Winter Runaway

[Rama Mowry]

Rama was being bad, and she was going to get into big trouble for it later. The child was dressed perfectly for the light snow that was outside. Daddy had taken her out to do some shopping for the winter party with the family. Hezekiah had tried to keep her entertained while she was with him, but she was so bored. She wanted to play out in the snow! The young girl had slipped away from her father and had walked outside of the shop. Whoa. It was so pretty! The park was in her view, and there were other kids there. She could go play with them! The snow was no fun with no one to play with. Rama began to run towards the park. She did not want her father to notice that she was gone and drag her back. She did not know how scary the situation would become once Daddy found out that she was gone. She knew that she was going to get in trouble for running off. She had no idea how serious Daddy was when it came to her safety.

Rama ran while flapping her arms around. She was so excited! She was going to play in the snow with the other kids, but something had caught her eye. She almost ran over the poor creature. It was a bunny! Rama loved animals. Daddy ran a owl shop, and she loved playing with the birds! But, Daddy was always telling her to be careful. Rama was not as gentle with animals as she thought she was. She would pick them up incorrectly, and she was not responsible. She was five! There was no need for responsibility. Rama bent down to look at the bunny. She softly patted it on the head, but she her touch was not as soft as she thought.

 

[Speed Stark]

It was a rather cool day in Brightstone, especially for June, however, Speed preferred the cold to any other weather. He preferred to go for runs in the cold, leaping over smooth coverings of snow, feeling some stick to his paws as he raced around the vicinity in the mornings. He was usually in the forest near his own home, but seeing as he was staying with Abbigale for a few days to help her move into her new home, he decided that a run around here was in order. He needed to know the area his pseudo-niece and nephew would be spending their days. Besides, if he ever brought his own sons here, under Mikki's direction of course, he wanted to know where everything was. However, he was beginning to return to Abbigale's home as he had been roaming around for just over an hour. It was time to get something to eat otherwise he would windup dying from starvation or something. With his paws covered in snow, and only running through more, Speed bounded through the trees and broke out of the line into a more crowded area. There were not crowds of people, but enough to make him have to watch himself to avoid being trodden on. He could just change back, but there were still some students lingering from the school, and this was his off time. He liked his students, but not when he was planning to relax. He could move around unnoticed when a hare.

He flicked some snow off his tail, and quickly crossed the path, slipped and skated through a siding, and broke out into another area of Brightstone. He was in an open area now, and ran to a patch of grass. Abbigale would skin him if he brought snow into her house. He began to wipe his paws onto the grass in an attempt to clean them, when in his distraction he was set upon by a young person, who was petting his head far harsher than he liked. With his ears folded down and eyes cringing at the contact, he sank into the grass below him to try and encourage her to stop. At least she wasn't picking him up roughly, was all he could think. Where were her parents, anyway? It was dangerous out here, a little girl all by herself. He looked around quickly, and found no-one around, just the little girl. She was wearing weather-conscious gear, so she had to have someone with her, surely. He moved away from her slowly, trying to no spook her. He could not ask her where her family or carers were like this - she probably saw him as a rabbit or something. Everyone thought he was a rabbit. Managing to get a foot away from her, he faced her and transfigured back, kneeling and holding his hand out to her.

"Are you okay, darling?"
​

 

[Hezekiah Mowry]

Hezekiah Mowry was going to lock Rama in her room once he found her. She had been holding his hand, but he began to barter with the shopkeeper on the price of an item. She was no longer spending time with Helen anymore. That girl was teaching his innocent daughter poor habits. He ran out of the shop empty handed. His head began to fill up with crazy ideas. Hezekiah was close to tears. If anything happened to his daughter, he was going to die. He slowly began to walk forward. He looked in every direction for his young child. He could not lose her. He would not lose her. The snow made it particularly easy to spot his devilish child. He saw her pale pink jacket within seconds and ran to his daughter. "Rama Jaslinn Mowry! he yelled furiously. His daughter turned around with a smile on her face, and she began talking about a rabbit. Before he knew what he was doing, Hezekiah was on his knees hugging his precious girl. How could she make him worry so much? He had not been able to imagine his life without his daughter. "If you ever do this again..." He was not even able to finish his threat. He leaned back to look at his daughter and make sure she was okay. She pointed to a man behind and continued nonsense about a rabbit. What his daughter going crazy.

He stood up, with Rama's hand tightly in his hand, and wiped his legs quickly. "Daddy, he was a rabbit! He is a people now!" she exclaimed in English. He looked angrily at his daughter. She took the hint and stopped her talking. Naturally, Hezekiah moved his daughter as far from the man as he could. He looked at the man suspiciously. The thought of thanking him did not cross his mind. Hezekiah did not even know what to say in a situation like this. The relief of finding his daughter had quickly disappeared, and it had been replaced with frustration or anger. He did not have time to decipher which one it was. "Listen! Listen, Daddy, listen! He was tokki! Tokki!" Rama began to yelled and tried and get out of his grasp. A real father would know how to handle a situation like this. The werewolf wiped his eyes in attempt to stop tears from falling. Pfft. Whatever. "I'm sorry." he told the man. He tried to wipe all his tears away, but they kept falling. He did not wish for Rama to see him like this. He heard sniffles from his little child. "Appa . Uljimaseyo." she spoke formally. Hearing Rama voice made him cry harder. He picked up his now crying daughter and tried his best to get her to stop, but he himself could not stop crying. He could not mask the worry that had filled his heart when he thought he had lost her.

 

[Speed Stark]

Speed saw the man coming before the girl, it seemed, and even while he was in his human form, the girl attempted to explain to her father that he was a rabbit. It was to be expected, as she was only very young, about the age of his own eldest son. He assumed the man was her father, as he seemed about ready to burst into tears, and kill her all at the same time, as any father missing his daughter would. Speed had never lost his sons, but he would have been thinking the worst if he ever managed it. Being an animagus certainly assisted him in keeping an eye on them and keeping up with them, as there was no-where little feet could go that he could not go as well. The girl continued tyring to explain to her father what had happened, but it did not seem to be working as well as she hoped, as the man was clearly too emotional to listen to her and come to the conclusion that Speed was an animagus. The blond doubted it would make the father feel any better, either.

Speed stood tall after the man apologised to him, although he was not sure why he received an apology. He did not see anything the father did as wrong, although perhaps losing his daughter in the first place. However, many parents lost their children at one point or another, they seemed of have a knack for disappearing at the most inopportune times. He approached the pair calmly, and smiled at them. "No, I'm sorry for the confusion. I'm an animagus, and was running around as a hare. Your daughter surprised me," he explained, holding out his hand to offer the man a shake. "I'm Speed Stark, are you okay? Do you need anything?"
​

<i></i>

 

[Hezekiah Mowry]

Hezekiah tried to calm himself down. Once he calmed down, he could calm Rama down. He did not want this day to be a day that his girl remembered. No child wished to see their parent cry. Even as an adult, Hezekiah hated seeing his parents cry. He patted the back of Rama's head softly so that she would stop crying. He felt his own tears slowly stop streaming down his face. He sighed. This was just not a good day for either of them. He looked at the man as he spoke. He did not exactly look happy that he was still here. He sighed again at the revelation of the man being an animagus. Hezekiah simply nodded. Rama must have saw him and attacked. He really tried to get her to be more gentle with animals, but it was not working. Her generosity was admirable, but her methods were not very safe. He heard Rama mumble something. "Hm?" he asked, trying to get clarification. "I'm hungry." she said, and Hezekiah smiled. He wiped his wet cheeks so that he could be more presentable. "You're hungry? Well, maybe we could get this nice man to buy us some food." he said while looking down at Rama. He was sure that his daughter only understood the word food. He was trying to get her to practice English, but she really was not interested in the language. He looked up to the man that had introduced himself as Speed. He thought it was a ridiculous name, but his middle name was Goby, and he had named his daughter Rama. He had no room to talk. "You wouldn't mind, right? And, I am Hezekiah by the way. This is Rama, my daughter." he said shyly. He ended up looking down at the ground. He hated keeping eye contact. He thought that if people looked into his eyes they would see the wolf inside of him. It was as if the scar on his cheek wasn't enough.

 

[Speed Stark]

Speed cracked a smile and scratched the back of his neck at the exchange between father and daughter. It was quite cute, and as a family orientated romantic, Speed was not going to interrupt them even if he felt as though he should leave them to the rest of their day. They probably had somewhere important to go, or someone to see, and it was not Speed's job to hinder them any further. He had managed to find the girl's father (or, well, he had found them) and so he was free to leave them. He was about to move to leave them, when he was mentioned in a rather one-way conversation between the pair, and a crease formed on his forehead in thought. Obviously, he had money on him. It would be silly to not carry money when in Brightstone - he might see something he liked. However, he had never had someone suggest that he buy them lunch, but how could he say no to buying them food? He smiled and shook his head when he was finally addressed. "Nah, it's fine. I'd be happy to take you both to lunch, Hezekiah. What do you want?" he asked, allowing his eyes to rest on the back of Rama's head and not the scarred face of her father. It would be rude to make the man feel self-conscious about the scarring, and Speed knew of only a few cases where such scarring occurred in such a way. Needless to say, Speed had no desire to make the man feel worse about himself.
​

<i></i>

 

[Hezekiah Mowry]

Hezekiah looked up at the man and gave a small smile. He was so glad that Speed had not said no. His pride did not need to be wounded anymore. Rama began to wiggle, and he set her down on the ground. She sped over to the man and began to tug on his shirt. Hezekiah quickly grabbed her hand, and pulled her back. He did not want her to be too close to the man. He was still a stranger. "Burger! Burger, please!" she exclaimed and began to jump around happily. He felt the urge to pick the girl up so that she would not talk so much, but she was feeling a bit fierce. He did not want to upset her. He looked up at Speed. "You can choose where, since it is your money." he said once again in a small voice. Hezekiah's voice had always been soft. Derek's voice was much deeper and masculine than his. He did not have much to say to the man, but he could tell that Rama was budding with questions. "Tokki! Tokki!" she kept saying. She looked at Speed and then she looked at her father. Hezekiah shook her head. "He's not here for your entertainment." he told her sternly. However, he did think a hare was an interesting animagus. It told him a lot about the stranger. Whenever he thought of bunnies, he thought of people that were timid and treaded water slowly. He could not keep his eyes on the man. He simply wanted to put Rama to sleep. She was a piece of work.