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manicmarsupial · 3 years

Text

Button

You know, I don't think I'll ever have coherent thoughts when it comes to story writing. I literally barf out ideas. So, yeah...enjoy

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Hosea had managed to trap the strange little thief in his satchel. He desperately wanted to examine the curious oddity he had captured, but a crowded saloon was not the best place. He kept one hand securely over the flap of his bag, preventing the tiny creature from escaping until he’d finished eating.

Hand firmly on his satchel, Hosea left the saloon and mounted up on his horse, trotting to outside the town. Based on how much he could feel the little thing fighting against his hand, he decides not to risk his fingers and puts a thick glove over his hand before gently grabbing the tiny creature.

It could be mistaken for a human…except for the obvious size difference and a long tail. The little thing is squirming, trying to scratch and bite the gloved fingers holding its waist. Hosea changes his grip to a light fist, stopping the flailing arms. He extends a finger toward the tiny creature, who tries to snap at the digit.

“Now that’s not very hospitable of you,” he smiles at its attempt to be fierce.

He can feel it wriggle against his fingers as his other hand moves closer. He carefully runs his finger through the tuft of hair on the creature’s head. The tiny thing looks startled.

“There now, I’m not so bad,” Hosea smiles, keeping his voice soft.

A normal speaking volume might hurt the tiny ears. There were folk tales about races of miniature people, but he never thought he’d ever see one, let alone have one in his hand. The tales called them ‘borrowers’ he recalls. This one, however is not slowing in its struggles.

“Oh, come now. Surely a fearsome creature like yourself isn’t afraid of a frail old man?” he gives a toothy grin.

The borrower takes one look and flails harder, managing to squeeze out of Hosea’s grasp. It pounces off the top of the fingers, only to be grabbed around the waist.

‘Stupid,’ Hosea scolds himself mentally.

‘It probably doesn’t speak English.’

“Slippery little thing, ain’t ya?” he chuckles as the borrower leaps away from his hands, trying at times to clamber up his sleeve.

Eventually he catches the tiny creature, grasping its tail gently between his gloved fingers.

“Shh, little one. I won’t hurt you,” he whispers soothingly, trying to calm them down.

The borrower completely ignores him and tries to swing around, biting and clawing at his leather glove.

Hosea hums in thought, then calls over Silver Dollar. He digs through the saddle bag with his free hand and retrieves a bowl. He holds it just below the flailing borrower, noting with sadness how its eyes widen in horror as it stops attacking his hand and begins trying to jump away.

“It’s alright, you’re going to be safe,” he soothes, placing the borrower into the bowl.

It makes a few unsuccessful attempts to scrabble up the steep edges before curling up at the bottom of the bowl staring at Hosea with wide, terrified eyes.

“There, you can move a little more now,” he places the bowl on the ground, and crouches down, getting a proper look.

It’s absolutely adorable with its tail and oversized ears. Hosea’s stomach makes a grumble, and he rubs his hand over the offending noisemaker.

“I should eat something, you think so?” he smiles as he stands up.

Satisfied his little acquisition can’t escape, Hosea busies himself concocting a mixture of berries and herbs for the borrower, while he can use the rest for dressing. Once he’s satisfied with the mix, he turns to see the tiny creature readying to pounce.

“Don’t even try it,” he laughs, sitting down next to the bowl.

The borrower disregards him entirely and launches itself out of the bowl, to Hosea’s surprise.

He catches it before it lands using the spoon already in his hand. The tiny creature tightens its grip as Hosea bring them closer to his face.

“Now now, don’t be naughty,” he wags his finger at them before dropping them back into the bowl.

Hosea feels sorry for the little wonder, even as he hands them some of the mix, the borrower’s eyes widen. It glances warily at the food, then back to him. Hosea chews his bottom lip in thought.

“Eat,” he gestures to his mouth, hoping it would understand.

The borrower cowers in fear.

“You’re tricky to talk to, ain’t ya?” he smiles.

He runs his tongue over his dry lips. Even his reassuring tone would have gotten past the language barrier, unless…

Hosea extends one hand slightly behind the borrower, the little creature intently watching his face. Hosea snaps his fingers behind the borrower.

It doesn’t react at all. Not even an ear twitch.

“Huh, that explains a bit,” he sighs.

Making sure the borrower is paying attention to him, he takes some of the mix and eats a little of it, then points between the borrower and their portion. He sits back a little, trying not to scare them. It sniffs the mixture tentatively and takes a handful of it. It brings the stuff close to its mouth and looks up at Hosea with a questioning expression.

Hosea nods and smiles, trying not to show his teeth. The borrower eyes him warily as it nibbles the food. Hosea slowly takes off his hat and places it on the ground, then uses his gloves to line it. He cautiously puts his hand in front of the borrower, who flinches back.

He waits patiently and the borrower eventually places a tiny hand on Hosea’s palm before looking up at the man for reassurance. Hosea nods, letting the borrower climb onto his hand. He carefully transfers the small creature to his hat, letting it slide down to make itself comfortable.

Hosea sets up a small camp, glancing at his new acquisition occasionally. It’s watching him with wide curious eyes.

A soft tapping sound prompts Hosea to look at the borrower, now standing on the brim of his hat. It gestures to Hosea’s hand, then does the ‘come here’ motion. Hosea places his hand carefully in front of the creature, who climbs on hesitantly. It fiddles with the cuff of his shirt and taps the button fervently, looking up at Hosea. After making sure he’s watching, the borrower points at themselves, then the button, repeating this sequence several times.

“Button? Is that your name?” Hosea asks.

The little borrower nods happily.

“Well, I’m glad to meet you.”

Button looks startled and leaps off Hosea’s hand.

“What’s wrong? Did something scare you?” Hosea instinctively moves a hand closer to his gun belt.

Button seems to ponder this, then hops forward a little. They put a front paw in the dirt, then drag it along. Hosea realizes Button is drawing. His joints protest as he leans closer to get a better look. Button’s drawing, he realizes, is of a mouth. Button points to the mouth, then to Hosea. Next, they point into the mouth, then at themselves, looking with a horrified expression back up at Hosea, who realizes Button thinks he wants to eat them.

Hosea shakes his head and draws a cross through the mouth. He thinks for a few seconds, then draws in the dirt. Button watches in confusion, squeaking in fright as Hosea’s hand appears beside them. They cautiously climb onto his palm, bracing as Hosea slowly lifts them up. He points at his little drawing and points to Button. Button points to themselves with a questioning expression. Hosea nods, adding a picture of a button next to the drawing of the borrower.

Hosea was quite proud of himself, and that was saying something. He’d made the strange little creature trust him. Not completely, but they weren’t running away or trying to bite him. For someone who prided himself on being an eloquent silver-tongued conman, he was admittedly out of his depth when he discovered the tiny creature had no hearing. However, Button had proved to be quite an artist and fairly intelligent, managing to communicate their name to him.

Currently the borrower was curled up in his hat, soundly sleeping, its tail coiled in front of their nose. Deciding to turn in, carefully moves his hat under his tent, trying not to wake Button, before going to sleep on his own bedroll.

Button wakes up trembling from a nightmare. It’s no secret that humans are cruel, the green scarves especially. Button alone, has had many bad experiences, but this human has been nice, which was incredibly confusing. The man, though surprised, was patient and understanding. It struck Button as highly unusual, even by the standard of their own family. But human or borrower, this man was being nice.

Button, now wide awake, peeks over the brim of the man’s hat, studying the human in the dim moonlight. The lines on the face aren’t as pronounced while he sleeps, and the moonlight seems to make his white hair shine. Around the man’s waist, Button can see a brown belt, with two metal things. They don’t know what the things are, except for the fact fire erupts, then death and destruction is delivered. Button’s only knowledge that these things are loud is the rattling shake when the fire erupts.

Many green scarves have these things, and do not hesitate to deliver death. This man, however, has a scarf, but red, and only went to reach for the metal death-bringer when Button was afraid. But he didn’t bring it out when he realized it was him Button was scared of.

Pondering for a moment, Button clambers up to sit on the man’s chest, finding the slow breathing soothing. The man’s red scarf sets him aside from the other death-bringer carriers, and he’s alone rather than with a group. Button slides down to curl up under the man’s red scarf, a reminder this man is not a cruel green scarf. The slight, constant tremor of the man’s pulse lulls Button to sleep.

The slight discomfort under his Adam’s apple startles Hosea awake. A life on the run has honed his reflexes to respond to anything that could remotely be life threatening, in this case, pressure on his windpipe. Though, as he opens his eyes, expecting to see someone throttling him, there’s nobody there. Curious, he glances down at where the pressure is. He almost laughs in relief when he sees Button’s tail swishing slightly from under his scarf. Grinning to himself, Hosea carefully reaches for a book, letting his new friend sleep.

Hosea had read a few chapters when he felt Button move, the little paws almost tickling his neck. When their head pops out from under the scarf, the poor thing still looks frightened of him.

“Hello Button,” he gives a smile, slowly moving one hand closer.

Button remains wary, even as Hosea extends a finger. A look of surprise spreads over Button’s face as Hosea gently strokes them behind the ear. The old conman is pleasantly surprised when, as he goes to take his hand away, Button wraps their arms around his fingers and pulls it back to near their ear. Hosea resumes stroking, chuckling as the borrower leans into his touch.

Hosea was a bit concerned. He’d been nothing but nice to Button, yet the borrower kept casting wary glances. He can’t take the suspense. He gently taps Button on the shoulder, giving them a little scritch behind the ear. Hosea uses his free hand to gesture to his face, imitating Button’s expression, then points to Button. Button alternates between looking at Hosea, then off into the distance.

Suddenly jumping away from of Hosea, Button starts drawing in the dirt. First, two borrowers, one with a button logo. Hosea points to the other one and gives Button a questioning look. Button taps their chin in thought, then holds two hands out as fists, then wraps the fingers of one hand around the fist if the other, before putting both hands to their chest with a content expression. Given the context, Button probably means friend. Hosea nods in understanding.

Button takes a while to draw out the story. They finish drawing a hat on one human character, before giving Hosea a startled look, then bolting off into the undergrowth.

Hosea feels a sad ache deep in his heart. Taking a breath to compose himself, he grabs his magnifying glass and studies Button’s story. It appears Button and a friend were caught by a human and tortured. Hosea nearly drops his magnifying glass when he finds out this human ate Button’s friend while Button saw it all.

Pattering footsteps make Hosea look up. Button has returned with an armful of leaves. They take one to the drawing of the eating human, placing the bright green leaf around the neck of the drawing like a scarf.

Hosea unsheathes his knife and stabs the image of the O’Driscoll, startling Button to jump in fright to avoid the blade. Hosea scoops up the borrower, holding them against his chest, finger curled around them protectively.

He immediately realizes it was a stupid thing to do. Part of him wants to be selfish and keep Button with him, but he doesn’t want the borrower to feel trapped. Curiously, Button doesn’t seem to be fighting. Their tiny hands and feet are light enough to only tickle his palms, and he can feel the tail swishing lightly. Hosea opens his hands slightly, trying not to frighten Button. Button, however, upon poking their head out from between Hosea’s fingers, is grinning broadly despite narrowly avoiding a knife blade then being swept up into a giant’s hands.

#hey look i can write #I'm still on an RDR2 G/t kick #that won't end any time soon #RDR2 G/t #Red Dead Redemption 2 #g/t #giant tiny #Hosea Matthews #is the best giant #pry that headcanon from my cold dead fingers #he'd use little people to rob other humans #but he'd spoil them too

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