little ramble about pepper & felix, I just wanna get my thoughts out
I have been rereading pepper & felix a bit recently just for fun, plus my gf is reading it for the first time which is both embarrassing and amazing 😭💞 so I’ve been thinking about it a lot. it’s about two years old now and my writing has definitely improved, but it does make me cringe to see some old writing. I’m not entirely happy with the last 5 or so chapters
Also coincidentally I’ve been wanting a physical copy of p&f. I’d love to design a cover and actually get to hold it as a real book :)
It would take a long long time, but I’m hoping to one day turn p&f into an actual physical (i guess self-published) book. And since I would have to change the paragraph formatting anyways, I am considering rewriting it. Obviously I want to keep most of it exactly the same! But some of the paragraphs I want to extend and I would want to make some big pacing changes; I’d love for it to be longer, especially since I personally feel that the ending was rushed/sloppy
anyways yeah this is just my little brain dump. idk if I’ll ever actually do this haha. And obviously I’m keeping the original tumblr version the SAME— but it would be fun to make a physical “revamped” copy for anyone who wants a physical and/or updated version :]
I know it’s been a while since an Other-world Universe update, and you’re all probably expecting the next chapter (or not, it has been a while), but would anyone be interested in seeing the more book-ready properly edited after several years edition of chapters one and two?
Thistle was the mayor, he supposed. He hadn't thought about it like that before.
He strolled around, surveying his kingdom… mayordom? The little wooden houses in the living room made a sort of mini-neighborhood. Severa’s was the biggest and most brightly colored, with the handprints painted on the side. He and Severa had painted those on together, back when being friends had been a novelty for them both.
Moon and Auburn had their own painted houses there too, although Moon barely used his–he seemed to find the idea a little juvenile, but that was okay. Marigold had been happy to paint one to go alongside everyone else’s, the joy on his brother’s face returning a little bit each day they spent together.
Colin and Teddy were in the kitchen making dinner together, though Thistle wouldn’t really consider himself the mayor of them. Mochi wound between their feet, getting in the way adorably. Córva could be seen on the back porch eating from Colin’s birdfeeder. The dryads were out beyond that, as inert as ever.
Marcy was setting the table. He’d maybe consider himself the mayor of her, if only because he paid her bills now. Which was a very strange inversion of the power dynamic they’d had when they’d first met, and Thistle had barely even known what a human was.
Jewel was in the fishtank, as usual. The tank had been upgraded recently to something bigger, mostly because Jewel had kept dropping hints that he felt crowded with all the fish in there with him.
Violet and Petunia were spending more time outside the walls, mostly in Severa’s nest. The baby could be heard crying from within there, as well as Severa’s gentle voice cooing to soothe her. Jax’s borrower body could be seen pestering Moon about something on the end table nearby, maybe about finally acquiring some of his hair.
Thistle walked to the tunnel out to the shed, where soft green and red lights glowed all the way through. They’d recently run a string of Christmas lights out to make sure the tunnel wasn’t so dark, and it had a cozy feel to it now, if a little utilitarian. He made a mental note to make some decorations for it, maybe even some little chairs so people could hang out underground if they wanted to.
Into the shed. Auburn hung from the ceiling–the peace and quiet he’d used to get from sleeping alone in here during the day was gone, shattered by the group of arachnotaurs building a nest in the corner, their children’s voices bouncing off the walls.
Jack was nearby, observing them and taking notes. Nissica was nibbling on a carrot. And Fern was in the corner with his tail curled around himself, looking dejected and alone.
That was silly. There were so many people here now! Fern just needed to socialize more.
If only there was some… structured socialization time. Yeah. With so many people, and everyone having so many different skills, it only made sense to have some sort of… schedule. Scheduled classes.
Oh, I’m a genius.
***
Monday: Art with Thistle
“Okay, everyone! This week, we’re going to be working with watercolors!”
A waterproof tarp had been spread out on the floor. Which was good, because Severa’s as-of-yet-unnamed baby had already managed to make a huge mess. Well, it was only huge to Thistle. Marcy was able to wipe it up with a paper towel.
“Thistle, how does this look?” Auburn shouted.
Thistle came over and saw Auburn had painted splotches that looked vaguely like flowers. “Oh, it’s beautiful! Keep it up!”
He made the rounds. Severa was holding her baby and letting her smear paint all over the canvas with her hands. Moon elegantly swirled his brush on the canvas to make hypnotic patterns. Violet was painting a picture of a cracker. Petunia was copying what Severa’s baby was doing. Marigold copied Thistle. Nissica was painting, while Jack was just watching everyone else do so.
Jax was using all four of his hands from both bodies to paint at once, abstract colors appearing quickly. “How about this? Thistle! Thistle, look how fast I can paint! Thistle, is there a good color for, um, the color of your wings? I can’t find a good one.”
Jewel had a human-sized paintbrush and was resolutely using it to keep the water-saturating paint as far away from him as possible, fearful of contamination. “I’m not breathing this shit in through my gills,” he muttered.
Next to him, Colin and Teddy sat with full-sized canvases. Teddy painted something with hearts. Colin painted a sports jersey. Marcy was on her hands and knees painting on a very tiny canvas next to Thistle’s example.
Fern dipped his tail in paint and slapped it against the canvas. “Very creative!” Thistle encouraged. He looked a bit buoyed by that.
Thistle made sure everyone signed their works. That class ended with them all marching into the shed tunnel and hanging their paintings up one by one. It only filled about a quarter of one wall. Luckily, they’d be back next week to make more.
***
Tuesday: Swimming with Jewel
“All right, everybody shut up! Shut up!”
Petunia and the arachnotaur children stopped their screaming and splashing water on each other, floating with their tiny rubber waveboards that had been painstakingly cut out from a full-sized one.
Severa sat daintily on the edge of the tank, a far cry from her first encounter with Jewel in the tank, when she’d been trying to smash it open to get to him. She dangled her baby in the water, holding her by the arm and letting the tyke swirl her tail in it.
“So,” Jewel said. “This is how you swim.” He swam across the tank. “That’s all there is to it.”
Petunia raised her hand. “Mister Mermaid, sir? How’d you do that?”
“I just-” He did it again.
Marigold, who’d been improving the use of his legs with physical therapy, tentatively kicked in the water a little bit, too afraid to actually get in. Pixies very rarely swam.
Borrowers apparently didn’t either. Petunia let go of her waveboard and promptly sank. Jewel dashed to bring her back up to the surface, and she erupted into tears.
“Yech,” Jewel said. “Hey, don’t cry.”
Violet took Petunia from him. “All right, all right, Tunie. No need to get all sad. C’mon. Try again. Watch the fishmen do it again.”
“Jewel,” Thistle said diplomatically. “You’re not being a very good teacher.”
“I said I wasn’t a good teacher! You insisted it would be easy and all I’d have to do would be show them how I do it!”
“Just explain what you’re doing!”
Oblivious to their arguing, Severa hummed, dipping her baby in the water. The baby splashed happily. The nagas appeared to be the only land-based creatures also suited for the water. Still, they’d have a lot of lessons to go.
***
Wednesday: Flag football with Colin
Thistle was sitting with Marcy on the porch when he heard Auburn yelling.
Auburn never yelled. He was far too meek for that. Moreover, it sounded like it was coming from the sky, and Auburn rarely flew during the day. Something was wrong.
Thistle clambered up onto the porch railing and craned his neck to see.
Auburn was being mobbed by tiny flying creatures. They were half his size, but there were about half a dozen of them.
“Thistle!” his voice yelled faintly. “Help!”
“Come down here!” Thistle yelled. “Get out of the air!” Thistle was able to hover with his prosthetic, but he was nowhere near the aeronautics level of the battle happening mid-air above him.
Auburn folded his wings and dived. He collided with Marcy’s shoulder, tumbling down onto her lap.
The aerial mob fluttered to follow. Thistle let out an eep and dove onto Marcy's lap as well.
The creatures pulled up and dove away, scattering. They got close enough for Thistle to see flashes of brown feathers, and humanoid faces and hands.
“That's cheating!” yelled an unfamiliar voice. “You can't just hop onto a human! Are you crazy?”
“Leave me alone!” Auburn yelled in return.
Thistle clambered over Marcy's hand cupping the vampire to check on Auburn. “Are you hurt?”
Auburn tearfully patted himself down. “N-no. I guess not. I was just minding my own business when those things started trying to beat me up.”
Thistle's face darkened, and he climbed back up the railing. “Hey! You out there!”
One of the little things flitted onto a power line nearby.
“Who do you think you are, bullying Auburn like that?”
“He's on our territory!” the voice called back.
Thistle blinked. “Your territory? This is our house!”
“Get away from that human and we can have a proper conversation!”
“Not going anywhere,” Marcy called. “Sorry!”
A few more of the figures twittered over, murmuring amongst themselves.
“You really let a human see you?” came the voice again.
“Yeah!” Thistle yelled. “She's nice!”
The tiny figures tittered and shifted on the wire. One particularly brave individual jumped off and glided down onto the porch railing. He looked a bit like a borrower, a miniature man, but he had feathered wings, a broad feathered tail, and scaly clawed feet. He looked a lot like a sparrow. “Hey! Hey! You're really crazy, you know that? Sitting on a human?”
“You're crazy for attacking someone at their own house!” Thistle shot back.
The sparrow crossed his arms. “Well, we decided to make this our territory, which means no one else is allowed to fly in it.”
“That's crazy,” Thistle said. “You can't just decide that!”
These sparrows were clearly full of fighting energy and the need for territorial dominance. If only there was some other way to use that.
All Thistle would have to do would be get them to agree to stay here, play by the rules, and engage in some sort of alternate activity to sate their thirst for domination.
“Down her!” the captain of the sparrows’ team called, as his companions dogpiled onto Severa. Her bulk meant that she could simply hold the football up in the air and the sparrows, who'd agreed not to use their wings, tackled her futilely trying to get a down.
“I told you it hardly seemed fair to have six against one,” Severa said smugly. “Just not in the direction you'd expect.”
Moon sat on the sidelines sipping a drink. “Thistle, dear, if you want to have a football league, you're going to need something to standardize things for different size folk.”
The sparrows yelled in outrage, feverishly trying to take Severa down.
“You may have a point.” Thistle walked over and blew the whistle. Since his lips didn't cover the entire blowhole, the sound came out not as strong as he would have liked, but it still got their attention. “Time out! Time out!”
Sweating, the sparrows swarmed him. “Thistle, this isn't fair!”
“She's too big!”
“Too strong!”
“Even it out!”
Thistle rubbed his chin, eyes sweeping over the persons available to him. If there were simply enough people on the opposing team, they could make a pile big enough to reach Severa's hand. No, that was ridiculous.
“What about flag football?” That was Colin's suggestion. Thistle had never heard of this before and immediately read the entire Wikipedia page on it.
The next day, the football teams were back on the front lawn, this time each with a ribbon tied to their waste.
Severa seemed disgruntled that she could be overpowered by just grabbing the ribbon. “But I can still fight!”
“It's symbolic of them getting you. Not that they actually got you. It's to make it fair.”
“But I could still easily overpower them!”
Severa had seemingly never been physically challenged like this before. She was used to being the biggest and strongest in the group. It took some getting used to, but she eventually relented and handed over the ball when “downed.”
Thistle's crew lined up to join and balance out the teams. Auburn had to be convinced, but he eventually proved surprisingly good at it as long as they played in low light. Marigold had regained enough mobility to give it a try once roughhousing was eliminated from the game. He was lithe enough to avoid being downed most of the time, and he had a good throwing arm. Severa eventually convinced Violet to join, and the borrower's ability to scurry out of reach made her impossible to catch.
They had a tournament. Severa’s team, the Predators, was favored to win until the sparrow’s team, uncreatively called the Sparrows, rocketed ahead when they realized they could impress Colin and get him to be their cheerleader when they got touchdowns.
***
Thursday: Night Walks with Moon
“Humans have all sort of ideas about constellations,” Moon said, clasping his hands. “They saw all sorts of shapes in the sky, and because they got too frustrated to agree on what they should be called, they decided to just blot out the stars entirely. That’s why you can’t see constellations anymore.”
“Moon,” Thistle chided. “That’s not true at all.”
Marcy turned the porch light off. “Is that any better?”
Moon looked up to the sky and sighed. “Oh, nothing will ever compare to the full view of the milky way under a truly pollution-free sky. I suppose this will do.”
Auburn, who’d volunteered to be co-chaperone on account of being the other one with good night vision, fluttered off Marcy’s shoulder. “It’s pretty, but I say you’re not missing much. Light pollution means there’s humans nearby, which means there’s p-” He’d been about to say prey, but the collection of little creatures at March’s feet probably wouldn’t like that reminder. “-plenty of buildings to shelter under.”
“Mmm. Yes.” Moon removed his sunglasses, his sparkling red eyes turning up to the sky. “Still, everyone should see it at least once.”
“I’ve never been outside at night before,” Fern said. “Ma n Pa always said it’s too dangerous. Predators n’at.”
“Well, now you can enjoy the sights worry-free.”
Fern’s tail twitched as his paws stepped into the grass and soft soil. “It is pretty.” His nose wiggled as he followed Moon’s gaze up to the constellations.
Jack and Nissica had joined, and Jack thumped one of her big rabbit feet. “Did you know that borrowers don’t even have their own set of constellations? That’s how rarely the buggers go outside at night.”
“Er we supposed’ta have our own set of constellations?” Violet said. “Why’s it matter?”
“Constellations are an important marker of cultural zeitgeist.”
“...I don’t like the sound of a zeitgeist.”
Borrower-Jax had been following behind Moon this whole time rubbing his hands together. He finally burst into tears and grabbed Moon’s jacket. “Please, Mr. Moon, please let me have some of your hair. I want to be able to see in the dark. I can help chaperone!”
“No,” Moon said. “If you want night vision so badly, make another copy of Auburn.”
Jax turned to Auburn. Auburn looked uncomfortable.
“Can I?”
“I guess.”
Severa sat her tyke up on her shoulders, trying to direct her attention up at the sky. The unnamed baby seemed much more interested in the pebbles on the ground.
***
Friday: Trivia Night with Horemheb
Mochi was acting weird.
Mochi had been remarkably well-behaved, considering everything. She never swatted at anyone, never bit, never chased, never even unsheathed her claws. Still, there were precautions in place: They never left Mochi unsupervised with any of the tiny folks, and Mochi couldn’t fit into the tunnel leading to the shed, so there was always somewhere to get away from her.
So when they actually had to use those precautions because Mochi started growling, everyone was shocked.
The tiny group engaging with Thistle’s art supplies nearby panicked and scattered, dashing into whatever holes were nearby.
“Mochi, what's wrong?!” Thistle had never felt so threatened by Mochi’s teeth before now. Marcy rushed to scoop him up.
Mochi’s tail swished, and she stared at the front door.
“...Marcy, lower me down. I want to check the mail slot.”
When he lifted the flap, he was shocked to see a human-shaped face looking back at him. Quite a bit smaller than a human, though, but not as small as a borrower.
“Tell me,” said the face in a singsong voice, revealing fangs. “What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs during the day, and three legs at night?”
“Uhhh?”
The face got closer, showing only the eyes through the mail slot. “Answer wisely.”
“It's man,” Marcy said.
“Dammit Marcy! I wanted to figure it out!”
“Oh, sorry!”
The creature outside took a few steps back, revealing itself to be…. a sandy-colored cat with a human head. The sphinx licked its lips. “I was going to demand entry when you failed my riddle. Alas.”
His tail curled around his front paws. He looked so dejected that Thistle immediately blurted out, “That's okay, you can come in anyway!”
The sphinx stood, tail in a friendly question mark. “But I wanted to stump you.”
“There's lots of ways you can stump me! I'm not that smart!”
Mochi growled, hackles raised.
“Hark! Do I hear another sphinx in there?”
“No, that’s, uh, that’s our cat.”
“Cats tend to dislike me. They can sense something isn’t right.”
“Right… Well, you’re welcome to stay here! Mochi doesn’t go outside, so you could go to the shed if you like. And I think I know how you can get your fill of stumping people.”
“Pray tell!” Horemheb the sphinx shouted over the din of conversation at their makeshift bar. “What is the human body’s largest organ?”
Thistle sat with Marigold at the bar counter, which was a piece of wood Colin had screwed down to the floor so that they had something to make drinks behind. He downed the rest of his drink out of his thimble and shouted, “Skin! The skin!”
“Correct!” Horemheb trotted over and used a paw to mark a tally on the side of Thistle’s team. “Next question! What is the only food that never goes bad?”
“Honey!” Marigold shouted, a split second before Jack tried to answer it.
“The pixies have it!” Horemheb said.
Marigold and Thistle high-fived.
“What is the only U.S. state that can be typed using only one row of a standard keyboard?”
“Thistle,” said a voice.
“Wrong!” Horemheb said. “The answer is Alaska! Haha!”
“I wasn’t answering!” Severa said over the music. “I’m trying to talk to Thistle!”
“Hi!” Thistle said. Cheeks flush, just slightly drunk. “What is it?”
“I’m going to name my baby!”
Thistle sat up straight. “Oh?”
Severa looked back to her nest, where Auburn lay snuggled in fluff with the as-of-yet unnamed baby. “I’ve been too afraid to name her. But I think I’m finally ready.”
“That’s awesome! Okay, what’s her name?”
Severa smirked, then slithered over to Horemheb and whispered in his ear. The sphinx perked up, delighted, then called out:
“Riddle me this: What is the name of Severa’s baby?”
“I'll give you a hint,” Severa said, eyes glittering. “We're following the naming convention Violet's family used.”
“Daffodil!” was Thistle's guess, followed by a chorus from everyone.
It's been a hot minute since the last installment of Tinytopia as I was prioritizing some other writing projects, but I'm ready to get back to it now! I have the next chapter partially drafted and will be working on it next.
Since it's been a while I'll be doing a taglist refresh. Everyone who interacts with this post (like, reblog, comment) will be added to the new tag list. Anyone who doesn't interact won't be carried over to the new taglist. You can also subscribe on AO3
And if you haven't read it, now's a great time to start from the beginning and see if it's up your alley! Ok thanks bye <3
GIVE ME RIDE THE CYCLONE WITH A DOLL-SIZED JANE 💞💞 anytime a character is doll-themed she must be tiny. sorry. I don’t make the rules
HEATHERS! specifically tiny veronica. tiny!Veronica and human!JD would make so much sense for how toxic their relationship is and how dangerous he is to her. eeeeek 💞💞💞💞 she is just so tiny coded
okay and hear me out on this one! beetlejuice g/t au where Barbara and Adam aren’t dead, they’re just borrowers who lived in the house until Lydia and her dad moved in. Beetlejuice is a size-shifting menace and the rest of the musical is pretty much the same, just lots of size differences >:3
-drinks wine from shotglasses (i know its cuz shes new to alcohol but let me treat it as tinycoded please)
-breaks into houses sneakily, good at climbing
-gets frequently manhandled (both in beautiful and you're welcome depending on the version)
I know this is far less convincing than the other one but im having fun ok. anyone who talks to me about tiny veronica i love you forever. i dont make the rules
GIVE ME RIDE THE CYCLONE WITH A DOLL-SIZED JANE 💞💞 anytime a character is doll-themed she must be tiny. sorry. I don’t make the rules
HEATHERS! specifically tiny veronica. tiny!Veronica and human!JD would make so much sense for how toxic their relationship is and how dangerous he is to her. eeeeek 💞💞💞💞 she is just so tiny coded
okay and hear me out on this one! beetlejuice g/t au where Barbara and Adam aren’t dead, they’re just borrowers who lived in the house until Lydia and her dad moved in. Beetlejuice is a size-shifting menace and the rest of the musical is pretty much the same, just lots of size differences >:3
Tiny mer that, giant mer this. Where’s my size shifter mers?
The mermaid who gets caught in a net and after the captain starts being all proud and everything and the mermaid just shrinks and slips through the net’s holes, much to the captain’s disappointment.
A merman who grows big enough for all the other mers to cling on as the group travels. Perhaps he also grows to distract predators or fight off threats to his non-shifter mer friends.
What about the classic trope of someone finding a merperson on the shore and taking them back to their beach house / lighthouse, putting them in their Tub. Maybe the merperson is unconscious for a bit but the lighthouse keeper comes to check on them and notices that they’re gone. Panicking they check around but the floor isn’t wet, then they see a small movement from the bath. Hiding behind a rubber duck is the merperson all tiny, not knowing what else to do but hide. Perhaps the keeper calms them down and calms them down, allowing the mer to grow to the size the keeper originally saw. Perhaps the keeper helps them heal and let’s them go after making a beautiful friendship only to one day meet the merperson again, but this time the roles are reversed. The keeper is saved by the merperson, and having been put on an unknown island. The keeper has no clue how they are gonna make it back but thinks the merperson can help them, the mer nods and grows bigger to make the journey faster, much to the keepers surprise.
Long story short, giant mers and tiny meds are great, but give me the shifters!
Hey! It's really great to finally talk to you. BIG fan. Always dreamed of carrying a small version of you around in a tiny birdcage or on my shoulder or in the palm of my hands and dressing you in small dolls clothes & trying to cook small, but still recognizable, meals like sandwiches & stuff ever since we passed each other on the street in Bloomington, Indiana on July 2nd 2011
