#bergen_county

She unslings her backpack - still taking a glance or two at the cowed dogs - and rummages around for the 'borrowed' tool.

"I mean, if you wanna? I know iron's important to a balanced diet..."

"Nah, go ahead." He says "you need breaking and entering practice."

She beams at him, pleased and proud. She's Doing Crime with her Cool Older Brother!

She sets the bolt cutters against the padlock and.... tries.

ERRRR UGH .. ookay, she might need more arm strength.

A grunt. The blades do manage to bite into the metal, but she doesn't have enough force behind it to actually cut the lock.

Les takes it, and gives a quick snap with the tool, "There."

The dogs, still cowed, stay back despite this violation.

She tries a different grip, and the frustrated little crease between her eyebrows is just like their mother's. It eases when Les helps. She tips a hand from her chin - ASL for "thanks, " gestures for when words might tangle up.

He returns "Welcome." his ASL isn't as good but he learned a few... for reasons.

Amity doesn't have much beyond "please, thanks, sorry" and a collection of one-offs she finds funny. But useful enough!

"I wonder if they're nice doggies off-duty?"

"Mmmph, not sure." he shrugs as they go in and search around. "At least they can get rid of most folks on the job."

"We're not like the others, though. I mean, it's practically a community service, helping us."

Amity pokes around, looking for signs of a bike - or rather, likely, several that could be cobbled together into a functioning bike.

Success she finds.. nope, that's just the front part of a bike, handlebars and a wheel ... still it's a third of the way?

Her brother says "Hey, I think I found a good seat." He offers up one.

"Nice!" Into the backpack it goes!

"When it's all done, I figure i'll get a basket and a flag and a bell and I'll paint it glitter, and it'll be better than Olive and Adriana's bikes and then they'll be jealous when I go riding past them."

"Paint the bike glitter, of course, who paints bells?"

A length of bike chain - broken at one link, but mostly intact - joins the seat. The front-bike is leaned up against the fence.

"We need a back wheel." He mmphs

(Perception plus Alertness or best guess)

/roll 6

She sighs not finding things for a bit and then.. hey, near a worm wriggling on the ground near a pile is... could it be?

"And the rest of a frame, yeah..." She huffs.

Head-tilt, and she shuffles the debris off the top of the pile.

"Careful, you get hurt and it's MY ass," Her brother says. / She shuffles and finds the back wheel and a chunk of frame!

She crows!

He moves to help, "Okay, so we're missing.. a bar? Heck, Mom could probably wield it together."

"Noooo! Mom can't know, Les!"

"You gotta tell her!" She flinches and grimaces as her tongue betrays her.

"I.. huh?" He stops "We've done worse than break into a junkyard sis." He looks down at her with concern, "Why not tell? She's got the skills. Heck, Dad could do it to I bet. he's doing odd jobs all the time."

"It.. she... it's my job.... I..."

She struggles, until she finds a question to ask. "You ever notice the color of Mom's spirals?"

Les stops "Ah... " He says gently, "I don't completely get it, but It's okay. It's okay. I won't tell either of them. You worry about Mom. She's tough, but even she needs help now and then. And you want to help. Because you're a big hearted sap type like dad."

"Egon just hated the farm, and New Jersey's so cheap, and..."

"...and there was the milk and..."

Les ambush hugs HER.

"It . Is . Not. Your. Fault. Hell, it's not even your job. It's okay. And I won't tell."

A miserable little chirp and she buries her face into his shoulder.

He says "Let it out, tears are floodgates that keep us from destroying all around us." A pause "That might just be for redcaps, but you get the idea."

Muffled. "I'm part velociraptor."

"The tail? I hear they regrow." he says sagely.

It's either a hiccup or a laugh, but it's not tears!

No never!

"Now let's grab this junk and go. We'll put it together ourselves or get help from non parental types." He helps her gather the stuff.

"Uh-huh." A little shaky and her eyes are bright and damp, but she smiles.