#anywhere

"Oh jeez. Yeah. I'm a little worried my gift for Jaymes is lame..."

"Like, we were making bird houses in class, everybody had to. I made sure it was blue, though..."

A crinkle of his forehead, consternation. “I thought home ec would be all lame cooking and sewing, but the teacher is showing us how to sharpen knives now. I guess that’s a kitchen skill. Maybe I can do the ones in the kitchen so they’re all keen. Then when I need to borrow one to slice an arm off, they’ll be ready...” musing.

“A bird house would be cool. You have those trees right outside the window...” drifting over to find a good vantage and point. “And from here, that GodCat of yours could watch the birds.”

"He'd let everybody know what was up..."

"I think I might want to give something to everybody..."

"You ever been to a Five Below? I bet Tove could take us."

“That’s cool. You can have this wood if you want it. It’s a free gift anyways, even if you get her something else, it’s like... extra points.” He ponders. “What’s that?”

"It's a store where everything is five bucks or less."

"So, like, we could go?" She sips her cocoa. "You sure you don't wanna give Tove the wood from you?"

“Nah, don’t want people to think I’m getting soft on trolls. That place sounds cool though. Can you help me find something for Siv and Sylvi? You spend more time with them, might have a better idea. For Dirk... I dunno, something he can hit, or maybe a computer game if it’s really violent. I can tell dad he’s doing homework.”

"They have computer games there!"

"I figure something.... fashion-y for Sylvi. Siv... I dunno."

A grin. “Great! I bet the cheap ones are fine because he doesn’t have a lot of attention span anyways.” A snicker, but not too mean spirited. “Uh. Fashion. Um.” He scratches his head. “Black is always in?” He asks hopefully.

"Yeah. Like - maybe nail polish or something? See what they have."

A relieved nod. “Nail polish, that’s easy enough. Because then, any color it is, as long as it doesn’t clash with blue, it should be good. That’s a good idea.” A sideways glance at a Dagmar. “Was there anything you wanted?”

"Um." She chews on a hangnail.

"Comic books, maybe?"

“Comics are always good. Oh, we should go see Aquaman! It looks like it will either be good or hilarious. If you’re not a Marvel purist.”

"I like Batman. And... don't laugh... Superman, too.:

“Batman is cool, the villains are the best of any comics.” He agrees with her readily. “Superman villains are all kinda lame though. I guess they have to try harder to keep up with god-like powers.”

"The villains aren't great. But I just.. I dunno, I like him."

“He’s like Captain America. He’s just... a -good- guy. He’s a good foil for Batman. They’re like opposites, but can still work together when there’s something they can’t figure out alone. The crossovers are pretty good.”

"Totally! I like Cap, too."

"He has the best movies."

“And Bucky was cool once they stopped calling him ‘Bucky’ and he got the cool arm.”

Sipping at his tea, and remembers himself. Maybe it’s the tea itself that prompts the sudden courtesy. “This is good. Thanks.”

"It's just Lipton." A pause. "Bucky is a pretty awful nickname, yeah."

He snickers. “Worse than Scrot?”

"Ok, hard to be worse than Scrot."

"Poor Peach."

“I better get back before anyone knows I snuck out.” A sigh. “You’d think we’re not Wilders. I mean, a curfew of ‘sundown’... for a slug? The concept is bad enough, but it gets dark at like, 4pm now.” Grousing mildly. “Oh, and can you give this to Tove?” He slides a twenty dollar bill over the counter. “I promised to pay her back for the hobby store supplies. And I got plenty from those minis. You’ll see her before I will, I bet.”

"Sure thing. She'll be by tomorrow, I bet."

A thumbs up, and he slurps the rest of the tea. “See you at class, oh. and congrats on the game.”

"Thanks. Yeah, just glad I wasn't the freshman that lost it, you know? We'll be away on Saturday."

“Away where? How far is it?”

"Hackensack, so not far."

“Ah. Cool. Well, lemme know if you want company, right? I don’t cheer but I’ll wave one of those stupid foam hands since no one will recognize me there.”