His expression changed slightly as he was called out by the younger boy. “ Whatever, kid. “ he attempted to simply shrug the statement off.  Even though he never would have cared to admit it, the remark did take a hit towards his ego. “ Oh yeah and where’s yours? “ he quickly retorted. 

That much was true. Veronica chuckled softly before offering up a rather indifferent shrug of her shoulders. “All it takes is one slip up. You let your guard down for one second and you become someone in a horror movie.” She teased before sticking her tongue out at the other in a playful manner. Though a small pout tugged at her lips the moment the other revealed his own woes. It was something she could definitely sympathize with considering her own cosmic break had been a long time coming. “You never know, really. But I still recommend stopping in that shop either way. I think I saw a book on the shelf that was called ‘Satanic Rituals for Dummies’ so you might be in luck.” She paused. “Though it makes me wonder… what do you have to be so stressed out about? You look so young.” Maybe it was her subtle maternal instincts that had blossomed inside of her since she met Ariel. 

Nick had caught his reflection on a shiny surface and couldn’t help but be pleased by what he saw. With the collar of his leather jacket popped he couldn’t help but feel a lot cooler then he ever had. “ You know I never imagined what it would be like to live in the fifties, then again that’s probably for the best you know? I doubt it would have been anything like grease, you get what I’m saying. “ he said, making a face immediately after.  “ Hey, at least I don’t have to imagine how great I would have looked. “ he added with a wink. 

Veronica matched the boy’s scoff, “Tell that to the people in horror movies who are doing seemingly innocent things before getting their insides ripped out.” She really needed to accept the fact that life wasn’t always like it was in the movies. Though maybe that was a difficult pill for her to swallow. She glanced back down at her bracelet once more, twirling it about with her fingers. “I think it did. Until now I hadn’t found anyone who loved me unconditionally like she does.” She mused. “I don’t really think I gave up anything in return for it. Maybe the cosmic plane wanted to give me a break or something because of all the shit I’ve through in the past year or so.”

Veronica arched a brow in amusement, “I’ll give it to you. You’re definitely dedicated to this collection of yours. Plus you’ve got guts if you’re out wandering about in the forest by yourself. The woods on the outskirts of town give me the absolute creeps. They’re the setting of a horror movie waiting to happen.” She teased. As for the mention of Wednesday’s store, she cleared her throat slightly. “It’s definitely a bit creepy. The owner is definitely the thing that makes it weird in a not so interesting way. But, I have bought something from there. It’s a bit lame but…” She lifted her wrist to show off a charm bracelet. “It’s supposed to bring love into your life and it’s worked for me.”

It was probably more than clear at this point that Veronica wasn’t experiencing the same amusement that the boy felt. Instead, she simply let out a hum of acknowledgment as she tilted her head to the side. “How on earth could she consider those things gross?” She knew that she shouldn’t allow her sarcasm to shine through but it was harder than she thought to resist it. “Although I’m kinda curious where you manage to dig these treasures up. You might have some luck in that weird shop downtown run by our local goth girl if you ever get bored or at a loss for ideas when it comes to that collection.”

She took the gift, staring at in silently in awe for a few moments. It wasn’t the first time she had gotten a gift from someone, but it looked so nice, like actual time and thought went into it she couldn’t help but be a little flustered by it. “I love it.” Lola said, fying forward to pull Wybie into a quick hug before she pulled back, eyes wide. “Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t just throw myself at people, I know, I got a little excited. People don’t usually just make me things though. I can’t believe you thought I’d throw it out.” She said, energy quieting a little as she looked back and forth between the gift and Wybie.

“ I can’t believe how much junk my parent’s have in our basement. “ Coraline complained as she tossed a handful of random trinkets into the cardboard box that she had gathered up. Her parents had lazily put her in charge of cleaning out the basement, since they claimed to not have anytime to do so. Not only was it her family’s old things that she had to sort through but also the previous owners of the house. While it was certainly a chore the girl had been hoping to find some cool things she could keep among the junk. Maybe even sell some of it. After all was said and done she had hauled out the large box behind her ready to toss out whatever was deemed useless or just plain old trash. When she caught someone looking at the box she gave them a smirk. “ See something you like? You can keep whatever you want. I was just planning on tossing most of it anyway. “ 

“Yikes, can you learn how to be more polite?” Veronica scoffed but still stepped out of the other’s way nonetheless. No matter how strong the temptation was to keep standing there and pretending as if she hadn’t heard the boy’s request. No matter how annoyed she felt she couldn’t help let her curiosity get to her as she watched him pick up the beetle’s exoskeleton. “I don’t know whether to be intrigued or grossed out. It’s pretty neat though.” She offered a small shrug of her shoulders. “You should keep it though. Do you have like a collection or something?”

“it’s a rattler, no idea about anything else. snapped it up at a yard sale, and an alligator skull,” hella didn’t mind dead things, though she put it down to her job. what was a tiny beetle carcass and a stuffed snake to a cold, dead human being? not much. “if you wanna. i took a picture to show it off at work. you’re scared of reptiles? why? they’re brilliant creatures,”

“Wow, that’s so cool!” He was clearly very intrigued with the dead things. He could be squeamish, but only where blood and guts were involved. “Show me the picture! But, they’re totally weird and creepy and can bite you and kill you,” he said, as if it was obvious. “Their teeth face backward so you can’t pull away and some of them can even eat a whole deer. That means they could eat me and there’s no way I want to deal with that.”

“Yikes?” Aria questioned, an eyebrow raised. She may not have liked being told what to do but she shifted nonetheless. Despite starting slightly put off she held out her hand, offering to take the shell. She wasn’t at all squeamish with things like bugs after all, especially one that was nothing more than a shell. “At the very least I’ll move it to the dirt where it’s meant to disintegrate. i’m sure it’s seconds from falling apart with how long it might have been in the wall.”

Stephanie blinked in surprise as she stepped aside for the younger male to get a proper look at whatever caught his interest, matching his piqued interest when she finally saw what he had spotted. “It is rather peculiar, but fascinating nonetheless. I’ve never seen a beetle’s shell this closely before.” She gingerly took it from the boy’s hand and examined it over. “It feels so fragile for such a strong insect.” She chuckled, glancing up at him. “Are you sure you don’t want to keep it?”

Alicia was waiting for her friend, Jane, to finish up with singing lessons when she heard a voice asking her to move. She was a bit caught off guard at first but did as she was told, stepping aside so the boy who looked to be about her age to do whatever he pleased. Though a look of disgust was quick to distort her features the moment she spotted the shell that the boy held in his hand, “Ew, why the hell would I want that?” She scoffed and stepped backward, not daring to touch it. “Here, take this.” In one swift movement, she pulled a mini bottle of hand-sanitizer from her pocket and offer it out to the boy.

when being given a dead bug was the highlight of her day, hella considered her life at an all-time low. the boy’s enthusiasm for the thing was strange but oddly infectious. “uh, sure,” was all she could say, putting it carefully inside one of her jackets hidden pockets. “i’ll put on my snake. not a real one, i have a taxidermy. this’ll look kinda good near it. thanks, weird kid,”

Wybie was a bit surprised that the woman wasn’t squeamish about the little carcass, but was fairly pleased as well. “a taxidermy snake? that’s pretty cool. what kind of snake is it? can i see it?” he asked. despite his usually reclusive nature, the whole dead snake thing helped him feel a bit more sociable. “if it was a live snake, that would probably be, uh, a bit more not my tune.” in all actuality, he was terrified of live snakes.