The Magic Box, Friday

[bookbeltof_love]

"Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!" Nina raved to Foomy, who was a happy, burbling goo buddy demon (that she'd stolen and if small geeky boy thought he was getting Foomy back, well, he could fight her for it; she'd win) on her shoulder as she swanned into the Magic Box. "Vette was, like, totally disappointed but oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sure, Foomy couldn't understand Ryl, but she wasn't sure Foomy understood English either and after speaking it all night and the greater part of the day (she was, like, going to keep the shop open way late since she was way, way late thanks to her spaceship adventure) Nina was on a roll.

"I'm the first person from my world to ever go to another world!!!!!! And now I'm the first person ever to see the stars up close like that!!!!!!!! And all the planets!!!!!! And now, Foomy, now I know how to fly a spaceship!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Foomy burbled happily at her.

"Let's see if we can't figure out more demon summoning circles!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Because Nina clearly needed to add that to her repertoire.

The Magic Box is Open!

[And OCD free!]

Comments

[uncertain_dume]

You TOOK MY SHIP.

Hello, Nina. Kanan had no idea where to find you at this hour of the day, but if nothing else, the island's directory had your number.

And so you were getting a text from a rather disgruntled gunslinger.

[bookbeltof_love]

He would be even more disgruntled if he realized her reaction, upon reading that, was to laugh and laugh before she got around to texting him back.

We put it back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan blinked, his eyes crossing a little bit at all those exclamation points.

What was he getting himself into?

That isn't the POINT.

[bookbeltof_love]

She considered that and then shrugged and sent what she'd thought the moment she read it:

?????????????? ??????? ?!?!?!?!?!?!!?! ???????? !!!! ? ?

[uncertain_dume]

WHAT KIND OF TEXT BACK WAS THAT?

Kanan pinched the bridge of his nose and counted to ten.

You're both lucky I don't report you to the troopers. Honestly, what were you thinking?

[bookbeltof_love]

It was the best text back, don't even lie.

Nina made a face at the mention of the Troopers. Ugh, no thanks. Not her style.

Lots of things!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And she, like, totally wasn't going to rat Vette's history out to just anyone, but she was pretty sure that given Kanan was absolutely wild about Hera...

If you're going to yell at me, do it in person, grumpy old bus guy!!!!!!!!! I'm at the magic box!!!!!!!

Drawing chalk circles and references demon summoning guides, because this was the best world.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan gave a heavy sigh. And then, yes, he was making his way to the Magic Box. Because... honestly, now.

At least everything on this island was a short walk?

He did pause and squint around the room a little once he got there, though. Okay, this place felt weird. He shook it off and zeroed in on the girl a moment later, at least.

"So. Ship theft. Really?"

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina rolled her eyes up at him, from where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor, books around her, as well as several increasingly complicated chalk circles, and Foomy pushing a bunch of black onyx beads into a precise little line.

"It's not, like, theft if we give it back!!!!!!!" Honestly, grumpy bus guy.

Did he even speak Ryl?

"It's borrowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan did blink, and then tilt his head a little, and then squint a bit.

Huh.

"It's not borrowing if you don't ask first."

He understood Ryl. He wasn't going to veer into speaking it here. He was far better at being cranky in Basic.

[bookbeltof_love]

"It was a short notice sort of thing," Nina said, not even having the grace to look vaguely apologetic. "And asking is, like, no fun at all!!!!!!!!"

She considered that.

"Would you have said yes??????????"

[uncertain_dume]

"Absolutely not," Kanan replied immediately. "I shouldn't have to encrypt my ship just so a pair of teenagers won't fly off with it, you know."

You know.

That ship he'd flown off with, back when he was a teenager.

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina shrugged, as if that answered that.

"Then why would we ask, have you say no, and then have you on high alert that we were going to try?????????????????"

[uncertain_dume]

"Why did you feel it was so damn important to try in the first place?"

Because hey, guess what, Nina. Now he was on high alert over a whole lot more things.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan located the second of his two hooligans by walking around and looking for her.

He entered the store and began an extremely sarcastic slow clap.

His face said he was unimpressed in the extreme.

[bookbeltof_love]

Ah, yes. Second space dad.

Nina, being much harder to cow than Vette, just blinked up at him from her chalk circles.

And, after a moment, ventured a, "... thanks??????????"

[spectre_alenko]

"Congratulations. It's been an awfully long time since I've known anyone with this kind of lack of sense," Kaidan said flatly. "I thought you two were smart. Guess I should lower that expectation by .. the entire sum of it."

[bookbeltof_love]

"Like??????????"

Nina blinked at him, as if super confused.

"What are you even talking about???????????"

He hadn't accused her of anything yet, so she wasn't admitting to anything.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan arched an eyebrow. Oh, would you like a list?

He held up a finger. "One: You two didn't factor the squirrels into your plan even though you've both read the morning news for them and failed to bribe them. Two: You stole a ship neither of you knows how to fly. You managed to get it up and back in one piece, thank hell for that. Three: Because you didn't know how to fly it, you undoubtedly didn't prepare for the thousand and forty things that could go wrong even before takeoff, much less in atmo or ex-atmo. Four: You didn't know what electricity was when you got here, which means that even if Vette proved she could get the damned thing off the ground, you weren't a capable or even adequate copilot in case something happened. Want me to continue, Nina? Because I have a whole list of reasons and I'm more than happy to unload them all on you. What. The. Hell. Were. You. Two. Thinking?"

[bookbeltof_love]

Huh.

That was... huh.

That was, like, almost like he was worried about them more than he cared about what they'd done.

Huh.

She was also pretty offended--not that he'd be able to see that in her expression--that he thought she wouldn't be able to keep up with anything Vette could do. Nina had learnt an entire language in a handful of months. She had this.

Her blue eyes were huge as she said, "Um, but like, we didn't know anyone would care??????"

Not about them. No one really cared about them. Not here.

[spectre_alenko]

A muscle in Kaidan's jaw tightened and relaxed.

"Explain that."

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina shrugged a little, turning her chalk over in her hands.

"I mean, like, okay, we figured people would care about the ship," she explained, "but not really about... us????????"

So this was interesting.

[spectre_alenko]

"You didn't think I'd care," Kaidan said flatly, "If the stupidly dangerous thing you two pretty little idiots just did got you hurt, got you killed, you don't think I'd care. Tell me, Nina, why you think I hired two kids with no previous experience to work in an electronics shop. Take a real good look at why I'd do that."

The muscle in his jaw worked again. "Then, when you're done looking at that, take another good long look at that guy you think of as a cranky bus driver. The guy who is actually a teacher at your school, whose entire class is about how people can make a positive difference in the lives of others. That guy. You really think he wouldn't care if two students from the school got hurt or dead in his ship? You think that wouldn't destroy him? Because if you thought.. No, you didn't think. We're past assuming either of you put thought into this, so let me flat out tell you that if anything had happened to you two, you would have broken not only my heart but also his. Those are two. I can think of more. Sidon. Prompto. I don't know what other friends you have up there, but those two boys would be devastated too. And you didn't think anyone would care what could have happened?"

He took a breath and the skin around his nostrils went a little white and pinched, but his words were calm. "I don't give a single solitary fuck about what you did. I am angry as hell because of the idiot way you went about it and all of the things you don't even know could have gone wrong. I understand why you did it but that doesn't excuse how much danger you were both in and it doesn't make me one bit less angry about that. I'm both a trained pilot and a combat medic. I know every single thing that could've gone wrong, every single way you could've .. "

Kaidan cut the words off.

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina blinked at him as she processed that.

It... it was something else, about how wrong he was on some things (she highly doubted he actually knew why they'd done it) but also terribly, terribly right in some other ways.

And she wasn't going to point out that she'd taken a job, rather than him hiring her, like, officially.

"Died?" she suggested, since it didn't look like he was going to finish that there. "Or hurt?????? I'm a healer, so if we weren't instantly dead, we'd have been fine on that count, which I realize now you wouldn't have known??????"

So, really, they hadn't been worried about injuries. And death hadn't occurred to them.

As for the rest of that... it made her throat feel weird and tight.

"No," Nina said, more softly than she intended, "we didn't think anyone would care."

[spectre_alenko]

"You need to look up explosive decompression and how fast it happens, if you think a catastrophic accident in space would have left you time to do anything," Kaidan said flatly, "Were you even wearing exosuits? That would have bought you some time, provided you had them tethered in properly and checked to make sure the air tanks had a full reserve and that they were sealed properly."

He wasn't worried about that, there was no way Kanan wouldn't have kept them filled.

"Nina.. the fact you didn't know that 'instantly dead' is exactly what could have happened, and the many ways that could have happened.."

Kaidan's hand shook a little as he scrubbed it over his face.

"I care about you both. I care about Prompto. You're my kids. Of course I care what happens to you. Teenagers always think they're invincible and they always think they know more than adults. Hell, sometimes they're even right, but not this time, kiddo. I get that Vette just got a first-hand reliving of a traumatic childhood courtesy of one of the island's wacky weekends, and I know she was homesick and off her level before even that, so I get it. I get the need to escape and I get that you two probably needed it to be an empowering thing, and believe me that I really get how much sometimes you just need to get off this stupid, backward planet. Just.. next time.. text me or something. I know Vette doesn't have portal privileges, I don't know if you do, but I sure as hell do. You need an escape, come talk to me. We can work something out that isn't likely to get you dead and will still fill whatever needs you've got going on. I don't take it real well when I lose people. I sure as hell wouldn't take it well if I lost one of you three."

[bookbeltof_love]

As far as Nina knew, she had portal privileges, though she hadn't seen much of a need for them.

"There was nothing 'of course' about anyone caring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nina erupted, frustrated and angry because how dare he come in here, acting like he knew everything about them, claiming them. What right did he have?! No one had wanted her before! Not as their kid.

She was no one's kid. Had never been.

"How would we know that??????????? I don't know what you know about Vette but you know nothing about me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"