of what Sam and Dean said was true. He’d never heard of shapeshifters or skinwalkers or whatever, but then again he had a whole giant living on the family land. Things weren’t black and white.

“Dude, you almost drowned, though,” he pointed out. “You really should take it easy--”

“Chase? What happened?” Jacob’s concern rumbled overhead, and when Chase turned to look, the giant had sidled around the house at last and now crouched in front of it. He had to lean to the side to even see Chase at the base of the tree; it was part of why he didn’t go to the front of the house very often.

Dean reacted immediately to the new implied threat in the area.

Despite Jacob’s rescue of the Winchesters earlier, Dean couldn’t find it in himself to trust a giant. All of the stories he’d heard circled around the fact that the only giant in recorded history had stood on Lilliput’s side, and, as a Blefuscan, that was hardly helping him feel secure.

The first thing he did was go for his gun.

[neonthewrite]

Washed Up Winchesters 4

The mission goes on! Jacob is just happy to be included.

Cowritten with @nightmares06, the writer behind the @brothersapart multiverse!

( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) -4- ( 5 ) ( 6 ) ( 7 ) ( 8 )

Story Tag

Read Time ~10 minutes

~~~~~

Jacob had spent much of his time walking the fields outside the city since finding the sodden pair. The livestock minded him less and less anymore, and keeping an eye on the herds gave him something to do. The moment Chase and Minnie had dragged the poor guys into the house to get them wrapped up and dry before they caught hypothermia, there was nothing more he could do to help.

When Minnie brought him news of their waking up, he was relieved. He'd thought he might be called back and tasked with carrying them to a hospital or something.

Now, after hearing Minnie's annoyed news that one of them ran off, he wondered if Chase had taken a chance to explain things. Probably not.

He heard Chase's argument by the tree out front. He didn't see the other guy, hiding as he was near the trunk, not until he'd moved closer.

Then, of course, he recognized a gun for what it was. Tiny, perhaps, but it would be just as deadly to the miniature people he'd been surrounded by since he washed up on Lilliput's shore.

"Hey!" he blurted, twitching forward. One hand braced on the ground to avoid falling over, and the other swept down towards Chase. Huge fingers curled around the small Lilliputian, forming a wall between the tiny pair. Chase was safe, barricaded in a small alcove created by Jacob's hand.

Only a short distance from Chase, Dean jerked backwards to avoid the incoming hand. It was not reassuring to have it sweep close to him, and his mind interpreted it as coming right at him.

Before he realized that Jacob was just barricading Chase off, a person that Dean had no intention of being hostile towards, his finger twitched, and he fired his gun.

All it did was sputter, and only then did Dean remember that he, and everything he owned, had been recently dunked in the ocean, rendering the gun totally useless.

In the pause that followed, Jacob stared at Dean with a shocked look. He’d been fully prepared to take a tiny bullet from that gun, and didn’t know how to proceed once that plan failed. He opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again.

Chase, however, was neither silent nor still for long. He shoved against Jacob’s hand with all the strength he had, and though Jacob wasn’t affected by it, he hesitantly uncoiled his hand partway for Chase to stumble out again. “Dude, seriously? You were gonna shoot him?!”

"I thought he was gonna grab me!" Dean shot back defensively at Chase, fussing with the gun only to find the insides were still flooded. Useless. "And now we don't even have any silver bullets to stop the skinwalkers, since Sam's gear is in the exact same shape!"

Jacob drew his hand back slowly, very aware of the distrustful glances he was getting. As he did, Chase shook his head and sighed. "Guess you'll just have to let us help ya, then," the small Lilliputian announced. "And no more attacking Jacob."

"I don't really blame ya," Jacob muttered. Even crouched down and trying not to loom over the pair, he eclipsed the house behind him. "I promise not to grab, if that helps…"

Dean sent Jacob an annoyed glare as he put his gun back together, resolving to give it a full cleaning the moment they were free. The gun deserved better after the amount of times he’d used it, occasionally saving their lives or the lives of victims.

“Better not,” he griped, remembering how strange it had felt to wake up in giant hands after being tossed overboard. “The last thing I need is the newest giant getting in the way while we work…”

“Actually,” a voice interrupted Dean’s grumblings. “We’re going to need Jacob’s help for this.”

Sam came striding up, Minnie not far behind him. She had to move fast to keep up with Sam’s longer paces, and as they hurried over to join the others, Jacob’s hand twitched slightly, startled by their sudden appearance. He scanned the small crowd of four while Sam went on. “If we want to have a chance at getting to the docks on time, we’re going to need someone with longer legs.”

Dean bristled at the idea. “Help?! From them? They’re just a bunch of kids!”

“And we’re just some hunters that got tossed overboard, remember?” Sam reminded Dean sharply. “Without Jacob, you’d be stuck at the bottom of the ocean, finding out if mermaids exist or not.”

Dean just stubbornly crossed his arms. “Our disguises and paperwork were perfect,” he insisted.

“I was thinking about that, too,” Sam admitted. “It could just be that they… sniffed us out. If there were only skinwalkers on the ship, it didn’t matter how good your paperwork was.” Turning to Jacob, he tilted his head back to meet him in the eyes. “So? Are you in? We need to find out what they want before anyone else gets hurt.”

Jacob’s eyebrows drifted up and he glanced over the others in the group. He had no idea what they might be talking about. The first thing he heard after coming back to the house was an exasperated Minnie explaining that Dean (and, to even more of her annoyance, Chase) took off. Despite being able to outpace everyone in Lilliput without question, he could barely keep up with them sometimes.

He had to hope they’d explain things eventually.

“I mean, yeah,” he answered after his confused pause. He shifted slightly where he knelt, feeling awkward out there on the front lawn. “But I can’t walk through the whole shipyard or anything, there’s some spots I’m not allowed to be.”

“That’s fine,” Sam assured him. “If you can get us there fast, we can take care of the rest.” Turning towards Chase and Minnie, he held out his hands placatingly. “Look, I know it’s a lot to take in, but out there,” Sam waved distantly towards the horizon, “there are monsters.”

“We don’t have time for the whole spiel,” Dean interrupted. “But they’re as happy to kill you as look at you.”

“Me and my brother fight them,” Sam took over, trying not to let Dean’s gruff nature ruin what little camaraderie they had with the Lilliputians. “They’re not like your friend Jacob, or any other giant from the ocean, they’re far more dangerous because they can blend right in with you or me.”

Chase and Minnie exchanged a glance. His was amazed and confused, while hers was exasperated. Ever since Chase brought a giant home, it seemed like weird happenings followed. This was crazy. They couldn't outright deny the idea of monsters, not with a giant looming over the whole group, but the temptation was there.

"You mean, like, not just in Blefuscu?" Minnie finally said, cautious and reluctant to accept it.

Chase was practically enthusiastic about the news. "If there's monsters out there, why would they stick to just Blefuscu? Apparently they just hop on boats to get back and forth!"

Jacob frowned faintly. "And they toss people off boats," he murmured indignantly. It stuck with him that he'd nearly been too late to help Sam and Dean. "You think they're already ... infiltrated, or whatever?"

“We won’t know until we catch up to them,” Sam cautioned before Dean could jump in with his assumptions. “With their ship disembarking so fast, we only had a short time to infiltrate, and we got tossed off before we overheard any of their plans.”

“Anyway,” Dean said testily, “we need to get moving. Time’s wasting!”

Chase grinned. Minnie rolled her eyes at him. “You’re having too much fun with this, there’s actual monsters.” She crossed her arms as if it might deter her brother’s buoyant mood.

It didn’t. Chase tilted his head back and shielded his eyes from the sun. “You heard him, Jake! We gotta get going!”

Jacob wanted to agree with Minnie. If there were actual monsters out there, it seemed like they should be taking things more seriously. From the way Sam and Dean put it, people could already be hurt. Judging by how quick Dean was to pull weapons on him, these things could jump out at anyone at any time.

Still, he smiled faintly and scoffed. “I might just leave you guys waiting here,” he teased, even as he shifted one of his hands and moved it towards the small group, already turning it palm-up before it got to them.

Dean hesitated when the hand was there, larger than life and twice as strong. “I don’t know about this--”

Sam roughly shoved Dean’s shoulder, making him stumble onto Jacob’s hand before he could bring up even more protests. “Yeah, well this is what we’re doing,” he sassed his older brother. “Unless you suddenly have a better idea for how we’re going to catch up to the skinwalkers, just stay put and quit complaining.”

Chase and Minnie were next, though they gave Sam and Dean a few extra seconds to situate themselves. Even with twice the normal amount of people hitching a ride on his palm, Jacob still had plenty of room for them all. He held steady as Chase and Minnie stepped up, noting that they felt even lighter than usual compared to the newcomers.

“Alright, guys, no roughhousing,” Jacob instructed with a hopeful smile. “Won’t be long before we’re at the harbor.”

With the warning out of the way, the surface beneath the four tiny pairs of shoes tensed. Jacob’s fingers curled slightly, an extra precaution, as his hand rose into the air as steadily as he could. Luckily, he’d had some practice. Lifting the miniature crowd towards his chest was a smooth motion followed by his other hand appearing like a guard rail.

And then he stood, sending them all but soaring into the air as the air brushed past.

It was all of about five seconds of Jacob standing at his full height before Dean ended up clinging to Sam.

"Dude, really?" Sam griped, trying to peel the iron grip his older brother had on his arm. "What's the problem now?"

"Problem?" Dean asked, his voice a higher pitch from normal. "There's no problem. We're just a hundred feet in the air, that's all!"

"You fight monsters, Dean, and a little height is what gets you?"

Dean sent a glare at Sam, but it was half-hearted, the heights beyond the edge of Jacob's hand distracting him enough to keep him from sassing back. "Just... don't like heights..." Dean muttered. "It wasn't a problem before!"

“Minnie’s not a fan, either,” Chase chimed in, earning a dark glare from his sister. “But don’t you worry. Jake here has practice!”

Indeed, Minnie stood close to him with her arms crossed and her shoulders tense, and avoided looking at the edge of the giant hand. “He’s … pretty careful,” she muttered. Admitting it was tough, but for the sake of helping their erstwhile guests feel safer, she would avoid arguing with Chase. At least on some things.

“Talking about me?” Rumbled not only overhead, but nearby in Jacob’s chest. He tilted his head down to check on his many passengers. He’d never seen his hand look crowded. “Gonna be alright? The only other secure way I have is my pocket.”

Dean's reply was somewhat along the lines of a strangled grunt, and Sam shook his head, amused.

"This is fine," Sam told them. "No... pockets. I doubt that would do much to help."

Dean nodded faintly in agreement, and gave them a weak thumbs up. He sank down, ending up sitting on Jacob's palm, trying his best not to think about where they were, and that he was sitting on a giant's hand. All of that while said giant took them to their destination.

The other hunters back home would never believe this one, as if they needed more reason to call the Winchesters crazy.

Jacob nodded once, and his sympathetic gaze lingered on Dean’s shaky hunch. It wasn’t the first time one of the little folk had been nervous on his hand, and probably wasn’t the last. Even Chase had been concerned at first, as much as he tried to act like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Once assured everyone was as settled as they could be, though, Jacob turned his attention on the ground far below instead. He didn’t want to dote so much attention on his passengers that he forgot to keep an eye on anyone wandering down there.

As he stepped off the front path of the Lisong’s home, he regretted leaving a very noticeable giant boot print behind. Someone would likely scold him for it later.

[neonthewrite]

Washed Up Winchesters 8 (Final)

The mystery is solved and the case closed! It seems the Winchesters didn't quite expect things to go this way, but when there's a giant involved, all kinds of things go differently!

Cowritten with @nightmares06, the writer behind the @brothersapart multiverse!

( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 ) ( 7 ) -8-

Story Tag

Read Time ~10 minutes

~~~~~

Chase pushed himself up and shook his head. He was more used to being swept up in a giant hand, but toppling over a few times had winded him. He frowned over the edge of the hand, then over at Sam. “What?”

Jacob’s other hand lifted to be level with them. Minnie was clinging to his thumb and scanning the flock of sheep warily. They were all still milling around, keeping a tight group, several of them aiming disdainful baaas up in the air. Dean’s defiant stand over their heads certainly had not gone unnoticed. Minnie had never seen sheep act like that, certainly not in the shadow of a giant. “Sam?”

"Th-the sheep!" Sam gestured in the direction of the hostile flock. "We're chasing skinwalkers, not werewolves! They can be any type of animal, so long as it's what the pack started out as!"

The confusion on Dean's face cleared. "So you're saying this flock is the people we've been chasing the whole time?"

Sam nodded at the silver knife in Dean's hand. "One way to find out for sure."

Jacob frowned pensively. Even after hearing about how dangerous the skinwalkers were, he could hardly imagine the flock of fluffy sheep before him causing much trouble. Mostly they milled around among each other, all keeping tabs on Dean with his glimmering knife. It was weird that they didn't even want to run from Jacob, but he hadn't made any moves against them.

Even Chase and Minnie had been mostly spared. Chase had only fallen over because he kept trying to pull Dean up.

Jacob decided to throw in his two cents. "I mean, they're… they're not really doing anything," he pointed out.

"Except yelling at us," Chase agreed, waving a hand at a ram that bleated insistently up at him.

"Wait," Minnie chimed in, her brow pinching with confusion. "Do they understand what we're saying when they're in their whatever-form?"

Sam circled a hand through the air aimlessly, trying to gather his thoughts and what he knew of their current enemies. "Skinwalkers aren't like werewolves, who give in to their more... animalistic side when they transform. They maintain their regular consciousness and memory. The main danger is that they can transfer their ability with a bite, increasing the size of their pack... or flock." Sam gave the flock of sheep a strange look. He'd never encountered supernatural creatures in the guise of herbivores like the sheep. This case was shaping up to be unique in more ways than one.

"That means," Sam continued, "they know just who we are, and anything we said while we were here. Which is why they were so quick to lunge at me and Dean. They already found us once on the ship, when they were in their human forms. We couldn't stay under cover, and ended up tossed overboard."

Minnie frowned critically over the side of Jacob’s hand, even as the giant lifted everyone slightly higher. If those sheep really were skinwalkers, and at this point they certainly weren’t acting like normal sheep, they’d just let the group wander among them. She’d patted their heads and tried to click at them like she did with her lambs back home and everything. The feeling that wormed into her gut was something like betrayal.

“So these guys might be the reason I found you floundering out in the waves,” Jacob echoed, a disapproving frown on his face.

“Well what do they--” Chase began, asking Sam first before looking over the side of the hand at the nearest sheep bleating up at them. “What do you want in Lilliput then?!”

For a long moment, it appeared as though Chase's demand would go unanswered. The sheep milled restlessly around, giving Jacob's feet a wide berth as they bleated.

Then, the ram that had given Dean a runaround when he was on the ground stepped out into an opening that formed in the flock. It cocked its head, fixing one eye on the hand that held Chase, Minnie, Sam and Dean. Its expression was impossible to read as it looked them over, one by one.

There was a shift, and then the ram's horns appeared to melt away. Several cracks could be heard as its back shifted to an upright position, and the hooves split into four fingers and a thumb.

After less than ten seconds from when the shift started, the ram stood there as a regal and distinguished looking man, dressed in a simple white shirt and dark pants. He frowned at the people in Jacob's hand, then up at the giant himself.

"As I recall," the man said, "you were the ones to smuggle onto our ship when we had done nothing to you in turn, stinking of silver and gunpowder."

Seeing the transformation had been more than enough to leave Jacob, Minnie, and even Chase speechless for a hesitant moment. Jacob’s mouth opened slightly, as amazed as he’d been the first time he met Chase. He had never really thought about tiny people existing anywhere before. He definitely hadn’t imagined them having the ability to turn into tiny sheep. “Uh. Wh… what,” he muttered.

“I mean. I guess that’s technically true,” Chase finally admitted, sending an uncomfortable sideways glance at Sam and Dean. He frowned down at the apparent leader of a flock of sheep skinwalkers. “So … are skinwalkers usually dangerous, or not? ‘Cause I feel like that would clear up a lot, knowing what you actually plan to do in Lilliput, right?”

The man’s lip curled in disgust. “Oh, please,” he said disparagingly. “Unlike our more… wolf-ish cousins, we have no interest in anyone’s hearts.”

Next to him, a second sheep transformed back. This one was shorter, and he had very mousy features in comparison to the ram’s dignified look. “But we like Romaine hearts,” he stuttered out insistently. “Right? Right?!”

“Please, Jerimiah,” the ram said. “This situation is delicate enough without your help.” He turned to look up at the Lilliputians and Blefuscians held in the giant’s hand. “Haven’t you ever heard ‘The grass is greener on the other side?’ We are here in search of better pastures. Nothing more.”

Chase’s mouth opened in a delighted grin over the bad pun. Before he could try to chime in with his own, Minnie slapped his arm with the back of her hand. In her opinion, she had enough to deal with without her brother adding to the pile. She’d thought this was a poor lost flock of sheep. Not an intentional group of … magic shapeshifting squatters. “So are Sam and Dean the only ones you hurt, or …?”

Jacob heaved a slow sigh. Minnie had a point. If they had left behind more than just Sam and Dean, it would be dangerous having the shapeshifters around Lilliput too. “Yeah, I mean. I’m pretty sure I can outrun you guys, but what’s to stop you from sneaking along later and trying something again? Are Chase and Minnie here in danger because they know your secret?”

The ram’s mouth twisted in annoyance. “All we want is green fields and calm waters,” he explained. “Any Blefuscans that we ran into, we ran off, nothing more. These… hunters that followed us were the most persistent, and I couldn’t risk the safety of my flock. Throwing them off the ship was only done as a last resort.”

Looking over the rest of the flock, and a brief glance at the twitchy Jerimiah, the ram shook his head in doubt. “Perhaps it was merely a pipe dream to find a place free of warmongering, but we had to try.”

“So…” Sam tentatively leaned forward. “Your main plan is to get as far from civilization, and stay there?”

“Sammy…” Dean started, but was ignored.

The ram nodded. “It seemed like a more likely situation to find in Lilliput compared to Blefuscu. Such an idyllic land…” He turned to Chase and Minnie. “No one here is at risk from my flock, I give you my word. Even if we get sent back to Blefuscu.” The last statement was said with a sideways glance at Dean.

The guy seemed genuine enough. Having lived in Lilliput for a bit, Jacob knew the locals to be fussy but harmless. They would likely be too caught up in their own drama to notice an extra flock of sheep up past the hills, especially since no one really wandered this far anyway. He decided that he believed the stern little guy.

It wasn't really up to him, though. He lowered his hands a bit, not enough to put his passengers at risk but at least to bring them more level with the ram. "Whatcha think, Chase? Minnie?"

"It's weird," Chase said, practically bursting for an opening to speak up. "Sheep-people .... sheepshifters!"

Minnie smacked his arm. "How is that helping?" she scolded, before addressing the ram again. "I don't think anyone uses these pastures so you won't get anyone upset. But will you even be safe out here? From wolves and things, I mean?"

The ram looked down his nose at her. “Wolves have been our problem since the start,” he said with a sharp look sent in Dean’s direction. “We haven’t been able to shake them yet.”

Sam stepped between Dean and the ram with an arm to separate them, before thoughtless words could be thrown. “If we leave you be, does this mean you’ll leave the Lilliputians alone?” he asked, trying to keep the focus. “We’re only here to deal with threats.”

The ram sighed. “We won’t bother a soul, you have my word. So long as we have our pastures.”

Sam put his arm down. “I think our job’s done then,” he said. “They’ll just need a safe place to call home now.”

“This works,” Chase agreed, gesturing at the current pasture. Aside from Jacob looming over the field with several people standing on his hands, it was a simple, idyllic view. The area was lush, if a bit wild, and unbothered by Lilliput or Blefuscu. “We even have Jacob here to come check on you sometimes if you need anything.”

Jacob rolled his eyes at being volunteered so easily. It was his lot in life anymore, to have Chase suggest him for any task that needed doing. “I have a pretty easy time getting over here,” he agreed anyway. “If you need supplies.”

Minnie glanced over at Sam and Dean. Sam seemed mollified, though Dean looked as ready for a fight as ever. Looking back at the sheep, she gave them an exaggerated shrug. “Looks like everyone’s okay, so … it all worked out? This time?”

The ram gave Minnie a stiff half-bow, looking uncomfortable with the unfamiliar gesture. “We will hold up our end of the bargain,” he promised.

With a quick shift, the man again turned into a ram. Large, curving horns came out of his forehead first before he fell forward onto a new set of hooves. By the time he hit the ground, he could have blended in with any herd of sheep and proceeded to walk amongst the others. Jerimiah followed suit next. Then, a slowly stirring wave expanded throughout the herd until they were all heading in the same ambling direction.

Sam sighed, blowing out his bangs. “Case closed.”

“Weirdest case ever,” Dean complained. “Almost as weird as running into the actual giant in the lands.” He sent Jacob a side-eye. “Maybe next time we’re in Lilliput, we can enlist some extra help again?” Despite his usual gruff tone of voice, the interest in having a giant helper shone right through.

Chase drew himself up proudly, though he still stood notably shorter than either brother. “We’re totally ready to kick some ass, anytime we’re needed.”

Minnie rolled her eyes. “Preeeetty sure they were asking for Jacob,” she pointed out, nudging Chase with an elbow.

“Hey! I helped!”

Jacob smirked. He’d gotten somewhat used to the surly attitude from Dean. It seemed the little folk over in Blefuscu could be just as excitable as the Lilliputians he’d come to know. Chase and Minnie’s antics were practically a given. “I’m basically a glorified taxi,” he warned. “But I’ll be here.”

[neonthewrite]

Washed Up Winchesters 5

The team gets up to some investigating and stuff! It's time to figure out where to find their shipful of monsters.

Cowritten with @nightmares06, the writer behind the @brothersapart multiverse!

( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) -5- ( 6 ) ( 7 ) ( 8 )

Story Tag

Read Time ~10 minutes

~~~~~

Chase grinned as Jacob’s gait steadied out, and he looked out ahead of them. The gently rolling hills around the main city of Lilliput stretched before them, and it was almost like flying. “Cheer up, Dean, we’re gonna arrive in style no matter where we go this way!”

Dean put his head in his hands at that assurance, and there was a barely-audible reply, which, if anyone leaned in close enough to hear the mumble, they would have made out "Never living this down, ever."

Sam only smiled and gave Dean a confident pat on his head, the only part of Dean that was in reach while he slumped down.

Minnie slapped Chase’s arm with the back of her hand and gave him a warning look. He rolled his eyes dramatically, but didn’t say anything more to try to coax Dean out of his worries. Considering it was his first time ever getting a lift from a giant, he was doing just fine.

Jacob kept that in mind as he walked. He didn’t normally rush himself when walking around the city of miniature people. They would usually see him ambling along at a relaxed pace, one that wouldn’t get him anywhere fast if he was the right size around there. Even now, he could spot some people on the outskirts of town pausing to look over at him as he passed by. He tried to soften his steps a bit, but didn’t slow down.

At least, not until he’d rounded the edges of the city and the harbor was in sight. He had to watch his step much more closely, and he all but inched up to one of the docks at the very edge of all the bustling activity. People were keeping busy, and most of them hardly even thought to look up at the sign of his rumbling footsteps.

All in all, the walk couldn’t have taken much more than five minutes for him.

“Do you guys see the ship you were on? Would you recognize it from up here?” he asked, looking straight down at his hand. He was curious for their answer as much as for how well they were doing after their first (conscious) trip with a giant.

Sam leaned off the edge of the giant's hand, squinting slightly to try and make out the markings on the ship. It was hard to forget the ship that tossed him and his brother overboard to be lost at sea.

"That's it," Sam confirmed as soon as he spotted it. "Can you see if there's anyone still on the ship?"

Chase braced his hands on the base of one of Jacob's fingers so he could lean over and squint at the ship Sam was pointing to. It seemed nondescript to his eyes, and hardly stood out among the others; he'd never claimed a strong knowledge in telling the difference between boats. "I don't see anyone," he hedged, but his tone said he was unsure.

Jacob's mouth twisted into a disapproving frown as two of the people on his hand leaned so close to the edge. He wasn't about to nudge them back yet, but he was on alert.

"No one above deck, anyway," he observed.

Sam frowned as well, intently scanning the ship and surrounding landscape. "We need to find them..." he muttered. "There's no telling if they'll be looking for new victims once they're on solid ground."

"Can we get down yet?" Dean asked plaintively from where he was sitting with his legs crossed.

“Yeah, yeah,” Chase teased with a grin, patting a hand on Jacob’s palm. He looked up and pointed at an area of the shipyard more loaded with boxes than with bustling people. “Can ya let us off there? We can go investigate, and stuff!”

Jacob smirked. “Investigate and stuff? Can’t believe I’m missing out,” he teased right back, nudging at Chase’s side even as he knelt down carefully. He didn’t move his hand further away from his chest until he was as close to the ground as he could get without sitting down. It looked like Dean was too woozy for anything crazy.

While everyone disembarked, he braced his free hand on the ground to keep steady. “I’ll wait over here for you guys.”

~~~

After quite a bit of “investigating and stuff,” the group didn’t have many leads to go on. Surprisingly, Chase was the most outwardly disappointed by that fact. As they returned to meet up with Jacob and decide where to look next, Chase tilted his head back and frowned at the sky.

“Man, we coulda gotten so many more clues if someone hadn’t decided to argue with that fisherman so much,” he pointed out. “What kinda secret agenting can we do like that?”

Dean scowled at Chase's obvious diss towards their methods. "You want to be in charge, short stop?" he griped irritably.

"Most of our work is in Blefuscu," Sam reminded them to avoid Dean throwing another tantrum. "It's different over there. We're more likely to set off another war if we go pushing at the wrong people."

The pointed way Sam put we're left it in no uncertain terms that he thought it was likely that Dean would be the one most likely to step on toes, but he planned on sticking by his older brother's side no matter what. The two Blefuscans were out of place in the Lilliputian port, and the fact that they had some locals helping them out was nothing short of a miracle.

"Well, it's not like we didn't learn anything," Minnie supplied. "That one guy said they sold the boat as soon as they could, so there might be, like, a record of where they're gonna be next."

Chase nodded, but smirked. "I'm surprised you noticed anything after you found that livestock pen."

Minnie crossed her arms and her optimistic expression turned into a sullen one. "I never get to see the new lambs before the auctions start. So what? I listen just fine."

Chase rolled his eyes but spared her further teasing. "Riiight. So we at least know there's one guy who talked to the guys that were on that ship. That's something, right?" He turned to Sam and Dean to watch for their confirmation.

"It's not nothing," Sam agreed.

"It's not much," Dean interrupted obstinately.

Sam whirled around on Dean. "Can you try being helpful for once?" he demanded, crossing his arms. "So far, we've seen no sign of attack. So there's still time."

For a minute, it looked like Dean would keep arguing for the sake of arguing, but then he sighed and looked away. "Right, once we talk to that guy, we can see if he remembers where they went and why no one else in the area interacted with the people from the ship. They can't just vanish into thin air."

“That’s the spirit, Dean!” Chase chirped, still all too unbothered by the seriousness of the situation. At least outwardly, he didn’t show signs of worry. After all, they were doing what they could, which was more than most people would be able to do. Having two monster hunters just wash up on Lilliput after some monsters snuck in was good luck, in his opinion.

Even if they weren’t the most enthused about their main mode of transportation while visiting.

Jacob could be seen a bit beyond the cluttered area at the edge of the harbor. He couldn’t sit down too close by; even when he was trying to make himself seem smaller, the giant took up too much space. Some of the warehouses framing the bustling area were too little to hold him.

Chase lightly tapped Dean’s arm with the back of his hand. “Whatcha say, ready to fly in style again?”

Lips flattened into a straight line, Dean didn’t deign to glance Chase’s way. “Style is not what I’d call it,” he grumbled as he accepted that as long as they were working with the Lilliputians, they’d have to deal with the giant that came with them.

Sam slapped Dean on the back, nearly throwing him forward. “C’mon, just imagine the stories you’ll have when we get back!”

“They’ll never believe us.”

Chase snickered. “What, they seriously haven’t started spreading the rumor around Blefuscu yet? You guys are behind!” He stepped forward as he spoke, paying little mind to the others with a goal in mind. With both hands cupped around his mouth, he let out a yell much louder than it seemed like such a frail person could produce. “Hey, Jake!”

The giant, sitting peacefully and staring over the bay, perked up and turned his head at the sound of his name. At first, he didn’t find the group among the clutter. When he zeroed in on them, a smile appeared on his face, all too easy to see from their vantage point.

The ground rumbled under their feet as he pushed himself up so he could kneel closer to the shipyard again. “Hey, guys,” he greeted. “Chase letcha get any work done?”

Dean glared. "Some," he said testily. The terse reply combined with his stiff body language showed that he was still just as uncomfortable with the giant close by. Giants weren't something that Blefuscans had ever adjusted to, and the concept of a friendly one was outside of Dean's realm of normal.

Sam hid a grin. "Chase is lucky Dean didn't pitch him off the docks," he commented dryly to help break up the tension around them. "But aside from that, we have a lead."

If Jacob noticed Dean’s demeanor, he didn’t do anything to draw attention to it. He was used to people in Lilliput giving him the side eye at least, and some of them still didn’t trust him at all. While it might be common knowledge that he wasn’t going to go on a rampage or anything, he was too big to ignore.

He leaned down just a little more, intrigued. “A lead? That’s great!”

Chase nodded. “Yeah, they sold their ship to some businessman, so he might know where they were going next! Wanna give us a ride to him?”

Jacob paused. He couldn’t help a glance at Sam and Dean to gauge what they thought of the idea, but then he glanced past the whole group to the city of tiny folk arrayed behind them. “What, like, into the city? Is that allowed?”

“It’s not in the middle of town or anything,” Chase hedged. “And it’s way faster if you get us there.”

“You’ll take any excuse, won’t ya,” Jacob muttered. He addressed Sam, who seemed to be the de facto leader of the small group of investigators. “You guys cool with that? I don’t mind if you wanna wander in without me.”

"We need to avoid wasting time," Sam said, sending Dean a chiding look. "Your help is appreciated."

"Whatever," Dean said. He stomped closer to Jacob, drawing himself up. "Let's get this show on the road, Gulliver!"

~~~

It didn't take long for everyone to file onto Jacob's hand once again, and it didn't take much more than that for him to wander to the edge of town closest to their next goal. Chase seemed to know where to find anybody in that city, despite it being much bigger compared to him. He never minded pointing Jacob in a direction, either.

Jacob needed more time to work up the courage to just walk in. He stood near one of the buildings on the outskirts, an area not walled in like the front of the city. The road would be just wide enough to accommodate him, but he wouldn't leave much room for anything else.

"Jake, I think I can see the guy's building from up here," Chase noted.

“Cool,” Jacob muttered. He didn’t even bother to hide his concern for what he was about to do, but he took the hint well enough. He took the first step into the city, past the edge of that nearest building, and almost expected a swarm of Lilliputians to emerge from around corners to scold him.

They didn’t, and that was promising.

He inched his way further in, ever mindful of the buildings on either side as he passed. Some people did lean out their windows to stare incredulously at them, and Chase took on the task of waving at them. Any disapproving look was deflected before long.

He was only a block away when a sharp, authoritative voice down below called up to him and he drew up short. Jacob had to shuffle one careful step backwards to see the tiny cop down there, hands on his hips and looking stern. The little guy had to tilt his head all the way back just to see Jacob’s face, but he didn’t let any intimidation get in the way.

“Just what do you think you’re doing, giant? You’re too dangerous for the streets!”