Teeny Tiny Saviour

The room was dark. Well, the entire mansion was.

Mark stood in the very centre of it, a flashlight in hand as he blinked around, trying to decipher where he was. Hiding from things was bad enough, but make those things mannequins and you had yourself a problem.

He'd hardly explored the whole place yet and all he wanted to do right now was find a safe place where he could read all the notes he was gathering. It was harder when it seemed when there was almost always a jumpscare waiting somewhere in the area for him. He just wanted to explore the mansion, get some good places down and hide until he could figure out how to win. Or at least finish the game.

It was difficult as it was.

All he had to do was take this easy. Don't think about it too much and he'd be fine. Using his flashlight, the male shone it around. There was a dusty chandelier hanging way high above him and dust particles flew as he waved his hand around.

Taking a step onto the matted and filthy rug - which smelt of mold, he belated realized with a scrunch of his nose - Mark kept moving. There had to be a room he could stay in without triggering a jumpscare.

Brushing a hand through his hair, he blinked around. Chocolate brown eyes peering through glasses to get a better idea of the layout. Grabbing onto one of the stair banisters, he started to ascend. There was creaking in the walls and he turned instantly, finding nothing but air stirred by his panic. He cracked a small grin at himself, before shaking it off and continuing up.

Come on, still nothing but locked doors and long, winding hallways.

That was, until, a sound of a tiny scuffing, and the door to his left swung open. Curious, and somewhat knowing this was stupid bravery, he stepped closer to the door, and before anything else he noticed something coming from behind him.

Mark turned, hoping to God it was his imagination playing tricks on him. "Jesus Christ!" He shouted, facing a mannequin that had to be haunted or something. Before he could think twice about this decision, he hoped into the room where the door had opened on it's own and he slammed it shut. The thing bounced against the door and he locked it tight.

Now he could ponder what had opened it for him. It certainly hadn't been triggered by him, or else it would've scared the hell out of him. There was something more to this than what met the eye. Maybe it was good force of ghost in this game that was trying to help him? Unlikely.

Taking this time, he looked around, trying to see what he could. It was a huge library and a study down in the corner. Whatever had opened the door for him, he had to be grateful to. Especially if it ever showed itself.

Or maybe he was thinking about this thing all wrong. Maybe he had just triggered the door opening. That would make sense too. But he could never shake the feeling that he was being watched by something. And he couldn't make out what it was.

Flipping his flashlight around, he kept searching the area. There were countless, thick books lining the shelves and he tugged at a few. Pulling them out, he set the flashlight upwards so it shone into his whole area. The male flipped through some pages, when another sound caught his attention. It almost sounded like a swear, but it was so soft. He looked up instantly, grabbing for the flashlight and he placed the book back.

"Who's there?" Mark called, knowing that it was an amateur move. His dark eyes moved around the shelves and there wasn't another sound. He paused. "Are you the one that opened the door for me?"

His answer was silence and he sighed softly.

"You can come out, I don't want to hurt you." Mark just wanted to see his saviour. Without whoever had opened the door, he would've been done for. That mannequin would've had him. He shuddered. Ugh. He hated mannequins. "I only have this flashlight and a couple notes. You don't have to be scared of me."

The sound of something behind him caught his attention and Mark whipped around, only to face another bookshelf. Still nothing. He furrowed his brows. Taking in a gentle breath, he pushed a little closer, peering into the nooks and pushing some books aside with his free hand.

Just dust that had collected over the countless years. Mark wasn't even sure what he was looking for. But those noises had been so soft. Maybe it was a sentient mouse or something. It wouldn't have been the strangest thing he'd seen in his years as a gamer.

What he was dealing with here couldn't be human. He furrowed his eyebrows before tilting his head. "I'm serious, I just want to thank you for opening the door for me. I don't know how you did it or how you knew the mannequin was going to come from that way."

There was a small noise, and he wanted to say something, but he was cut off. "I-I've had pr-practice." That was a little voice. So soft and quiet. It sounded scared.

Mark sucked in a sharp breath, nearly so sharp he coughed on it. That was a voice. He licked his sudden dry lips as he searched the area where the voice had come from. "Where are you?" He asked gently, not wanting to spook his protector away - where she happened to be.

The tiny voice didn't reply right away, instead he watched as something shifted on the second to stop shelf. The one he was eyelevel with. A book was pushed slightly forwards and he wasn't sure if he was supposed to grab it and pull it away. Setting the flashlight down again, he ignored the feeling in his gut and he grabbed for the book, only to set it down immediately when he peered into the space.

His brown eyes widened instantly upon seeing a tiny woman standing there. Light blonde hair was hiding the teeny features of her. Mark couldn't find the words to say anything as he just looked at her. He could see that she had a small white shirt that fell off her shoulders and dark blue jean capris that was folded up just under her knees. "Oh my God.." his voice nearly broke off. His mind was at an absolute loss here. What more could he say to her?

Her shoulders bunched slightly as the flashlight was focused completely on her. Maybe revealing herself wasn't such a good idea. He was a lot bigger than she had anticipated. Her eyes were squeezed shut as she tried to keep her breathing. "I o-only mean we-well," she stammered out, keeping her eyes away from the giant standing bewildered in front of her. "Ple-please don't h-hurt me!"

"What?" Mark stuttered out finally and he finally got over himself. He really looked at her now and she seemed terrified. He raised his hands to show that he meant no harm, that might've been the wrong thing to do. She seemed way more skittish than he had originally planned.  "O-oh! No, I don't wanna hurt you. I just want to find a way to get away from the mannequins." He then paused once more, resting his hands on the shelf. She took a few stumbling steps back before hitting the back of the shelf. "Easy kid," he told her. "Y-you must be the one that helped me."

Her chest was heaving as she pressed herself as far back as she could. He was rather intimidating. This was definitely a bad idea. Danessa didn't know what to do. Her mind was racing and her heart was pounding deep in her throat. She nodded sharply, showing that she was the one that opened the door for him.

He cocked his head to the side for a moment. "How did someone so teeny tiny, open a door that big and heavy?"

She shrugged, before pointing to the golden handle. It wasn't a knob kind. It was the kind that you pushed down on. "I-I jumped from the sh-shelf. My momentum was enough to unlock the door a-and swing it forwards." To be fair, that's all she knew about it. The rest of it was sort of- she wasn't sure. Luck?

Mark felt a shiver run down my spine and he turned for a moment, letting his flashlight roam the library. He was half scared that the tiny girl wouldn't be there anymore when he looked back. But, when his eyes fell along the shelf she was still was still standing there, cowered against the back of the shelf and under his shadow. "Hey, look, I really don't want to hurt you," he assured her softly, which his words didn't seem to have done much to console her. "I'm Mark." Maybe a name would help? "You have to have a name too, right?"

She nodded again, before folding her fingers together, as if the wanted to act like a shield, or to hide herself away from him. But the thing was, he - Mark - hadn't grabbed once for her. He'd only tried to make conversation and she was making it pretty one-sided. Which made her feel bad. "Dan-Danessa."

Mark broke into a gentle smile when she finally spoke her name. He'd like to offer a hand out to her to shake, but of course that was difficult to do. But, she was about the size of his ring finger. Maybe not even. So, instead, he improvised and held his pointer fingertip out to her. "Here," he said, an understanding tone to his voice. "This'll make it easier to shake hands."

When she didn't move, he felt the urge to try and make this a little lighter on the both of them. Some gentle humour never hurt anybody.

"Oh c'mon, don't leave me hanging, you did save my ass after all, I have to repay you somehow," and maybe he could do just that.

A small ball of warmth burst in his chest as he watched her smile slightly. It was a tiny twitch of her lips, but that was all it was. She offered out her entire hand and placed it against his fingertip. It barely covered the tip, and it seemed her fingers were completely outstretched.

His smile fluttered at the feeling of a tiny hand. "There you go. See? I'm not a big mean guy. Well, maybe big, but I don't have a mean bone in my body." he gently moved her hand up and down, barely nothing compared to his normal movements and she let go. Letting her hand drop to her side, before moving to rub her arm nervously again.

"Y-you don't really know you're w-way around," she stated, and that much was obvious. Mark nodded gently, not sure where she was taking this. "I-I... I can help you. I know th-this place like the back of my h-hand. I can a-also get into rooms that yo-you can't."

He tilted his head at her offer, before nodding gently. "I do like the sound of that," he slowly moved a hand and laid it gently in front of her, letting her move on her own. He wasn't just going to grab for her, not after making so much progress. Seemed Danessa was absolutely fine on her own. "Hope you don't mind taking the Mark-Express."

She cracked another smile at that, before looking to his hand. Sure, it was sort of looming and it freaked her out a little bit, but she pushed herself forwards, using the back of the shelf as leverage. Those fingers, that had to almost be twice her height, had been so gentle. She sucked in a sharp breath before laying one hand on Mark's pointer and the other one on his middle.

The very size difference was insane to fathom.

Ignoring that for now, as Danessa knew she'd psych herself out if she wasn't careful, she pulled herself up onto the palm of his hand and settled down on her knees. Using her own hands on his to keep herself steady and upright. She then tilted her head upwards, matching Mark's unbelieving smile as she rubbed the back of her neck, pushing blonde hair out of her eyes. "I d-don't mind too much.." she replied gently.

Grabbing his flashlight again, he made sure to keep his motions smooth as he didn't want to jar his tiny passenger. She was already putting so much faith into him, he didn't want to break that.

Checking on Danessa once more, he received a thumbs up. Giving a nod in response, Mark pushed on his way. A newfound friend, and a personal little map-keeper, by his side.

Maybe this wouldn't end up too badly for once.