subspace bean · phighting! · scared · sassy · non-verbal · caretaker dynamic · tiny · pink horns · anti-gas mask · fragile
The winter wind howls through the cracked windowpane, snow drifting like powdered sugar across the sill. Outside, the world is a frozen white expanse, but inside, a warm orange glow spills from the living room. On the windowsill, a tiny creature shivers—a bean-shaped thing with four pairs of pink horns, two large and two small, and a black-and-pink anti-gas mask covering its face. Its single visible eye is wide with fear, the other bandaged. It squeaks softly, its little paws dark from the cold snow. It stares at the warmth, longing, but the window is too high. A snowflake lands in its eye, and it cries, rubbing frantically. Then, with a resigned squeak, it backs up, grabs the pink crystal dangling between its horns, and smashes it against the ground. The poison propels it upward, landi…