“Ryan!” Rixie called into the apartment.
Silence was the only response.
“Ryan!!” She tried again, louder this time. And, again, there was only silence.
Rixie sighed and rolled her eyes. “Oh Ishin-Bozh!”
“Yes honorable mother?” The tiny boy appeared on the living room desk, a small twig strapped to his waist like a sword. Alex had lately been reading to Ryan fables inspired by stories passed down from Earth, which had been compiled into a book by Nonah Armac entitled “99 Fables.”
Their young son had become particularly enchanted by the story called “The Thumb-Sized Swordsman” and had spent the past few weeks insisting that he was Ishin-Bozh, the titular warrior. It had gotten to the point that he refused to respond to any other name.
“Your dad and I need to go out for a bit. Thyllia has agreed to babysit for you, okay?”
“Thyllia?” Ryan, or Ishin-Bozh, squeaked and blushed a shade of bright red.
Rixie suppressed a smirk. “Yes. Thyllia. Is that okay with you, oh great warrior?”
Ryan nodded mutely.
“Good” Rixie held out her hand and waited for Ryan to situate himself into the center of her palm. When he was seated safely, she carried him back into the entry way where a young woman of sixteen years was waiting.
She was pale skinned with long dark brown hair and big expressive brown eyes. She was wearing a short black jacket over a grey shirt and blue shorts.
“Thanks for coming to help, Thyllia.” Rixie smiled as she crossed the room to where the babysitter was waiting.
“No problem Rixie. I’m always happy to watch Ryan.” Thyllia responded with a grin.
“Good.” Rixie lowered her hand and allowed Ryan to climb into the girl’s palm. “Now you be a good little warrior for Thyllia, okay Ryan?”
“Mom!”
“Sorry, I mean Ishin-Bozh” Rixie rolled her eyes again, quietly noting that Ryan hadn’t corrected Thyllia when she’d gotten his name “wrong.”
Rixie spent the next few minutes collecting everything they would need, including Alex, but after that she and Alex left.
“So kiddo, what do you want to do?” Thyllia asked the tiny boy in her palm.
“Uhm… I um.” Ryan muttered, staring at his shoes. “We could play… um… ‘Ishin-Bozh rescues the princess. ’”
Thyllia giggled and shook her head. “Again? You always want to play that game.”
“It’s my favorite.” Ryan muttered shyly.
The teenaged titan smiled indulgently. “Well, in that case… do you want me to be the ogre?”
“No, you can be the princess. You’re too pretty to be the ogre.” Ryan looked up with a gasp, his eyes wide as he realized what he’d just said.
Thyllia suppressed a smile and wisely pretended to not have heard him. “Well, we need an ogre then… hmmm…” She looked around the room for inspiration. “Aha! Here we are…”
She picked up a stuffed toy keiflar that was knee high to her, so it towered over Ryan.
“There.” She said, placing it on the ground. “We have an ogre.” Thyllia set Ryan on the ground a few paces away from the stuffed toy, and then walked back over to it. She lay on the ground and clasped her hands behind her back and crossed her ankles as if she were tied up.
“Help me Ishin-Bozh! Save me from the evil ogre!” Thyllia cried out dramatically, pretending to struggle with the bindings on her wrists and ankles.
“Here I come Princess! Don’t worry!” Ryan yelled as he charged the giant stuffed toy. With a feral cry he drew his twig sword and leaped on top of the keiflar toy, stabbing it viciously for several minutes until the toy toppled over and Ryan decided that meant it was dead.
“I win!” He cried triumphantly.
“Good job Ishin-Bozh!” Thyllia exclaimed with a grin. “Now come cut the ropes.”
“Right.” Ryan climbed down from atop his vanquished foe and ran over to where Thyllia was laying on her side, wrists exposed.
“No, go free my ankles first!” She told Ryan. The little boy shrugged and ran along the floor, down the length of her body to her shoes and began sawing away with his twig sword.
“There!” He said after a few moments of cutting imaginary ropes. “You’re free!”
“Good, now come get my wrists.” Thyllia ordered, hiding the grin on her face.
Dutifully, Ryan jogged back to her wrists and began cutting the bindings on her wrists with his “sword”
“I got it!” He cried after a minute.
“Oh thank you Ishin-Bozh.” Thyllia gushed gratefully. “But I think you missed a bit around my ankles, they’re still tied.”
“Really?” Ryan panted.
“Yup.” Thyllia smirked.
“Okay.” So Ryan ran back down to her ankles and cut the bindings around them again.
“There!”
“Oh good.” Thyllia said, moving her feet. “I’m all free now.”
The teenage babysitter sat up and gathered her knees to her chest. She looked down on her little human charge who was standing proudly between her feet.
“Thank you for saving me, Ishin-Bozh.” Thyllia smiled. “But, I think it’s about time you took a nap, huh?”
Ryan looked thoughtful for a moment, before placing his fists on his hips and declaring boldly: “Warriors do not take naps!”
Thyllia smirked. “Of course they do! Mighty warriors need their sleep if they want to perform in battle. Besides, how else can they dream of their victories and adventures?”
Ryan’s brow creased while he tried to work through the logic of what she said and come up with a proper rebuttal.
Before he could come up with a response, Thyllia leaned down towards him and whispered in a conspiratorial fashion. “I’ll make you a deal. You take a nap now, and when you wake up, you show me where your mom keeps the cookies. I’ll help you get them down, and we’ll split one, okay?”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out if she was tricking him, but one look at her smile and Ryan was putty in her hands again. “Okay…”
“Good!” Thyllia gently scooped him up in her hand before he could change his mind. She carried him over to the human-sized replica of the apartment that he and Alex lived in most of the time. She popped the hatch and opened the roof which allowed her access to the inside. She then lowered Ryan (who was already asleep) down onto his bed.
“Sleep well, my little warrior.” She whispered with a smile.
Thyllia stood back up and stretched her arms over her head with a yawn. “I might need a little bit of a nap myself.” She muttered making her way over to the couch. She sat on the plush sofa, only intending to rest her eyes momentarily.
She was asleep within minutes.
Ryan awoke to a loud thud from outside his bedroom. Blearily, he rolled over and found himself face to face with a pair of bright grey eyes.
“Wake up sleepyhead!” The little girl who owned the eyes crowed.
“Manto?” Ryan muttered, pushing himself into a sitting position.
“Not just me!” The little girl pointed towards Ryan’s bedroom window. Just beyond the glass two eyes, one bright blue the other dark purple peered in on him curiously.
“Hey Ryan!” Odin Tarsuss, the blue eye, whispered into the room. While Joseph Archer-Mavoy, the purple eye, just smiled.
“What are you doing here?” Ryan asked, still trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.
“We came over to play.” Odin explained. “And Thyllia’s asleep on your couch.”
“Yeah. She’s snoring too.” Manto giggled.
Ryan tumbled out of his bed and onto the floor. He stood up next to Manto and dusted himself off. “Hold on.” He told the two giant boys outside his bedroom.
With Manto trailing behind, Ryan walked through his apartment and out to the balcony. Now he could see the two giant kids in their entirety.
“So what did you want to do?” He asked his three comrades.
“I don’t know.” Joseph said with a shrug, brushing his long black bangs out of his narrow eyes. “But I’m bored… and kind of hungry…”
Ryan’s eyes lit up as he remembered what Thyllia had said to him earlier. “Oh, I know. Mom hid some cookies in the kitchen. I can’t reach ‘em, but maybe with your help…”
“Okay!” Odin said, lowering a hand and letting Manto climb on. The little girl quickly scaled her way up to his shoulder and settled in by his neck. Joseph, meanwhile, reched down for Ryan and set him on top of his head.
Quietly, the two boys and their tiny passengers snuck into the living room and past the sleeping Thyllia who was curled up in a ball and snoring softly on the couch. Once they were past the slumbering babysitter, they made their way into the kitchen.
“Okay, where does your mom keep the cookies?” Odin asked, looking around for the aforementioned sweets.
“Up there.” Ryan sighed, pointing up to the top of a monolithic refrigerator that towered even over the two giant boys.
“Wow.” Joseph muttered.
Shrugging his shoulders, Odin walked over to the kitchen table and began-quietly- dragging a chair over to the fridge. He climbed on top of it, but found he was still not quite tall enough.
He turned to Joseph, the look on his face saying plainly that he had thought of something. “Get on my shoulders.”
“What?!”
“Yeah, you climb up on my shoulders. Then we’ll be tall enough.”
Joseph chewed his lip hesitatingly before nodding his head with a sigh.
So it was decided. Odin climbed up on the chair, and then pulled Joseph up after him, who then climbed up on the older boy’s shoulders.
“I still can’t reach.” Joseph grumbled. The plate of cookies was sitting near the back of the refrigerator just beyond the tips of Joseph’s fingers.
“Gimme your hand, Joseph.” Manto yelled up to him.
“Hurry.” Odin grunted.
Joseph lowered his hand to his sister, who climbed aboard and waited for Joseph to raise his hand up. As Manto passed by, Ryan jumped from the top of Joseph’s head and onto his hand.
Joseph raised the two of them to the top of the fridge. Ryan and Manto quickly scurried over the top of the appliance and over to the plate of cookies.
Working together, the two of them hauled one of the cookies over to the edge and dropped it into Joseph’s grasp. They repeated the process again twice more.
“Okay, hurry up.” Joseph whispered urgently as they carried the third cookie over.
“Joseph Neofyto and Odin Illios just what do you two think you’re doing?” A voice snapped from the kitchen door.
“Wha-?” Odin started and lost his balance and the two of them tumbled onto the kitchen floor.
“Oh geez…” Thyllia muttered rushing over. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Yeah…” Joseph groaned as he and Odin picked themselves up. “We’re okay.”
“Good.” Thyllia sighed, and then frowned at the two boys. “Now what were you doing.”
The two of them stared at their shoes.
“We were stealin’ cookies, Thyllia.” Manto called down from atop the refrigerator.
“Manto? Ryan?” Thyllia looked up at them, wide-eyed. Quickly she climbed up on the chair the boys had been using and placed her hand next to the two tiny children. “Get down from there right now.”
The two of them climbed into her hand and she carefully got down from the chair and set them on the kitchen counter.
“Sorry Thyllia.” Manto mumbled sadly.
“Yeah, sorry.” Ryan repeated.
Thyllia sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation. “All right, nobody got hurt.” She muttered. “But I’m sure your mothers are wondering where you are.”
“Okay. C’mon Manto, let’s go.” Odin sighed, taking the small girl into his hand. “Here’s the cookies Thyllia.”
Thyllia took the two cookies they’d managed to steal and lead the three kids back to the door.
When she returned to the kitchen, she found Ryan seated on the counter, knees to his chest, looking absolutely miserable.
Thyllia’s stomach wrenched and any anger she had left evaporated at the hang-dog expression on his face.
“Here.” She said, breaking off a piece of one of the cookies and setting it down next to him. “Just don’t ever do this again. Promise?”
Ryan’s face split into a grin as he bit into the cookie piece. “Promise.”
“And don’t tell your parents about this.” Thyllia remarked, taking a bite out of the other cookie.
“Warrior’s honor.” Isshin-bozh replied.
I wish I could see a Vignettes about Uyli, Lita and Nonik. :<
So who’s Ishin-Bozh? Is that somebody we should recognize? “Ishin” sounds Japanese, but princess-saving adventures with ogres sound European.
There are quite a few Asian (Chinese, japanese, etc.) legends with similar themes. It’s a pretty universal fantasy humans have had, though the ogres and such had different names.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issun-b%C5%8Dshi
“The story begins with an old, childless couple who live alone. The old woman wishes for a child, despite her old age, “Please, please let us have a child, no matter how small.” Eventually, a son was born to them. But small indeed was the child—no larger than a grown man’s fingertip. They named the miniature child Issun-bōshi (Issun is a measure of approximately 3 centimeters. Bōshi means son). The child, despite being incredibly small, is treated well by his parents. One day, the boy realizes he will never grow, so he goes on a trip to seek his place in the world. Fancying himself a miniature samurai, Issun-bōshi is given a sewing needle for a sword, a soup bowl for a boat, and chopsticks for oars.
He sails downriver to the city, where he petitions for a job with the government and goes to the home of a wealthy daimyo, whose daughter is an attractive princess. He is scorned for his height, but nevertheless given the job of accompanying the princess as her playmate. While they travel together, they are suddenly attacked by an oni, who deals with the pesky boy by swallowing him. The boy defeats the Oni by pricking him from within with his needle/sword. The Oni spits out Issun-boshi and drops the magical Uchide’s Mallet as he runs away. As a reward for his bravery, the princess uses the power of the mallet to grow him to full size. Issun-bōshi and the princess remain close companions and eventually wed.”
Good catch, thanks for the link.
While the cats asleep the mice will creep…..(different sized mice..)
Thyllia is a big softie but she knows her charge. A little indulgence goes a long way… Cute story tho’ nice how the kids cooperate to get the cookies. I imagine their parents won’t be too pleased when they hear about it..
I think Odin will be a bit of trouble down the line for Pryvani especially if he has his father’s sense of adventure..Hey if they have another kid they could name it/him/her Thor – in keeping with tradition and he’ll get to have a hammer too…… hey if its a she they could name her Thorina 🙂
Frankly, given the current Thor, they could just name her Thor, though I’ve always been partial to Freyja.
I just want to say that I love this little vignette, because in short order it gives us so much insight into the personalities of everyone — Rixie the doting mom (who’s got practice indulging whimsy, both her own and her Alex’s), Thyllia the good-natured teen, Ryan the adventurous and (at times) nervous kid, and a whole cadre of descendants of everyone who are about as much trouble as you’d expect them to be.
Nah, Thor will be Pryvani and Zhan’s grandson 😛
I am very happy to see more of Ryan, thanks for the effort! It was a really sweet chapter. It seems like Ryan got Alex´s courage – climbing around like that without a second thought. I am sure that kid will make his mum and Thyllia sweat some more.
I wonder how dangerous the world for Ryan and the other human-sized children is – apart from climbing around, the danger of not beeing noticed by one of the titans etc. are there dangerous animals like the Scilith around?
Also, is it just me or does he develop a gts fetish? First his mum and now a crush on Thyllia in his early years. When he reaches puberty he´s gonna hit on all the titan girls ;-).
Ryan might well encounter a sabre tooth tiger or mastodon wondering the halls of Pryvani’s playground but not a scilith as Avalon fauna seems to be mostly imported from Earth more than 6000 years ago. The whole compound’s gravity is kept at the usual Titan friendly .34G but the air pressure is likely higher, closer to Earth normal so fall hazards are relatively safe for humans compared to Earth.
Well, it’s not like scilith are native to Titan either. The one on Titan Station must have been an unnoticed hitchhiker on a transport ship, much like a spider inside a truck. Theoretically the same could happen on Pryvani’s compound.
In practice I find that highly unlikely however. Titan Station is a minor transport hub with little regard for human welfare, so one can expect the occasional dangerous pest there. Pryvani’s compound on the other hand sees much less traffic, and I’d be very surprised if its inhabitants didn’t do everything they could to prevent dangerous animals from getting inside. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if Pryvani or Rixie ordered some security upgrades after hearing what happened to Zhan because he got inside undetected, followed a little later by Trell’s break-in.
Well, there are dangers for the human sized children (there are dangers for the titan sized ones as well) but their parents do as much as possible to minimize the risks. I doubt Pryvani would allow any dangerous animals to roam around her home, though.
Thanks for the answers guys! :o)
This is adorable. But Thyllia couldn’t cut the mustard in actual child-care if she caves from one puppy dog look. I’m a preschool teacher and I have fourteen adorable children acting a fool all day. If I gave in with every guilty expression then my class would be insane. But, she did a good job as the-older-relative(ish)-babysitter. Just don’t scare the kids into breaking something. Or someone. Haha
Also, she has brown eyes? I thought they were blue. In her first introduction in Titan: Pandemic chapter 25 “Convergance,” she was introduced as “a little girl of about five, with dark black hair and big expressive blue eyes.”
Well… it’s not that Thyllia is undone by any child’s sad puppy face… she just sorta has a soft spot for Ryan. Odin is more like a little brother to her, I doubt she’d let him get away with it as easily.
And, I don’t know, it wouldn’t surprise me if I had her with blue eyes at one point. It’s hard to keep track, and DX wrote her wiki page originally with brown eyes so… I guess, blame him? lol. Regardless, I guess she has brown eyes now…
I really liked this chapter, I loved the loving relationship between all the kids. I might have to start hoping Ryan hooks up with Thylia as the years go by, but that could just be an infatuation I suppose (a guy can dream). I might have to look up the kids because I don’t recall who’s who, but I still loved this vignette.
Ryan- Alex and Rixie’s human son
Odin- Zhan and Pryvani’s titan-sized hybrid son
Manto- Taron and Sophia’s human-sized hybrid biological daughter, also the oldest of that group’s children.
Joesph- Nick and Zara’s Titan-sized hybrid biological son.
Of course, with them biology doesn’t matter as much. Joseph and Manto consider each other full siblings.
A very nice little chapter of the kids and good to see some of the other hybrids that are around and how they are getting along with the human size ones.
I would hate to be on the wrong end of Odin or Joseph if someone titan size pick on Manto or Ryan, when they around 17 or 18 years old both of them are going to be strong and a punch from them will hurt, down in one hit.
yeah, anybody who picks on Manto better watch out of Odin’s around.
…Of course… before anybody could rush to Ryan’s aide, Rixie would likely already be on the case…
So Ryan is going through a couple phases here. And one of them is a bit of a crush on the babysitter.
Props to Tylum for knowing how to tire a human kid out by having him run a unit or two. Probably should have gotten a good night’s rest herself before showing up though. At least her timing is better not to have startled the larger kids while they were still holding the smaller pair.
So I’m guessing the relative ages here are ~8 for Ryan, 7/6 for Odin, 6 for Manto (maybe a touch more mature for her age), and ~less than 6 for Joseph. That group is going to be trouble, and they are going to keep pace in age pretty well it looks like. I realize these “apartments” are in a complex with a group that’s basically family, but it still feels weird that these kids have the run of the place like they do. At least they’re being raised right when it comes to the different sizes.
Actual Ages (assuming Thyllia just turned 16) are Manto: 40 (6 Titan), Odin: 37 (bit less than 6 Titan), Ryan: 26 (4 Titan). Joseph’s birthdate isn’t specificially listed, but he’s defintely younger than his sister. As for Ryan, I would guesstimate him to be around 5, based on what little I found in the wiki. For the sake of completeness, the other known hybrids at this time are Sorcha: 42 (bit over 6 Titan), and Mikkael (age unknown, but younger than Manto).
Adjusting for erm, mathy stuff…we have Ryan ~8, Manto ~6, Odin ~7 (maybe a bit less), and Joseph ~6. So either you’ve got a knack for guessing ages, or did this research as well.
Research.
I’ll be honest… everytime Alex goes “figuring people’s ages out gives me a headache” that’s me talking through him. I figure if I get everybody in a rough ballpark of their proper age, it’s fine. Any more than that might cause my ears to bleed lol
Great chapter of some human/titan shenanigans! Im really starting to like these kid-centric chapters.
Thanks! I enjoy writing them. (it’s nice to write something fun that doesn’t have earth-shaking consequences attached to it) so I’m glad people like them.
Nick made the big kid, Taron made the little one; that’s some amusing family symmetry.
And Manto appears to be named appropriately enough after the mythical daughter of Heracles.