& a little pixie dust

Marinette was not expecting someone to question that, so she jumped slightly when the blonde turned to actually pay attention to her. It felt a little bit like whip lash. “Oh uh sure, it’s my native tongue so it would be easy to help you. What other languages do you know?” She was curious French was considered to be fairly easy to pick up but everyone was different.

“You’re a life saver. Truly.” Tiffani offered an exaggerated shrug. “Oh honestly... it’s different enough from the others that it’s harder than I want it to be. Know is maybe a loose term, I’m learning the basics so I’m familiar, not necessarily conversational. Spanish, Portuguese and now French. It’ll look good on your resume, Tiffani, my dad said, so here I am - taking a bunch of language electives in college.”

“Probably the best idea,” Fawn agreed. “Actually, yes! A kitten and a bird — I’m starting to think people around here should have to pass background checks before they’re allowed to own animals. Not that I haven’t thought that before. Of course, the bird was wild, just injured, but the kitten had to come from somewhere…” Chewing her lip, Fawn decided it wasn’t a good time to get into all of that. She was trying to catch up with a friend. “Do they have vegan options for the flower flavors?” Fawn’s eyes lit up. “I have to try that.”

--

“Is that not a thing?” Tiffani asked curiously. She figured you’d need a background check to take care of another being...but then again you don’t have those before getting pregnant so maybe not. “Well, I know they’re both in excellent hands with you. Fawn...their thing is weird flavors. Of course they have vegan options. C’mon, let’s go.” 

He chuckled from the ground looking up at her, “Oh come on Tink, you know I wouldn’t do that. Why else am I the one on the ground covered in dirt and you standing perfect as ever.” Laughing he stood up. Dusting himself off he looked at her, seriously stunning, shaking his head, “Anyways where are you off too?”

“I wish you would stop with the ‘perfect’ stuff, Terrance, you know I’m not,” Tink stated in exasperation, rolling her eyes in a more demonstrative way than usual. “I’m not going to thank you for not pushing me to the ground,” she added as she watched him stand. “I need an iced coffee. And if you wanted to join me I guess that wouldn’t be terrible”

“Uh thanks…” If she was being completely honest she didn’t know if the other didn’t like her already or if this was a normal American conversation starter. But she tried to believe it was the latter sitting down and pulling out her tablet. Pulling up a design she had made in France and hoped to improve, if she was lucky. Looking up from the tablet she nodded, “Yes I do.”

“Oh thank god.” Tiffani turned to face the other woman more directly. “I know we like, just met, but any chance you’d be willing to help a girl out on her French language skills? It’s the fourth romance language I’m learning and I’ll be honest, it’s tripping me up.”

Fawn shrugged. Just because she hadn’t heard of it, that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. “I knew I could count on you! I don’t know, depends on the person. It would probably take a couple of hundred for me,” she joked, “but I’m sure everyone isn’t that selfish. There has to be some Ancient Mesopotamia nut around here somewhere, but tracking them down might be harder than just writing the paper yourself.”

Tiffani sighed, letting the air trill her lips slightly. “I wish you weren’t right about that. I’ll save my money for the next paper. So,” she started, packing up her things. “save any new baby animals lately? What do you say we go grab some ice cream? That place with the weird flavors has some new ones featuring edible flowers.”

Marcus raised a curious eyebrow in response, he wasn’t used to anyone outside of Nova, Axel and Sawyer to agree to his menacing schemes or ideas. He grinned, deciding it more fun to play along than to question it.  “Pink or regular? Do you need a mixer?” he asked, reading his phone to send the text. “By the way there’s no ice.”

“Tonic if you’ve got it,” Caroline started, before truly catching the first question he’d asked. She stared for a moment, face contorted in what could best be described as a questioning grimace. "What in the fuck is pink gin, mate?”

“I have zero to say on the subject. The only thing I don’t get is wearing them as a bracelet with no intention of using it. That to me seems like a huge waste.” He shrugged, wearing a muscle shirt to try and combat the heat. “No argument from me I swear.”

“Luca, Luca, Luca. Sweet, innocent Luca. Sometimes you don’t know whether or not you’re going to need to use it. And they look way more interesting on your wrist than those skinny little elastics.” Done with her hair, Caroline looked to Luca, hands on her hips as she observed him, stating bluntly, “Your arms look good in that shirt. You should keep wearing shirts like that.”

“I’m offended that you think I’d argue.” Farrah pursed her lips, snapped another selfie, frowned and deleted it — she was not understanding this whole ‘influencer’ thing, or how to be successful by taking pictures of her face. Not that she was considering giving up. Fawn Everwood did not raise a quitter. “They’re so much better than thin hair ties. Even bobby pins for that matter. You can color coordinate.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just on edge from people telling me I look like a child all day. News flash, I’m 18, I’m technically still a child. Plus, they’re way better for not leaving that stupid ponytail line on my stupid straight hair.” With Caroline’s full attention on Farrah, she shot a frown in the other’s direction. “What are you doing, love?”

“That’s exactly the point.” he says, turning toward the girl, “why add water to perfectly good espresso? It’s not more caffeine, it’s just a trick to dilute the flavor…”

“So it doesn’t taste like espresso? I don’t know - I’m more of a tea gal, if we’re being honest with ourselves.”

“I wouldn’t know. All I do know is that Nova leaves them scattered all over the house. Then she loses them and buys more. It’s an endless cycles. I feel like i’m drowning in them.”

“Aha, but if she keeps losing them, how are you drowning in them?” Caroline smilled innocently, eyebrow raised to emphasize the question. She loved giving Axel shit. And if he intended on continuing to date her best friend, she’d keep giving him shit - just to keep him honest.