#nesquik cookie

Others under 30: "you are my daaad~ you're my dad! Boogie woogie woogie"😃

Poppy: Hiya, da!

Dog Biscuit: Heya, pops.

Nesquik: Hi, dad!

Dr. Thunder: Are you like the father of me or some shit?

Hello Panda: Dadtective!!

Fireball, who without a doubt woke up like ten minutes ago:

Despite being in separate places, Jambalaya and Nesquik both smile and take small flags out from the pencil holders on their desks, beaming.

Various and respective murmurs and calls of agreement rise up from those who would be considered of a little less importance in the grand scheme of things. Some of them don't talk to you more than that, but a few seem willing to answer more directly.

Spree shrugs as he pushes up his goggles, shutting his blowtorch off for the time being so he can answer you.

"I went to go see it, yeah, and it was really nice but despite what I'm sure were their best efforts, not all the roses were as dethorned as they thought..."

He holds up his mildly bandaged hand with a bit of a grumble.

Jambalaya coughs into his fist and looks away as he tugs at his collar, blushing ever so slightly. It's also worth noting he's got a bouquet of roses in a pretty blue vase on his desk.

"Ah went and Ah won't lie and say Ah didn't have fun, some of the show was just more... surprisin' than other parts."

Nesquik is tending to her own couple of roses, humming one of the songs from the show.

"I wasn't gonna go at first, but then Angel have me a V.I.P. ticket and I just had to. It was super cool! I didn't know you could act, like, theatrically during a trapeze act!"

Caramel Cake Pop Swirl, though still a little offput by your sudden appearance, does seem to calm as he weaves the roses he got into crowns.

"I had no intention of going-I don't really like circuses-but I wanted to finally see what Mister Cakes show is like and see if it really is 'the greatest' like he always says."

He puts the crown on and slips the remaining into a vase.

About an hour or so later and after she had had her fill of all the info she figured she needed, Nesquik takes to walking about the grounds of the Red Bull Rodeo. She is looking around for real and taking in everything she’s seeing, but she’s also looking around for Fireball, glancing this way and that for any sign of the detective.

“-and then Ah clicked my heels, rocketed straight to the ground, and caught the kid before he could hit the ground!”

“Y’R JOKIN’!”

“Hahaha! Ah am not but ye are talkin’ with yer mouth full.”

“Can ya-” A pause. “Can ya blame me?!”

Nesquiks ears turn towards the voices before her head does, but the moment she sees the scene before her, her heart melts.

Fireball and Jambalaya are sitting on the steps that lead up into Jambalayas office trailer, both of them with a plate of cake in their laps and glass of lemonade beside them. They’re exchanging stories back and forth as they eat, giving each other their rapt attention whenever the other is talking. Whatever Fireball has just told has got the cowman stunned and wide eyed as he wipes his mouth with a napkin, very obviously geared up with questions upon questions for him. Fireball looks happy to answer them and that’s unlike him in every regard. The detective liked his mystery, his solitude.

To see him so cheerful and just spilling out answer after answer made Nesquik let out a soft “awww” and put a hand to her heart. She pulls out her phone and snaps a picture of the two of them, her mind already kicking into gear as she hums.

"Okay, first of all, bold of you to assume Fireball can't draw. Second, they are about him!"

She holds one up, revealing that the cover is of a tall cheetah wearing a tattered black trench coat that's looking seriously over the city below. The character looks like a grown version of Rìgh almost, but those orangish-red eyes and that style of the burned and ripped up trench coat can only belong to Fireball.

"How's that?" Nesquik asks, hopping back over to her scattered comics. "Is there some way I don't-"

"There's no need to be sad about it." He smirks. "Ah'm already bent out of shape over it."

"BY THE FIRE SPIRIT!"

Fireball looks at Nesquik, eating another spoonful of cereal.

"You wanna tell it?" He asks, shrugging.

Nesquik looks apprehensive at first, but slowly, she moves toward him to be closer to him. She still doesn't trust any of you yet it seems.

"When I was a kid, a really really bad fire had started in my apartment building. It was devasting and we were all evacuating, but I lost the hold on my dad's hand and got separated from him. He was calling out for me and screaming to be let go so he could get me, but the police were pulling him back. I was so petrified that I didn't move from where I was, calling out for help and looking panicked."

"And then the beam started to break," he says for her when her voice trails off.

"Y-Yeah. A huuuge support beam started to break and fall and I was right underneath it. I thought I was going to die that day." Fireball rubs her back as she sniffles a little, smiling at him. "But then this guy showed up! He came speeding in like a flash of lighting and he threw himself over me, letting the beam fall on him instead. He held it up for so long and he was in so much pain, but he kept talking to me and making sure I wasn't scared."

"My spine had broken upon impact, truthfully, but Ah couldn't let it fall. When they finally lifted the beam up offa' me, Ah was rendered unconscious immediately. Woke up in the hospital with metal in my back-" He points over his shoulder. "-And the knowledge that she was safe after Ah got up against the doctors wishes and went to her room."

Nesquik hugs his arm, pressing her cheek against his shoulder.