fandomtownies | The Street Between the Rocky Bits and the Park, Thursday Evening

The going was slow when you were a fifteen-foot monstrosity made of fire and molten stone. Or, rather, it felt that way. Every movement was a slow, deliberate one, but the extra height made up for it. One could clear a lot of road in a single step, when one was as tall as some of the buildings in town, after all.

So, what was the fifteen-foot monstrosity doing wandering the streets of town? If anybody asked Jonothon - and let's be real, most sane people probably wouldn't bother to try to strike up a conversation with him in the first place, and the island didn't typically have many of those left - he'd say he was doing patrols. Keeping an open psionic eye to be certain the hollows weren't wandering too close to the park. If you pressed him for a better answer, he might even give in and admit that curiosity had won out, that yesterday's flickers of sunshine and the wealth of new minds around the island today had him straying from the rocky bits mostly because... well... he needed to know.

But, of course, the going was slow. Not that he was in any particular hurry. It wasn't like the people here were going to be leaving any time soon, after all.

[OOC: Lumbering Giant meandering down Loon Drive, as one does. Open!]

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Ah, yes. That was the sound of Jonothon's heart breaking. He wasn't certain he had one in there, everything was all fire and molten rock, and he hadn't had one before. but there it went, breaking on him.

//Alluka,// he replied, gently. //Hello, Sunshine. Don't you know it's dangerous out here?//

Fire mountain or no, he would always be Papa.

"I'm being careful!" she protested, pleased she'd been right even though this... probably wasn't her Papa, but Kathy's hers Papa, since her Papa was going to be mad.

This one wasn't.

She also hadn't been being careful but, it didn't seem to matter. Nothing was hurting her or touching her or even looking at her funny.

"Nanika's keeping watch for me," she said earnestly, since Papa was Papa and she didn't want two of them worried about her. "And, and I was heading home anyway."

Slowly.

//Ah, were you?// Jono looked up beyond her for a moment. The Park was within sight, but he had his suspicions that the Park wasn't the direction she'd been heading. //Well, then I don't suppose you'd mind a little company on your way back there?//

The Park was definitely not where she was going.

"I don't mind," she said, looking up and up again at him. "Papa, you're awfully big today."

//All the better to punt anything that comes too close to hurting you, my dear,// Jono quipped, crouching down in a vain attempt to be closer on her level. //Nothing has tried, has it?//

Because he had a mighty punt.

"No," she said solemnly. "It's just been gloomy."

But bad weather never hurt anyone, even if it made them sad.

Papa seemed kind of funny, too, so she said, hopefully, "Can I have a hug, Papa?"

It was more for his sake, than hers. It was a secret she was going to keep.

Well... There was a question he hadn't been asked in a while. In an eternity, it felt like, and those five words were breaking his heart some more.

//Of course, Sunshine.//

The fire on his surface dimmed, embers glowing faintly deep between the cracks, and the stone of his skin cooled almost immediately. He crouched down a little further still, and opened his arms.

Like bending over to hug a toddler. But with more stone and fire and heartbreak, presumably.

And Alluka fearlessly flung herself into his arms.

She was dangerously trusting, she really was, but it had worked out for her so far.

There was no way she could hug him hard enough through the rock he wore but she tried. She tried really hard.

And for what it was worth, there was no doubt in Jonothon's mind that she was trying her best. He hugged her back far more carefully, and with only one arm. The one that wasn't still oozing molten rock from his fall earlier.

//You know, luv? I needed this.//

A lot.

She made no move to pull away, just smiled. Her secret plan had worked.

"I told Ringo that chocolate was the most important food group," she said seriously. "But hugs are probably more important as one."

Hugs were so a food group.

//Delicious hugs?//

Jono held on for a few moments more, and then eased back a little.

//Ringo is here too?//

That... made a certain sort of sense, if worlds were colliding, he supposed.

She sighed a little and tried to figure out if there was a way to get him to keep hugging her, for his sake. She'd think about it.

"You're here too," she said happily. "And Papa Hannibal and Dante and Anders and Ringo! And lots more!"

//I'm here? You mean... ah...// He moved his free arm and held it out at what would have been roughly knee-height, to him. //Me, me?//

You know. Not a giant fire mountain.

She blinked at him.

"Yes, you!"

A beat.

"And, and if your Papa Hannibal is here too, then that means I have four Papas around!"

Today was a great day!

You know, the hell of it was, he was?

//He's probably in town,// Jono replied, tilting his head this way and that while he processed this. //You certainly are collecting a lot of Papas, aren't you, luv?//

Today was such a weird day.

"And I love all of them," she said, entirely honest. Alluka beamed. "Should we go see Papa Hannibal first? Only other Papa Jono is going to be mad I'm not at home."

Other Papa Hannibal was not likely to be impressed either, come to think of it.

Jono tilted his head, considering.

//Perhaps we should get you home,//he said, voice gentle. //If it's where I think it is, it isn't likely to be long before Papa Hannibal comes around anyway. He'll probably want to know why there are people staying in his house, anyway.//

"And then I can give him hugs too," she said, deeply satisfied. "Are you going to stay at home too, Papa?"

//Not in the house, but nearby,// Jono replied. //I'm... a little big to fit through the door.//

A touch too big. A smidgen.

//Don't worry, Sunshine. I'm always pretty easy to find.//

The Street Between the Rocky Bits and the Park, Thursday Evening

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