HE IS NOT A BARBIE GIRL NOR IS HE IN A BARBIE WORLD

HE IS NOT A BARBIE GIRL NOR IS HE IN A BARBIE WORLD

Why do I have a feeling hermes is going to get kidnapped later in the series

A Humbling Origin Story

(Fantastic cover art by @WillowzzA on Twitter! Please go check out her art as it is fantastic!!)

⬇️Ao3 Link ⬇️

Author’s Note: I wanted to cause The Sheriff (aka Jimmy) some pain, so therefore decided to add meaningless significance to his encounter with the Warden.

Now anyone would be afraid of the creature. One sound and you’re done for, but what makes Jimmy’s encounter so special. Why is he, the law, so afraid of this blind creature?

What if I told you that his encounter with Gem wasn’t his first?

•-•{🌟}•-•

Tumble Town.

A bustling little community smack down in the center of the desolate mesa. And though it serves as the hotspot for gunpowder farming and trading, it is home to one of the lands largest, and deepest, coal and gold mines.

Jimmy, the honorable Sheriff of the busy little town, remembers the day they opened up the mines. He remembers all the adults placing bets on how much they’d be able to bring back, the ridiculous fortunes they’d make. He remembers kids, just a little older than he was, telling stories about all the monsters one would find in those caves. How easily they could take any of them down if they had the right tools. Hell, they didn’t need tools. They were brave and big and strong. Something that poor little Jimmy was not.

You see Jimmy throughout his childhood was always used as a scapegoat, a test dummy. Constantly picked on for his size and easily tricked into getting into trouble with the locals. He felt worse than little. He felt small.

When stories of the deep dark made its way round the town, the older kids all turned to that pathetic little kid they loved to beat up, and Jimmy was having none of it.

“Get a load of this guy! Y’all really think he’s gonna come out of those caves alive?”

“Yeah right! Lil’ twerp wouldn’t last a day in there?”

Three boys began to circle Jimmy like vultures, eager to grab him and toss him around.

“Leave me alone!”

Was all he could muster up in that time.

“Y’know I’m willing to bet he wouldn’t even last a whole dang minute in that there mine!”

Jimmy spoke up again

“I so could!!”

Two boys then began pushing him back and forth toward each other, with each tug rougher than the last. They laughed at the way he began to tear up.

“Lookie here, brother! He thinks he can take on all them monsters, but here he is cryin’ his lil’ eyes out!”

“Aww what’s the matter lil’ baby? Can’t handle a lil’ tustle? Go on! Cry some more pipsqueak!”

“Maybe the monsters will feel bad and leave ya alone!”

They gave him one final shove into the ground, practically howling at how hard he hit his head in the rough terracotta.

Jimmy just cried. He knew he wasn’t as strong as they were, nor as cruel. What made him so sure he could say he would last at all in the mines? God why was he so stupid? So so stupid.

“Alrighty fellas, simmer down a bit. Cause I got an idea.”

Out of the blue, the older of the lot spoke up.

“Now lil’ bitty Jim here thinks he can waltz on into those mines no problemo! I say we give him a shot.”

The other two boys’ faces began to contort in confusion.

Jimmy’s eyes grew wide with fear.

“Yeah. Y’all know what? How ‘bout tonight we all head up to the mines, go down the deepest cave and give the lil’ fella a good ol’ fashioned send off?”

Now the boys’ confused expressions slowly turned into crooked smiles.

“B-But I can’t- I’m not g-gonna-“

Jimmy stammered out, but he was interrupted by the older boy sloppily hoisting him off the ground.

“Oh sure ya can pal! You been out here sayin’ you’d be able to last in there! Now’s your time to shine! Innit boys?”

Despite the contrasting emotions, through sheer reading of each other's expressions, the four boys could all come together on one thing: this would be one hell of a night.

•-•-•-•-•

Midnight was a risky time to be out in the lonely lands of the mesa. Plenty of space for mobs to crawl out of the depths of the dark and roam the flat and dusty surface.

Regardless, the path to the mines, and down it for that matter, were relatively well lit. It helped even more that the oldest brought a bright burning torch of his own with him. It was just them and the sounds of the depths below.

For the record, none of these boys had ever set foot in the mines. Jimmy hadn’t ever gotten a chance to even see the entrance of it first hand. So for this to be his first adventure was certainly a step up somewhere..

Despite it all the first few moments of the expedition were rather peaceful, apart from the occasional jump scare from one of the older kids. The cave was nice and cool and was brilliantly lit up with torches and the occasional glowberry vines.

The sounds of rushing water eased his fears, especially after seeing two playful axolotls splashing about their little pools. If it weren’t for the circumstances earlier, this would be exciting, relaxing even.

The best part of it all, there were no encounters with mobs. Granted the occasional growl of a zombie or the hiss of a creeper were heard, but only at a great distance. The travel party hadn’t had a face to face encounter.

Now to Jimmy this was fantastic, but the other boys were getting bored. They wanted to scare the kid, not take him on a joy ride. That’s the whole reason they made up those stories. About the darkness and the ancient cities. It’s what those archeologists were talking about when the mines opened up.

Then they hit a snag. The light of the torches dwindled down to almost nothing.

The stone they walked on faded into deep slate then into something they hadn’t seen before. It was soft, like grass, but it was deep blue in color with little flickers of white and cyan.

The walls around them soon enough we’re coated with the stuff. There were pretty soon no more torches. Only blue lanterns.

The only familiar light they had was that of their one torch.

“The hell are we..?”

“Beats me..”

They continued to walk around aimlessly, oddly careful not to make too much noise. Not like anything was watching, or listening..

All the boys jumped at the sound of a bat squealing and flapping its wings, flying overhead and landing on a different part of the cave roof. And then they heard something else.

A deep, gurgling sound..

Taking their eyes away from the bat and lowering them down to a strange looking warped plant. It matches whatever they were walking on, though seemingly lighter in color, and had wavy stems.

The boys inched closer, quietly.

“What is that..?”

“Heck if I know. Some kinda weird plant thing-“

Their whispers were interrupted by the bat again, who decided it was bored of its new spot and looked for its old one. The squealing and flapping caught the attention of this fauna, and lit it up instantly. It made that same grumbling noise.

All of a sudden the fear of the two brothers in the group turned into curiosity.

“Aw cool! It senses sound. Wonder if it’ll pick up Jimmy screaming later!”

The two of them snickered.

Jimmy was unamused, and seemingly the oldest was as well. He kept looking around up, torch high up in the air.

“You think it’ll hear this?”

One of them said, jumping as high as they could and landing with a loud thud. And sure enough the sensor did. Lighting up instantly upon contact with the vibrations.

“Oh oh! What about this!”

The other one also jumped, this time repeatedly. The sensor lit up again, grumbling in sync with each thud.

The boys were having fun, and Jimmy was apprehensive. He slowly creeped towards them.

“Hey you guys, knock it off! Something could hear us!”

And now their fun was spoiled.

“Like what? A zombie?”

One said in a mocking tone.

“What about a skeleton?”

“You think a creeper could light up this thing?”

“I mean- if a bat could..”

They were so distracted by their curiosity that they didn’t notice the sensor lighting up with their voices. Now Jimmy was beginning to panic, and spoke up again, careful about not being too loud.

“Come on you guys, stop it! It can hear you!”

“Woah! Just by us talking? Neat!”

“What about IF I YELLED!!”

The sensor grumbled long and deep. Keeping it’s light up for the longest it’s been. And the brothers looked at each other, and cackled. Back and forth they started to let out the biggest yells and hollers they could. Followed by the sensor’s gurgling sounds after.

Jimmy backed away, covering his ears and shutting his eyes tight. He began to tear up, afraid of what was going to happen next. The oldest boy spoke up soon enough. Curiously also looking frightened.

“Y’all stop that! We ain’t alone here!”

All the brothers did was laugh at the stupid sounds the sensor made after them. They kept screaming.

“Y’all I’m not kiddin’ around anymore! Cut it out!”

But they didn’t. They continued to scream and shout. The sensor gurgled long and hard and soon after came another scream.

But it wasn’t their own.

“Shit..”

The group turned, with the light of the torch, eying what it was that shrieked. Another plant looking thing, only a lot less plant, and a lot more structured. There were pillars at each corner, and dead center where swirling lights, with faces..

Then, everything went dark. The light of the torch completely burnt out. What followed was the rumbling sounds of the depths below. The ground began to shake. The rumbles became louder, the walls started to shake. Rocks and lanterns fell from the cave walls and ceiling. Then the most horrifying sound they’d heard all night.

The ground was broken, and from it emerged the most horrific thing they boys could hardly see.

“Is that..?”

“Oh hell!”

“RUN FOR IT!”

The three bullies booked it to the opening they came from, their screams of terror only attracting the beast towards them. Jimmy tried to run for it too, but with just his luck he dropped over a fallen rock. The thud of the ground altered the sensor which then alerted yes the shrieker, which finally alerted.. that..

That thing..

Jimmy looked up ever so slightly. He just wanted to really see what he was dealing with.

This beast was massive. Tall and wide, it’s head with nothing but a gaping void in the middle. It looked like it had horns or antlers, decorated in whatever the stuff they were walking on was.

The body was the word part. Its arms were long, thick, like tree stumps with sharp claws, same with its legs. Its ribs were exposed, another endless void with swirling lights with faces inside, similar to the ones of the shrieker.

Perhaps they weren’t lights at all..

It marched closer towards where Jimmy was lying. Stalking its arms across the floor, sniffing the air.

Jimmy didn’t dare move. He didn’t dare speak, hell he didn’t dare breathe. He shut his eyes tight as the creature finally stopped, inches away from him..

It lowered its head towards the small quivering boy, and sniffed. He could feel its breath on him. He couldn’t stop shaking. He was scared. He wanted to go home, he wanted to scream and cry and run far far away. But he couldn’t.

If he made one sound, he was sure to be condemned to die.

Once the creature had finished, it seemingly decided there was nothing there. It groaned in frustration, as if its prey had run away from it. Then it let out a loud and long gut wrenching roar into the cave.

Jimmy quickly curled up and covered his ears. Opening his eyes slightly he noticed it wasn’t hovering over him anymore, so he decided to make a break for the exit.

He didn’t care to notice the sensor or the shrieker. He didn’t care to notice that whatever that thing was was chasing him from behind. He wanted to get the hell out of there.

With every ounce of whatever strength he had left, Jimmy climbed up the mushy surface and eventually reached the cobbled deep slate. The beast was clawing at the walls right underneath him.

He was just catching his breath, thinking he’d made it out scott free, but then a low groan was heard from it. Jimmy backed away slightly. The creature roared in anger, building up all the force it had.

Whatever was inside its ribs lit up. Whatever, it was just angry, Jimmy thought of it in hurry. He began to run when he was suddenly hit by a booming force. It knocked him into the cave wall, which was just beginning to be filled with torches again.

Jimmy yelped in pain, ears ringing. He struggled to his feet, arm against the wall. His whole body ached, his legs were shaky, hands were covered in blisters and cuts. He tried to make his way again, when again, another forceful shockwave hit. It was far too much pain to bear.

The last thing Jimmy heard before knocking out cold, was the roar of the warden. This time, sounding like one of victory.

-•-•-•-•-

The following morning was a trying one for Tumble Town. The boys went home crying to their families about what they’d done and what they saw. Locals were speechless and upon hearing that four went in and only three made it out drew the concern of many.

Miners and a few archeologists were sent in to investigate. One excavator was venturing past the lush cave into the deep slate, when he heard a coughing noise. He looked around, lantern in hand then noticed a small, curled up Jimmy. Battered and bruised head to toe.

He quickly called for assistance, and soon enough Jimmy was pulled out of the caves and out of the mines.

He returned to Tumble Town, the kid who was said to be killed by the beast of the deep dark. He was bombarded with questions from several other kids, bullies included.

“How’d you make it outta there?”

“Were you scared?”

“Did ya fight 'em off?”

“Dang you gotta have some serious balls to take on that thing!”

And one right after the other the comments and questions wouldn’t stop. The boy who survived the warden. The bravest of the bunch. Who would’ve thought it to be lil Jimmy Solidarity.

He, however, tuned it all out. He was still far too stunned. Jimmy simply limped back to his small hut by the ranch.

His parents would be proud, he heard some folks say. He was a real trooper, he heard from others. He didn’t care to hear it at the time. He weakly waddled into his crooked bed, wrapped himself in his old yet soft blankets and started sobbing.

The next few days were normal, well as normal as they could be. Jimmy was not treated like some sort of prodigy rather than that scrawny kid people loved to pick on.

Amongst it all he began to realize something. People were treating him differently. Better than before, because of the horrifying thing he faced. They practically called him a hero.

If he could grow up to be that someone that everyone respected, that everyone feared, then he’d be on top of the world.

So thanks to that humbling experience, Jimmy, now being raised by the local saloon keepers, learned two valuable things.

One. No one was ever going see that they got to him anymore. All they’re going to see is just how badly they’d messed up.

Two. Never underestimate the importance of carrying a revolver with you.

•-•-•-•-•

Tumble Town continues to thrive, and as it stands is an incredibly charming and welcoming little city. There would always be a reason for the locals to be celebrating and playing loud music late into the warm evenings.

The saloon keepers, a sweet couple they are, continue to feed and look after everyone they could. Including Jimmy. They were never able to have any children of their own, so after seeing Jimmy in absolute tatters after his adventure they couldn’t risk him being out there alone again.

And boy howdy were they ever so grateful. And so goddang proud of just how strong and brave he’s become.

Guess all The Sheriff needed was a sonic boom in the right direction.

@smal1etho had a great vision

ok but like what if Jimmy is a porcelain doll and he's kind of delicate, if he's roughed around or manhandled too much he could crack or break. He hates being associated with being a toy because he doesn't want to be messed with or thought of as delicate .