Borrower Henry- Pocket Animator AU
The Beginning
An animation studio was both a fantastic and a horrible place for a Borrower to make their home.
It was fantastic because it was huge and had plenty of space for a Borrower to make their home, there were plenty of work and office supplies to borrow, the humans would only be there from sunup to sundown and then they would be gone for the rest of the day. And even when a worker stayed to work on something, there were still plenty of places to go where a borrower wouldn't be found.
And it was a horrible place because of how little there was to borrow. The kitchen didn't have much to eat for anyone (human or borrower), sewing supplies and cloth of any kind was hard to find, along with other smaller items. Basically all the things that made everyday life easier.
Despite that, Henry chose to make his home in one anyways. He couldn't help himself. No matter how much of a change it was from the large apartment building he had previously lived in with his parents and a few other Borrower families.
Art wasn't a skill needed by Borrowers. For most of them, it was a passing fancy at best. But not Henry.
He loved art. He loved comics. He loved cartoons. He loved all those frivolous things that Borrowers didn't need that humans made and enjoyed. His parents hadn't been opposed to his artisticness, not like the neighbors who would say it was a "cute hobby" to pass time until he could borrow.
His father was a carpenter (of sorts) and his mother a house decorator. They traded with local Borrowers by customizing furniture for others and helping them decorate their homes. It wasn't the same as how humans did such jobs (as Borrowers had no currency to exchange between each other), but for themselves and others, it was a good way to pass time and make their homes more comfortable.
They had, instead, encouraged his creativity in ways they would prove useful to him. With his father teaching him how to carve designs in his furniture and his mother showing him how to paint his walls to make them feel more comfortable and help them stay nice longer.
When he was borrowing with his family, Henry would take bits of broken pencil leads and scraps of paper while getting food for their pantries. Usually to make his own little sketchbooks to draw in. And he would fill them up. With life drawings, scenes, cartoons, anything that came to mind.
Upon hearing the humans in the apartment his family borrowed from talking about an animation company was going to open down the street, Henry decided to take a chance.
He was old enough to move out, but there had been too many families already living in the apartment building to make him staying there comfortable. So why not move into the studio?
He talked to his family about his plan and his parents gave their (somewhat reluctant) blessings and let him go. He spent a few days planning how he would accomplish his trip safely, accepting an Outsider's offer to help him make the journey since they were headed that way anyway. He carefully packed his bags, his supplies, and set out for his new home.
The studio (which seemed to still be in the early stages of setup) was bigger than Henry had thought it would be.
(Later on, he'd found out the building had formerly been a mill. But the owner of the Studio, one Joey Drew, had bought the building at a bargain. And, at the time, had far more room than his small-time company needed.)
To Henry's surprise, the old building already had numerous Borrower tunnels, and even a Borrower House right on top of what the human's had dubbed the Lunch Room. The house even had rooms for storage or even other Borrowers.
The house was in desperate need of some cleaning and care, but it was better than what Henry had thought he would find.
It wasn't much. It wasn't even very good. But it was Henry's, and it was enough for him.
So, a little while back, I drew a picture of a tiny, borrower-Esque Henry due to me being on a kick that had me searching for stories via a tag I was searching on Ao3 and a story I stumbled across here and found myself far more enthralled with idea than I'd first thought and started writing for it.
So far, I have three shorts in this AU written out, with a fourth as a WIP, and I've decided to share them on more than just Tumblr.
I hope you all like it!