𝙼𝚈𝚂𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚈 𝙸𝙽𝙲.

Tamsin was neither particularly out-going or reclusive; he was quiet and kept to himself but he didn’t think twice when someone started to a conversation with him or when he needed to ask something. He was probably an introvert though, in general, everything tired him out – he was tired after waking up, tired after listening to music, tired after going for walk, and tired after talking to strangers. But this? He didn’t have a problem with it. “Ran into server, bumped her tray, and found myself in the direct path of the splash,” he replied with a small shrug. “Nothing exciting.”

Jace winced, but he kept up a light hearted smile. “Ow...” He said, letting out a small breath of a laugh before simply huffing. “Well, it does get a bit crowded here at this hour... It’s kinda why I tend to come earlier and leave quickly." He shrugged. "Though all it got me was an awkward conversation with a drunk guy so I guess I got out lucky," he tried to joke. "Did you at least get a free drink after all that?”

Thanking him as she took the napkins he was holding out she added them to the pile on the counter next to her. “Oh gosh, you’ve certainly got your hands full.” Lindy loved her sisters and she loved being their big sister. But she’s not sure she could have dealt with another sibling on top of Ginny and Abby. “Just two younger sisters.” Of course, now Ginny was the oldest out of all of the Abbott girls, or at least she had the oldest appearance out of all of them. She couldn’t help the pang of guilt that she felt in her chest as she thought about the fact that she was going to outlive her younger sister, but not her baby sister. That wasn’t how it was supposed to be. “We grew up on a ranch, we had all sorts of pets growing up, so we were never lonely.”

Jace laughed a bit, sheepishly smiling and nodding. He always felt like he had people to take care of - his family, his friends, Mystery Inc. (which felt like a combination of both.) But he never minded this. Despite being an orphan, it meant he had no shortage of people to love who loved him too. It was a good thing, no matter how tiring. 

“A ranch?” He blinked. “Wow... I’ve lived here almost my whole life. How was that like? Did you have horses? My little sister loves them.”

“Wow, bananas?” Lexx paused for a moment. “Nope, the only terrifying thing about them is how mortifying it would be to slip on one.” He could just picture it; it’d be just like a cartoon and everyone would cackle at you. Well, and he’d run the risk of turning in anger and trying to eat the cacklers. That would have been a little less amusing to them. “Yeah, no, just mortifying,” he lied easily; he was getting used to that lately.

“Yeah,” he said with a small laugh. Jace shrugged as the guy continued. “... Well, looks gone now.” He scanned the ground before looking back up at him. “I’m-uh Jace by the way.” He introduced himself with a sheepish grin. He was tempted to share his own fears to make the guy feel better, but it was too weird to say it was vampires when most people didn’t think they were real. He couldn’t even be sure the stranger before him wasn’t a vampire himself. 

Sofia’s grin widened, amused (in the most harmless of ways) by his bashfulness. It never ceased to amaze her how apologetic, how timid, how kind some people could be to strangers. She had mostly grown up around people just as bold as her; people who often went so far as to be unkind. She had made a vow to herself to never be that person, to stand up for the people that others might walk over, and she intended to uphold it. 

      “You should probably tell him that. Especially if you’re serious about this girl.”

Jace blinked, nodding. “I am-” he insisted. And he most definitely was. “I’m serious about her, I mean. I’m just, uh... I guess I just try to keep my personal and work life seperate so it doesn’t come up.” Mostly just because it was so intertwined with Mystery Inc. and that wasn’t something he could readily talk about with most. “It’s also still kinda new to talk about... her and I. We’ve been friends since we were kids. Just friends.”

She’d heard the words a thousand times before from him, for all kinds of situations, both actually dangerous and borderline harmless. Still, they didn’t make Jess hesitate any less. Looking at Jace still with fret on her face, she at least gave into the nudge by giving off an overdramatic sigh before flinging herself towards the driver’s side. If anyone should have been nervous here, Jess knew it was probably Jace. He was surprisingly keeping a lid on it though, and for that, she was thankful. She was pretty impressionable after all and it wouldn’t take much of a panic attack on his end for her to throw this whole driving lesson’s thing out the window.

Pulling on the seatbelt and clicking it into place, she rested her foot experimentally on what she knew was the gas pedal, fingers gripping the wheel slowly. “You know, I never thought I’d say this but this would be like a hundred times easier if we had like — a hoard of vampires after us or something. I feel like I’m only good at this kinda stuff when I panic.”

“You have great imagination Jess,” he commented easily. Jess had always been of a more colorful and magical mind then his own. No matter how many people had called him an intellectual prodigy, he still never saw things the way she did. It was one of the first things to really capture his attention as kids and what taught him and inspired him over the years. 

“Maybe a hoard of vampires isn’t a good idea because I don’t want you to panic so... instead, just think of this as a much safer version of Mario Kart. That line over there-” He pointed to the parking lot lines nearest the left of the car. “And the one over there-” He pointed to the parking lot lines nearest the right of the car. “Have bananas. So don’t touch them. Just go straight until where that pole is and then press on the brake.” 

Jace peeked over the edge to where her feet were on the ground by the brake and accelerator and nodded. “Okay, good. And just use your right foot. Your left shouldn’t move - it should just stay to the side... Alright. Now gently press on the accelerator and as soon as you do let your foot hover over the brake. Remember - straight. Hands on the wheel.”

His initial plea had mostly had the opposite of its intended effect – causing those that were looking to turn their heads and pretend they hadn’t heard. Not that Tamsin could really blame them. He wasn’t drunk but the evidence would point to the opposite. Tamsin was just about to turn and leave when he heard a voice from behind. Looking at the stranger, a ghost of a grin curled at his lips – barely noticeable and looking more pained than pleasant. “Thanks. It’d be appreciated,” he replied. “Don’t really feeling like walking home while looking like a took a dip in a pool of beer.”

Jace laughed a little. Over the years, he’d gotten a lot better at talking to weird strangers. As anti-social as he was, he found that talking to others around West Hollow always got him some interesting information he might be about to use for Mystery Inc. Fortunately, this one didn’t seem as drunk as he initially thought he might be. Talking with drunk people was always a lot harder because he was never sure if they were the fun drunks, or the scary ones. “What happened?” 

“It’s okay, I get it.” Lindy said, reaching out a hand to reassure him and then aborting the gesture, instead just holding her hand out for the napkins that he had gathered. She was usually very physical with her reassurances, but it was pretty frowned upon to touch strangers without permission. And rightfully so. “I grew up keeping my younger sisters out of trouble. I’m familiar with the responsibilities that come with being the responsible older sibling.”

Jace smiled sheepishly and handed over the napkins. Finding things in common with people was always nice because it made it easier to talk to them. So he hung on to that. “Really? How many? I got...” He laughed softly. “Um, I got my roady teenage sister, 2 kid brothers and a toddler sister. Also my older sister by a year.” He probably should have mentioned it was an adoptive family, but he didn’t want it to seem as if he loved them any less. Maybe it would come up - maybe it wouldn’t.

Lexx’s cheeks turned a light pink as the realization of how he must have looked settled in. “Yeah, I just really don’t like the tiny little fuckers,” he spoke before realizing how insane that might have sounded. “Tiny hairs and 8 legs, no siree, no thank you,” he told him before willing himself to stop. “I’m Lexx, nice to meet you even if it was because I flailed like a wild octopus.” If only the gods from the heavens above would just take him away already.

Jace couldn’t help but grin and then let out the smallest chuckle in response after the stranger introduced himself. If anyone could relate to awkward, it was the brains of Mystery Inc. He extended a hand. “Jace he introduced himself. “Evolutionary, it’s a sensible fear. I don’t blame you... they’re gross and potentially dangerous. At least it’s more sensible than bananas. There was a kid in middle school who I knew. He was terrified of bananas.”

The mans approach didn’t go unnoticed by Lindy, nor the encouragement he was getting from his friend. Just what she needed on top of everything else today, a boy trying to flirt with her. Because of course dropping the tray and sending napkins couldn’t be the end of it.

“I’m fine, just embarrassed.” Lindy said, relaxing somewhat as he helped gather the napkins. “You didn’t have to come over, you know.” Not that she wasn’t grateful for the help, because the napkins really did seem to be everywhere.

Jace chuckled nervously, straightening back up with the napkins in his hands. “Oh, uh, don’t worry about it. I got about 4 younger siblings and a clumsy older sister, so cleaning after people is like my second nature.” Oh no, that sounded stupid. His smile turned to a bit of a grimace. “I just mean-” He let out a small, breathy laugh to look less like an anti-social mess. “It’s fine. I like helping out.”

Of course, even though his friend had lowered his voice, Sofia heard every word. She had to resist laughing as the encourager passed by —hit that. What an immature, not to mention presumptuous, suggestion. Sofia wasn’t known for being especially picky when it came to who she slept with, but that wasn’t to say she’d go for just anyone. The man who remained at the table wasn’t beyond her standards, but this was not her intention.

In fact, Sofia didn’t know what she intended as she strutted over to him and took a seat at his table, without bothering to ask if she was welcome. She flicked her hair over her shoulder, and watched as the other man rounded a corner, now out of sight. She turned back to face the other, and quirked a single brow. 

      “—He really needs to work on his inside voice.”

Jace’s face turned a bit red and he blinked, beginning to stammer. “Oh, did you-?” Of course she heard that. He laughed nervously. “Yeah, umm... sorry about him. Really. I actually haven’t told him I, um, have a girlfriend now. And yeah, he’d been pestering me about girls since I started working with him. So, again... sorry about that. We didn’t mean to be, you know... really disrespectful.” He turned his head, looking a bit awkward. Ngghh.

Her expression turned into a hard frown at that, not finding it as funny when he joked about dying as she found it when she was the one making the joke. As hypocritical as that was, Jess would own it. It was no secret that she valued her friend’s lives more than she valued her own at this point, even though she’d promised Jace not to do anything outrageously stupid anymore if she could help it. Still, the idea that she could lose any of the people close to her at the snap of some supernatural’s fingers had been lingering on her for the last few weeks like nothing else. If she couldn’t bury herself in school work or tasks like these, then she knew she’d just become obsessed with the fact.

She gave him a look when he mentioned teaching his little sister to drive, the only person in his family who seemed to be able to hold a flame to Jess’s crazy antics. The fact that that girl could legally drive and Jess couldn’t was kind of a punch to the ego, but Jess tried to hide it, instead, casting a look to the steering wheel instead. “Yeah well if this goes catastrophically bad, don’t talk to me or my sympathetic nervous system ever again because we won’t be able to take the embarrassment.”

Jace tried to keep up an encouraging smile and gestured for Jess to take a seat in the driver’s place. “You’ll do fine,” he assured her once more. In reality, he knew it might be somewhat of a mess. But Jess was sufficiently good with her reflexes that it was unlikely they’d die. A little more likely the car might get scratched or worse? Well... he’d already accepted that. 

Once she sat, he moved to the passenger’s seat and hopped in. With a sigh and nod he turned to her a bit. “Okay! First thing’s first... seatbelt. Then turn on the car. Just twist the key in place and get it started. Easy peasy.” He continued to try and stay lighthearted, at least for her sake. But Jace was quickly putting on his own seatbelt now.

Sofia was watching from a distance, smiling at the efforts between the duo. She’d like to see how long this could go on, but simply didn’t have the patience. After taking a breath in, she released a loud cough. She didn’t expect the man to nearly choke nor did she intend it, but rather than recoil, she smiled and waved her fingers at them, entirely unashamed.

Jace swallowed hard on his food and mustered an awkward smile in return before looking back at his co-worker friend. He, however, was glancing down at his phone in distaste and then looked up at Jace. ‘Dude, I gotta call my brother. I’ll see ya soon.’ The man glanced over at the woman and then grinned back at Jace. His voice lowered. ‘Hit that, man.’ He encouraged before getting up and taking off before Jace could protest and certainly before he could explain he was actually in a relationship. Sometimes keeping his private life private did not have it’s perks.

Jace hesitated but, nonetheless, he felt like he had to turn and at least wave over to the stranger. It was probably obvious his friend had gestured to her before so it would be awkward if he didn’t. He raised a hand and smiled sheepishly over at her.

You’d think, for being a ghost and all, Tamsin would be more graceful than he was. If you did, you’d be wrong and he’d still be drenched in alcohol from server’s tray he’d just run into. Sighing, picking at the sodden shirt that was clinging to his skin, he glanced up – noticing multiple sets of eyes on him. Too many people were looking at him for to disappear though the thought was tempting. Instead, he asked; “anyone have a spare shirt I can borrow?”

He’d come simply to pick up a couple things for his dad but it was a moment later some random guy had asked him to sit with him. Not being really good with denying people things, Jace relented. It was a bit chilly so he’d brought his jacket with him. It was when he turned around and saw the other guy drenched, the pity he felt outweighed his desire to not interact or start offering things (like that jacket) to strangers. But he did. Excusing himself from his new drunk friend that was now eyeing a girl on the other side of the bar, Jace made his way over. “Hey. You alright? I come here every friday so you can borrow my jacket and give it back later if you need it… It’s just I wouldn’t go out like that in this weather, you know?” He chuckled sheepishly. “Just being a friendly neighbor.”

The new batch of pastry done and cooled enough to handle Lindy brought the tray from the kitchen to the front of the cafe. Opening the display case she carefully took the treats off the tray, arranging them just so in the display cabinet. She took a step back to admire her work, nodded in satisfaction, and then closed the case again. Grabbing for the tray to head back into the kitchen, she missed and knocked it to the ground. She winced at the ensuring clatter, blushing as the eyes of the few patrons inside the cafe stared at her. “Sorry! I’m sorry!” She called out, ducking down to pick up the tray.

His married co-worker friend didn’t know about Jessica. Jace was always rather private with his personal life, especially since it often involved Mystery Inc. So it wasn’t like he could immediately refuse when his friend started to nudge Jace with a grin, forcing him to get up to go over to the girl. He wanted to help in the first place, literally just to help, but the suggestive nudge just made him feel much more awkward about it. Nonetheless, he swallowed his food and hurried over to help pick up the stray napkins that had been blown off from the displacement of air when the tray had fallen over.

“You alright?” Jace asked her, a small and rather sheepish smile on his face. He started collecting them all in a pile in his hand.

Lexx was just taking a walk, a simple, little walk when all of a sudden he was attacked. He spotted the hairy, multilegged beast in the corner of his eye and let out a high-pitched screech very manly scream as he batted at the thing. “Off, off, off!” he screeched screamed, as he flailed and finally knocked the thing from his shoulder. God, he hated spiders. Taking a deep, calming breath he looked around to find two people staring at him. “Sorry, I uh,” he started timidly, “spider.”

Jace raised his brows and swallowed his food when the stranger spoke. Spider? His lips pursed but he nodded, deciding that made sense. Not a lot of people appreciated spiders, and he could logically understand that. He was wondering whether to say something when his co-worker friend took out his ringing phone. Jace turned in time to hear him mutter something about needing to talk to his wife. ‘Cya later, Jace.’ the man said with a pat on the shoulder as he answered his phone and began to walk off.

Jace turned back to grin sheepishly at the stranger. “Spider, huh? You alright?”