Chapter Text
It's nearing the evening hours as Ash gets off of work. Looking down at her phone, she sees that one of her friends sent her a message, the sender being Alex.
>hey ash! still up for hanging out with me and robin?
With a smile forming on her face, Ash sends a reply back to the text,
>Yeah, I’m still good to hang with you two. I’ll try to make it there as soon as possible, ok?
Almost instantly, the phone in her hand vibrates as another message appears on her phone,
>ok! just try to be quick though, I heard it was going to rain today. don’t want you getting splatted or something right?
As Ash texts an ‘alright’ type of message, the clouds above her start covering up the sky, making the evening sky darker in the city.
‘I should hurry.’ Ash thinks to herself, ‘The last thing I want is to be either wet or splatted...’
Quickening her pace through the city, Ash moves out of the way of various people trying to get out of the incoming weather, eventually reaching a bus stop with a canopy covering her and a few others from the rain. As she waits for the bus, she hears two inklings to her side, seemingly in a conversation about something.
“I’m telling you, that path was closed because there are giants in the city! Why else would there be small quakes every now and then?”
If Ash were looking at the other individual, they would be rolling their eyes, “Get real man! Giants? Those are just rumors, conspiracies at best! You need to chill out for a bit, there’s probably a better reason why the path is closed than that half baked thought.”
At the mention of giants, Ash has to resist letting out a groan as she has to endure yet another person who believes in that rumor. Tuning out the conversation, she looks up to the electronic sign, showing that the bus is to arrive in about a half hour.
This incites a groan from the octoling, not wanting to stay here any longer then she needs to. Taking a moment to think about her options, she remembers that there was a shortcut through the forest nearby that should save her some time before the rain comes by. Leaving the stop, Ash makes her way over to the forest, where she rolls her eyes at the tape covering up the entrance.
“Seriously?” Ash mumbles to herself, “Nothing is even here. Giants aren’t real, it’s all fake. People are so dumb...”
At the sound of thunder, and the feeling of a few drops of rain, Ash slides through the tape and quickly makes her way into the forest, hoping that the trees would be enough to keep her sheltered from the rain.
“All I need to do is just make it through, then I can get to Alex and Robin’s place without any rain on me.” She lets out a short chuckle to herself, “And I can prove that I never saw any of these so-called ‘giants’ on the path.”
As Ash travels along the forest path, she feels the dirt beneath her feet shake, along with pebbles and rocks sway back and forth in surprisingly even intervals.
“What the…”
The rumblings got closer and louder, almost feeling like miniature earthquakes. Her instincts from her old home kick in as she makes her way over to the sturdiest tree that she can find for cover. Before Ash could wonder what was causing these quakes, she hears a loud, yet low, grumbling voice near a few yards away.
"Damn rain, of all the times for me to not know what the weather's like... What I would give to be under a tree right about now. Ah well, what I was given is good enough, mostly. Should at least be happy about that..."
Ash looked beyond the tree, confused from why a large voice was heard. Immediately her confusion cleared up as her eyes laid upon a 45 foot octoling only a few yards away. The size of the being shook her to her core, though she builds up enough courage to sneak through the trees quietly in an attempt to escape while hidden. In her attempt Ash only makes slight sounds of twigs snapping and leaves crunching until she walks into a spider's web, screaming as the arachnid latches on to her hair.
"Ah! Get it off, get it off!"
In her frenzy, Ash stumbles around and swats the air around her hair, tripping over a few debris and eventually hitting the spider away. A sigh of relief was given until her eyes widened more, realizing her mistake as the giant cephalopod turns their neck around warily. "Who's there? Answer me! Don't make me come find you, whoever you are..."
As the titan takes a step, making another small quake, they go to where they heard the scream, taking the time to scan the forest floor in case anything living happened to be nearby. Seeing that the giant octoling was coming her way, Ash instinctively ran out from where she was hiding, haphazardly hitting branches out of her way to try and escape from the forest unharmed.
"Crap, crap, crap, I'm so dead..." Ash mutters as she tries her best to get away from this giant threat to her life.
As said giant octoling was getting closer, they hear some rustling from down below them. Through one of the gaps of the treelines they see another octoling running through the forest, opposite of the direction of where they were currently standing. "Crap, they must've seen me! I have to stop them before they alert anyone else!"
The 45 foot giant quickens their pace towards the fleeing octoling, intent on catching them before they escape. Ash looks back behind her and nearly screams again when she sees the giant running towards her. In a desperate attempt to hide she dives towards a nearby ditch behind the tree cover and surrounded by long forest grass, closing her eyes to wish the giant away while curling into the dirt more. Unfortunately for her though, they see the smaller octoling diving into the ditch and narrow their eyes. Upon reaching the spot, the giant kneels down and stretches an arm towards them, shoving trees aside with little effort. "You are coming with me! And you don't exactly get a say in it either runt."
Seeing the hand loom closer to her, Ash frantically gets up and tries to climb out, only to slip back down from the mud. She turns around to face the octoling, pleading with tears in her eyes, hoping that the giant cephalopod gives her mercy, "No wait! Please don't take me! I won’t tell anyone about you, I swear!"
Giving the pleading octoling an annoyed scowl, the giant moves the trees aside near effortlessly, terrifying the relatively tiny octoling in the process. "I can't take that chance. This is what happens when you don't listen to the signs telling people to say out." Eyeing the octoling carefully, they wrap their hand around Ash, restricting her movement as her arms are firmly pressed to her sides, and stands back up, raising the unwilling passenger up tens of feet. "Now I have this to deal with..." With one octoling captured in their hand, the giant walks off with a firm grip on the small octoling. Feeling the rain on their skin again, they groan a bit and start to speed walk away from their location.
Ash struggles in their hand, trying to get her arms out of the grip of the giant but to no avail. Her breathing quickens on instinct, though the hand wrapped around her compresses her chest, only letting small wheezes in and out. In a moment of hesitation she looked up to her captor with wide eyes and small tears. "Where-... Where are you taking me?!"
The giant looks down at the person in hand with a frown and furrowed brows. "To the place I call home for the time being. Now zip it runt. I don't want any more attention at the moment." With a glare they raise their hand up to eye level, bringing Ash closer to their face. "If you don't, I'll find a way to keep you quiet. And you wouldn't want that right?"
Ash yelps a bit as she meets the giant eye to eye. She nods quickly and holds on to her breath to try and stay quiet, turning her head towards the ground and opting to watch the grass move beneath her to calm down, with varying success.
"Good. Glad that we got that cleared up." The giant keeps their pace, eventually reaching an old storage-like structure deeper in the forest surrounded by trees. They open the shutter door and crawl inside, closing the shutter with her foot and scrunching up to fit in. Once they settle their hand finally relaxes a bit and lets Ash out by their face. Looking at the frightened octoling the giant groans and rubs their eyes. "Damn it all, of all the shit luck I have, now I have to deal with this…” They stop rubbing their eyes eventually and glare at Ash, poking a giant claw at her chest. “What's your deal, why were you walking on that path? You've heard that it was closed right?"
Feeling the giant claw on her sends Ash back to a frenzy, speaking nearly incoherently and stumbling over her word. It annoyed the giant to the point of rolling their eyes and poking Ash again, getting her to collect her thoughts before speaking again, though with a fast speed regardless. "I-I just wanted to get o-out of the rain and get h-home faster! I thought the rumors were just dumb conspiracies!"
A raised brow was given to Ash until the word 'rumors' registered in the giant’s mind, "Rumors? Damn it... Have to hide out for a bit then... Or at least time my outings better. Can't have people seeing me..." Looking out one of the dirty windows, they see that the rain outside has turned into a downpour. "Not that I could go out with that going on outside..." They glance back to the octoling on the floor, watching her quiver in place. "You on the other hand are staying here now. There's not a 'no' option either, this is just what's going to happen now."
The octoling in question looks up at her, trying to stay calm but failing to do so as she brings a hand up to her chest, feeling her heart pounding. "F-for how long? Why can't I l-leave?" Ash stumbles over her words, trying to make sense of the situation around her. Being forced to stay here? For what reason?
The giant pinches their temples and lets out a sharp exhale through their nose, "How long, I don't know. As for why you can't leave, it's because you have seen me. And I can't have some upstart octoling or whoever telling people that there's a giant walking around. So for now, you are not allowed to leave. So you better get cozy," They shift their body into a better lying position, head resting on her hand with an annoyed expression, "because you likely can never leave."
The last sentence hits Ash hard. She starts backing into a corner, feeling the world getting bigger around her as she panics, not wanting to believe the giant and their words, "Nonononono this can’t be happening.This isn't real.This can't be happening..."
The giant octoling just rolls their eyes, tired of this and of her complaining. "Just suck it up. This is real, and it's 100% your fault. You only have yourself to blame for this, no one else." They turn their head to look at the octoling in the corner, still muttering to herself about her current situation. "If you hadn't decided to take that shortcut, I would've left you alone. And now here we are, in a situation that neither of us like. So do me a favour, and don't be a pest while you’re here."
Despite everything that has happened so far, a small spark starts in Ash again. In a snap decision, she looks up angrily at the giant and starts yelling. "Why should I listen to you?! All you've done is kidnap me and try to scare me into silence!"
The giant looks at the octoling with an intense glare, slightly surprised by her outburst but unphased nevertheless. They take a finger and pin Ash to the corner. "You do see what you're looking at right? As long as this difference in size exists, I will do whatever I can to keep myself safe. If scaring you into silence works, then that's what I am going to do." They lean dangerously close to Ash, who takes a sharp inhale in response. "So you are going to stay here, and do as you're told. Are we clear?"
Ash tries her hardest to move the finger, though no amount of force from her comparatively small body is budging the giant finger away. She gives up after a minute, looking up to the giant with a defeated groan. ”...Alright, fine. I'll do what you say...."
Seeing how the small visitor has calmed down, the giant octoling takes the finger off the smaller person, the glare gone from their face. "Glad we got that established. Now then-" Leaning away from Ash, the giant goes back to their previous position of their head leaning against the hand. "Now that you unfortunately live here now, I need to know your name. If you don't give me one, then I'll give you one. And it'll be pipsqueak."
Ash scoffs at their rudeness in response, getting sick of the attitude after only an hour. "I do have a name, it's Ash. Now do you have one, or will you just have to be 'monster' to me?"
The giant's glare comes back in full force at this response of hers, "Call me that again and I'll throw you into the nearest ocean. But if you want a name, then it's Mint." The newly named giant lets out a hard exhale, "And you know what, I almost want to take back what I said earlier and just call you pipsqueak. But, you gave me a name, so I'll stick by it." Mint turns her body, laying as much on her side as she can with her hand propping up her head. "So, ‘Ash’, what were you doing before you decided to trespass on my property?"
Ash sighs as she sits down, trying to get as comfortable as she can, given her situation, "I was just trying to get to my friend's home faster and avoid the rain. Did not want to waste time getting splat and all that. I didn't even believe the rumors, I just thought people were making up stuff for the fun of it, something dumb to do I guess."
The giant cephalopod laughs at this. "Yeah you aren't wrong there. People are pretty dumb for that. Guess you proved them right then huh?"
"...Yeah, I guess so. So what are you doing here then? The path wasn't always blocked." Ash glances up at Mint, expecting an answer to both why she's on the path, and on a more minor level, how she is as big as she is.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, a sigh escapes her mouth. "Let's just say things happened to me, and now I live here for a bit until they're fixed.” She notices the curious look on Ash’s face. “And no I will not elaborate. But as long as no one else goes onto that path, you are the only person who will be seeing me anytime soon.” Looking over Ash more, Mint leans in closer to the octo. Her warm breath blowing against Ash like a small breeze, "And you won't be telling anyone anytime soon, so I don't have anything to worry about.” She takes her hand off her face and drums her fingers against the hard stone floor, "So that's my story for the most part."
"Pretty short story there, but alright..." Ash let out with a defeated sigh, rolling her eyes from a lack of information. She looks back up to Mint, still feeling uneasy from her. "So what're going to do with me now? Gonna keep scaring the crap out of me?"
Mint gives a small chuckle and a sigh at this. "As much as I could do that, it'll get boring after a while. No, instead you’re just going to do something that I can't really do here."
Ash raises her eyebrow, skeptical of what the giant has in store for her all of the sudden. She stands and leans against the wall to prepare herself, physically and mentally as she crosses her arms. "Well, what is it then?"
Mint reaches into one of the open passageways, feeling her fingers around the grooves of the shelves until she pulls out a bandana, an apron, and a broom, tossing them to Ash on the floor. "You are going to be cleaning this dump. Cleaning supplies are in the closet, you know how to clean a window or two. Dusting is also something you can do as well."
Ash looks appalled at Mint, lightly kicking away at the broom at her feet, not feeling like dealing with this now. "What? No way! This is your shack not mine!"
"And you’re the only one who can actually fit anywhere. Because this-" Mint waves a hand over her large body "Can't exactly go anywhere." She gives a smug look to Ash. "And this isn't just my shack anymore, it's our shack, on the account of us being roommates now. You also have nothing better to do now, so why not clean the place you'll be staying for the proceeding future?"
Ash looked around, the place was looking grimy and dusty from the floor to ceiling. It couldn’t have been used much before Mint got here. And as much as Ash hated to admit it, Mint had a point about her being too big. Grumbling, she picked up the supplies and started sweeping away at the floor. "Happy now?"
To add insult to injury, Mint gives a thumbs up to Ash with a cheeky grin, "Yeah I'm happy now. Do one room at a time, and not all of it at once. There's only so much one person can clean in a day you know. When you're done, come back to me. I'll give you something for it as well."
Ash lets out a grumble, cleaning around the room she's currently in. She takes note of any weak points that wouldn't cause noise or be noticeably moved if she were to escape later however. Dusting off any places like vents or holes well so it isn't gross later. Have to at least be clean for your escape right? After an hour she reports back to Mint begrudgingly. "Alright, what do you want next?"
Mint looks around the room, impressed at the amount of work Ash did to the place. "You did great, I'll say that much. Now, I said I'll give you something, so that's what I'm going to do." Reaching into one of the other passageways that Ash didn't go into, she pulls out a mattress, surprisingly of decent quality, as well as a few blankets and pillows. She drops it in front of Ash, landing with a thud. "Here's your bed. Move it to wherever you like, I don't care."
Ash gives a look of surprise that this gift was actually something helpful to her. "Oh, wow, an actual mattress…" She goes up to it and inspects it, not too bad for probably being old. She takes it and moves it to her corner, putting everything on and sitting on it "...Thank you. Better than sleeping on a cot all the time..."
Mint turns away from Ash, hiding the small amount of pity she felt for her, "Don't thank me. Your sleep choices were limited. Either sleep on the floor, or I give you that mattress. Though there was one other spot you could've picked as well."
Not noticing the look of pity Mint was giving her, Ash raises an eyebrow at the idea of another spot, "Oh yeah? Humor me a bit, what was it?"
Mint turns around, her expression forming a sly smile on her face as she pats her toned abs. "You could've slept with me, body and all. I hear I make a great pillow sometimes."
Ash's face begins to change to blue, before regaining her composure and denying any claim by Mint, "Ahem, w-well, I’m certainly not gonna be testing that out anytime soon..."
Mint laughs at Ash's reaction, finding her apprehension amusing "Aww, come on Ash. You ever wanted to sleep with a giant, now's your chance. Final offer, take it or leave it. Going once, going twice..." Hearing no response from Ash, Mint gives a buzz and fake pity. "Ooooo, looks like you missed your chance. Better luck next time then. However-" Mint's face shifts to something neutral, getting back to being serious. "You wanted more things to do right? Or am I wrong on that?"
Ash sighs in response as she sits against the wall and stares at Mint. "You'd be wrong, but how much of a choice do I really have?"
"You're learning quickly. Good. For now though, I don't have anything else for you to do. You did plenty already." Mint responds, giving Ash a little nudge, which she rolls her eyes at.
"Well, lucky me then..."
Looking at Ash, Mint gives a hard sigh. "Look, I know this isn't ideal for you. I don't like this any better than you do. But until something happens in the future that gets me to change my mind, we're stuck together, whether you like it or not. So until then, suck it up, and deal with it. It's a good way to build character."
Ash shakes her head and goes under the covers to try and drown the loud voice out, though unsuccessfully. "I don't know, you seem like you were enjoying it earlier, bossing and scaring me earlier, but whatever you say." She plops her head down on the pillow soon afterwards. "Wonder what kind of character I'll gain tomorrow then…"
As Ash falls asleep, she ponders on how her day went so far: she took a shortcut, ran away from a giant, got taken by said giant, and now she's stuck with the giant as a prisoner. She takes one last look at the giant who calls herself Mint, scoffs, and closes her eyes, using her dreams as a means of escape for now.