John is…he’s feeling good lately. He’s feeling grateful, and he wants to show it so when he has a light afternoon one day, he heads into the woods to go to his altar. It’s not a full visit, he just wants to drop off an offering: one of his bone bead necklaces with a small arrowhead pendant he fashioned the day he made that little metal leaf for—

“Whoah! Elsie?…”

He laughs as she appears from the shadows, all bright red hair and wild enthusiasm as she crows about the mail and waves a paper around. He only barely keeps from plowing into her, but her joy is infectious so his mood stays light.

“Hey, Shortcake—love the hair—hang on, settle. Your dad wrote you a letter? Can I see?…”

When she gives him the paper and lets him read…the further he gets, the more his chest fills with a mix of joy, dread, and anger because that name is back.

Nyarlathotep.

The postscript makes him smile, though—small and as grim as it is warm, especially when he looks up again at Elsie all but vibrating with delight.

“Your dad’s got nothing to worry about: anyone is mean to you? I’ll make sure there isn’t enough left of ‘em to feed to a caterpillar much less turn ‘em into one.” He assures her, handing the letter back to her and reaching out to give Elsie a quick, but tight hug that makes him burn and ache and yearn to bundle this sweet kid back off to the Ranch where she’ll be safe.

Then he remembers her letter, and where he was about to go.

“I’m real glad for you, Elsie—your mom’s been with you, that’s amazing.”