#.... almost

Hey Vee! Happy Blorbsday! And thank you for giving me something else to focus on besides my irrational anxiety about my manager's trust in me!

So one of Nate's redeeming qualities [that makes up for being a little rich bitch] is that he has complete, utterly devoted faith in Mari. Like, this boy is the definition of a ride-or-die friend.

You definitely wouldn't expect this from someone of Nate's background at all. Mari is from the working classes - her parents are tailors - and one of the first things she did was show up everyone in their class academically. Someone like Nate, who was already near the top of the class and gunning for more prestige, should have taken one look at Mari and stuck up his nose. But he didn't.

No. Nate took a big swig of Stan Mari juice and immediately began following her around - which, admittedly, Mari found incredibly annoying at first. The son of a Senator is following her around, asking her nonstop questions about where she learned x or how she extrapolated y theory, never giving her a moment's rest? Beyond frustrating and mildly worrying. But eventually she realized Nate was asking out of genuine interest and not some new form of hazing, and they became friends. And when she finally shared her theories on the death of magic and the possibility of reviving it, Nate threw his lot in with her without a second thought.

Only to suddenly find the child gone from his arms and- oh hey Zardy! Why you got the kid- wait why you look annoy- BONK!

Annnnnd there Jack goes, knocked onto his ass with this dazed look on his face.

Zardy mutters something about how stupid Jack is under his breath before giving Clover a quick look over then hands them off over to Xeno who proceeds to comfort and calm them down.