They come at dusk
By Tastysnack

Chapter 1

Several Tomthumbs stand around a comparatively large round fruit, all with a look of frustration. The primitive pully system they had put together to lift the fruit onto their food gathering cart had snapped effectively making it impossible to collect this sadly “to good to be true” bounty.

“Well we could cut it up and load it onto the cart...” One of the tiny people, A brown haired male of average build, proposes enthusiastically.

The older among them, black haired, Still fairly young looking but grizzled with a look of experience painted on his face (“Felarya old” if you will XD) puts a finger to his chin thoughtfully but still frowning at the sheer misfortune of the situation. “Well Jorg, We will likely have to, I'm afraid.” He walks up and places a hand on the plump healthy fruit. “That'll mean it won't last as long though, Some of it will likely be spoiled by the time we get to the village...”

“Well look on the bright side, at least we haven't had to deal with any predators today” The youngest of them, An attractive blonde female, chimes in.

Then, as if misfortune were some horrible well oiled machine, The fourth member of their food gathering posse bursts through a crop of ferns that had concealed the other three Tomthumbs activity, his look was one of abject horror “NEEEEK...!!!”. His scream cut short as his body is engulfed by a clawed fist, snatching him out of the air pulling the muffled tiny back into the foliage. The colossal female Neko rose from her hiding spot, the elegant predator had rust orange hair, dark brown cat ears and matching tail, her skin was pale with rose colored lips and lively green eyes. The human clothing was odd, she was likely traveling with some adventurers and stepped away for some “sadistic fun”, she probably wasn't even hungry.

“SCATTER!!!” The elder of the group roars desperately, planting his feet in place, if the younger ones were to have any chance of escape he would have to give himself to the hated beast. He watched as the beautiful monster raised the insignificant tiny humanoid to her face. Then transferring the pathetic creature to her other hand holding him between her forefinger and thumb, smiling the whole time with grim, sadistic anticipation. The elder turns away watching from his peripherals as the doomed tomthumb is dangled over the catgirl's head.

The young tiny writhes in pointless desperation as the Neko's menacing smile opens into a cavernous maw. The mid afternoon sun directly overhead flooding the enormous mouth with light. He could see every saliva glistening detail past the glossy rose tinted lips and sharp well maintained ivory teeth. Her pink slick tongue presses flat to her lower pallete giving the tiny an extended view past her uvula into the pulsating tunnel of her esophagus. All the poor little man could do was scream til his voice went hoarse, and close his eyes tightly in expectation of his last terror filled moments. And then he dropped...

“AAAAAAHHHH...!!!”

The elder clenches his eyes so tightly shut he was seeing spots, He didn't dare look. It wouldn't be long before it was his turn.

The doomed tiny hits a soft slick moving surface, He kept his eyes closed, guarding himself from the terror of looking out from behind those pearly teeth. The warm breeze of her breath hit against his behind, but something was off. He'd seen people get eaten before it was usually a much more violent looking experience. Out of curiosity he opens a single eye, he was still outside, his exhausted body resting on the catgirl's soft pillowy puckered lips.

“Hey! What the hell is going on!?!” The tiny says in half protest of his situation.

The Catgirl in response parts her lips slightly, The tiny assuming the worst renews his panicked fueled fight for survival as he feels himself sinking between the plump rose hued cushions. Then suddenly the tip of the Neko's slick, warm, wet tongue gently collides with the small of his back, and with surprising control traces up the length of his spine. The confused tomthumb shudders uncontrollably in pleasure, before dropping through the air a short distance onto the soft warm flesh of the Neko's palm.

“Now... what did we learn today?” The Neko's mocking tone was playful but practical.

All the tiny man in her hand could do was shiver and breathe heavily.

“I know that was probably very scary for you... but you obviously needed some kind of object lesson!” The neko continues “I mean you had to know I was going to see you!”.

The tiny man continues shivering and breathing heavily, but now with a confused expression plastered to his face.

“I mean you were trying to hide in my line of sight... and why would you wear bright red of all colors!?! Completely amateur!”, The neko's playful expression turned to that of a disgruntled school teacher as she lectured on. “I mean, I almost feel like eating you would be doing your little friend here a favor!”.

The horrified expression returns to the tomthumb's face.

“Calm down, I'm cutting back these days! Plus your older friend down there looks like he's going to have a stroke!”, She says gesturing to the elder tomthumb standing with his feet firmly planted his eyes tightly shut and every muscle in his body tensed.

The tiny still unable to talk just breathes heavily...

The Neko glares at him critically “Don't you look at me like that! You caused this by being terrible at your, easy, easy job.”.

The Elder opens his eyes to see the neko bending down toward him, her hand coming straight for him clawed fingers extended. He couldn't help but defensively crumple into the fetal position. The massive appendage lunges past him grabbing the fruit and lifting it from its place on the ground. “HEY THATS OURS!!!” The elder yells angrily as he pops back up from his cowering stance.

The Neko giggles in ironic delight, “So I can eat you, but not your precious fruit?”. Using her other hand she places the tiny she was toying with on top of the round juicy fresh fruit “You realize I could simply have both, right?”.

The Elder realizing the severity of his error claps his hands over his mouth and backs away eyes bulging in terror.

The Neko looms over the helplessly exhausted tomthumb laying limply on the fruit, staring intensely as she subconsciously licks her lips. Then suddenly looks back at the elder tiny “Just kidding! I like your spirit! Most preds need a good tongue lashing every know and then!”. She gently places the fruit onto the little cart the tiny man still limp on top of it. “Now then, I had my fun! My name is Jerris, and I'm pretty certain I owe you little guys something for the trouble!”

“No you've done enough, please just go and leave us alone... please!” The tiny elder says in a desperate frustrated tone as he gets in position to pull the cart.

Jerris looks hurt at having her offer of kindness shunned, but springs back to a chipper expression as an Idea forms in her head. “Please wait here a moment!” She stands upright and dashes off, returning a moment later with a second similarly sized piece of fruit. “here!” she says showing off the healthy looking orb of savory, succulent sweetness.

The Elders scowl lessened, but only slightly “well... thank you, that's actually a really nice gesture, But...”

Jerris delicately places the second fruit onto cart being careful of the still wide eyed, catatonic tiny laying on the first fruit. “There!” she says with a proud smile “Anything else I can do?”.

“Well, I think you've...” The experienced tiny gives Jerris a polite smile and...


“Creak! Crack! THUMP!” The cart collapses as the rickety wooden wheels explode into splinters all at once from the added weight.


Jerris grins nervously “oh, no... I'm... I'm so …”

The angry Elder thumb cuts off the Neko's apology “JUST GO ALREADY!!!”

“I'm really trying to help! I'm sorry!” Jerris frowns upset by the failure of her attempt at helpfulness.

“I'm going to have to go back to my village empty handed!” He mumbles angrily under his breathe, before gesturing angrily at Jerris “GODS! JUST EAT ME!!! It'll be easier than explaining this to a bunch of starving children!”.

Jerris's ears lower sadly, “I'm really so sorry... could I carry them for you...?”

The old tiny slaps his hand to his head in grim epiphany, and laughs cynically, “That's it isn't it!?! You want me to give you directions to my village. Because that's all you Nekos seem to live for, SLAUGHTERING A BUNCH OF WEAK STARVING TINIES, CRUSHING THEIR HOMES, AND DEVOURING THE CHILDREN BY THE SCREAMING HANDFULS!!!”

Jerris's eyes welled up slightly “I... I don't do things like that... anymore...” she stutters meekly.

“ANYMORE!?!” the old thumb roars, “Don't waste fake tears on me! I know you don't care...!” His tone becoming more melancholy.

“Is there anything I can do or say to make you trust me.” Jerris says in a softer submissive tone “If I help you we can take as much fresh fruit as you like.”

“I'll never trust A Neko, I've seen what your kind does first hand, and how little regard you have for my people!!!” The tiny man growls in a lower tone.

Jerris's ears perk up as a solution crosses her mind, “Would you trust a ranger?”

“What are talking about, Neko?” The old tiny inquires.

Jerris stands to her full height, '5,”4 but to the tiny man she was gigantic.”oh... wait, whats your name again?” she says bending down with a broad comforting smile.”

The tomthumb scowls defiantly “I didn't tell you my name...”

An uncomfortable moment of silence passes, before the tiny finally caves in to social pressure, “Tilke... My name is Tilke.”

Jerris bounds away enthusiastically shouting back in a friendly tone “ I'll be right back so don't go anywhere Tilke!”

Tilke slumps down leaning on one of the the two huge fruits crushing his food gathering wagon, “Couldn't go anywhere if I wanted to”. He was determined to not let that neko harm his village, which obviously meant he couldn't just leave for home she might still be around watching, expecting him to get up and leave and lead her to the village anyway.

I mean if she “wasn't really that nice” she was very convincing, some preds do seem to enjoy a certain amount of deception, even her tears seemed kind of real.

The other male tomthumb, Jorg had already run to the village, “the coward”, But the female wasn't going to leave until she at least confirmed old Tilke's death. She stumbled out from her hiding spot only to see the broken food gathering cart with the two giant pieces of fruit on top of it. All was silent and Tilke was no where to be seen, at least from her perspective, and Zavi, their “new look out”, had to be done for, she saw him get grabbed first. She wandered over to the dilapidated cart looking around the area in case “that awful neko was still around”. Not looking in front of her she bumps up against the large fruit jostling it enough to cause it to shift and roll slightly

“AAAAAAHHHH!!!”a loud scream came from the other side of the fruit barrier followed by a loud thud.

Tilkes head pops out from around the other side of the cart, “Lesla, You should be on your way home by now!”

Lesla's face explodes into an expression of absolute pure joy at seeing her fatherly friend “I thought that monster would have eaten you for sure.”. She bursts into tears as she embraces Tilke “ Poor, Zavi though! It must have been horrible to watch!”.

Zavi's voice chimes in from behind the fruit, where she had accidentally knocked him off the top “I'm fine, a little worse for wear, but I'm fine!”.

The tomthumb girl looked around in confusion “Why did she crush our cart with fruit!?!”

Tilke rolled his eyes, not at the question, but at being reminded of the situation beforehand “she said she was trying to help... if you can believe that?”.

Zavi's voice loudly rang out again from the other side of the wall of fruit “I think she's nice!”

“After what she did to you!?!” Tilke shouts in response

“I think maybe she was trying to teach me stuff... I mean why would she lecture me so harshly if she was going to eat me anyway” Zavi explains.

Lesla still looked horribly confused, “Why did... She gave you a lecture!?!”

“That was a bit odd... Though I think she was just toying with you!” Tilke replies to Zavi.

“Not the worst advice though...” Zavi returns.

Tilke grumbles to himself in a low grumpy tone, “Hide low and don't wear bright colors should have been obvious to you... idiot!”

“Yeah, why were you dressed like that!?!” Lesla says in a Scrutinizing tone.

Zavi's voice takes a more timid tone, “I heard red was your favorite color... and...”

“Oh...Zavi I told you I like you well enough, and even care about you to some degree, But I don't feel that way about boys.” Lesla clarifies in a somber tone.

“Yeah... I guess I wasn't thinking... sorry...” Zavi quietly apologizes.

Suddenly Tilke's attention is diverted sharply as a much louder female voice sounds out from behind Lesla

“Hmm, nothing wrong with that!”

Lesla whips around in shock to see the neko's massive smirking face eclipsing her view her sly green eyes looking her up and down with great interest.

“I'm partial to both genders myself...” Jerris says winking at Tilke

Tilke just rolls his eyes and shakes his head at the frustrating Neko's flirtatious advance, “You said you were going to change my mind about not trusting you...?”

Jerris smiles brightly and leaps to her feet revealing her CVRC uniform, “TAH DAH!!!”

“Whats happening...whats different!?!” Lesla says still startled and confused.

Tilke's brow arches cynically as his head tilts, “You changed your clothes!?! That's supposed to make me trust you!?!”.

Jerris's ears fold down in disappointment, “Its my ranger uniform... I'm an officer... A high ranking one too...”

“I don't care what adventurer group your with!!!” Tilke snaps

“Well I'm not allowed to hunt tinys while I'm wearing this patch” she says proudly showing off the embroidered CVRC Dryad patch to the group of tomthumbs “If I somehow got caught eating even one of you while wearing these clothes I'd be punished very harshly!... They might even kill me...”.

Zavi's voice shouts out, still hidden behind the two big pieces of fruit, “She sounds legit, I think we should trust her!”

Tilke grimaces, still conflicted about gambling on the seemingly helpful Neko. “We're already having problems with the monster raids, the village would never survive a neko on top of that.”

“Is starving to death or being devoured by those hairy beasts any better?” Lesla interjects

Tilke looks at Lesla in silent shock

Zavi's voice once again rings out, still from the exact place he fell, breaking the tense silence, “Lesla means, were doomed if we do, and doomed if we don't. But if the Neko is honest we might live long enough to solve our original problems.” .

“Yeah... I got it Zavi!” Tilke barks back to the hidden Tomthumb

“Sorry, I can't see much more than dirt from where I fell, and things got really quiet!” Zavi explains

Tilke turns to the neko with a stern look on his face, Jerris returns his intense stare with a wide appealing grin.

“Ok we'll trust you, Neko, but you need to stay a good distance from the village when we get there, and don't pull any of that stuff you did to poor Zavi.”

Jerris smiles energetically plopping a small backpack onto the ground and opens it in front of the group of tinies revealing it to be filled with fruit and some dried meat from her own supply. “We can head out now! ...If you want to of course?”

Tilke gives the helpful catgirl a fake smile, still reluctant to trust her, “Then... I guess we're all set...”

Jerris shoulders the pack full of edible treasures then lowers her hand to the ground in front of Tilke and Lesla, “We'll get there allot faster if you ride in my breast pocket.” she says smiling sweetly.

Lesla steps onto her hand with little hesitance, Tilke frowns and has to think for a couple seconds, before closing his eyes and stepping onto the catgirl's outstretched palm. She lifts them up to the left breast pocket of her ranger uniform and gently tilts them in. She then peers over the fruit on the broken wagon, looking for Zavi only to see him face down in the dirt with his feet and legs propped up on the fruit in a very uncomfortable position.

“Oh you poor thing!” she says gently picking him up and bring him to her eye level, “Are you hurt!?!”

Zavi smiles politely, “I'm ok, my muscles are just exhausted from fighting for my life..”

Jerris pouts sympathetically, “I'm sorry, I just got a little carried away.”. A mischievous smile stretches across her face, “I'll tell you what I'll put you in a special place!”.

Zavi remains silent, unsure of what she could possibly mean. Then grins excitedly as she unbuttons the top button of her shirt revealing the soft, sweet smelling canyon of her cleavage, gently but firmly pushed together by her lacy undergarment. Jerris gently nestles the tiny man in between the two huge cushiony masses. Before looking down to make sure he was comfortable.

“Does this make up for some things, little guy?” Jerris asks in a soft tone.

Zavi was already asleep with a blissful expression on his face, causing Jerris to giggle.

“I'd say that's a yes, then!”.


Jerris and the CVRC are my invention

Felarya is Karbo's creation

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