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 ( Read more... )
So, what was the fifteen-foot ( Read more... )
Allu-Nika's heads turned, red hair bouncing around their shoulders, as footsteps came down the street. They floated over to the nearest (half broken, half blocked) window, and peered out of it, their hands pressed against the grimy stone.
Oh! Oh! It was He-On-Fire! They knew him!
It took both of their hands to muffle their giggling. They knew just what to do, too.
It took no effort, none at all, to ever so caaaarefully toss an invisible trip wire into his path. They were very, very good at doing it so that no one saw. Sometimes they caught him, sometimes they didn't.
They pressed their faces against the boards and waited, shivering with excitement, to see if he would fall.
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The other unfortunate thing was that he had so very, very far to fall. And the landing could do some very real damage.
He made solid contract with the broken street, and the ground shook with the impact. It took him a few dazed moments more before he managed to regain his bearings, the fall leaving him dazed and snapping off a few stony growths on his forearms, and he slowly, laboriously moved to press his hands into the street, to push himself up again.
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In the half-gone home they did a few loop-de-loops in the air out of sheer exuberance before wriggling out through the broken window to skitter through the air to hover by him.
Still giggling
Hi-hi-hi! They got you! They did! Wasn't that an amazing thing?
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Slowly, painfully, he turned his face toward her, and then let his head fall again, to stare down at the ground.
//Got me again, Sunshine,// he murmured. //Got me again, just like you always do.//
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They were the best at presents, weren't they?
They didn't touch the ground, but the went closer, closer, peering at him.
Then at the ground.
Was it so interesting? It was kind of boring. Boooring.
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Not when she was right there.
//Oh, Sunshine...//
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He was making noises though, which kept him from being too boring.
Daringly, they reached out and grabbed at one of his rocky bits, the ones that stuck out. If they wanted, they could shake him.
They were strong enough!
Or--oooh, was that one of their pebbles in that crack? Was it? Was it? They had to look at that.
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A few moments more, and he was reaching to rub at his elbow, where one of the stony protrusions had broken off and was now bleeding molten stone.
//Oh, Sunshine. I'm running out of bits to break off, luv.//
Not really. They always grew back, bigger and stronger than before.
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But, no, it was too squishy, reaching between all the funny cracks, and they didn't much like being squished.
Some of the others weren't very nice at all.
But He-On-Fire always let them do what they wanted. They pushed at one of the spiky bits, instead, hoping it would get a reaction.
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//Ah, luv. Pushing is rude, you know.//
But this time, he was trying to push himself up again. It was a long way up. It would take him a while.
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They loved fun.
They were content as he struggled to get back up, their cheeks resting against him, heedless of gravity, their spider-patterned dress flying around their legs.
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//You know, luv, if you wanted a ride, you could've just said so.//
The ground at his feet sputtered and hissed as molten blood splattered down against it.
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They absently patted He-On-Fire, and then swung themselves up higher on his body. They could float, but with all his sharp bits he was like a jungle-gym, so the effort was part of the game.
But the best part was, when he started moving, was going to be the next tripwire, just a little ahead.
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Jono tolerated their swinging around, working their way up his torso to his shoulders. It was distracting, but mostly harmless. Mostly. The hell of it was, the distraction wasn't exactly the most harmless thing all on its own, and while his head was turned to watch them as best as he was able, his foot caught the next trip.
This time he fell on his other arm, and the words that he thought as his arm cracked straight up to the elbow were neither child-friendly nor particularly pleasant. The ground under him sputtered and hissed some more, and Jono... Jono was going to need a couple of minutes to come around to even wanting to stand up again.
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They'd won again! And all the crashing had been right there, with them on him, and it had been amazing!
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Not that he was going anywhere with Allu-Nika clinging to him.
//That hurt,// he muttered. //Mostly my pride, but some other parts as well.//
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