#bergen_county

At THAT she brightens "YES, we do. That was the next thing. " ANd perhaps to Connor's surprise, she breaks out the mangets and tiny ball bearings in containers and hands them out for various folks to share

Meaning he and Jodie share one

He beams! Now this he can handle.

Indeed, learning about pull and push are much easier when you get to see it work!

The next half hour is a joy, as Connor's hands are kept busy, and his mind engaged by doing

/roll 4

He doesn't even put any of the magnets up his nose, no matter how tempting it might be to pretend it's a piratey piercing. Yarr.

Siv has a lot to answer for there

Jodie actually smiles, but it vanishes if she sees Connor CATCH her smiling

He laughs and smiles easily - and if her smile vanishes, his widens to make up for it.

The bell rings and the teacher says "Recess"

The school system was under a lot of pressure by some locals to keep recess and let the kids PLAY physically, mostly by parents who got tired of kids coming home in a frenzy of pent up destructive energy

Magnets are put away, and the kids are free to rise. Jack moves towrads Connor and takes his shoulder "you okay, buddy? " A lower whisper "Did she kill you? I hear she kills people"

"Oh, yes. She murdered me so dead that it must be Lilly's birthday." He pats his chest. "Don't I look like a little corpsish?"

"Not to bad... " Jack then grins "You're only MOSTLY dead. Come on, let's to play before some else claims the jungle gym"

The jungle gym has been criminally lowered out of fear the kids will hurt themselves

but can still be fun

"Wait...." He turns, looking for Jodie.

Jodie is striding towards the playground but from what he's seen she doesn't play. She sits in a corner and has a fruit roll up.

He trots after her. "Want to climb the jungle gym? We can be the kings of the castle..."

"Look, for some reason, I don't hate your guts" She says as if explaining "But you should know, I'm a people person. I'm sorry Mrs. Trashcan doesn't have a sense of humor" At that she does chuckle "Trashcan. That was funny. Her darn dress is the same color as the ones in the bathroom"

"Then how about swings? We can swing at the same time. You're bigger than me, so I bet you can go REAL high.

"Oh we have a new friend" Lane chimes "Hi. I'm Lane"

"new friends can be tedious but if it makes connor happy" Lily observes

"ANOTHER friend who is a girl?" Jack says "I guess they're not all bad. Hi, I'm Jack"

"Whoa now" Jodie says

"Whoa is for horses "Otto nods sagely

"If you don't like the swings we can also skip rope. " Layne says

"I am better at trip rope." Connor remarks sheepishly.

"I don't like people and you're supposed to be scared of me" Jodie blurts

Lily nods "I share your pain"

"Do you want me to be scared of you?" He asks, curious.

"Well, you're supposed to be" Jodie protests "i'm big, I'm kind of fat, I'm very tall. I got a bad rep."

"We can ACT scared if it makes you feel better? " Cleo suggests quiertly

"Cleo is really good at being scared of things" Lane nods

"It's very flattering" Lily nods to Cleo appreciatively

"I don't know who made up that rule, but I'm not that good at things I'm "sposedta" do."

"I wish I was big like you. You can reach things higher up, and give warmer hugs, and carry snacks. Oh! Do you like snacks? Do you like apples?"

Jodie looks at you all like you're crazy but, then, perhaps with a bit of pooka magic in play she says "I do in fact like apples"

He digs into his lunch bag for the baked apple fritter. "I was saving this for later, but I have lots more at home. I'm not even hungry because Lilly gave me her chicken nuggets." He offers it over, a GEN-U-INE Kerri Original.

She takes it, then sniffs.

And tries it, her eyes light up "is GOOD"

"I got the nuggets from a poultrygeist" Lily observes quietly

Connor giggles!

Otto wags "Fowl ball"

Jodie says "Okay you guys aren't so bad, least.. you got good food."

"The best! Now, if we don't want to play on the jungly gym or swings, we can draw..." He trails off, seeing that some of the older kids have already snagged up all the chalk.

"Or, um, play tag?"

"I don't run" Jodie says

"Oh no problem" Layne pulls out something, SIX piece of chalk in various pastel hues!