Chapter Text
Your feet patter against the concrete, the slowly setting sun casting you and the the few others still out and about in a warm orange glow. Crisp Autumn air blows over you, and you shudder. Your eyes never lift off the concrete, even when your coat, bundled up in your arms, begins to squirm. You tighten your grip, faintly noticing a woman's 2 ft. Sansy turning his head to watch you with intense curiosity.
You had never been the fondest the Sansy Bitty line like so many others. They were too keen, zeroed in too closely on your flaws, and always seemed to be able to tell when something was wrong... Your Mom's Sansy always was the best at that.
Maybe that's the reason why you dislike them so much? The bundle squirms again, and you speed up, the Sansy watching you flee with nothing more than a disinterested hum. You eyes dart up towards the sky, taking note of some dark clouds that have begun to gather, and lengthening your stride.
You spot your apartment, quickly taking the steps two at a time, and throwing your door open. The bundle makes a soft noise, and you feel your heart clench. Damn you. Damn you, and your bleeding heart. Setting it down on the kitchen counter, you jog over to the table to grab a chair and drag it towards the smoke alarm. After removing the battery from the device, and setting it beside the bundle, you run to your room.
A quick search through your drawers shows you nothing but coupons, and a few notebooks with very little blank pages. You hesitate, not wanting to throw out perfectly usable money savers, but the pathetic whine of, "M-Ms?, makes the decision for you. Grabbing as many as possible, you snatch a lighter, and hurry back to the little creature.
When you rush in, your feet stop moving, and you stare. Standing on your countertop, hardly any brighter than a dim flame, and only 5-ish inches tall, is a little Grillbitty. A Ray, if the unsaturated, grayed-yellow light was anything to go off of. His head turns, and he gasps, ambling excitedly towards the edge of the counter. "M-Miss! Th-Thank you f-f-for get-getting me out of th-the col-cold!" He exclaims, and you notice he's pulling your coat along with his little, stilted steps. He - you think it goes by he... Or they? You're gonna go with they. - they stop at the edge of the counter, looking hesitant.
"B-b-but-" They shiver, hunching over as the magical flames that make them up dim. You panic, and do the only thing you can think of to fees them some air, pucker your lips, and carefully blow a soft breeze over them. They shake harder, curling up, and you nearly feel like hitting yourself. Of course they wouldn't want air, it'll just put them out with how fragile they are right now. The Ray looks up when you stop, whining as they flinch, "K-keep... Keep do-do-doing th-that, please?"
You blink, but nod anyway. You resume gently, noticing that his flames, were in fact, growing back into the soft yellow haze that made them so popular. They stay close, and when you lean back to catch your breath, they whine. After several moments of helping them gain some strength, you finally remember the magazine bits you have, and scramble to grab that and the lighter.
"H-here!" The little flameperson jumps, watching your hand reach out towards them with a weary glint in it's fiery orbs. They narrow their little eyes, but perk up excitedly at the sight of your lighter. You turn your hand, and flick the switch, the flame flickering to life. Instinctively, they lean forward to eat, but you press a finger to their skinny chest. "Uh, can you, erm... take my coat off?"
A few minutes later, the little flamesman - he told you as such when you asked - is back to full brightness and happily chattering away about a toy he found a while back. You watch him for several moments, and when he turns to flash you a 1,000 Megawatt smile, you feel yourself melt.
"Hey, bud?" The Ray stops, and stares up at you with large eyes. "You okay with me adopting you?"