The prompt was for Jacob with the word “Monster.” I lost the ask, because it’s been so long since I got it. I wrote this a while ago and forgot I hadn’t posted it before NaNoWriMo started … oops.
( Keep up on Chase In Lilliput )
With Jacob formally welcomed by the city officials, Chase had another, much more difficult task to handle next. He gestured for the giant to offer a hand, and stepped on as soon as it lowered in front of him. He waved dismissively at the others even as he rose up toward the giant’s eye level.
“Okay … what now?” Jacob boomed curiously.
Chase showed none of his concerns. “Time to show you where I live, big guy. Since you’ll probably have to chill in my backyard ‘til there’s a spot with more room for ya.”
Jacob looked skeptical. “Uh. Your backyard? Is that …?”
Chase dismissed his concerns with another wave like he was ridding the air of smoke. “I live on the edge of town, there’s room. Maybe even my parents will just let you stay in one of our fields!”
“Your parents?” Jacob echoed. “You sure they won’t mind you bringing a giant to their doorstep?”
Chase smirked. “Well, you’re not gonna be on the doorstep. I don’t think it’d hold you, big guy.” In return, a huge thumb nudged at his side to accompany Jacob’s flat look. Chase shoved it away and went on as if there had been no interruptions. “Besides. I gotta look out for you since I kinda invited you here. I’ll make sure it all works out.”
Jacob wished he could shrink down or find a hill to hide behind. He sat in as little space as he could in an admittedly-large backyard while down below, an argument flew back and forth between Chase and his parents and a younger teen girl stood back with her arms crossed. They spoke in a language he didn’t know, one that went by too fast for him to really follow any flow of conversation. For all he knew, anyone there could be winning.
Eventually, the woman who had to be Chase’s mother waved her hand at Jacob and spat out a word in the middle of her tirade, and Jacob flinched back. She scowled at her son, but sent many wary glances up at Jacob.
Chase protested more, and then heaved an irritated sigh when the two adults stormed back into the house. The yard fell awkwardly silent, with only Jacob, Chase, and the younger girl who must be Chase’s sister. She stood back toward the house with her arms crossed and appraised him. So far, she’d hardly said a word.
“So …” Jacob broke the silence.
Chase tried to offer a nonchalant grin, but his cheeks still sported the blush of anger. “That coulda gone better, but hey. A kinda-victory is still a victory.”
Jacob pursed his lips and glanced at the house. He would avoid coming close to it until he knew they weren’t so scared of him. “So they’re gonna let me stay here anyway? At least for a while?” Chase nodded and gave him a thumbs-up.
He fidgeted with a twig he’d picked up that was more like a walking stick to the tiny Lilliputians. “What was that last bit your mom said?”
Chase shrugged. “She just called you a big giant, nothing to worry about.”
“Uh, right,” the girl finally scoffed. “She said monster, Chase.”
“Minnie! ” Chase scolded. He said more in the other language, and Minnie argued back defensively.
Jacob resigned himself to another awkward wait, but the siblings’ bickering didn’t last long. Chase said something that sounded like a warning, and his sister scoffed indignantly. Then, with a smug expression, Chase passed her to follow his parents into the house before Jacob could even catch his eye.
“Ah, wait …” he blurted, only to cut himself off just as abruptly. He was left outside with only Chase’s annoyed little sister for company.
The pause that followed was extremely awkward.
Jacob had no idea what Chase had told her, but she remained outside with him, shuffling one of her shoes in the grass. “So …” he began. “Minnie?”
She looked up at him with the pout lingering on her face. Then she sighed, rolled her eyes, and shrugged all at once to prove her nonchalance. “I guess you can call me Minnie,” she replied. Then, she tossed her pin-straight black hair over a shoulder. “But just so you know, it’s only a nickname.”
Jacob smiled briefly. “I figured, don’t worry,” he assured her. “Did he leave you on monster-sitting duty?”
To that, Minnie replied with a wince. “Look, I’m sorry, I was just correcting Chase without thinking,” she said. She gestured at Jacob with a motion like she was dismissing him, but in her indifferent way it didn’t feel too harsh. “If you were much of a monster you wouldn’t be trying to squish yourself in the back corner of the yard, right?”
Jacob glanced over his shoulder. He was as close to the back fence as he could be without worrying he’d flatten it with one errant move. “That’s the hope, yeah,” he agreed. “I didn’t really expect to end up in a tiny city … or … whatever.”
Minnie snickered. “Right. Whatever. Besides, it’s not like our parents didn’t hear about a giant walking up to the gates today. Mom’s just mad she didn’t realize it was my stupid brother who found you. She might come around.”
Jacob raised his eyebrows. “Thanks for the confidence, Minnie.”
She smirked again and reused the word her mother had used against him but with far less vehemence. “No problem, guàiwù. “
Writerly Things 