Welcome to Gaia! ::

"You're all I have left as well, Monoki. I can assure you, I will stay with you as long as I possibly can."

There was that tightness...

Momo was human. He would die. Hal couldn't follow him to any afterlife that existed.

Mentioning the child he looked back. "Perhaps, though I must admit I am the better looking Hal." he shook his head, letting his hair flop a bit before chuckling and shaking his head. "No, there is nothing else I need help with. You get your rest. Sleep next to Malcom, I'm sure he misses human contact."

"Monoki," Hal started, but the man was already laying down on the floor and bundling up. The android stared before going to his backpack, taking things out before taking out the spare clothes he carried and placing the jacket over the human's legs. "There you go." he murmured, knowing the temperature would drop once the fire went out.

But the android stayed awake, pulling out the ribs finally and cutting them apart, making a pile of large bones while he stripped the meat, wrapping it up in what spare fabric they had. Checking the legs, however, they had to be shifted, Hal wanting them to be as cooked through as possible.

And he sat there, going through memories, recordings, photos, smiling at them, looking at the two gingers and photographing them with his eye. Cujo must have sensed it because his ears perked, android zooming in on him and taking another before looking away. They were, broken, to say the least, their little band of survivors, but they were surviving. And he stood to check on the meat again.

It was Malcom who woke up, stretching and yawning before giving a whine, Hal-wolf licking his face. "no. hal stop.' he said, sitting up and pushing him away. He looked at the other two one leg of meat hanging over the fire and the other partially chopped on, fake Hal on the floor with his eyes closed. Curious, the child stood and walked over to inspect him, shaking him. "I didn't know robots went to sleep too." he took the knife in his hand and looked at the meat, trying to chop off a piece before the wolf ripped some off, offering it to the boy who took it happily.

"Good morning." the boy responded, finishing the meat in his hand and taking some more from the wolf, Hal-Cujo finally ripping off a strip for himself and eating. "Super hungry. So's Hal." he giggled and pointed to the dog who was sniffing around Momo before stealing another bite.

"He's sleeping, I think." All the meat is cooked so he was up late, right?' he asked, taking another bite of the food in his hands. "Mom said to let Dad sleep in if he was up all night." That was why Hal wasn't listening. "Maybe he's having a good dream?"

The eyelids snapped open, pupils dilating before contracting, eyes looking around before he sat up and looked at Momo with concern. "Monoki? Monoki what's wrong? Why are you awake?" But he saw Malcom awake and eating as well as the fox dog creature. "Monoki what is wrong? Your chemical balances for stress are quite high. Did you have a nightmare?"

Hal caught the male, holding him up tight and in a comforting hold, curious as to what caused this. "Waking up? Did I enter sleep mode?" that was impossible, he couldn't remember initiating any start processes for sleep mode, yet his internal clock was telling him that he was out for at least seven hours.

How?

He should not have done that. Nothing started that program why had it started?

"I'm sorry, Momo. I won't do it again." and held him tightly. "I promise it will never happen again."

Hal gently rubbed his back, bringing a finger to his lips to keep Malcom quiet before going back to focusing on Momo. Soon he calmed down, leaving and going to hydrate himself.

"Stew?" Hal couldn't remember mentioning stew, but after a quick inventory of their food items he smiled and nodded. "Yes. We're going to make stew. Let me get to that, let's see." he took the water and quickly rinsed out the pot before bringing the fire back to life, setting the pot on it and filling it up with more water, breaking the bones into fourths and tossing in four.

"What's stew?" Malcom asked, crawling over to watch the process.

"Really? Just water? It sounds so fancy! should we be wasting water with food, though? We need the water to drink, right?" Malcom looked back over at the android before laying down on Momo's lap, curling up quite easily in his crossed legs, watching Hal cook.

the maned wolf was staring at the two, tail wagging as he whined, walking around and snuffling at the child, said child giggling.

"No, stop." and giggled again as the tongue licked at his cheek.

and Hal-Cujo carefully stepped into the lap in the small free space between the curled boy and the crossed ankles, moving is other paw into it and carefully stepping in some more, sniffing at Momo's legs before shifting and sitting on the squealing and giggling child.

"You're butt's in my face, Hal!" and laughed some more trying to push the wagging butt off of him.

Not that the mammal seemed to care he looked comfortable.

Hal himself glanced over and gave a small laugh, deciding to capture the moment with a recording. "How are you doing over there, Momo?"

the wolf leaned against the human, forcing him to lie down, butt still on Malcom but upper body on the human's chest.

After more pushing Hal finally got off both humans, turning around and giving a small roar-bark and hitting the ground with his paws, looking and grabbing an unused bone, trotting back and offering it to Malcom.

"What does frivolous mean?" the boy asked, soon playing tug of war and falling out of his lap, standing and pulling on the bone with all his might.

"Let that boil," Hal said, standing up, "I'm going to fill up these bottles all right? I used the last of the water to fill up the pot."