The Edge of the Beach, Saturday Morning (Before the Picnic)

[that_oldsaying]

There was a Very Important Tea Party going on in her room today. Alluka had carefully put out her favourite tea set at the table and had deliberated for ages about which of her toys deserved a seat before picking out the usual suspects.

She made certain that she looked super cute--it was important to look cute for parties, right?--and doled out the tea and snacks with careful deliberation. (And if she was a bit stingy with how many snacks her toys got… they weren't going to eat them anyway. Alluka knew that from experience.)

It was a Very Important Party, but it was much the same as any other day that she held a party. It would have been disappointing, but she didn't let it be.

Everything was the same, right up until she'd finished her first cup of tea and had stolen the cup from the toy on the left to drink that too, when a shimmery, swirly thing appeared in the middle of her rooms. Alluka's eyes went huge in surprise.

Was this a new present? She grabbed the toy on her right--one of her bunnies--and hugged it to her chest as she went to inspect the shiny thing. Poking at it didn't shock her or hurt her at all, and her finger sank a tiny bit into the swirls.

Alluka looked down at her bunny and pretended it looked back at her. "You first," Alluka said, bouncing. "You can tell me about what's on the other side."

And if she lost the bunny, oh well, there were more where that one had come from. She had plenty of toys.

Taking a deep breath, Alluka gingerly held her bunny by the ears and shoved it through the swirly thing. It went through easily, but in her eagerness, she managed to stumble over her own two feet and… oops, she went in right after her bunny.

Alluka was saved from landing flat on her face simply by virtue of having flailed enough that she landed, hard, on her arms instead. And right on top of her stuffed bunny. "Your nose hurts," she complained, sitting up and brushing dirt off her sleeves, before picking up the bunny to do the same to it.

Wait a second. Dirt?

Alluka blinked. Then blinked again. Was--was she outside? She looked behind her, but the shiny thing was gone, giving her instead a dazzling view of water, and grass, and the sky.

"I'm outside!" she squealed, and turned around.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Alluka knew that she was going to be in so much trouble later. But the swirly thing had appeared in her room. Maybe she was still in her room. Maybe her parents would believe tha--

A building in the distance caught her eye. "There's a castle!?"

[For one!]

Comments

[furnaceface]

It wasn't a bad morning, overall. Jono and Hannibal had returned from their trip to London, and he was feeling surprisingly refreshed compared to usual. Maybe that was all he needed... Just some time away from the island and away from responsibility to remember how to relax, again. But now that they were back, he couldn't relax completely. He had a morning routine to get into, which involved little things like training. A jog through the preserve, across the park, down to the beach after that. He didn't intend on going to the Welcome Picnic today for long, but maybe he'd swing by there just to see some of the new faces in case he decided to teach again in the fall...

Of course, of course while he was running, that was when the portal opened up and spat out a stuffed rabbit, followed shortly after by a young girl.

...

Oh dear. He had seen more graceful landings.

//Er, are you alright?//

[that_oldsaying]

That! That was a voice in her head. And it wasn’t at all like Nanika’s!

Alluka windmilled around to find the source of it and, upon setting her eyes on the strange man (he had bandages on his face! He had to be the one!) she beamed brilliantly at him. “You’re talking to me!” she said happily and, completely ignoring his question, she bounced over to him before pointing wildly in the direction of-- “Look, look, look! There’s a castle!”

That he might already know that was completely disregarded.

[furnaceface]

Her excitement over the castle was understandable. Not many kids who showed up around here had the pleasure of seeing one on a regular basis, after all. But her excitement at being spoken to... That broke his heart a little. There seemed to be a few of those every semester or so. Kids who were so thrilled that somebody wanted to interact with them that they didn't so much as blink at the telepathy itself.

//It's a castle,// he agreed, looking at her thoughtfully. //It's also a school, if you're planning on staying around here a while. You'd get to go into that castle regularly for classes, in fact.//

[that_oldsaying]

“A school?” Alluka asked, staring hard at the castle as if doing so would make it reveal all of the secrets it kept hidden. “But castles are for royalty! I’m not a princess, so I can’t go.”

She hugged her bunny a little tighter to her chest.

Maybe she could be a princess for a day and get to go to the castle? But she’d never be allowed to go to school there. Alluka knew that. She wasn’t allowed out of her room.

… but maybe she was still in her room?

[furnaceface]

//You can absolutely go,// Jono promised, crouching down a little to be slightly closer to her eye level. //I'm not royalty and I went there. The more the merrier, I think the saying goes?//

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka met his gaze, then looked down at her bunny. It didn’t bother to look up at her, which was, well, not unexpected but disheartening all the same. She looked back at the strange man with his funny head-voice.

“I don’t think I’m supposed to be here,” she admitted, her voice hushed.

She wasn’t sure she was supposed to let anyone know that, but Alluka’s parents had, funnily enough, never told her what to do if she was outside of her room. She wished Killua was here. He always knew what to do. If he were here, she wouldn’t have to try and puzzle it out herself.

Oh! So that the strange man didn’t think she was bad, Alluka hurriedly said, “But the shiny thing showed up in my room! So I didn’t leave, right?”

[furnaceface]

//You probably didn't mean to leave intentionally,// Jono offered, looking up at where the portal had been, gone now with no trace beyond the child and her bunny. //I suppose... hm...//

His brow furrowed a little.

//The question is, do you want to go back?//

Considering how novel it was for her to be spoken to, Jono wasn't so certain he wanted to be the one to send her away.

[that_oldsaying]

Her eyes went huge at that question. No one had ever asked her a question like that before.

Alluka fidgeted, shifting on her feet, and studied the grass she was standing on. It’d been a long time since she’d seen grass—it was really pretty, wasn’t it? She wondered if it’d feel prickly against her hand, or if it’d be soft. She couldn’t remember and stories never agreed on how the grass felt.

And she hadn’t left her room, even if the strange man was saying she had, by accident. There’d been no door involved. So this was still her room, really, right?

“Do… do you think it’s okay if I stay here?”

[furnaceface]

//I think... so far as here goes? It's perfectly fine if you do,// Jono replied, gently. //There have been a lot of different people over the years who found themselves here out of nowhere, myself included. I think in most cases, the experience has been good for them, in fact.//

Jono Starsmore, shameless enabler. The child looked like she needed people. And he certainly wasn't going to be the person to deny her that.

[that_oldsaying]

“It’s really pretty here,” she shared, brightening, taking him at his word that it was fine. “And it’s outside!”

That was super exciting!

“Can we go see the castle? Please?”

[furnaceface]

Oh, go on. Twist his absent heart around in his shattered chest a little more, Alluka.

//Of course we can,// he replied, nodding. //I teach there sometimes, you know? It'd be my pleasure to show you around.// A beat. //I'm Jonothon, by the way. Jono, for short.//

[that_oldsaying]

“Hi,” she said, feeling suddenly a bit shy. Had she ever done an introduction before? “I’m Alluka.”

The bunny didn’t get an introduction. It had a name, but she didn’t feel like sharing it. It was hers.

“Um… um….” She studied him with huge blue eyes and decided that— “Can I hold your hand as you show me around?”

[furnaceface]

Oh, oh ow. She was so young. She looked as though she ought to be older, but there seemed to be a sort of disconnect between her physical reality and her mental one.

That would happen, he supposed, if one was cut off from people at a young age.

//Of course you can,// Jono replied, holding out his hand to her. //And it's a pleasure to meet you, Alluka. That's a lovely name.//

[that_oldsaying]

She giggled as she took his hand trustingly.

“I like your name too,” Alluka admitted, feeling blissfully happy. She was outside! She got to hold someone’s hand! She was going to go to a castle! “It says no, but you’re really nice.”

[furnaceface]

Awwwww, kid. Awwwwww.

//I try,// Jono replied, nodding toward the cast-er-school. //I think there's even a party going on near there today, for all of the new people who are arriving on the island. There'll be food, and people to meet...//

And if anybody was even remotely mean to Alluka, Jono would personally throttle them. Because look at this precious sunshine child.

[that_oldsaying]

“A party?” she asked eagerly. “And people? And—they’ll want to meet me? I’ve never been to a party before!”

That probably wasn’t surprising, was it?

[furnaceface]

Not even remotely, no.

//Well, you're in for a treat, then, aren't you?// Jono started off toward the picnic, giving her hand a little squeeze. //There'll probably be a nametag there for you already, knowing this place. And they'll give you another room with a bed in it, here.//

A pause.

//You'll be able to come and go from that one as you please.//

[that_oldsaying]

That was a rather pointed comment, Jono, but Alluka didn’t notice it.

“A nametag?” she asked curiously. “They already know my name? But I had to tell you it!”

[furnaceface]

//Well, I'm not them,// Jono replied, giving an easy shrug of his shoulders. //The island has a funny way of just knowing, sometimes. I imagine that might be how you ended up here in the first place.//

Fandom was like that, when she wanted to be.

[that_oldsaying]

“Magic,” Alluka decided, beaming up at him. “It’s really weird.” But nice! It was a nice weird, she liked it. She liked it so much so that with all her bouncing along beside Jono, she managed to drop her bunny. “Oh!” she said, letting go of his hand to pick it up and dust it off.

It was going to get terribly dirty at this rate, it really was, but Alluka didn’t mean to keep dropping it.

She didn’t pick it up though because, in a split second, Alluka’s presence disappeared, and the same guileless blue eyes that Alluka had, now looked up at Jono with someone very different behind them.

Nanika held her hands out towards him expectantly. “Give me the fingernail of your left hand’s pinky finger.”

The voice was the same, but less giddy and more… deliberate. Not malicious, but infinitely more dangerous.

[furnaceface]

//My... what?// Jono stared down at the girl, his psionic senses screaming warnings at him. Alluka was still home, perhaps, but she was very much not the one in control right now.

And the one in control, he realized, eyes going wide, was not one to say 'no' to.

//... And how do you propose I do that?//

He didn't think for a second that he'd like the answer.

WARNING: MINOR GORE BEYOND THIS POINT

[that_oldsaying]

Nanika gestured insistently.

“Give me the fingernail of your left hand’s pinky finger.”

There wasn’t really much to elaborate on. She wanted it. He had to give it to her.

Re: WARNING: MINOR GORE BEYOND THIS POINT

[furnaceface]

Jono had no idea what possessed him to do so, except that he was certain the consequences would be far, far worse if he didn't. And if he couldn't trust his powers in a situation like this...

He nodded, once, and held out his hand.

//Take it, then.//

This... was not going to be pleasant.

Re: WARNING: MINOR GORE BEYOND THIS POINT

[that_oldsaying]

Nanika’s expression didn’t change, and she didn’t move, but abruptly the entire fingernail was ripped off of Jono’s left pinky finger.

It landed in her hands.

She didn’t even look at it before saying, “Give me the fingernail of your left hand’s ring finger.”

What? You thought you were done, Jono?

Re: WARNING: MINOR GORE BEYOND THIS POINT

[furnaceface]

Jono's entire body flinched, his right hand curling and holding on tight to the bleeding finger on his left.

//Not... done yet?// That wasn't reassuring in the least, no. And his senses were still screaming danger at him. //Then... get it over with...//

He desperately wanted, in that moment, to be able to pull in a deep, steadying breath. He wasn't looking forward to round two.