“I’ve read a lot about this Christmas holiday of yours. I never expected it to be quite like this.”
For jaq and phin pls 🥰
Thank you so much for this prompt! :) Ok, I am super late with this but I reckon it still counts as Christmas as we're pre-new year so here are roughly 1700 words of pure romantic fluff of Jaq and Phineas enjoying their first Christmas together aboard The Hope
Pixelated flames flickered away on the aetherwave screen and Phineas Welles gave a contented, heavy sigh as he sank onto the sofa. He didn’t think he’d ever felt this full in his life.
“You know, I’ve read a lot about this Christmas holiday of yours. I never expected it to be quite like this.”
Jaq chuckled where they were slumped beside him. They languidly draped an arm about his shoulders, knocking his paper crown askew, before pressing a kiss to his temple.
“Did you enjoy it?”
“Yes, very much so. Though, I’m not sure I’ll need to eat again for several days.”
The feast had been like something from the old Auntie Cleo’s ads from his youth showing the perfect, wholesome, Halcyon family crammed around a table groaning under the weight of the food. Only, in place of ruddy-faced parents and beaming children, the long benches in the canteen had been filled with his lab-coated colleagues and the Hope’s support staff, all tucking into a spread that had been carefully prepared over the course of the morning. Not all of the colonists celebrated in what he was informed was the traditional sense, and there had been other holidays besides this one, but this was Jaq’s favourite and so Phineas had decided it was his, too.
Jaq hummed in agreement and patted their stomach.
“Not quite a turkey with the trimmings, but that was easily the best meal I’ve eaten since thawing out.”
There’d been a great deal of debate over the food in the weeks leading up to today. Everyone seemed to have a different signature dish, a perfect recipe or a family tradition that had to be incorporated. There’d been boarst wrapped in cysty-bacon, mounds of golden roasted potatoes, vegetables fried with cysty-bits, and in pride of place at the centre of the table, the largest chicken Phineas had ever laid eyes upon. This alone would have been more than enough but several colonists had insisted that the meal wasn’t complete without trifle topped with purpleberry-pieces followed by crackers and wooly-cow cheese. After all that, the walk back to their quarters had been quite the undertaking and Phineas was feeling warm and drowsy, his eyes slipping closed.
Jaq nudged him. “No sleeping just yet, you still need to open your present.”
Oh yes, presents. How could he forget after the weeks of agonising over precisely what to give them? Jaq had explained that it should be something small and personal, and preferably inexpensive. Which suited him just fine. He didn’t often leave the Hope, and vanishingly rarely without his partner at his side, so it would have been near impossible to purchase something without them discovering the surprise. No, he had turned his ingenuity rather than his bits toward finding them the perfect gift.
“Come on, we can snooze after this,” Jaq said, getting to their feet with a grunt. They offered him a hand that Phineas gratefully accepted, struggling upright. Good law, all this celebrating was exhausting.
The tree had appeared a week ago, lugged over one broad shoulder from the Unreliable and deposited in the corner of their shared room. Apparently, Jaq had liberated it from the vaults of the hidden Museum of Earth recently uncovered in Byzantium. It was, they explained, a replica of the fir tree that had filled their home each year at this season, and that they must decorate it together. Phineas didn’t quite grasp the significance of hanging coloured paper ribbons and taped together ornaments on a plant, but it mattered to Jaq so he had thrown himself into it with gusto. A few chipped glass flasks and test tubes painted with snowflakes had served well to adorn the plastic spruce and Jaq had been thrilled by it. At the top sat a star, cut from spare sheet metal they’d been using to patch up the hold. It twinkled in the dancing light of the screen as he eased himself down to the woolly cow rug before the fake fire.
“Yours is a little rough around the edges,” Jaq said as they rummaged beneath the tree, groping around the floor for something. They emerged a second later clutching a rectangular object carefully wrapped in brown paper and tied with a ribbon. “I couldn’t find the mineral oil I wanted to finish it with so had to make do with the stuff in the storeroom.”
They gave a near shy smile as they handed him the gift, sitting back on their heels to watch as he peeled away the wrapping a layer at a time until an intricately carved spoon appeared.
“You made this yourself?” he asked, turning the utensil in his hands, marvelling at the workmanship. He’d seen Jaq take apart any number of electrical items and knew that they were talented when it came to mechanics but he’d no idea they could turn their hand to carpentry as well.
They nodded. “Where my family are from, sailors used to give them to their sweetheart before they went to sea, as a token of love and a way of winning their heart. If it was accepted, traditionally that meant you were a couple.”
Phineas ran his fingers over the wood, following the grain. He could imagine the hours of work that had gone into this, could perfectly picture Jaq leant over the bench in the Unreliable’s hold, calloused hands cutting and chiselling, sanding and smoothing, their handsome brow tugged into a neat V of concentration as they worked.
“It’s made from a mock apple tree we’ve transplanted to the New Hope Centre build site. The anchor’s a symbol for safety and security, and these bits, they’re called celtic knots, they mean everlasting. Eternal.”
He glanced up at that to find Jaq watching him intently, a faint flush to their cheeks visible in the twinkling lights strung about the tree.
“I’ve not worked with wood since I was kid, so I hope it’s alright?”
It was a good deal more than alright, Phineas thought. Handmade items were rare in Halcyon, given colonists did not usually have the time nor energy to create them. He knew he held something precious; a link to Jaq’s past, the fruits of their toils, a physical manifestation of their regard for him. He ran his fingertips over the curve of the handle with reverence.
“It’s splendid,” he said, setting the spoon down cautiously between them so that he could take their hand. “And I wholeheartedly accept your gift, my intrepid sailor.”
Jaq grinned, ducking their head. “I’m glad you like it.”
“I do,” he assured them, giving their hand a squeeze before releasing it to go hunting under the tree for his own present. “Now, let me just find . . . aha! Here we are!”
A frisson of nervous excitement sparked in his chest as he slid a thin, square package out from between the branches. He handed it over with care, worrying at his lip as he watched his partner slide a finger beneath the fold of the wrapping paper. Stars, after what Jaq had given him he hoped this would be a suitable gift in return.
Once all the paper sat in a pile by their feet, Jaq was left delicately holding a sheet of plastic. A faintly confused smile turned up the corner of their lips.
“It’s . . . a brain scan?” they said, looking to him for confirmation.
“Yes! My brain!”
He leant over to better show them what they were looking at.
“To be precise, it is a scan of my brain showing the nucleus accumbens – that’s a structure that mediates emotional and pleasure processing – lit up as bright as our Christmas tree.” He took Jaq’s hand, directing them to a bold, white patch between grey squiggles, circling it with a fingertip. “And you see all these sections? The colours here? These are the dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin pathways. Increased activity here is associated with experiencing romantic love.”
He beamed up at them. “Everything you see here is what’s going on in my brain when I think about you.”
Jaq sat silent, processing, and Phineas near reckoned he could hear their own brain ticking over that information. He watched their gaze running over the image as softly as their fingers, deep brown eyes moving from one luminous patch of grey matter to the next with a look of wonder.
“This”- he tapped the plastic film -“this is irrefutable, scientific proof of my love for you.”
Their mouth parted at that but no sound passed them. Their throat bobbed around a hard swallow and Phineas found himself with the sudden urge to fill the silence for them.
“I wanted to see if there was any difference in emotional processing in the brains of those awoken from extended cryosleep, and of course, that required a comparison to a non-colonist brain, and you know I have always been a strong believer in testing the science on oneself . . .”
He knew he was rambling but they seemed to need a moment so he continued on, explaining the basis of the experiment that had led to this particularly delightful illustration of his musings on them.
“ . . . and it can get rather dull lying there in the scanner, so naturally my mind wandered to you and –“
He didn’t get any further as suddenly Jaq’s lips found their sense of purpose, impressing upon his own a kiss that left his head spinning. He found himself gripping tight to their shirt for balance.
“Thank you,” they breathed, their head pressed to his own. “It’s perfect, Phin.”
When eventually they drew back, he could see pure, unfiltered affection writ large across their face and a warmth shining back at him from their eyes that could have engulfed a star. There was no need for a brain scan; Jaq made no attempt to hide the strength of their feeling for him.
Phineas uncurled his fingers and flattened his palm against their chest. The steady, reassuring beat of their heart pulsed against his skin. He gave a thoughtful nod and kissed the tip of their nose.
“Well, yes, of course it is.” He gave them a mischievous smirk, eyes twinkling. “That’s the mind of a genius you’re looking at.”
The delighted laughter that burst from Jaq’s throat rang about the room and a moment later, their fingers tangled in his hair as they pulled him in for a deeper kiss. As Phineas found himself pressed back into the soft embrace of wooly fur, the lights of the tree softly blinking above him, he considered that truly there was something to this talk of magic at Christmas.
Posting this was delayed by me going down a rabbit hole about brain scans and trying to come up with something suitably clever for Phineas to say regarding reward processing centres and the rest. I won’t pretend any of what I’ve written is particularly accurate but if you want to read some of the same articles I did then you can find out more here:
https://www.livescience.com/18468-relationship-longevity-brain-scans.html here -
I also watched this fascinating video of people thinking about love in an MRI scanner and trying to “win” at loving the most - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1npQEdTsF8
Also, for anyone interested in the history of Welsh love spoons, there’s a bit of info about the tradition and the different symbols here - https://angelwoodcraft.co.uk/history-of-the-welsh-love-spoon/
I was tagged by @jackalgirl for WIP Whenever. Here's a very small bit that I'm still not 100% I'm going to use, because it's kind of a fun thing but also I'd want to get the various player-captains' permission before posting it to AO3, if it gets that far.
"Which freelancer captains are currently docked with Groundbreaker?" Junlei demanded. "And sober," she added as an afterthought.
"Jenkins and Fiori are neck-deep in a drinking contest at the Lost Hope," came back the first response a few minutes later. "Ven's resupplying. Evenshaw's buying something at the Promenade."
"See who's available for an emergency trip," Junlei said. "And ask the Commandant to visit me, immediately, with my compliments."
"What's going on, Chief?"
"Possibly a suicide mission, but I'm not giving up on the Unreliable."
After going through a mysterious anomaly, Rhea found herself in a most peculiar situation.
Rhea stood on the bridge of the Unreliable staring out the window. What she saw before her shouldn’t exist and yet she couldn’t deny what her eyes saw. She placed her hand on the Captain’s chair to remind her that she was in fact real and where she stood did exist.
“ADA, tell me again what I’m seeing.”
“Of course Captain,” ADA’s synthetic voice rang out but Rhea could hear the tinge of annoyance. “We are looking at what appears to be the Unreliable.”
“But that’s impossible. This is the Unreliable. Right?”
The red screen where ADA was displayed only raised an eyebrow. “To my extensive knowledge, the possibility of there being another universe where another Unreliable exists is for, all intents and purposes, plausible.”
“Huh,” was Rhea’s only response. She was a fan of some science fiction from back on Earth and after going through her own outrageous science fiction story, she didn't want to deny the improbable. Especially from everything that had happened leading up to this point.
The anomaly, Rhea’s curiosity moving them forward after a brief discussion with the crew, the bright light as they passed through, and then suddenly this. A part of her was dying to study what had happened, but she knew she needed to get back to her home, her universe.
“Can you send them a message? Possibly see if they are willing to meet with us?”
“One moment.” Rhea didn’t have a chance to say anything before ADA spoke up again. “I have made contact with that Unreliable’s ADA. She has informed me that the Captain of her ship is named Jaq Evenshaw.”
“Can you see if they will be willing to meet?” Rhea asked again knowing she needed to be cautious. This captain could be dangerous, unpredictable. But she had to know, had to see if they could help her figure out what had happened.
ADA was silent for a moment before she answered again. “They are willing to meet Captain, but only you.”
“That’s acceptable. Let them know I’ll be over shortly.” With that Rhea made her way to get ready to meet what was possibly this universe’s Captain of the Unreliable.
It didn’t take long and before she knew it, Rhea was standing next to the door where they had docked next to the ship. Her crew stood around her, each of them concerned as to what was supposed to happen next.
“Boss you can’t seriously believe we’ll let you go over there alone.” Felix was standing right next to the door as if to guard it or stop her from going through it. “And with no weapon? That sounds like the start of a character in a serial ending up dead.”
“I have to agree, Captain,” Max was saying as the others nodded in agreement.
“We don’t know if it's safe. What if they hurt you?” Parvati was looking at her with fearful eyes but Rhea noticed the curiosity in them. “Though I guess...what if their ship is really like ours? Like down to the bolts? Think they’ll let me take a look at her?”
Rhea smiled at that. Even in the face of unknown certainty, Parvati was still always interested in how something worked. She turned to face Nyoka and Ellie. Nyoka had a concerned look on her face but was otherwise calm in the situation. Ellie, as usual, had a bored look on her face.
“I think it will be less threatening if I go over without any weapons. Any thoughts from you two.”
Nyoka seemed to be thinking before she said, “It’s up to you Cap. You know we’ll support you either way.”
“And come to the rescue should you need it,” Ellie added, finally letting on that she was concerned.
“Thanks everyone,” Rhea turned to look at all of them except Felix. “Just be on standby. Hopefully I won’t need you to save me.”
“They are ready to meet with you now Captain.” ADA’s voice called out from the speaker. Turning to face the door, Rhea glanced at Felix who was still glaring at the floor. Rhea knew there wasn’t anything she could say to calm him so she resigned herself to head off to this mysterious meeting. But as she passed him, he reached out and grabbed her arm to stop her.
“Be safe Rhea.” He looked into her eyes as if searching for something, but Rhea didn’t know what he was hoping to find. “Please.”
Rhea patted his hand and gave him what she hoped was a comforting smile. “I will be Felix.”
Seeming to accept this, Felix let her go and Rhea walked through the door.
~
Rhea was grateful for the months of perfecting her ability to mask her emotions. Walking into the ship, what looked exactly like her ship yet wasn’t, was a surreal experience. She couldn’t stop herself from looking back into her Unreliable and seeing the crew looking back at her to remind her that she wasn’t going crazy and that this was the universe being it’s usual mysterious self.
Glancing around, Rhea saw the same somehow always dirty looking walls of the entryway, the same slight tarnish and soft yellow glow from the lights. The same stairs leading up to the captain’s quarters and what she assumed would be the rest of the ship, just like hers. Her eyes finally settled on the person in front of her.
They stood as tall as she did, their brown eyes watching her with concern and apprehension. Understandable of course, Rhea thought to herself. Even though they seemed to be older than her, she noticed the same tired lines, the same weight that surviving in Halcyon seemed to also put on her when she had looked at herself in the mirror. She noticed their tension in the way they held themselves, arms resting at their side but watching her every move for any sign of hostility. But even she could see the curiosity in the way the looked at her and the opening into the other Unreliable. What it could mean for them and their crew.
On instinct, Rhea lifted her hands up to signal her desire to not get into a fight. She had some idea that if she were in their shoes she would be cautious and hesitant to trust another, but she hoped they were willing to give her a chance.
“Who are you,” they asked cautiously.
Rhea licked her lips as she wracked her brain for the most non-threatening way she could say she wasn’t a danger to them. It hit her though that she just needed to be herself and hope that was enough.
Dropping her arms, Rhea stepped forward and held out her hand. “Hi I’m Rhea Hawthorne, Captain of that Unreliable. And I think I’m caught in your universe.”
A big thank you to @jumpship90 for letting me learn about their captain and getting a glimpse into their character sheet and for @autonomous-digital-astrogator for setting this up! I hope you enjoy this!
Took a brief break yesterday but I'm back with more tooth-rottingly cute goodness for day 4 of @flufftober2021
This time it's set in the Allotment AU that is on my list of projects. This snippet is post fic, after Jaq and Phineas have finally gotten over their pining and realised they're meant to be.
Jaq hauled the last of the brambles to the bonfire, depositing them in a heap with the rest of autumn die-back. They sidestepped the crowd of plot-holders all gathered around the heat, light dancing in their eyes, and brushed dead leaves and twigs from their jumper. A sudden crackle went up as someone threw debris upon the fire and sparks danced into the sky. It was a chill night, clouds of breath puffing in the air and mingling with the smoke, but their exertions had been enough to warm them.
They glanced around the allotments, searching for Phineas amongst the people sharing drinks and growing tips between the plots. There were carved pumpkins glowing on a few and someone was strumming a guitar further up the hill. As they wound their way between the sheds and veg patches, Jaq spotted sparklers fizzing away, clutched in tiny hands.
“That’s it! Marvellous! Make sure you hold it right out away from you – yes, perfect!”
Jaq grinned. Phineas was bundled up in his jacket and the scarf they had knitted for him and currently surrounded by a group of delighted children. As they watched, he aided a wide-eyed girl in writing her name in the air.
“Now, these sparklers have three main components,” he told the giggling children, all waving their arms around to paint pictures. “An oxidiser, a binder and a metal fuel - ferrotitanium in this case, which produces that lovely yellow-gold colour. Did you know, some of them contain the same component parts as gunpowder?”
There were little gasps at that. Jaq halted at the edge of the group, catching Phineas’ eye. He gave them a wink.
“They’re quite safe though,” he said to his enraptured audience. “They’re only present as reducing agents, to help the sparklers burn longer. There we are, put them out safely now.”
As he spoke, he directed the children to a bucket sat at his foot. Several quiet hisses sounded as the finished sparklers were deposited in the water.
“Now, you better run along and find a good spot. The fireworks will be starting soon!”
Jaq skipped aside to allow a stampede of diminutive feet and brightly coloured bobble hats to go rushing past. They made their way over to him as the children went careening down the path to their parents with happy yells.
“Teaching a chemistry lesson?”
“They’re never too young to learn.”
Phineas grinned as they adjusted his scarf and Jaq pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“Your face is cold,” they muttered and slipped their arms about his waist. Phineas hummed and tucked into them.
“I’m quite warm enough," he assured them, sliding his hands into their pockets. “Though, I wouldn’t mind some of that hot cider that was doing the rounds earlier. And perhaps a toffee apple?”
Jaq laughed quietly, always happy to indulge his sweet tooth.
Check out this beautiful moodboard for Jaq and Phineas made by the exceptionally talented @strangefable
Every image is just perfect for them and fits the mood of their story so well! This was just the encouragement I needed to get back to work on the last chapter of Kept Secret But Not Forgotten
Ok, so I'm a day late and honestly, this is way more fluffy than anything else (which makes up for missing the last few days of flufftober) but here's my latest offering of Jaq/Phin nonsense - definitely T rated at most so no cut on this one.
“Erm, Doctor Welles?”
Phineas didn’t bother to glance up from behind the microscope, only gave a hum of acknowledgement and twiddled with the dial. It was much too early in the day for interruptions.
There were muffled whispers from beside him and eventually one of his colleagues cleared their throat.
“I don’t want to alarm you, Doctor, but you appear to have some sort of rash.”
He did finally look up at that, mild confusion tugging his bushy brows together. Three of his fellow scientists were stood in a huddle a few feet from his workbench, a series of increasingly wary expressions crossing their faces.
“0h?” Phineas intoned, finally ceasing fidgeting with the petri dish.
The lead scientist – a young botanist by the name of Linnaeus – nodded and pointed at the side of his neck. Phineas removed one latex glove and rubbed at the area absently. Come to think of it, it did feel a little tender. How odd.
As he probed at the skin, he noted his colleagues backing up a pace and shooting each other worried glances.
“You didn’t err . . . didn’t get bitten by anything whilst you were planetside, did you?” Linnaeus asked.
“Might it be contagious?”
“Perhaps you should go to the medical ward?”
Phineas frowned. He certainly didn’t recall being bitten by any insects whilst visiting the New Hope Centre. He was quite sure he’d remember that, what with the frankly horrifying size of the things in Halcyon. Could he have ingested something unusual? Brushed up against a particularly irritating plant? It seemed unlikely. He’d spent all of last night and most of this morning aboard the Unreliable and there was nothing there that would cause an adverse reaction.
Both intrigued and a touch concerned, he glanced about the laboratory, searching for a mirror. He was sure there was one over on that other workbench . . .
His colleagues retreated as he approached, lab coats twitching about their knees as they shuffled away. Phineas arched a brow. Law, how bad was this rash?
When finally he held up the mirror, Phineas narrowed his eyes, tilting it this way and that to get a better look. Oh yes, there was quite a prominent red mark there. It appeared faintly purpleish at the edges and the shape was really quite reminiscent of . . .
He flushed scarlet under the fluorescent lights, the sudden memory of strong arms about his waist and hot breath at his neck tumbling into his mind. He’d groaned Jaq’s name loud enough to echo about the Captain’s cabin when their mouth had met his skin, sucking at him hard. Hard enough to bruise, apparently.
“Everything alright, Doctor Welles?”
Phineas cleared his throat.
“Yes, yes, quite alright! Nothing to worry about.”
His colleagues appeared unconvinced, still keeping their distance. He fought down a strange urge to giggle in response and bit his lip.
“It’s simply a uhh, a well . . . it’s just a few damaged capillaries, you see. From rather . . . rather intense erm . . . suction.”
The three scientists blinked at him, apparently still none the wiser. Phineas pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Oh for law’s sake, have none of you ever had a love-bite before?” he grumbled.
“A . . ? Oh!”
Now Linnaeus had turned an interesting shade of red, flanked by his equally as startled co-workers. Phineas rolled his eyes when the youngest of the three sniggered, immediately stifling the noise with a hand.
“Yes, yes, it’s very amusing,” he muttered and tugged the neck of his lab scrubs higher. Next time, he’d request Jaq find a more subtle spot for expressing their enthusiasm.
“Now back to work,” he said and marched back to his microscope.
As his colleagues returned to their tasks, Phineas traced his fingers over the delightful memento, a smug smile tugging at his lips. He’d return the favour later.
I'm going to be attempting to write something for most of the @flufftober2021 prompts list this month. All fics will be for Jaq and Phineas and I'm intending to set some in the various AU's I'm working on.
“Better luck next time bud!” the moustachioed stallholder called, giving a jaunty wave to the young men grumbling and shuffling away, their pockets lighter on bits and their pride clearly dented by their poor showing.
Jaq had been eyeing the shooting gallery with interest whilst Phineas worked his way to the front of the queue for candyfloss. Like most games at Fallbrook fair, it was quite clearly rigged. Not one person had come away with a prize yet and the sympathetic commentary of the big man leaning on the counter was accented with a gleeful smile. His chuckle cut through the thump and rattle of the nearby amusements and Jaq rolled their eyes as another group of hapless young Byzantine tourists, dressed in their finest attempts at outlaw attire, jostled for a turn.
“Thinking of giving it a try?”
Jaq turned to see Phineas stood beside them, a smirk arching his lips and a great flock of candyfloss the size of his head and precisely as fluffy as his hair clutched in one hand. He munched happily on it as he nodded towards where the crack of the pellet rifles was sounding again.
“It’s a fix,” Jaq said, taking a bite of the proffered floss. The sticky, sugary fibres melted on their tongue and flooded their mouth with purpleberry.
“Of course,” Phineas replied, linking his arm through theirs once more and tucking in closer to their side as a particularly raucous group of individuals made their way past. “But then you are especially talented when it comes to beating the odds.”
Jaq grinned at that and puffed out their chest. Well, maybe it was worth a go?
“Step right up, step right up! Try your hand at felling the fearsome beasts of the wildlands and you could win a prize!” the stallholder boomed. His gaze met Jaq’s for a second and his arms sprung wide. “Say, you there! You look like a marksman if ever I’ve seen one! Think you can win a prize for your silver-haired gentleman?”
Phineas snorted at that. “Well, dear?” he asked, an eyebrow raised at them.
Jaq stepped up to the counter, digging about in their pocket for a frankly obscene amount of bits. The stallholder grinned as they lifted the rifle, fitting the wooden stock firmly against their shoulder and peering down the sight at the miniature mantisaur cut-outs that served as targets. There were three rows of them, all lined up against a backdrop painted the colour of the Monarch sky. Most barely appeared to have a scratch.
“You’ve got six shots. The more beasties you down, the bigger your prize!”
There was a sparkle in the man’s eye as he shifted out of the way, confidently swaggering to the side. Jaq glanced to Phineas. He gave them a thumbs up as he munched away at his cloud of candyfloss.
The first shot pulled just right of the centre target, clipping the edge as Jaq overcompensated for the rigging they’d observed. The barrel must have been tampered with, they thought, as they watched the pellet ping off the backdrop and roll in the dirt. Well, now they knew the score, they could work with this.
The second shot struck right in the centre of the snarling face of the mantisaur, sending the target toppling off the stand. A triumphant laugh sounded from behind them.
Within thirty seconds the rest of the targets had been felled and a beaming Phineas was patting them on the back. Jaq tried their best not to look smug as they replaced the rifle and watched the disgruntled stallholder re-setting his game.
“So, which one do you want?” they asked, eyeing the bundles of stuffed animals hanging below the dancing lights of the sign. The opportunity to present Phineas with a fluffy sprat had them feeling inordinately pleased with themself.
“Perhaps that one?” Phineas suggested, pointing out primal stuffy that looked considerably cuter than any wild ones Jaq had ever encountered. “I think he’d make a rather nice mascot to sit on my desk.”
“Oh no, no, no,” the stallholder said with a tight grin. “You’ve won our top prize – Rocky the raptidon!”
Jaq frowned. There weren’t any raptidon toys in amongst the prizes they could see. There was only the giant mascot wearing a cowboy hat that sat atop the stall. But that was nearly the same size as they were, that couldn’t possibly be . . . oh law, no.
“It’ll make a wonderful feature!” Phineas said in delight as Jaq lugged the gigantic stuffed toy back through town and towards the landing pad. They were garnering wide-eyed looks and stifled giggles as they wrestled with the ridiculous raptidon, its gigantic paws slung around their shoulders so they could at least attempt to see where they were going.
“It’s about the size of our sofa,” they said, the words muffled by faux-fur. There was no way it was going to fit in their room – in fact, it was going to need its own cabin aboard the Unreliable.
“Yes, and Bubbles will love it!” Phineas proclaimed and patted their arm with a hand sticky with candyfloss residue. He peered around the toy to affectionately peck their cheek and Jaq decided they probably could just about find space for their new acquisition.
