An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Once upon a time, long long ago, there lived a boy from a small coastal town who wanted nothing more than to help and protect his people.
When that boy grew up, he decided the best way to do that was to join the Guild of Giant Slayers. They were dedicated to the cause of pushing back and eradicating the monstrous behemoths that lived on the fringes of society, the largest of all the mystical creatures that posed a threat to humanity. And now that he's completed his training, Stan Baker finally feels ready to take on his first giant, one who lives just a little too close to his hometown for his liking.
Is he ready for what awaits him there in the giant's lair?
Happy pride! Have the compilation of my boys being thrust into a fantasy setting!
This is gonna be similar to other stories that are mostly prompt or short-based, but I do want it to come across as a coherent story. So I'm in the process of revising the initial prompts to flow a little more smoothly into one another, and will add fill-in chapters over time.
AU: Fantasy AU feat. giant-slayer Stan and giant Nate. Cue drama.
Note: It finally happened. I'm skipping a prompt because I could come up with absolutely nothing for merpeople. Well, it's not that I couldn't, but my heart wasn't in it and I REALLY wanted to get to this one. It was either skip or put out something soulless, and I don't think any of us want that. Plus I'm still behind so ehh sue me.
~~~
"What the hell was that about?!"
Stan's pounding heart jumped into his throat as bright amber eyes the size of his head turned to focus on him. It... he seemed just as shocked by Stan's call as Stan was in himself. Despite rushing back in here, determined to get to the bottom of the confusing encounter he and the giant had just gone through, Stan didn't have much of a plan.
"Pardon?"
The sheer volume of the giant's voice, relatively gentle as his tone was, hit Stan like a wave. He bit back the impulse to retreat, to hide from something that could be so noisy without trying. Instead, he straightened his spine and crossed his arms defensively.
"As a representative of the Guild of Giant Slayers, I had entered this place with certain expectations," Stan shot back, projecting his own voice to carry all the way to the giant from where he stood on the top of the massive bookshelf. "The training I have undergone prepared me for a much more hostile engagement than I have experienced here!"
The giant's brow quirked and his head turned to look at Stan sidelong as he slowly closed the thick book in his hands. "Are you asking me why I didn't kill you?"
Stan bristled. None of his training had indicated that giants were the insightful type, and yet this one cut straight to the heart of the matter.
"I am," he answered stiffly.
A tense silence ensued as the pair stared, trying to puzzle one another out. Then, the giant's weight shifted. Stan felt the sheer weight of his steps through the whole bookshelf as the giant moved. He kept one eye on Stan as he set the book aside on a desk that faced the slayer.
"Contrary to what you and your guild may believe, I am not a murderer," said the giant.
Stan's eyes narrowed. "Other members of the guild have been through here. What happened to them?"
The giant gave a humorless chuckle at that, but Stan heard more exasperation in his tone than malice. "The same as happened to you."
Stan fell quiet, contemplating this and comparing it to what he'd been told.
"Not quite the tale you've heard?" challenged the giant.
"Why would they lie about that??"
Stan's jaw clamped shut. He hadn't meant to blurt out what had been spinning through his head.
The giant's dubious look softened a hair, and he leaned his hips against the desk. "As I understand it, bruised pride can cause any number of knee-jerk reactions. Some people might rather spin a yarn about their conquests than tell an embarrassing truth."
"I...suppose," Stan huffed, his shoulders beginning to slump. There were quite a few veteran, and even some newly recruited, members of the guild who had rather inflated egos. Stan rather thought himself more on the humble side, but even his own unchecked bravado was slipping the longer the conversation stretched on.
Another silence fell, this one more thoughtful for each party involved.
Clearing his throat, the giant offered an introduction. "My name is Nathaniel. Perhaps we should talk."
Stan opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came. This giant was disarmingly reasonable, and it was difficult to see him as much of an immediate threat. That clashed with everything Stan had been told about his kind.
AU: Fantasy giant-slayer Stan AU; Set directly after Pest Control
Note: So... I wasn't fully expecting to write about these two again so soon lol. I'm also very behind because life, but I'm determined to catch up!
~~~
Nathan's back slumped against the door as it shut, and he ran both hands down his face in exasperation. For the life of him, he couldn't understand what continued to draw giant slayers to him. His home was remote, far from any settlements of the smaller folk, and he rarely ventured out from his own space.
And yet this kept happening.
Sometimes he wondered if he should take the advice of an old friend, give in to the expectations and simply scare those slayers off for good. Nate had always balked at the suggestion, he had a hard time seeing himself successfully intimidating humans. His manner was simply too gentle, and no matter how much his more gruff mates tried to teach him, he always felt so painfully awkward.
Still, his own method of putting intruders out of his home wasn't deterring them.
He wasn't unsympathetic, the fear humans held toward giants was understandable at a base level. Giants grew so large that even the tallest among humans couldn't hope to measure up to any but the shortest of an adult giant's fingers. Any sensible person would be afraid of a creature of such size. And though he didn't know any personally, there were certainly a few of the larger folk out there who chose to live up to the monstrous reputation.
Most giants, contrary to what humans believed, just wanted to be left in peace. It was clear that it was a human's world out there, and as the minority population, it was up to giants to adapt to it. So their society retreated to secluded places, came up with methods to sustain themselves without draining natural resources and ruining ecosystems.
Nathan had hoped his choice in home was isolated enough that he'd be left alone. And yet, over the years, spontaneous attempts on his life had become more and more frequent.
It was tiresome, to say the least.
Heaving a sigh, Nathan dragged himself to the bookcase and thumbed through the thicker tomes. He'd never get to sleep with the possibility of the slayer's return hanging over his head. Stubborn little fellows they were, often not deterred by the first thwarted attempt. Or even the second. Ultimately, that was a problem with the security of Nate's domicile, but that would have to be addressed another day. For the night, he could at least find a simple abjuration spell.
While magic eluded humans, for giants it was a combination of alchemy and innate ability. Some had the skill, and some had other strengths. Nate had a knack for transmutation, able to sustain the expansion of his cottage with ease, but he tried to keep his practice diverse. It was just difficult to find some components for certain spells or potions, hermitic as his lifestyle was.
Nathan was almost certain he had enough to maintain the spell for the night so he could get some sleep, it was only a matter of finding the right page--
"What the hell was that about?!"
Startled, Nate's gaze snapped up to find the owner of that voice standing atop his bookshelf. The slayer was back already!
