For rancher prompts, maybe some rancher gt? Like, borrower Jimmy is cold and desperate and so decides to take a risk and go to Tango while he's alseep to try and warm up but it turns out Tango isn't actually asleep?
The power went out sometime during the storm. It was the middle of the cold season, and the power was out. His little nook in the wall was freezing, so much so he could see his breath. The insulation packed around him had only kept the space warm for a few hours and he's already gone through the two spare tea light candles he had—nothing more than blackened metal trays and the ashy remains of a wick.
He had to find some way to get properly warm, and he had to do it quickly.
He had hoped that just taking a walk around through the walls would help—getting his muscles working, blood flowing. He was shivering the entire time. It wasn't working.
At this rate he was going to die and, frankly, Jimmy was not really in the mood to die just yet.
It was time for some stupid decisions. He opened the door to Tango's room, turning off his flashlight and setting it aside as he looked over the moonlit room. Tango was in his bed, asleep, and Jimmy hastily looked for the heater that must have been there. Tango wouldn't have stayed in the house if he didn't have a means of getting warm. However, the room felt just as cold as his own and there was no warm orange light of a space heater. There was, sitting on the floor next Tango's bed, a battery generator.
He quickly crossed the room, pulling his sweater tighter around him, and climb on top of the generator. He had hoped it would be warm, but the plastic was only vaguely not cold because his own hands were freezing. Something was plugged into though and he followed the chord up to the bed, climbing it all the way up until he was standing on the mattress and just a few inches from Tango's massive bean body.
The chord slipped under the blanket. He went to do the stupidest thing ever and burrow under the blanket to find where it led and felt the heat of blanket. He blinked down at the fabric, running his hands over it and feeling heat coming from some sort of wiring that was tucked into the fabric. A heated blanket. Beans were blooming geniuses.
He climbed onto the blanket, laid his full body down on top of it, and sighed happily as he was finally soaked in heat. He told himself that he wouldn't fall asleep—falling asleep here would be just as much of a death sentence as sleeping in his freezing nook.
He was out within seconds.
------
Tango slowly let himself breath again, having been holding it as he watched the miniature guy climb into his bed and make himself super, ultra comfy in the warm space.
The heated blanket was barely doing its job, in Tango's humble opinion, as ears and nose were still very exposed on the fact that he had to breathe. Sure, his arms and legs and toesies were nice and toasty, but he really should have invested in a space heater. He just couldn't properly get to sleep with his face freezing off despite the rest of him being warm. If the whole power outage wasn't fixed by tomorrow afternoon, he'd be investing in a trip to Skizzy and Impulse's and demanding their spare bedroom instead of trying to tough it out here.
He guesses he'll also have to offer the mini guy the same trip to Imp and Skizz's, considering it was very clear he was just as cold as Tango was.
He also had a lot of questions for him– Like, a lot of questions. Little dude randomly appearing in his bedroom with the sheer intention of commandeering his heated blanket was not on his Power Outage Bingo card. He needed to know the How–What–Where–Why of this like immediately.
The miniature guy shifted, turning in his sleep so he was pressed against Tango's curled arm. Tango very carefully lifted his other arm out from under the blanket and set it on the other side of him, creating a nice cocoon of warmth.
Tango would ask all his questions in the morning. The little dude clearly needed some rest.
Definition: a creature from outer space; extraterrestrial.
Summary: Jimmy has been abducted by aliens, who he has learned are at least a hundred feet bigger than any human on earth. He's been trapped in a cage and he can't even ask why. Forced to sit and wait, anxiety building over time about what was going to happen to him. But one day, a couple weeks later, the alien forgets to lock his cage after feeding him.
Jimmy takes the chance to run.
G/t: Jimmy is normal-sized, Tango is a giant
Warnings: Keeping someone in a cage, abduction, mentions of dissection, mentions of death, and fear.
Word Count: 3140
AO3 Link
Okay, I gotta say, I love alien aus. Especially in G/t. It's one of my favorite tropes and I'm happy that it ended up being one of the prompts in this list!
Two things about this particular story, I actually just finished this one up today. It was from the batch of 10 fics I still needed to finish, so it was a bit last minute but I still made it! And I'm pretty happy with it, all things considered.
Also, this au has been in my head for months. It was my go to daydream scenario for a while there if I'm being honest. So it was nice to finally get something written down for it. I may even write more in this universe later on!
Oh, and because there is a language barrier, I used runes and galactic for when either Jimmy or Tango are speaking in the other person's POV. It's not a lot but there will be the translations for those at the end of the chapter.
Jimmy backed away as far as the cage would allow him as his captor came towards him, a small plate of food and a small bowl of water in hand. The giant set the plate of food down on the table so he could use his hand to unlock the cage and open the door. Jimmy couldn’t help it as he shook in fear, wondering if this was when he would be grabbed and taken out of the cage.
But it wasn’t. The alien simply placed the food and water in his cage and then closed it back up. Jimmy looked down at the food before looking up briefly at the giant. He quickly turned his gaze away when he noticed the guy yawning. That was not something you wanted to see when you were small enough to fit in that mouth.
The alien turned and walked away and Jimmy was left alone again. Well, as alone as he could get with the alien only being on the other side of the room. But it was a big room, so he considered himself alone.
Jimmy finally scooted forward, taking a bit of food and taking a bite. This routine of theirs had been going on for what felt like weeks now, at least. Jimmy didn’t really have a good concept of time here but based on how often he ate, again, it had to be at least 2 weeks being trapped here.
He still couldn’t believe he had been abducted by an alien. He didn’t even think they were real. But not only were they real but they were massive. His captor had to be over a 100 feet tall in comparison to humans.
The strangest thing was, the alien could almost pass for human if not for some stand out features. The size, of course, but also the alien had red eyes and even darker red pupils. The most notable thing, however, was his hair. Flames licked the sides and top, a constant movement. Fire and red seemed to be this guy's whole thing.
They couldn’t even communicate. There was a language barrier between the two of them, where neither could understand the other. Jimmy wanted nothing more than to ask why he had been taken. He had only been out in the woods on a camping trip with his brother and friends and decided to go for a walk by himself.
The next thing he knew, a large ship had landed and the giant alien had taken one look at him and grabbed him.
Jimmy shivered, still remembering the feeling of the larger than life hand wrapped around his entire person. He was put in this cage and since then he’s just been…waiting. For what, he’s not sure. But everyday his nerves get more and more tense with anxiety. The alien hasn’t taken him out of the cage yet but he has tried to speak with him. At least, Jimmy thinks he has. It was hard to tell when he couldn’t understand what the giant was saying.
The thing that made Jimmy the most nervous was that, looking at all the stuff around, the alien had to be some sort of scientist. And scientists, especially alien scientists, usually dissected things they wanted to learn more about. At least, that’s what movies had told him. But he could be wrong.
He really hoped he was wrong.
Jimmy sighed and took a sip of water. The first few days he had refused to eat or drink anything he was given but eventually he had gotten so hungry and thirsty that he had given in. Thankfully, nothing was up with it and so Jimmy continued to consume what he’s been given.
Jimmy stood up and stretched after he was done eating and then began his walk around the cage. It was one of the only things he could do in here and he figured he should try and keep himself in shape, just in case.
As he passed by the door of the cage, he put a bit of weight on it, jumping back as he saw it swing open just a bit. His eyes widened as he stared at the slightly ajar door. The alien hadn’t locked the door this time.
Jimmy didn’t even think twice about it, he slipped past the door and onto the desk, finally free of the cage. He glanced around, desperate to get away. He noticed the alien, still on the other side of the room. He seemed engrossed in his computer-like screen. Jimmy hoped that meant he wouldn’t look over here.
He went to the edge of the table and looked down. He got dizzy just looking at how far it went but he couldn’t give up here. He noticed a cord going from a machine down to the floor and ran over to it. He yanked it slightly to test it but it didn’t move at all under his weight. He took in a deep breath and scaled down the cord. When he finally reached the floor, he scurried off. His goal only to get as far away from the alien as possible and find a way out of here.
***
Tango rubbed a hand down his face and yawned into his hand once again. He was so tired, having been working nonstop to try and get everything sorted. His report on Terra was limited though, considering he hadn’t stayed long once he had realized a Terran had gotten into his parameters.
He was also still trying to figure out what went wrong on that front too. His ship had been programmed to make sure he found an area far away from any Terrans. So the fact one had passed by undetected shouldn’t have been possible.
Tango closed his eyes, still remembering the fear in the little guy's face. He felt bad for what he did but he had panicked. He tried to calm him down after the fact but the little guy didn’t understand Galactic and Tango didn’t understand any Terran languages either.
No one did, which was why he couldn’t even use a translator to help him out. Terra was still a new planet as far as the federation was considered and they were still trying to learn more before even thinking about making contact with them. That was why Tango was here, one of the first selected to gather some data on Terra by going there and gathering it himself.
He was never supposed to bring back an actual Terran though. But because the Terran had seen him, the federation told him he had no choice but to bring him along. It was too dangerous for the little guy to get away and tell someone. So, Tango made the difficult decision to put him in an enclosure and try and gain his trust from a distance.
After 2 weeks though, not much progress had been made.
Tango sighed and stood up, heading back over to the enclosure. By now, the Terran was usually done eating and Tango didn’t want to keep any dirty dishes in there for too long with him. “Alright, little buddy, I’m just gonna take your dishes from you.” He said, despite the fact the Terran couldn’t understand him, he still made it a point to talk and say what he was doing.
Tango looked down at the enclosure, only for his eyes to go wide at the lack of life within. “Wha-little buddy?!” Tango exclaimed, looking all around the table and right underneath the floor. He stood back up, looking to see the door was ajar.
He had forgotten to lock it.
“No, no, no, no, no…” Tango said to himself and then ran over to his Holo-Screen, the flame on top of his head rising a lot higher than normal because of his panic. “Holo Tek! Call Zed!”
“Calling Zed.” The robotic voice spoke and then there was a ringing.
The screen came to life with the face of Zedaph smiling at him, giving him a wave. “Hey Tango! What’s going on-”
Tango cut him off. “I lost the Terran!” He said, arms waving up and down.
Zed blinked, taking in the information. “You what?!” He suddenly exclaimed as the information caught up with him. “How did this happen?”
“I-I think I forgot to lock the enclosure.” Tango admitted sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve just been so tired lately…”
“Well, that’s not good.” Zed pushed a few buttons on his side of the screen. “At the very least, the Terran can’t get too far. He’s stuck on this ship. But we don’t want him to get into anything dangerous so best we find him quickly.”
A blare of red flashed across Zed’s face after a few more button pushes and he frowned. “I wish you would have given him that chip we had talked about…”
Tango sighed. “I didn’t want to do anything like that until I built up trust with him.” Inserting a GPS chip into the little guy would have been traumatizing for him, no doubt. He didn’t want to scare him anymore than he already had. “Besides, I didn’t think we’d really need it yet.”
“Right…” Zed said with his own sigh. “We need to get that in him sooner rather than later though. Especially once you get back here.” Zed typed a few more things. “For now, the life detection you have installed on the ship should help you find him.”
Tango’s eyes went wide and then he grinned. “The life detectionificator! I completely forgot about that!” He nodded at Zed. “I'll try that, call you back soon!” Before Zed could say any more, Tango pressed the hang up button and went into activating the system.
Tango frowned in concentration as he set it up. “Don’t worry little buddy, everything is gonna be okay…” He said to himself.
***
Jimmy should have thought this through better.
He was currently on the floor of an oversized spaceship, dwarfed by everything. Somehow, even the dust particles seemed to be at a larger scale. He wasn’t sure how that was possible but he was not in a state to be thinking about stuff like that.
He had retreated to an isolated corner of the room, trying to figure out what to do and not wanting to be in the middle of the floor while he did. But what exactly had his plan been here? He had been so happy about a chance at freedom that he hadn’t stopped to consider if it even was a good idea.
Because honestly, there was nothing Jimmy could do. He was trapped, if not in the cage, then on the spaceship itself. There was no way for him to get back home by himself, even if he knew what anything in this place did, his size was a huge detriment to his ability to even use any of it.
And now, having jumped at the chance to get out of his cage, he was probably only going to make the alien angry. Jimmy shivered at the thought, mind racing with less than pleasant scenarios. But the other problem was that Jimmy couldn’t survive like this on his own. He hated to admit it but he needed the alien. The alien was his only source of food, of water. Jimmy had no hope in getting any himself.
So he was in a dilemma. He didn’t want the alien to find him, scared of his reaction to having escaped. But he needed to be found by the alien, so he could live.
Of course, the alien finding him could also lead to his death, depending on his reaction. But it was the better choice of surviving.
Maybe if he went to the giant himself he wouldn’t be as mad?
Unfortunately, Jimmy didn’t even have the chance to make that choice, as the floor underneath him started to rumble. It wasn’t earthquake worthy, but it was enough for Jimmy to feel and know what was coming.
Jimmy turned around and looked up, backing into the corner as the alien walked over to him. His eyes had honed in on Jimmy immediately and Jimmy couldn’t help but shiver.
The towering being then stopped just short of his position and started to kneel down. Jimmy turned his head away and shut his eyes tight in preparation to be grabbed. His body tense as he waited for the feeling of giant fingers to completely surround him.
When nothing happened after what felt like several long minutes, Jimmy peered his eyes open and looked toward the alien. He was still just kneeled there, looking down at him with an expression Jimmy couldn’t quite identify. But it at least didn’t appear angry. The alien’s hands started to move as he noticed Jimmy looking at him and Jimmy flinched back. The alien stopped short before continuing. But he wasn’t bringing his hands closer to Jimmy, no, instead he moved his hands upwards, palms facing Jimmy.
Jimmy just looked at him, wondering what this could mean.
And then the alien started to speak. “I’ᒲ ᓭ𝙹∷∷||, i ↸𝙹リ’ℸ ̣ ᒲᒷᔑリ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ᓭᓵᔑ∷ᒷ ||𝙹⚍.” Of course, Jimmy couldn’t understand what he was saying but something about the tone of his voice made Jimmy pause.
“I…i ⊣ᒷℸ ̣ ╎ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ⍑𝙹⚍⊣⍑. Y𝙹⚍’∷ᒷ ᓭ𝙹 ᓭᒲᔑꖎꖎ ᔑリ↸ i’ᒲ ᓭ𝙹 ʖ╎⊣…ᔑリ↸ i ↸╎↸ ℸ ̣ ᒷᓵ⍑リ╎ᓵᔑꖎꖎ|| ꖌ╎↸リᔑ!¡ ||𝙹⚍…” The alien shook his head with a slight wince, the meaning of the words still lost on Jimmy’s ears. “I ꖌリ𝙹∴ ||𝙹⚍ ᓵᔑリ’ℸ ̣ ⚍リ↸ᒷ∷ᓭℸ ̣ ᔑリ↸ ᒲᒷ ʖ⚍ℸ ̣ i ∷ᒷᔑꖎꖎ|| ↸𝙹リ’ℸ ̣ ∴ᔑリℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ⍑⚍∷ℸ ̣ ||𝙹⚍.” The alien’s eyes squinted in earnest and Jimmy really wished he could tell what he was saying.
But maybe he didn’t have to. After saying his last sentence, the alien pinched himself letting out a small hiss of pain and making Jimmy jump. The alien then pointed towards Jimmy, pointed at his arm, and then shook his head.
Jimmy blinked.
If he didn’t know any better, he would say the alien was charading that he wasn’t going to hurt him.
The alien must have seen a spark of understanding in his eyes because he smiled gently and spoke again. “I’ᒲ リ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⊣𝙹╎リ⊣ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ⍑⚍∷ℸ ̣ ||𝙹⚍, i !¡∷𝙹ᒲ╎ᓭᒷ.” His voice was softer now, as gentle as his smile. “Pꖎᒷᔑᓭᒷ ⋮⚍ᓭℸ ̣ ⚍リ↸ᒷ∷ᓭℸ ̣ ᔑリ↸ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ╎⎓ リ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⍑╎リ⊣ ᒷꖎᓭᒷ.”
The look the alien was giving him was much too human. It made Jimmy question everything he thought about the alien.
The alien seemed to hesitate, before lowering his hands. Jimmy once again flinched back as he realized they were heading toward him but they stopped short, both hands lay flat on the floor palm up. An invitation for Jimmy to get on himself.
That gesture alone spoke volumes in Jimmy’s mind. Being grabbed, he felt helpless and trapped. But being offered a hand, one that was not constraining him…this had to be the alien trying to tell him that he wanted things to change between them.
Jimmy bit his lip. He didn’t really have a choice but at least the illusion of one was nice. At least the alien seemed to be trying. He looked into those giant red eyes, searching for anything malicious but came up empty. His gaze wandered back down to the offered hands and he felt himself stepping forward.
He hesitated as he came to stand right next to the alien’s giant hands before slowly climbing onto them. He sat in the center and looked up at the giant with shaky trust.
***
Tango couldn’t believe that had worked. He knew it was going to be hard to get across what he meant, what with the language barrier and all but he seemed to have done a pretty good job. The Terran in his hands was evident of that.
He knew this was just the start and they still had a long way to go but Tango felt giddy that they were finally making some sort of progress.
He still had a chance to mess this up though. He needed to be careful and take this slow. Tango cupped his hands slightly, so the ride would be a bit safer for his tiny passenger, and then he slowly stood up. He didn’t take his eyes off the Terran the entire time, making sure nothing was going to go wrong. Once he fully stood, he walked back over to the table with the enclosure on top of it. As the enclosure came into view, a tiny noise started up and Tango looked down in realization that it was the Terran speaking.
The little guy looked up at him, a wary look on his face. He looked between him and the enclosure before he pointed at it and shook his head, his expression becoming slightly more determined.
It didn’t take a genius to guess what the little guy was trying to convey. He didn’t want to go back into his enclosure. Which was entirely fair, honestly. Tango felt bad for keeping him in there but it was only to try and keep him safe and from trying to run.
Of course, it didn’t even do that well. So Tango was not against taking the enclosure away. “I’ll get rid of it, don’t worry.” He said. He needed to show the Terran that he could trust him and that included listening to him as best as he could.
Words weren’t going to work though, so he needed to take action. He nodded down at the Terran and then set him down on the table before grabbing the enclosure. He saw the Terran watching him with wide eyes and Tango gave him a smile before he took the enclosure back over to the closet he had gotten it from in the first place.
With that done, he walked back to the table and took a seat, looking down at the Terran. “There we go. Is that better?”
The Terran took a few steps back but at least didn’t look like he was going to run away again. He looked up at him and said a few words in his language. “ᛏᚺᚨᚾᚲ ᛁᛟᚢ”
Tango tilted head, catching onto the tone. He sounded grateful.
Now Tango felt even worse about putting him in there.
But he shook off that feeling for now. “You’re welcome.”
They still had a long way to go but Tango was certain now that they could do it. They could bridge this gap and learn to understand each other. Both in language and otherwise.
And Tango could only hope, that once that time came to pass, that the Terran didn’t hate him for being unable to take him back home.
Translations:
I’ᒲ ᓭ𝙹∷∷||, i ↸𝙹リ’ℸ ̣ ᒲᒷᔑリ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ᓭᓵᔑ∷ᒷ ||𝙹⚍. - I’m sorry, I don’t mean to scare you.
I…i ⊣ᒷℸ ̣ ╎ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ⍑𝙹⚍⊣⍑. Y𝙹⚍’∷ᒷ ᓭ𝙹 ᓭᒲᔑꖎꖎ ᔑリ↸ i’ᒲ ᓭ𝙹 ʖ╎⊣…ᔑリ↸ i ↸╎↸ ℸ ̣ ᒷᓵ⍑リ╎ᓵᔑꖎꖎ|| ꖌ╎↸リᔑ!¡ ||𝙹⚍… - I…I get it though. You’re so small and I’m so big…and I did technically kidnap you…
I ꖌリ𝙹∴ ||𝙹⚍ ᓵᔑリ’ℸ ̣ ⚍リ↸ᒷ∷ᓭℸ ̣ ᔑリ↸ ᒲᒷ ʖ⚍ℸ ̣ i ∷ᒷᔑꖎꖎ|| ↸𝙹リ’ℸ ̣ ∴ᔑリℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ⍑⚍∷ℸ ̣ ||𝙹⚍. - I know you can’t understand me but I really don’t want to hurt you.
I’ᒲ リ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⊣𝙹╎リ⊣ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ⍑⚍∷ℸ ̣ ||𝙹⚍, i !¡∷𝙹ᒲ╎ᓭᒷ. - I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.
Pꖎᒷᔑᓭᒷ ⋮⚍ᓭℸ ̣ ⚍リ↸ᒷ∷ᓭℸ ̣ ᔑリ↸ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ╎⎓ リ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⍑╎リ⊣ ᒷꖎᓭᒷ. - Please just understand that if nothing else.
Pocket zed hanging out in tangos pockets making tiny contraptions in them
Tango is confused what hes doing than night falls and a little shulker toy kn a sprink pops in and out of his pocket like a coocoo clock
I didn’t draw the second part bc I was stuck drawing this absolutely wholesome scene-
But I can assure you, the shulker toy will still confuse Tango by the end of the day
I bet Tango just takes Zed along for rides since working on Redstone (especially for “Decked out”) alone can get boring and with someone else tinkering and chatting with just makes it so much better.
Using my own prompt list: here. You can also read this and every prompt as they come on AO3.
Summary:
Jimmy totally has a legit Decked Out shard, him being the size of an actual canary will not be a problem what so ever.
His eyes widened as he watched the stones of the door glow with magic, the red skull only increasing his excitement instead of deterring it. The door thunked as it slid open and he flapped his wings, getting a foot off the ground to dive in.
He was at the threshold when he was stopped short, hands appearing in front of him and pulling him up and away. He yelped, flailing his wings to try and get out of the grip. It was gentle, mindful not to pinch or pull, but it wasn't giving any leeway either.
"What are you doing? Where did you even get a shard?" Tango's panicked voice spoke above him, stepping away from the door.
Jimmy pouted as he settled into Tango's hand, turning to look up at him, "I was so close! Why'd you stop me?"
Tango walked away as the dungeon door slid back closed, "This visit was not for you to sneak into my dungeon! Do you even have a deck?"
He huffed and showed the shulkerbox he had in his inventory, "Grian lent me his, after he took out all the good cards of course. He gave me the shard as well."
"Of course. Well, I hope he realizes he's not getting a refund either," Tango sighed. He softly pet down Jimmy's wings, "It's a good thing I caught you too, you would have been a ravager snack in about five minutes flat."
His wings flared, "I would not have! I can out fly a ravager!"
"There's no flying in the dungeon, Jim, you would have been grounded. You absolutely would have been a ravager snack- less than a snack! A bite, a nibble. Face it Jimmy, you're just a little guy, too little for Decked Out,” he teased, ruffling his hair with a finger.
"What!? Grian is little too! You don't sizegate him!" Jimmy shoved at Tango's fingers.
"Grian is still about twice your size. I can’t hold him in one hand like I can you, little songbird," he insisted, waggling his fingers for emphasis, "But! You caught me. The real reason is because it's a hermit only season, which you knew. I can’t keep track of the hermits and everyone I know, hermits are hard enough. Trust me, Rancher, I want to see you run Decked Out and get flattened and eaten and skewered like I do all my friends, but you are not going to win anything with one shard. If anything it's just going to put you off and you’ll never want to play again and we’ll both be super sad. When this season is over I'll give you a proper amount of shards and your own deck. You can play for a week straight! Until then, no itty bitty birdies. Got it?"
Jimmy grumbled but nodded, "Got it."
Tango sighed and poked Jimmy’s side, “I really shouldn’t be suggest this- but do you want to see where I keep all my Ravagers?”
