The Perk, Sunday Morning

[not_a_moonie]

Alana hadn't quite made it back to the island Saturday. There'd been this early shopping trip to Baltimore that had turned into a comedy of errors, and, long story short, she'd ended up crashing for the night at a house party hosted by a couple who were way too into Space Battles. It was late Sunday morning before she landed in the Perk, sipping on a vat of coffee the size of her head and wondering why there seemed to be kids all over the place.

[OOC: Open post!]

Comments

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

A lot of kids, yes. And one of them showed up outside the window, knocking on it lightly before waving at her a little. Mom!

(Daddy was... somewhere nearby? She thought? It wasn't her fault he couldn't keep up!)

[not_a_moonie]

Alana waved back without thinking about it, then squinted at the little girl. Were those wings?

... oh dear.

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

Those were wings! Wings that she was now going to get a closer look at, because Ruby was cheerfully making her way inside and to her table.

"Hiii."

[not_a_moonie]

Um. UM.

Alana had been through this once before, and a guess about what was going on started to rise through her morning fog.

"Hi," she said, sounding a bit strained. "Were you looking for me, honey?"

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

Ruby nodded earnestly. "Uh huh," she said. "Hiii."

She'd already said that. She felt like saying it again.

[not_a_moonie]

"Hiiii again," Alana said, and it was hard not to smile at how cute this kid was. (Though it was strange -- she looked quite a bit like Alana's baby pictures, but it was hard to see Johnny in there at all.) "Did you already find your dad? Or did you get a little lost?"

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

Ruby whirled around.

"Um."

Yeah, there was no Daddy right here. She'd kind of expected him to be there? He was supposed to keep up!

"I had 'im but he's lost."

[not_a_moonie]

Alana looked slightly worried at that, but it passed. It seemed like the island was a weirdly safe place for kids, at least on weekends like this.

(Besides, if the girl was anything like her, telling her not to run off on her own had an excellent chance of having the exact opposite effect.)

"I'm sure he'll find us again," she decided. "But you know what? I'm having a little bit of a silly day. Can you tell me what your name is?"

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

Oh, this game again! She could play. And also beam because she thought she had a good name, oh yes she did. "Ruby!" she said. "Ruby Sagishi!"

[not_a_moonie]

"That's pretty," Alana said, before the last name hit her. "Wait, Sagishi? Not Storm?"

She needed more coffee for this one. The rest of her mug disappeared in a gulp.

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

Ruby giggled. Because silly Mommy.

"Why would it be Stoooorm?"

That was fun to say, but it was not her name.

[not_a_moonie]

"That," Alana said, reaching out to boop Ruby's nose as she tried to regain her composure, "is a very good question."

And one Alana was going to take a second to answer, because the phrase 'that's who I'm dating now' did not seem likely to comfort a small child.

"I guess because it sounds cool?" she ventured. "And because I didn't know your daddy was your daddy. Silly me, right?"

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

"That is silly," Ruby giggled, her nose wrinkling a little bit. "But I'm not a storm, I'm a fox!"

[not_a_moonie]

"... you're a what now?"

There were certain things that hadn't come up with Ezra yet. Certain important things.

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

"A fox?"

Come on, she had to know what a fox was!

"With a tail and a ––" She gave her nose a demonstrative wiggle. "A fox! Like Daddy."

[not_a_moonie]

"A fox," Alana echoed. "Like, says yip-yip, lives in burrows kind of fox?"

She didn't doubt it, but she and Ezra were going to need to talk about this.

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

Ruby giggled again. "We don't live 'n a burrow!"

She didn't even know what a burrow was, if she was honest.

"Come on, Mommy. A fox! A foxy fox!"

[not_a_moonie]

""A foxy fox," Alana agreed, nodding. Her daughter was a fox, why not? "So you're an alien-slash-fox."

She had to weigh how that sounded in her head for a while,then:

"You may be the coolest little kid I have ever met."

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

Now that called for a little bouncing in place. Because yes, her parents told her she was special and great all the time, but coolest was still exciting.

"Am I?"

[not_a_moonie]

"Duh, absolutely," Alana said, grinning at the girl. "Who else would be?"

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

Ruby clasped her hands together and looked almost flustered with how pleased she was.

It was adorable. Maybe in a few more years she would actually be aware of that, and use it to her advantage.

[not_a_moonie]

Given who her parents were, the surprise would be if she couldn't use it to her advantage. Alana let out an involuntary little sound of glee.

"Okay, first, I need a picture of us," she said. "And second,do you want a snack?"

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

"Yaaaaay!"

That was a good enough answer for both those questions, right? Right. At least when it came with throwing both hands in the air. Snacks and pictures, both were good.

[not_a_moonie]

It was the best answer, and Alana wondered if her other parents would care if she just kept Ruby around to cheer her up when she was having a bad day.

She wrapped her arms around Ruby and adjusted her phone for a quick selfie.

"Say cheeeeeeese."

[not-called-icky.livejournal.com]

Forgive Ichabod if he looked a little tired. He truly hadn't expected to have a teenage daughter this weekend, and although she turned out to be very accomplished young lady, he wasn't used to being a parent.

Taking his daughter to the Perk seemed like a good idea, however, and it would give Celia some time to rest. He noticed Alana as he entered and gave a sight bow in her direction. "Good morning."

[demureisdull.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth curtseyed to the lady who was clearly her father's friend.

"Good morning," she greeted to, smiling brightly.

[wingedfoxlet.livejournal.com]

"Hi, you're pretty," Ruby said, smiling back brightly.

[not_a_moonie]

Alana coughed a laugh. Ruby wasn't wrong, but ...

"Hey, I'm Alana," she told what she was guessing was Ichabod's daughter, with a little wave. "Friend of your dad's. This is Ruby."

[not-called-icky.livejournal.com]

"And this is Elizabeth. Good morning, Ruby." He gave Alana an amused look. "May we join you?"

[not_a_moonie]

"Sure, no problem," Alana said, scooching the chairs over to make a little extra space at the table. "How's the visit going, Elizabeth?"

Ruby offered a shy smile and a giggle around a mouthful of muffin.