#bergen_county

"And I pinned the dude, not the weapon."

"Oh, just a gun." Blinking, like a frog trying to dislodge a grain of sand in it's bobble-eye. "Just a gun." He squeaks. It's a good thing he CAN'T raise his voice or surely the parents would hear him just from force of gesticulation alone. "You could have been SHOT. Like, for real! Holy shit, Dags. Hol-leeeee shit."

Stubborn look. "AIn't no asshole gonna shoot my friends."

"...Don't tell my parents? They'll freak out."

"But what if he'd shot MY friend?" Now sounding glum as he shoves his hands in his pockets. "That's what I care about."

"I.. I mean, it happened really fast. I didn't have time to think about it, I just, like, went for it."

A wheeze of a laugh. "Oh, you would. Yeah. I'd not expect anything else. Just... I wish there'd been a way to deal with it before it got to that. I thought I saw..." A shake of his head. "It was just a glimpse of something weird around this kid, but I should have looked into it. And what if I hadn't and you got your ass shot because the worst sluagh in town didn't investigate a mystery?"

"But I didn't."

"You can't predict the future. Fuck, Vali can and he still gets it wrong."

"I can predict the future. I predict I'm gonna find out where they're keeping that snot and teach him not to fuck with my friends, is what I predict." A scowl.

Grunt. "Heard they were gonna put him in an institution."

He winces at that. "That's cold death. Let him rot there, then. Things come out of those more broken then they come in, if at all."

Grunt.

"Piper got all worried about him."

"And maybe.. I mean, yeah, he was bullied. But I ain't gone to shoot up anybody, and I got plenty reason to be pissed off."

"Who? Oh. The babysitter that Anne Marie has a hard on for. Maybe she's one of those save the world bleeding heart types. Fits the profile, she's a vegan or something too."

"She's from California, they're hippies."

A snort. "As long as she doesn't give AM any tie-die ideas. We're too close to yule to risk that."

"Ha! Yeah, no tie-dye for you."

He reaches out tentatively, and pats her on the arm a little. As if to reassure himself that she's there, before pulling back his hand awkwardly. "Hey, I'm just glad you're ok. Not that I was worried or anything." a Dirk imitation, from his shift of pose.

"Course not."

Sylvi approaches just in time to see that gesture. A slight pause before she calls out, "Hey!" and draw near.

"Hey, you want something to eat? There's some mysterious stuff in the back of the fridge."

"Hey Sylvi"

"I have extra practice for ONE lunch period, and you have to get all heroic when I can't watch?" A joke. She's clearly impressed.

He turns and gives Sylvi a nod and half wave, not bothering to say anything until she gets close enough. "Sup? Yeah. she tried to go full martyr but failed."

"I just tackled the guy?"

"I'm way bigger than him, even mortally."

"Newsflash - you're Thor, not Superman. You can't dodge bullets." A pause, and he pulls out his phone and taps away for a second. "At least.. hang on... I'm not sure if Thor is bullet proof..."

"Well, he didn't."

He holds up a hand , giving in." Okay, you're right. Let's just say da'an is on your side, and that's just as good."

"The way I heard it, you were pretty damn dramatic. Like, leaping over furniture and stuff. And you didn't even hurt the guy. That's....I don't know if I'd have had that much restraint."

"At least one good thud on the floor to rattle his brains."

A nod to Sylvi.

"I just wanted to stop him..." She frowns. "Sylvi, you woulda done the same..."

"Yeah, I'd have done something. But you were there, and I wasn't. And the rumors I'm hearing? Well, you're getting full-on hero status."

"And that's from the mortals."

Fidget.

He observes, and whispers, "You know.. I bet if we get to Lucia early, she can waylay those rumors. Or pass something else on. Who else was there? Can we deflect it onto some other poor sap?"

"Siv and Piper and Adam?"

"Yeah, Adam. He likes being fawned over. Say the word and you were just a bystander. I bet we can make it happen."

A sigh. "Yeah, I guess I should have figured you'd freak about that. You deserve them talking about you like this. You are their hero. You saved them. I wish you'd just let them praise you."

"I...I dunno.."

Sylvi shakes her head, her hair fluffing a bit. "I'm actually...kinda jealous. Wish I had been there."

"You woulda done the same. I mean, I've been training...."

"Maybe something smarter, with magic?"

He takes the basket ball, and gives it an awkward shuffle from hand to hand, then bounces it, catching in both hands once more. A toss towards the basket.

It gets high enough, but whiffs, not surprisingly.

A shrug. "Maybe. But I wasn't there. You were."

"Whiff." He says. "If, if, yeah. And if wishes were horses, then poor men would eat steak. We all could have done something. You did. And that's cool." A nod. And the autumn in the back of his head that hisses about the feast of nightmares survivors would have had... he squashes that down.