#rivervale_lodge

***********************************
A glorious morning before work for some of us! And make the most of the slightly cooler temperatures! Gotta keep the skills sharp, stay in trim..... a little driveway b-ball is the answer.

A rattle, rustling noise from the side of the house, near the trashcans.

Adam stops, alert. Racoon? he sneaks up to look.

The lid to one of the cans is askew, and a soft scrabbling sound within.

Eyes bright, Adam peeks in carefully, to avoid a face full of raccoon.

It's dark in there, but... rustle rustle... feathers? Is there a pigeon in there? Then, a pair of eyes gleam, and a surprised HISS.

Adam jerks back, but not away. Crap! -Angry raccoon!

And suddenly the lid is flipped up into his face as something bursts out of the can. Trash is scattered from a ripped bag, the remnants of cheesy casserole spattering everywhere. A round, furry missile, scrabbling too fast for a good glimpse, as it launches off the edge of the can and flaps it's way to the roof before scrambling away.

Wait.... FLAPS?

Adam jerks away again, watching and maybe ready to chase....?

A flick of a ringed tail over the edge of the roof, and out of sight. Maybe he could climb up there, but it would likely be gone. Leaving just a mess behind it.

"Fuck." A soft voice from the next yard over. A scrawny kid leaning against the fence, watching.

Adam looks over. "Oh. Hey
Cool, huh?"

"Yeah, you get critters coming in from the woods around here."

Short, curly brown hair and green eyes. Caucasian male, tall with angular feature, the kind of guy girls swoon over. Athletic build, and holding a basketball.

Also short, longish black hair and pale skin, dark, asian-canted eyes. The kind of guy girls cross to the other side of the hall for. He leans over the fence, peering at the scattered trash for a moment, then glances to Adam again, curious. "I'm Symon, I live over on Applegate." Naming a street not too far away. "I saw the trucks - you just moved in, right?"

"Yeah. Adam. Hey."

A flicker of recognition. "Yeah, you the one who wants to work at the game store? Zane mentioned a new guy. Hey, if you get in there, wanna spot me your discount? I was interested but my dad won't let me have a part time job. He thinks it'll mess with my grades." A scowl. "I paint minis though. If you game, I'd trade you some."

Another spark of intent interest. "Yeah, I know Zane. Seems like a good guy. Got a different job though, now. Zane gave me a lead. Sporting goods store."

"You, uh, game with minis?"

"Oh." Sporting goods.... great. A look of polite interest, but obviously disappointed. He definitely looks more like the chess type than basketball. "Yeah, like, fantasy war games and stuff. And dungeons and dragons." A bit cautious, just in case this jock looks the type to take offense to super-nerds.

A grin splits his face. "Yeah? I was kind of worried no one around here was into that."

A rare grin. "Here, lookit this..." He digs through a pocket and offers over a small figurine. "I don't know if anyone would be interested, but I was thinking of running a campaign, like, what if Guardians got time-skipped or dimension-dropped back to a medieval, like D&D type world..."

He continues, "I couldn't decide if Rocket would be a mage with fireball, but I don't think he's got the INT for that. Maybe a repeating crossbow..."

Adam comes closer and takes it. "Dude, this is really good work!!"

A shrug. It's not -great-, but it is pretty cool... "I just mismash together different pieces from figurines, mostly. Like, Frankenminis. My desk looks like an autopsy board." A grin.

"Wicked." Adam has a likeable grin.

He eyes the other teen again, and kens to see if he might be more... interesting than a normal mortal. Hmmm. Interesting. Something... but not really clear. Maybe keep an eye on this one.

"You starting up a RV High in fall? Maybe we'll be in class together. I got a couple gaming groups going, I pass them off as study groups to get past the 'rents. If you're free I could maybe squeeze you into a spot.

"Oh, man, that would be great! Yeah, I'm starting in the fall." Soft disappointment. "Zane said it didn't suck."

"Want a hand cleaning that up?" a small smirk as he looks over the mess from the split trashbag. "Zane would say that Guantanamo didn't suck if there were cheerleaders there." Stepping around the edge of the fence. Scrawny kid, Adam probably couldn't have squeezed through that space.

Adam grins again with appreciation. "Zane's got that right. Man, his girlfriend is -hot-! Thanks!" He starts cleaning up. "Yeah, he told me about the cheerleaders." Hearty anticipation.

Symon helps out, and in the guise of wiping off his hands on his jeans, pockets a black feather somewhat spattered with old cheese. A souvenir AND a snack. "Yeah, Nadeen's good looking, kinda a bitch though." He pauses and adds quickly. "I mean, uh, we just don't get along. Don't tell him I said that, okay?" A wince, and adds, trying to distract from his faux pas, "I know some of the team, I can maybe introduce you. I have a gaming group with a few of the girls - my best friend practically carries the entire basketball team. She's MVP. Gets all the goals."

"Nadeen? He said her name is Tanya... damn, is that little guy a playa? He's got two girls?!!?"

"Uh." He blinks, and adds, "Sorry, she played in one of my games for a single session as a drop-in, that was her characters name." A snicker. "Yeah, Zane WISHES."

"Oohhhh..." Adam gets it. "No problem. Yeah, Zane mentioned some of them. Uh. Sylvia, Sam, Siv.... any girls here -not- have a name that starts with 'S'?"

"Not really, even my foster-brother's cat has an S Name. It's one of those naked wrinkly things, he calls her "Scrote". A snicker, trusting another teenage boy to understand PROPER humor.

He helps clean up, and heads off, promising to follow up about that game.

Grinning hugely, Adam dribbles and shoots a few times enthusiastically. COOL! Gamers here, all is not lost!

Another voice calls out "SYMON, Anne Marie is looking for you..."

But Symon is gone.

But a stomping sound approaches where Adam is.

It counterpoints the dribble... he catches the ball and looks over.

Broad shouldered, somewhat pug faced, the boy is younger than him by a year or two... but big enough for his age that it almost doesn't matter. Red shit kicker shoes, and carrying a chunk of wood with a nail in it, with a red hat of some sports team. "Symon, you pussy she's got a job for.."

Adam goes back to dribbling.

Then the sunken eyes fall on the new guy "Oh. You seen Symon? Scrawny asian lite guy?"

Adam shrugs.

"Great. Hiding again" A sigh then a look, "Who the hell are you anyway? I don't remember you around here?"