[test story? crack story? both]
It's not uncommon for these people to be forgotten. they prefer it most times, as it's bad to be caught by stranger humans normally... but a titian??
....aka Omie's throwing a borrower where they probably should not be [someone save Olive please, from who's saving her]
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It was an odd stillness that had her daring to emerge from her hidden paths, into the tractor barn. Then outside of it. Normally the workers were here now, leaving some unattended water behind at least. The tractors or greater harvesters taken out to the vast fields.
She stood at the edge of the open barn doors, looking at what she could, before the young woman found one of the roller door chains, making sure it looked anchored above before starting to climb. It was a lot easier to do in the dawn light, Olive was able to see her progress up the frame of the door. Reaching over to climb around and then having to grab the platform of a shelf. Climbing up it without a safety line.
She got her knees under her, Olive pushing herself all the way up. Turning before getting up, she almost jumped right back off the platform. Gasping but not yelling in well trained practice to be as quiet as possible. Staring with wide eyes at something that had never been at the barn.
Metal… stone?
The figure did not move as the dawn sun fully broke the horizon. The light making the solid red eyes seem to glow with the light, and a few other spots. It looked like gold was reflecting on it? Why would there be gold? Or was it paint? Surely the workers, or those from the city would not waste that on statues… right?
Olive recognized it belatedly, it was a smaller version of the statue of the titans. She saw them a few times a year when riding along on the biggest harvester. When it passed closest to the distance City, she and a few others rode along with it to help make sure it ran well. A bonus of riding along was you got free rain to catch the extra harvest, or if quick able to grab ‘weeds’ in the rejected bins once it was full enough to reach out.
There were statues like this at the entrance of the distant city. Far bigger though, supposed to be the so-called ‘angels’ of those from there. Olive has only ever known them as Titans from stories. Something that protected the sky? Though the myths did not make sense to her.
Wires and tractors and fuel lines did make sense. So did the schedule of the workers to always be led to. Sudden statues did not make sense. The young woman peered over the platform on the outside of the massive barn building. Shelf for the ‘smaller’ equipment to be stored that did not matter if it was exposed to the weather.
The statue had not moved at all, and Olive dared to peer over, watching, waiting. The statue seemed to be in mid crouch or movement while hunched, head tilted as if just about to look at her. Thankfully it did not move or follow her as she took a few steps aside in both detections. The shimmer of reflective light seemed to be following but that was just the reflection of light.
The statue held no tools like the one at the distant city. But a weapon Olive had never seen before. Some sort of handheld that looked ridiculously out of proportion to what she knew the farm guards used to hunt the crop destroying pests.
One she was sure this was a new… statue thing, Olive put a hand to her chest and moved from the edge. She was starting to move when a voice from one of the vast windows above called down.
“Olive!” The woman peered through a crack that was yet to be fixed. “What are you doing outside?! It's dawn! The morning workers are here...!”
Olive looked around this section of the vast barn, frowned and looked up. “But mom, no one is here. There should have been the morning crew an hour ago.”
“I can't even see the worker's transports- oh rains, what's that?!”
Olive turned, once more confirming that the statue was unmoving. She looked up, trying to reassure even if she had to yell up at her mother. “A statue. I think.”
“Why would the morning workers bring it here?” The older woman peered out again when there was no movement.
“I don't think they did?” Olive spoke her thoughts aloud, “It looks like those Titan statues outside the big city to the north.”
“Why would those in the Northern city bring a statue?”
“Why do they try to set rules for the crop minders that hinder them, mom?” Olive called up, “They're weird in the city. That's what the worker Foreman says. We've all heard him in the barn office. Was there anything marked on the office calendar mom? You help keep the Foreman's computer clean right?”
“There's nothing… where are the humans?” the older woman tailed off.
Olive hesitated before giving a big enough shrug her mother could see. “I'm going back to ground level mom! I'll hike to the barn corner to see if the transport the workers use is broken down in the field. That happened once right?”
“When you were little, yes.” The mother looked relieved, that was a possibility that made her feel better. “Stay close to the barn walls!”
Olive lifted her arms in the long distance motion to show she heard. She trotted to the edge again, unable to not peer at the massive statue. Not sure why it made her uneasy, but she slid over the edge of the platform. Remembering right of where to see the ridges under, having to use her upper body strength to get to the wall. She could grab a line that went all the way down to the distant ground level. Olive paused half way to catch her breath, she was an experienced climber to make it down to dirt.
Only then pulling her water pouch around to get a slip of water. The titan statue was much bigger from ground level. With full dawn light she could see the gray shade of the statues. Not grey, Olive was puzzled of what stone would be a color that reflected blue and green without polish.
How could something be made so quickly, and nearly no odd sounds out of the normal?
Olive looked between the massive thing, to the far off corner of the back of the barn building. She started to walk that way, needing to at least check. Not just because her family and people were dependent on the workers. She was worried about them.
Olive stopped as something belatedly clicked in.
The statue had been looking down at her.
It had its head tilted up as if looking at the barn before.
The young, tiny, woman turned around and yelped as a truly massive hand was closing around her. Having come with no sound from what would have been behind. Olive jumped, trying to scramble to keep going up, to jump herself over the enclosing stone-metal digits.
Had it been a normal worker, a human, she would be balancing on their wrist. This hand was both bigger and faster somehow. Olive gasped as the dawn light vanished, she was completely pinned between the closing fingers and what must be the edge of the hard palm.
Olive had been caught once, twice in her life before this. Each time was by the Foreman. The first was when he lifted a piece of equipment in his office, spotting the miniscule toddler sitting where she had been stashed. That beaded man staring before sighing and setting the organizer back down. The second time Olive had not realized the Foreman was still in his office. The then teen had been on one of her first adventures on her own, and had been snatched off the desk while distracted by left over food, lifted up to be frowned at before the bearded man had said slowly, clearly that she needed to be careful. Quieter, and watch behind her more.
The Foreman had let her go, rumbling that her kind should not be seen. Someone else might not be kind, or see her use.
Olive really should have paid more attention as she felt the world move and turn with no effort on her part. Stuck in vertigo as she went limp in the tight, almost crushing prison. She wondered if this was what the Foreman had warned her against.
It was just getting heard to breath when everything released, light flooding back in. Disorientated, Olive did not try to get up right away. Sprawled on the massive, metal palm, staring at the titan’s thick digits curled partly over, faintly twitching as if ready to close on her tiny self. Olive shivered, scared as she looked up at the red shining eyes of the titan.
It was like there was nothing else to see but the stone-metal blue, flashes of gold as she was moved. Being examined by the Titan that blocked out the light, red eyes unblinking as Olive was tilted. The little woman shivered and tried to back up, running into the solid wall that was the curve of his fingers.
She tried to say something, flinching as the giant of giants tilted his head. Feeling the titan’s digits shift, the massively broad thumb moved closer. The metal pressing to Olive’s front and then legs, pressing her into the massive fingers and palm.
The young woman yelped as the pressure started to be too much. Grabbing and then scrambling at the metallic thumb that seemed wider then her. Olive could not help but cry out. “Stop, please! Don’t… don’t…”
How can she ask not to be hurt by something so massive?
Impossibly…
The titan paused, and the pressure eased even if the digit did not lift completely away. Olive felt the air itself seemed to vibrate as the giant hummed a note of surprised interest. “You speak?”
So in Howrse there are these horses who are just called “Tiny”(some of them actually translate to “small” but we’re not picky) in various languages and this woman called Liten(the Swedish one) “Litten” and it was hilarious to me
