boring stuff happens in an office

"Considering how many species are in Alexandria alone, it's a very real possibility that aliens exist too, right? Man, that's so cool. I wanna' fight an alien."

"Dude," Brian gasped, throwing his arms up in excitement. "Thank you for finally saying what we've all been thinking! How freakin' cool would that be?!" He clapped down on Peter's arm, shaking it in solidarity. "I just wanna see one once, y'know? Probably not fight one, though. I couldn't fight shit. I can barely hold a plank. And didn't I beat you in an arm wrestle once?"

“She was helpful. I wouldn’t say cool. Adults are never cool,” Malia commented, shrugging her left shoulder. “No offence. But yeah, her name is Clara. I'm not allowed to call her that, though.” As he continued rambling, she began to frown, clearly lost on where the conversation was going entirely. Brian talked a lot, about several different topics — it was hard focusing on which part she was supposed to reply to. That wasn’t his fault, though, that was just because she was adjusting to conversations as a young adult, and not a child. People spoke to her differently, now.

“Yeah. A teacher picked it out for me, she said it was one of her classes favourites.” Malia shrugged, she didn’t really understand why strangers were helping her. They didn’t know her, so by her own logic, they shouldn't owe her anything. “I like it so far.” And that was true, she did. Peter Pan was fun, he made the daunting task of learning so much seem more bearable. Unlike the way this man slurped on his drink — the sound was loud for her, and extremely irritating. She would have complained, but a moment later he finished.

“A teacher, huh? She sounds cool.” Brian smiled knowingly, familiar with the town's only English teacher. "Her name wouldn't happen to be Clara, would it?" He nodded enthusiastically, agreeing. “Of course! I don’t know if I know anyone who wouldn’t – oh, wait. Alma Coin. She’d have hated it. Too many ultimately happy kids.” Perhaps that comment wasn’t appropriate, but Brian continued on without too much thought.

Malia watched him as he joined her at the table, but didn't comment on it. And although she wouldn’t admit it, she was grateful for his help on that final word, and the following compliment. She hadn't expected anyone to be understanding, considering her age, but the rebels had surprised her. “…Sure. And yeah, first time with any book, really. For a long time anyway.” She shrugged. “How can it be an adventure? You die and then you’re dead. You don't live through anything.”

“Well that’s cool,” he announced, sitting back to appear impressed, drink still in hand. “Books are always fun. But you picked a really fun one to get back into it." The straw made a lot of noise when he reached the end of his smoothie, but he didn’t give up on it, using the time to think about her question. Sighing in satisfaction, he finally put the empty cup down, leaning forward again to get serious. 

Adjusting back to human life was becoming increasingly difficult. Malia was always frustrated, and although her speech was fine, apparently her social cues were completely off. She continued to feel cold without her fur coat, and she had no idea how to read, putting her leagues behind her school peers. If she’d known how hard it would be living like this after eight years in her wolf form, she would have told herself never to travel towards Alexandria, regardless of how thankful she was for the Crescent pack's kindness. Glancing down at a book a teacher called Clara had given her, her eyebrows pressed together, muttering to herself as she attempted to learn. “To… die will be an… aw - awfull - fully? Awfullee big --”

Brian smiled brightly when he realised what she was reading, all his other plans for the day instantly leaving his mind. Sitting down across from her, smoothie in hand, he crossed his elbows on the table, continuing to smile at her. “Big adventure,” he finished with a nod, slurping on the straw. “Y’know, I totally think he’s right. I mean, I haven’t died but.. I get that vibe. You’re doing great, by the way. First time with that book?”

“Hey, man.” Marcus smiled at the stranger, surprised by both the pleasant approach and the question he'd been asked. Most people he'd met thus far weren't so blatant about their recreational drug use, but Marcus passed nothing in the form of judgement. If anything, it was an opportunity. He'd traded out most of his tesserae in exchange for information and weed, coincidentally, but his mouth watered in regret upon glancing at the freshly made sandwich in the man's hand. "I've got one little spliff left. I'll trade you that, and my dealer's name, for the rest of that sandwich." It'd been weeks since he'd had anything decent, and he was currently suffering with a case of the munchies.

Frowning, Brian looked between the stranger and the sandwich, thinking the deal was almost too good to be true. “Dude, seriously? Hell yeah! I’ll even make you another one, if you want. I kinda took a bite of this one, just FYI.” He grinned, holding out the sandwich anyway. “You wanna talk toppings, names, or dealers first?”

“Touché,” he grinned back, already enjoying her energy. “I’m Brian, by the way. But you can call me Elf Brian today,” he added, lifting a hand to salute her. “Magic kind, got it. She can be crafty. But awesome, great, yay! I’ll get started on it right away. Where am I starting, by the way?”

“Oh, hey! I found some super old Christmas decorations… they’re -” Caroline coughed as the dust hit her nose, pushing the light away from herself. “Vintage, right? Super cute. Are you going to help me hang them?” The town certainly could do with some festivity.

Brian held up a hand in scout’s honour. “I don’t trust people who don’t.” He smiled when she did though, already wishing he’d had a teacher like her back in school. He thought maybe he’d have concentrated a little more — but probably not. “Fair point. But Clara, sweet! I’m Brian.” He whistled low at her reply. “English, that’s a pretty big one. Honestly, I didn’t like it much. Kinda funny to me though that the world goes to crap again, comes back all swell, and we still gotta go through English class. Classic, right?”