fandomtownies | Jeff, God of Biscuits, late Monday afternoon

Zack grinned and ducked into the store. It was good to see that... reverse-chivalry? Something like that? Wasn't dead.

He'd totally buy her a muffin for that.

"After the monsters were taken care of? I had to get hosed off because of the sewer smell, but I figured that was the end of it. And then I found out that I managed to get thrown into detention!" He went wide eyed for a moment there. "I don't remember doing anything to get in trouble. But I went, and they had us cleaning up the mess from Friday. Did you know that 'gator guts cake onto things when they're left overnight to dry?"

It was gross, yes.

"I've heard that sometimes that just happens to people, the random Detention," Dinah said, momentarily very sad that she missed Wet Zack. "I did not know that about 'gator guts, uuugh. I'm so sorry for you that I think I should buy you a monster chocolate chip cookie," she said, bouncing up on her toes and sniffing at the display case. She grinned at him. "Tony scrubbed me down with scrubby-bubbles, so I lucked out that way. I still took a zillion showers, though."

"A shower was part of detention too," Zack laughed, bouncing over to peer into the display case alongside her. "And you really don't have to get me anything, Dinah!"

A beat.

"But those cookies do look good, don't they?"

Twist his rubber arm. Go ahead.

Dinah poked at his ribs, grinning. "We could get ones with M&M's too, as well as chocolate chips. And sodas. I'm pretty thirsty." She grinned and leaned on the counter to smile at the J,GOB guy. "Hi! We need two of those cookies, and two big drinks."

Oh, you better believe Zack was already digging for his wallet.

"Mountain Dew for me!" Bounce! Smirk! Rifle through for a ... twenty? What did that look like again?

They were all green but they were all different. Weird.

"Oh, and I brought your Pixie Stix, Dinah!"

"Yes!" Epic-bounce! "And ooo, Red Alert Mountain Dew for me, if you have it?"

The counter guy smirked, and got both their drinks and cookies. "Thanks! Oh, hey, I said I'd pay," she protested to Zack, pleased he had his wallet out thought, as she opened her little purse. "You got me Pixie Stix! I should treat!"

"Well, I need to get used to all of this money, anyhow," Zack reasoned, pulling out a... one-dollar bill. Oh, for the love of...

"I'm working on it!"

Gil were so much easier. One coin. One denomination. Period.

"Save me?"

Dinah giggled, and put down a ten for the whole order. "The numbers? In the corners?" She reached over to tap the dollar bill he was holding. "See? One. Ten of those equals one with a ten in the corner." She gave him an amused look, and took a slurp of her Mountain Dew. "Very different money back on Gaia?"

"Yeah, really different," Zack agreed, digging through his pocket to pull out one of the gold coins that they used back home. "We call them gil. A gil's a gil."

He shrugged. Sure, it could get heavy, but that was what banks were for. And debit cards. Right? Right!

"Thanks for covering the cookies and stuff. I'll get them next time, okay? Since you showed me how the money works, and all."

"Sure!" Dinah chirped, grabbing her cookie and nibbling on the edge. "Mmmmmm. Still warm." Yay! Third semi-date! Standing tradition for the win! She looked at the gil and blinked. "Wow. I think that's probably worth a lot of money here, if it's really pure gold."

"Well, not pure gold, I don't think." Zack shrugged and held the coin out for her to grab. "Gold is pretty soft, after all. So I think they mix it with something else so it doesn't get all dented in people's pockets. But mostly gold. There's definitely gold in there."

Gold was so not a big deal on Gaia. Clearly.

"Hunh." Dinah fumbled the coin, turning a little pink as she ended up grabbing Zack's fingers, and concentrated intensely on keeping her mental shields up. "Um, wow. Yeah, this feels pretty heavy. It might not be pure, but it's still a lot..." She lead the way over to a booth, and slid in, putting the coin down on the table between them. "So you got paid pretty well from ShinRa?"

"Enough to get by," Zack replied with a shrug, pausing to take a long slurp from his Mountain Dew. Mmmmmmm. Caffeiney. "ShinRa has on-site residency for members of their infantry, SOLDIER, the Turks... People who do stuff like that. So I really just had to feed myself. But they pay isn't really anything to write home about. If I need more, I can just go out and kill a few monsters. They usually have a few gil on them, too."

This was totally normal. Sure. Monsters with money.

Dinah gave him a weird look for that, and took another sip of her soda, still ingesting more sugar. "Okay. Wait. How do the monsters get money?" She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Are they sentient monster-types?"

"Nah. I haven't met a monster who could actually think yet," Zack said, shaking his head and waving a hand dismissively. "I think they get it from people they've eaten or something."

Apparently, a lot of people got themselves eaten, on Gaia.

Or maybe just their wallets did. Who knew?

"Gaia is weirder than most places, note to self," Dinah said, munching into her cookie. And juuust starting to vibrate. "Not that it's not nice, I'm sure! Just, yeah. That's convenient." Bemused, she said, "So, yeah, Detention with showers for you. Woe." She gave him a mock-sadface, and then bounced. "And Pixie Stix!"

"Fandom is the weird place," Zack laughed. "Paper money? Who makes money out of paper?"

Honestly!

"And Pixie Stix!" He set down his drink, held up one finger, and then went rummaging. They had to be there, somewhere.... Aha!

Out of one of his pockets came a paper bag. A very full paper bag. Containing dangerous levels of sugar.

"I saved the kinds that you like!"

Dinah snickered, and said, "Lots of people! Here, anyway." Nom nom nom.

And squeeee! "Oh wow, I haven't had these in forever," Dinah gushed, beaming at Zack. "Thank you so much for remembering!" She immediately ripped one open, tipped it up, and pouuuuuured it down her throat, shuddering a little. "Sweet sweet sweet tart, I think my teeth are vibrating," she said, licking her lips, trying to get all the traces off her mouth. "Mmmmmm!"

And, see, if Zack pulled out his own stash, then... Well. The world would probably end. But it would end happy!

He was going to do just that.

"These things are awesome, aren't they? Flavored sugar! It totally makes up for the fact that I traded weird pieces of paper for them, I think!"

Pineapple was the most awesome flavor ever.

Ever.

"I know! I want to hug the person who came up with these," Dinah said, swigging Red Alert after the Pixie Stix, then wincing. "Ohhh, sugar headache. Best cure: more sugar!"

Somewhere, Turtle realized what she'd done. And prepared her statement for the Press denying responsibility.

"I like the grape, and the strawberry together, and you know, you can put two of these in your mouth at once," Dinah chattered, ripping into two straws and grinning at Zack, then putting them both into her mouth, and swigging it back like alcohol shots. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Two at once? No way!"

There was a moment for a bounce and another grin, and then some more Mountain Dew, and then it was time to test this theory for himself.

"Okay, so I'll try... Lemon. Aaaaaaand...."

...

"Who makes a flavor of candy and then names it Buttberry?"

"Ew." Dinah stared at it, then said, "Probably the same person who came up with Meat Slushies. Throw it awaaaay, Zack. Evil sugar! No!" She pointed at it, eyes gleaming maniacally. "It defiles the other sugar. SLAY IT!"

"It really needs a proper sort of punishment for being a sugar flavor with butt in the name," Zack mused. "You know, it's a shame that we're out of the cabins. That's the kind of flavor that really only belongs in the firepit!"

A pause, then, for consideration.

"I'll eat it for a Mountain Dew refill," he offered, grinning lopsidedly.

"ZACK!" Inside Voice has gone the way of all extinct species now. "Nooo! You! Noooo!" Flail. Dinah stared in fascination. "You wouldn't."

"I would!" Zack said this about as matter-of-factly as a kindergarten kid announcing that he'd eat an earthworm for a quarter. Oh, it was on. "I'll eat two!"

[I don't care if 'buttberry' is the result of a possible Wikipedia hijacking. I am way, way too in love with the possibility of this flavor existing, omg.]

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