#anywhere

"if I'm doing it, it's gonna be on my terms, right?"

A side glance to Dagmar, and he amends, "Our terms?"

"You're kind of proud, but I guess I understand. Your dad will be proud too I bet , Not like Rutgers is nothing. But you want it your way. You're like a spooky sinatra"

"I wish Trump hadn't ruined that song." He remarks sourly.

Mumbled. "I have an offer at Princeton."

"mmph" A nod then "Look. You guys , I don't mean to drag you down, but I think your plan here for Rutgers is smart. Symon doesn't let others dictate his fate, and that's like important to him. And Sam's not so far from her horses and family and stuff, and has time to sort stuff out with a friend. "

" I think you're both being pretty clever"

"Why would that drag us down?" He narrows his eyes, waiting for the 'but...'

"I meant you looked happier then I asked questions and maybe ruined the buzz" he says Sheepishly

Worried. "Sy, would you be better at an Ivy? You're smart enough for one."

"Fuck no." He shakes his head. "I want what I do to stand for itself, not have people assume things just because some big name picked me out of a barrel."

"Plus..." He smiles thinly. "If I drop out of rutgers, no biggy. If I fail out of Harvard, I'd never hear the end of it."

THAT makes Jimmy snort

"If I quit, they said I wouldn't owe the scholarship back."

"Yeah, no takesy-backsies."

Jimmy grins "Nice. I did get a pretty good scholarship when they found out I was hitting nursing. I think they need more meat for the grinder"

"Well, they're not getting much off me." He pinches his arm, barely more than skin over bone.

She shrugs. "I think you'll make a good mortician. Maybe even a medical examiner? Like, figuring out cause of death?"

"More interesting, maybe, than just embalming all day..."

"My grandmother loves this old show.. Quincy? He was like CSI before there was that kind of show?"

"Oh, embalming gets old. The good stuff is already scooped out, and you're just making the body look good. It's the autopsies and post mortem necropsies that seem fun."

"Yeah, that."

He nods!

"It's too bad ACAB. Having someone who discovered fresh mystery corpses so I can be sure to snag the most interesting ones would be good to have in a back pocket."

She nods, sighing. "I thought about being a cop, but.. yeah."

"A tv cop, that protects people? That sounds nice."

"Dirk might become the regular sort I hear" Jimmy says

"Hey, yeah. He might make it work. If anyone could. At least, I'd like to see the sergeant who could bully HIM."

"A maverick cop, and his contact in the morgue . I think you and your adoptive bro have a tv show in your future after all" Jimmy observes

"You sure you don't want to be a detective? You could really nail the 'under cover' bit."

"I'd be in lock up for three days before they realized I was a cop" he points out

"Don't need a degree to be a fire fighter, either. They do have exercise science though. Seriously."

"Huh, I could see that. Might be like physical therapy related" Jimmy nods

"Fire's a nasty way to go. And almost worse if you survive it."

Grunt.

"But, like... you save people."

"It's the closest thing to being a knight, isn't it?"

"Mom works with this program, it's a summer camp for kids that are burn victims. It's like, the only time some of them can feel normal, where no one is staring at them because everyone there has some scars." He explains, a bit sheepishly. "They work with the fire departments to try to spread safety rules and tips and shit."

"Yeah, and you never hear bout Fire fighters planting evidence, or, like, throwing someone back into the fire." He adds.

"Exactly."

"No one ever wrote a song called 'fuck the fire department'" The piskie mutters in agreement " Ithink snoop dog said that"

"They're good guys. Protectors."

A nod "Oh, sorry guys. " He says "I gotta call my grandmother and let her know how it's going. See you around?"

"Catch you later." He nods.

"Cool meeting you guys" He moves off ,reaching for his phone

A glance over to Dagmar and he takes a seat at a table, prodding at his burger. "Kinda cool to know someone else here."

She nods. "Reassuring."

"Jimmy is good at sorta being there."

"He's a good guy, yeah."

She nods. Burger #1 is already half gone.