Angus first sensed trouble when he felt Papa’s hands go cold. Papa froze bare seconds after that, so it was relatively easy to deduce that something big was amiss. 

Dad noticed too, and said, “Dove?”

Papa pointed a shaking finger at a humanman in a bookstore. He was waiting to sign books with his face on them and the title, Wrongful Evidence. There weren’t a lot of people buying it.

“Let’s… let’s go another way,” said Papa.

The man at the bookstore had other plans, and called, “Taako! Taako, come on over! Let’s settle this like adults.”

Papa muttered, “Gods damn it…”

Angus said, “Papa? What’s wrong?”

“Just… someone from my past, honey. Someone I thought I trusted…”

Angus had a few memories of the Story and Song. Well, ones that stuck in his head, at any rate. He did remember that trust was a huge deal for the Twins of the Starblaster. For someone to lose Papa’s trust… that had to make him a bad man. Angus didn’t like judging prejudicially like that, so he looked out for any other evidence of misdeeds or chicanery.

One: The way Papa greeted this Humanman. “Sazed,” he said with a chill beyond the arctic. “Got your spotlight at last, it seems. In a way.”

Two, the finer print on the covers of Sazed’s book: One man’s fight against a prejudicial legal system in his own words. Angus opened a copy on the table and started speed-reading. He mentioned a place called Glamour Springs. That was one of Papa’s nightmares, Angus recalled.

Papa still felt bad about something that had happened there.

Fortunately, there was a true crime display nearby and Angus could take more books to speed-read so long as he was within sight of Papa or Dad.

It didn’t take him long to find all the errors in Mr Sazed’s book. For starters, the forty deaths at Glamour Springs was only glanced at in there, but the other books never left out a single detail. One book even had complete autopsy reports.

When Angus came up for air, Papa was radiating icy fury and Dad was all but threatening vengeance in hushed yet civil tones. “Excuse me, sir,” said Angus. “Papa? Dad? I believe I’ve found some flaws in Mr Sazed’s key arguments.”

Sazed glared down at him and tried to loom. “You’re a baby,” he said. “You can’t even read.”

“On the contrary, sir, I can and have read five books on the topic of Glamour Springs. You weren’t declared innocent, nor exonerated for mass murders, but your trial was put on hold until sufficient evidence could be gathered. I have that evidence here.”

Papa’s frosted anger eased into soft, putty-like adoration. “That’s my boy,” he whispered. “That’s my beautiful genius boy…”

Angus placed five books in a line. Anatomy of a Massacre, The Ghoul of Glamour Springs, Minds of Monsters, Deliberate or Disaster, and Mr Sazed’s own Wrongful Evidence. “Mr Sazed’s trial was put on hold because the evidence in the Story and Song is not legal evidence and only holds to Papa’s character with all his memories intact. That part is regrettably true. However… Anatomy and Deliberate both state that wizards who transmute food always focus on the taste. Which is why Papa’s -and I quote your book- ‘stupid chicken tricks’ always involved the cooked product rather than the raw meat.”

Papa started to relax. Dad started radiated pride. Mr Sazed started looking nervous.

“Since Papa has never tasted arsenic, even within the Century of Stories, I find it suspicious that the people of Glamour Springs perished due to arsenic poisoning.”

“Nightshade,” corrected Mr Sazed. “It was nightshade poisoning. The elderberries were transmuted… and Taako’s certainly tasted nightshade.”

“Only during the Century, and that episode was documented and retold,” said Angus. “Papa had no memory of the Century during the years when he was running Sizzle it Up! sir. That was definitely well-known, especially in view of Papa’s genial attitudes to people during his decade incognito.”

Now Mr Sazed was looking really nervous. “Er,” he said.

“Further, the symptoms of arsenic poisoning only resemble the symptoms of nightshade poisoning, as described in Minds and Ghoul. There are distinctive differences between the two, and the victims of Glamour Springs all perished from Arsenic, and the evidence is very plain. Therefore, we have a large number of poisonings, connected with the Sizzle it Up! show. There is definite evidence in all who died, including those found with elderberries in their pockets or hands. Papa could not have created arsenic in food, so that leaves anyone else connected with the show. That leaves you, sir, as the only viable suspect.”

The gathered crowd, who had come to watch the fracas between Taako and his ex-manager, were starting to glare daggers at Mr Sazed.

“Further, Papa had no motive at all to poison anyone, sir. You, on the other hand, were repeatedly witnessed requesting time in the spotlight and equal billing. You had a definite motive to ruin Papa’s show.”

Mr Sazed had a knife. That was when the Fantasy Mall Cops pounced. Angus might have brought up enough circumstantial evidence to resume Sazed’s trial, but a fresh, attempted murder was far more interesting.

Tumbl'd 3: Forever TAZ - Chapter 53 - InterNutter - The Adventure Zone (Podcast) [Archive of Our Own]

In this chapter: Kravitz joins the purr pile

Taako was making bread. Sweetbread, sourdough, wholemeal muffins with added bits, brioche… it had been a while since he’d had the time to really bake and there was something about kneading that was relaxing and mediative. Ango was seemingly occupied with some of the more harmless kitchen tools, wheeling things back and forth over the countertop.

That was what he had been doing until Taako caught him playing with some of the dough he’d set apart to rise.

“Yeah, I know. This looks like your fun colourful stuff, baby.” Taako gently separated the blob from Angus’ tiny hands, scooping up his boy into his arms. “This is hard to understand, nugget, but Apa’s not playing. Apa’s working.”

“Wanna play,” insisted Angus.

“That stuff has to sit quietly for a while. It’s in time-out,” Taako explained. “It’s having a nap so it can grow big and strong.”

“No naps!”

“No, you don’t have to have a nap…” Taako thought hard. How old had he been when Aunt Ques had welcomed his presence in the kitchen? It seemed like an everyday thing. There hadn’t been a memory of Aunt Ques when he wasn’t in a kitchen with her. Well, her and of course Lup.

His earliest cooking lesson had been mashing soft fruit, and he couldn’t recall if any of that product had gone into anything Aunt Ques made that day…

Taako mage-handed over some bananas  and peeled them, getting out another bowl in a long line of bowls and some tools that might be enjoyable. “You, my sweet little nugget, can help Apa smash up all these bananas.”

“Yay!” cheered Angus.

Taako gave his baby a butter knife. “Take a banana… and chop it up into this bowl.”

Angus was more wont to stab it within the bowl, but that wasn’t any skin off of Taako’s nose. It let him get on with kneading and rolling and pressing and portioning. Of course, when Angus was done with the cutting, he was allowed to graduate onto the mashing. The kid soon gave up on using the mashing wand, preferring to get gloriously sticky with his own fingers.

Ah, what the hell. They could probably do with some banana bread anyway. Or maybe banana cake. Cake would mean less stress for Angus, since there was less waiting for the dough to rise. Choco-banana muffins for sure.

Angus could sift flour into the goo, and ‘help’ stir. As far as Taako remembered, his early cooking adventures had been more about the mess than they had been about making anything to eat.

…he’d need another bath. Natch. That was no real bother. Bath time was fun and the stuff in the oven wouldn’t burn in the time it took to get one sticky little baby clean. Then it would be time to get sticky again with icing and decorating and all that fun stuff.

Lup had enjoyed making the cupcakes and muffins pretty, Taako recalled. Maybe Angus would like that too.

But that was hours - and about six more bananas away.

Tumbl'd 3: Forever TAZ - Chapter 51 - InterNutter - The Adventure Zone (Podcast) [Archive of Our Own]

In this chapter, a loudmouth bigot gets taken down by a seven-year-old

Angus woke before dawn, a bundle of energy and excitement. Today was the day! He bounced on his bed until the light was bright enough to see, and rushed through his morning ablutions at maximum possible speed. There was one thing he couldn’t do, and that was the rest of getting ready.

He needed Apa and Dad.

Still in his PJ’s and bed socks, Angus scurried to the master bedroom. Apa and Dad liked to sleep in, but today was way too important. Dad was dead to the world, of course. Apa wrapped around him and purring in his sleep. Angus had more than half a chance with waking Apa.

He clambered up onto the big bed and picked a spot free of lurking limbs or body parts, then started jumping. “FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! COME ON APA! COME ON DAD! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!”

“…dunwanna go t’ school…” Apa mumbled. “…five more minutes…”

“Apaaaaaa… it’s time for me to go to school. I gotta get ready, come oooonnnn….”

Apa’s purr turned into a low growl. “Ango, baby. It’s…” he fumbled around for a timepiece and squinted at it. “It’s not even five AM yet.” He yawned. “Gimmie half an hour, m’kay?”

“Half an hour? But that’s forever…” Angus bounced even more. “I wanna get ready nooowwww…”

“MmmmnnnnNNNNGH…” Apa shoved at Dad. “Babe. Babe wake up. Babe! Up and at ‘em lazybones.”

“…mmh?”

“Your son wants us to get ready already.”

“My son?” said Dad. “Lemme explain some basic biology to you, babe.”

“I wanna get ready, I wanna get ready,” chanted Angus. “First day of school!”

“…i need coffee,” sighed Apa.

Dad sighed and lurched into a sitting position. “All right, Dove. I’ll get this little lad bathed and your coffee ready. You see to breakfast and the lunchbox.”

“…sch’l unif’rm’s inna top draw’r…” mumbled Apa, burrowing under the covers.

“I swear ‘e does that just to get in the extra kip,” Dad muttered, and then scooped Ango up. “Awright, young master. Let’s start the coffee before we have a bath, eh?”

Angus laughed and cheered, and almost missed the rude gesture Apa made with the one hand poking out from the bedclothes, which made the morning even funnier as Dad tried to distract him.

Morning chaos was always fun, but this? This was exciting too. Angus got bathed and dressed in his brand new uniform. Of course he helped Dad prepare the coffee. Apa was still in his PJs as he took his first cup.

Stronger than the love of the gods, blacker than the depths of space, and with enough maple sugar to sweeten the heart of Asmodeus himself. Bit by bit, degree by degree, Apa came to life. Which was always a bit weird because technically? Dad was the dead one.

Apa helped with the lunchbox. Angus selected the things to pack. Sandwiches, snacks, fruit… everything a small, yet growing magic boy needed to have a good day. And, of course, breakfast. It was a larger family affair in the big kitchen, with Aunt Lup and Apa having their ongoing sibling argument while getting everything ready and stealing each other’s ingredients. Dad and Uncle Barry could be relied upon to peel or chop things, but they spent most of their time admiring their respective spouses.

It was a great morning.

Apa picked out some super glittery clothes and readied his favourite deer saddle. They were going to ride in style. Angus grinned. He couldn’t wait to see the other kids’ faces when he came to school on a real live Elven Riding Deer! Of course Apa picked the one with the impressive antlers and the tack that included silver bells. Apa just adored showing off.

Dad could just take a portal if he wanted to, but he chose to ride with, this day. His mount was more… his work aesthetic, so he changed out of his fleshy look and went with his work look on.

“Think I’m going to knock ‘em dead?” Dad asked.

“Da-a-aad…”

“Only figuratively, babe.”

It was going to be the best day.

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[AN: I think there was a prompted AU in which Angus was somehow a Taakitz baby so I’m taking it from there]

Angus Taakoson had had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. The forces of fate, fortune, and family were all against him. He kept hearing ‘no’, the cats kept avoiding him when they weren’t hissing and clawing at him, he had just discovered the Wards that pushed him harmlessly away from all the interesting places. Then, to top it all off, to make a wet, miserable day even worse, Apa served Angus a plate full of broccoli.

It smelled bad. All the cheese sauce and sparkling lights in the world could not make it smell better. Angus pushed the plate away and said, “Yuck! No!”

Apa smiled in spite of the plate of yuck and produced a plate of yum, Apa’s incredibly delightful Sweet Potato Mash. “Good little boys eat their food, Ango,” he said. “You can’t say it’s yuck until you’ve had some.” Instead of the yum, Apa put a tiny little bit of broccoli and a lot of cheese sauce on the spoon. “Try a little, and you get some sweet potato after.”

Somewhere in the blurry distance, Aunty Lulu said, “You can’t bribe or bargain with a baby, bro.”

“Yeah, like you got experience points in that,” grumbled Apa. He waved the spoon in the air. “Aaaaahhh?”

“‘Course I got experience points, I raised you didn’t I?”

Angus pinched his lips together and turned his head away. “Mm-mm!”

“Listen,” said Apa. “I can keep all of this as warm and as fresh as I like all day. Sooner or later, you’re gonna be hungry enough to eat anything.”

“NO!”

Apa was quicker. He popped the spoon and its horrible contents into Angus’ mouth so neatly that it all came as a shock. He could taste cheese, but he knew, he just knew that it had been poisoned with the horrible, horrible broccoli yuck. Therefore, so had he.

Angus screamed and wailed, thrashing all four limbs and tossing his little baby head as he fought against the torturous restraint of the high chair.

*

Seven heroes and their significant others were watching this performance, one up close and personal, where he had just received the world’s tiniest broccoli floret to the face at maximum possible velocity. Cheese sauce included.

There was a lot of giggling.

Kravitz was trying to be a stern Papa, but was rolling ones at the sight before him.

“What a big drama from such a little boy,” said Lucretia.

Magnus was in absolute fits, holding himself up against the closest counter and wiping tears from his eyes.

Merle was crowing. “How do you like it? How do you like it now, smartypants? Shoes on the other foot, boy…” He was referring one of the hundred worlds in which the Twins were turned into Terrible Elf Larva and he, Merle, was chief in charge of making them do anything related to their needs.

Taako calmly used the spoon to scoop the cheese-and-microscopic-broccoli-floret off his cheek and waited. Primed to pop it back in that howling baby mouth as soon as opportunity allowed.

Davenport, watching with the cats from a very safe high shelf, sipped his wine and said, “Why am I having flashbacks? Why am I having flashbacks?”

Lup, still giggling, said, “Oh, you know. Dad’nport.”

Barry said, “I’d either use Command, or just… wait a few weeks before introducing him to broccoli.”

At the mention of the hated word, baby Angus renewed his howling protest against that particular vegetable.

“I am not,” announced Taako, “going to lose a battle of wits to a gosh-darned toddler.”

Tumbl'd 3: Forever TAZ - Chapter 46 - InterNutter - The Adventure Zone (Podcast) [Archive of Our Own]

In this chapter: The Twins get married, and only one of them is getting married again.

Tumbl'd 3: Forever TAZ - Chapter 45 - InterNutter - The Adventure Zone (Podcast) [Archive of Our Own]

In this chapter - Young Angus takes care of a sick Taako… for a change

[AN: Why not both?]

Young Angus

Angus McDonald was seven years old, today. If there was a cake, Angus hadn’t seen where Papa had hidden it. Instead of that, he was packing a picnic basket.

It had to be dimensionally transcendent, because Papa was packing way more stuff into it than a regular basket could hold. He had that sneaky face on that meant he was plotting something.

“Good morning,” said Angus. “Do you have something special planned for today?”

“Nope,” lied Papa. He added yet another huge container to the basket.

“I thought today was a special day,” teased Angus. “I’m pretty sure something important happened today. Something… seven years ago…”

Papa pretended to think about this for three containers. “Nope. Nothin’ coming to my mind.” He added a wink. “We just need a little time outdoors. You’ve been cooped up indoors since your welcome-to-the-family party. Sunshine’ll do you great.”

Dad carried him on his shoulders, all the way to the park where the others of this huge, weird family were gathered.

Aunt Lup was the one who had the cake. She could do confectionary if she put the effort into it, Angus knew. It’s just that she preferred quicker recipes. The fact that she had done the cake meant that she thought he was worth the extra effort.

Magnus had some of his best trained dogs. The whole family had everything ready for the best seventh birthday a little boy could hope for.

Baby Angus

Here’s the thing about having a baby - going anywhere with one is almost a kingdom-conquering exercise. There was so much stuff involved in taking an infant anywhere that one could easily mistake it for a military event.

“Stroller, check. Diaper bag, check. Bottles, check. Formula, check. Spare clothes, check. Washers, check. Binkies, check…” Taako ran down the list. “Blankie… where the heck is the blankie?”

“I got it, Dove.” Kravitz added the blankie to the significant pile of baby accessories.

“Booties, mittens, tumby…” the essential companion toy, a chubby cloth moppet that Lucretia had made by hand, thus paving the way to Taako actually talking to her by the end of the decade. “I think that’s everything.”

“Except…” prompted Kravitz.

“Except what? We got the baby stroller, the baby bag, the baby bottles, the baby formula… what are we missing?”

“The baby?” Kravitz already had him in his arms.

Angus blinked owlishly at his Apa and said, “Blpth.”

“Of course. The most essential part of a day out with baby.” Taako welcomed both his men into his arms, spared a smooch for them both. “Okay. Now we’re all ready for our first day of shopping.”

It was an interesting day, nonetheless. Taako happened to trip over one of his family or friends on the regular. So regular that it seemed suspicious.

He finally snagged Barold about the fifth time they chanced to meet. “Spill it, Bluejeans. This ain’t no co-incidence. Confess.”

Barold turned bright red (natch) and stammered out, “Yeah, well. Uh. We know it’s your first day out with the kid anduh… we… thought we’d make sure you were all okay.”

Lup appeared out of nowhere. “Not that we were all that worried,” said Lup. “I knew you’d crush it. You’d never do anything stupid like pack everything and forget the baby.”

“Hardy har har,” deadpanned Taako.

[TAZ Prompts Remaining: 0]

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[AN: One universe at a time, pls. The combo thing means - combos of words. My bad for not saying that. Three stories for the price of one!

1. Saccharine - LA

[AN: LA stands for Little Accidents. A universe in which a WAY younger La’ming and a WAY nastier Sazed manage to create half-Elf Angus. La’ming and Taako raise him and Nono in a loving -if mobile- home with La’ming pretending to be older and Taako pretending to be hetero and married to La’ming. 90% angst]

The fair was under full enough swing that Taako couldn’t give food away. Which meant that Sizzle it Up! was not doing any shows until after a majority of the other food carts had closed for the evening. On the plus side, plenty of time to spend looking around for ideas. On the minus side, he had to keep the kids entertained as well as himself.

In a fairground, that meant the potential for encountering processed sugar and, in the case of tiny little Angus, someone using cow milk instead of any of the perfectly reasonable alternatives. Taako knew he couldn’t go anywhere near a peanut, and as for the rest of their little family of four… staying away from processed sugar was just smart.

“Oh look. Miller Labs. They’re always good for a giggle. They’re doing a food science show.”

Minmin, pretending to be an adult, also pretended cheer for her babies, Nono and Ango. “Yay,” she said. “Food science.”

The kids were less than enthused. However, the bribe of some spun maple candy and a hot dog in combination with a place to sit seemed to keep them appeased. They would be appeased and sticky in less than ten minutes, Taako guessed. He kept an eye on the kids -all three of them- and watched the show.

This one was a new alchemical wonder. Sugarless sugar, called saccharine, and Miller Labs was so sure of its safety that they were allowing volunteers to come up and taste their saccharine-laced fare.

“I wanna,” piped tiny little Angus.

Taako took the baby boy into his lap. “No you don’t, son-of-mine. You’re a little young to turn into a guinea pig.”

Since he had his hands full with Angus, and Minmin was busy trying to take him back, Nono leaped up, waving a hand in the air and bouncing out of parental reach. “I want to try!”

“…gods damn it…” muttered Taako. Too late, he handed Ango back to his mother and stood, ready to field an errant Elven teen…

…who already had a cake in her mouth.

“Damnit, Nono…” he sighed. “This is not the time or place to be rebellious streaking. Fuck.”

Nono was wincing. “Too sweet,” she complained. “It’s like way, way too sweet… it’s–” no further words came out of her, but there was a torrent of regurgitated cake, dissolved maple sugar, and hotdog.

Taako wasn’t about to sabotage a fellow food show. “Aw, honey,” he said, pitching his voice to carry. “I told you three goes on the Chunderwonder was two too many.” He sampled a cupcake for himself. Eugh. WAY too sweet. “Needs more lemon curd,” he said, and then quickly got outta dodge because -damn- that stuff made him want to hurl, and he’d survived the slop they served at Saint Vingo’s.

He didn’t get as far as that, though, but did find cool relief in a green patch far away from the smells of the fair. Nono fanned him with his wizarding hat and Minmin provided the damn cloth for his brow.

“Are you okay, Daddy?” said tiny little Ango.

“I will be. Eventually,” Taako panted. “Moral of this story, try new foodstuffs with caution. They always test on Humanmen… ooogh…”

The things he did for love.

2. Sunbathing - Monty Pithon

It had been a rougher winter than Varmvale, and therefore the circus that stayed there, was used to. The spring had been weak, for the first month, but now the sun was out with a vengeance and all the cold-blooded species were out, too.

Lulu and Koko, also thawing in the sunshine, found Monty, Mrs Monty, and all the Montlings spread out on a stretch of dark stone and sighing in the sunlight.

“Say, chief, aren’t we late to get on the road?” said Koko with fake enthusiasm.

“Yeah,” said Lulu, who knew that a cold-fogged Monty was a gullible Monty. “We got a circus to put on. Acts to plan. Rubes to bilk…”

“Time to quit sunbathing and start moneymaking,” said Koko, hoping that Monty hadn’t heard that last bit.

Montgomery Pithon was neither impressed nor swayed. “The roads will still be mud, the people know to expect us closer to summer, and I’m not falling for that horseshit again.”

Drat. Koko sighed and settled down on the rock. “Mind if we thaw with you?”

3. Harsh Whisper - Little Domestic

There is but one truth of life on the streets - cold kills. Pass out or try to sleep away from the warmth - any kind of warmth - and you could die. Even in summer’s last hurrah before winter moved in, you could die from the cold.

Lulu had been looking for more clothes to line their little nest-box with. Koko was prone to chills at the best of times, and this coming winter wasn’t looking to be the best. They were lucky they got through the last one with all their fingers and toes intact.

They were not lucky in the fact that the City Watch was clamping down on homeless people camping out in or near the old steam tunnels. The worse news was that more and more places that used to be safe were employing hostile architecture to try and get the homeless to move away - or at least die somewhere out of sight of all the nice, orderly rent-payers in the city.

At least here, they had a shelter from the wind and a steady supply of half-eaten food via the dumpster and the neighbouring blocks of flats. Lulu was moderately sure she could figure out how to pick the lock and get into the basement before the snows came. That way, she and Koko could huddle in a corner near the furnace and stay nice and toasty during the worst of the winter.

That had been the plan, anyway.

Right up until the instant a huge garbage bag fell on Koko from above with the sound of shattering glass and the sickening thud of one baby twin brother hitting the uncaring concrete of the alleyway floor.

Lulu dropped everything -literally- and ran to her brothers side. She could roll the garbage bag off her brother. He was beat up, cut a little, but still breathing. Okay. Okay. That was fine. That was okay.

“Koko?” she managed in a harsh whisper, lest any noise alert anyone prone to narc. She shook him a little. “Koko?”

His hair was straight. His hair was never perfectly straight. There was always a kink or a curl or straight-up frizz. Lulu couldn’t even remember the last time she’d seen her brother’s hair completely limp.

“Koko…” Lulu wrestled his head and half his body into her lap. “Koko.” Nothing. He was completely limp, just like his hair. And there was a wet patch of blood spreading out through those golden locks and -oh gods- “Koko, don’t die! Koko!”

Panic. Utter panic. Koko was going to die because some asshole dumped garbage on him and they were going to take them both away and she’d never know where he was buried if he even got a burial and they couldn’t take him away, they couldn’t! He was her heart! He was her whole heart and the only reason she even bothered waking up in the morning and Koko! Koko please! Wake up, Koko! KOKO!

There was an adult Elf leaning over them, and that was when Lulu went from ordinary hysterical to full-blown scream-crying and fuck whatever authorities wanted to take them away. She’d scream and scream and scream until the whole world vanished. She’d scream her heart and soul away if it got her Koko back.

The Sea Elf kept murmuring and cooing and gently touching them both in an I-won’t-hurt-you-ever way. She had half a bagel that she picked little mouthfuls off of to offer Lulu and things that stopped the blood and a way of showing Lulu that her dumb baby brother was still alive, just unconscious. She had a better, cleaner place where he could recover and they could both get clean and she could cook them a nice, hot meal and wouldn’t everything be better after a hot chocolate?

There came a point in a cascade of terrible events where just about anything was a step up. If it turned out that this Sea Elf was some kind of horrible, they could bail anyway and be no worse off. In the meantime, there would be a clean place and hot food and new clothes and, once Koko was back to wakefulness, a real bath with real soap and real hot water.

All the same, Lulu refused to let go of Koko and flat-out refused to let him out of her sight. All the way up to a tiny, one-bedroom flat where Koko looked even tinier inside a grownups’ bed. All the way through patching him up and getting him clean and making sure he wasn’t in real danger. All the way through a quick mercy run to the local Bodega -don’t go anywhere! Not that Lulu had any such plans.

All the way through dinosaur chicken nuggets and bubble-and-squeak patties all cooked in the microwave with ketchup on the side.

Koko was awake. Koko was okay. That was all that mattered. Koko passed the weird-ass concussion test, which was better. Koko was also amazingly cool about letting a stranger bathe them and clothe them in identical baggy I (heart) NW tee shirts and ludicrous, one-size-fits-nobody pull-cord pants.

“You sure you’re okay, Koko?” Lulu whispered after the stranger called La’ming tucked them in for the night. “You’re not complaining about anything.”

“Bad food is better than no food,” he whispered right back. “This place is okay. It’s out of the weather and she seems to care enough to want to look after us. Worst comes to the worst, we’re outta here when it gets warm.”

Lulu wrapped herself around her brother. “That’s the dumb baby brother I know,” she cooed. “Always planning for the worst.”

“Geez, make me puke,” Koko mockingly scolded. “Then she’ll call the Fantasy CDC on our asses.”

[TAZ Prompts remaining: 0]

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