---

There it was. The sound that every person in existence emotionally resonated with. Granted, that emotion was usually a mixture of anger and sadness. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BE-- There was a soft clicking sound as the snooze button was pressed. Waking up at 7 AM never got any easier. Annie ripped off her blanket and sat up for a moment, taking in the reality of her situation. It was a school day again. She eventually got off of her bed and walked towards the shower, her joints popping loudly along the way.

CUE SHOWER SCENE

Dryed and dressed in her signature green sweater, Annie headed towards the kitchen, with one thing on her mind: Food. Annie didn't quite know how to use everything in the kitchen, but she knew how to use the most important thing: the Waffle Iron. Two waffles and a big glass of milk later, Annie hopped on her bike to school.

But not before one critical stop. The Eastside Café. Annie's go-to coffee shop, about a block away from the school. As soon as Annie walked in, the young blonde woman behind the counter immediately recognized Annie, and gave her a quick nod, before disappearing for a moment, and reappearing with a large coffee in her hand. The life-giving liquid that Annie ran on in the mornings. That, and it tasted pretty good, too.

---

Homeroom was as monotonous as ever, and seemed to drag on for hours. That's when the teacher reminded them about the field trip. "Oh right. That's today." Annie fished around in her bag, pulling out a salmon colored slip with her mother's signature on it. Annie considered this a day off from school more than anything. Her father used to take her to various places as a young child. Water parks, movie theaters, but very rarely did they go to museums. For someone who relied on old stuff, her father didn't really seem to care about history.

One bus ride later, Annie and the rest of her class arrived at the museum. "Dinosaurs, huh? How fitting." The teacher said roll call and some other stuff Annie didn't really care about, because like any good museum, there was a gift shop. And this particular gift shop, sold coffee. She had finished her coffee in homeroom, and was wide awake now, but another cup might be needed later on. Keeping a mental note of its location, Annie turned her attention back to the museum's other attractions.

Annie had already read the paper that was handed to her about the trip a few days prior. They'd reconvene here in a couple hours, and then leave a couple more hours after that. The students began to disperse, and Annie wondered what to do next, as she walked and wandered around, looking at the various displays. That's when she heard someone ask "How much glue did they have to use to keep it from falling apart?" And without thinking, Annie responded with "Probably not as much as you'd think. They use a sort of super adhesive and expanding foam to hold them together. Or, so I was told." The dinosaur was pretty impressive, all things considered. Though there were all kinds. Big, small, even ones that flew in the sky.

---

WHAM! Danny woke up with a thud. He was dazed, confused, on his floor, and tangled up in his blankets. The first thing Danny did was to take a few dazed and frantic swipes at the air reflexively, as if anticipating an attack. Once he calmed down, it was apparent that he was not woken up to defend against an attacker, he had just fallen out of his race car bed. This happened most mornings, due to the fact that they didn't really make race car beds for adults, so Danny's bed was considerably smaller than what was convenient. Despite it happening so often, Danny was always just as surprised.

He struggles for an embarrassing amount of time with the covers, until finally getting untangled from them. Danny tosses them back onto his bed, now having nothing but a pair of purple boxer shorts to cover him up, Danny begins getting dressed. Faded blue jeans, white shirt, and Hawaiian print over top. Danny takes a deep inhale to ensure his Hawaiian shirt was one of the clean ones. It smelled like air freshener, which meant it was probably clean.

Making his way downstairs, Danny was greeted by the sound of Mystery Science Theater 3000 playing on his family's incredibly small Television, and the deafeningly loud shout-laugh of his father, Dougie Brando. Danny's mother was nowhere to be seen, likely working the morning shift at one of her several jobs. Like a moth to a flame, Danny was drawn to the TV screen. "Which episode's this?" He asked while popping a squat less than two feet away from the screen. "It don't matter what episode this is, you gotta get ready for school, you know, that thing your mother and I are paying for, that thing you keep skipping." Danny shifted his attention away from the TV and towards his father, just in time to notice the brilliantly blonde and broom-like mustache on his upper lip twitch to the left.

Dougie's mustache was his tell, weird as it was. Danny had learned to read his mood based on how twitchy his mustache was. Currently it seemed like he was in a pretty fine mood. This meant Danny could probably try and weasel something outta him. "Bummer. Fine, I'm gettin' ready." Danny trudged into the kitchen to prepare a bowl of cereal. It ended up being half cereal dust, half actual cereal. Danny didn't particularly mind. For a while, the two Brandos sat in silence, only the sound of the television, and the crunching of cereal to accompany them. Danny decided to break the silence "Can I take the car today?" There was a few seconds pause before a response was given. "What? Why d'you need the car? We live near the subway, you walk there every day."

"I like driving the car. It's a nice car." Dougie let out an immediate grumble, followed by two mustache twitches. "I know it's a nice car, I'm the one who works on that car!" Danny makes his way over to the sink to run some water in his now empty bowl. "Then you're welcome for the compliment. I don't see why you're taking this so negatively. Dougie muted the television. "You aren't complimenting me, you're trying to butter me up so you can drive the car!"

"Well, can I?"

"No! That car is like a child to me, I don't want you breaking it."

"Like a child to you? I am a child to you!"

"Yeah? Well the car doesn't sell lighters to middle schoolers!"

"Alright fine! I won't take the car." Danny couldn't really argue that point without falling into a rabbit hole of bad behavior. Another victory in his dad's corner, damn. He tries not to think of his defeat while grabbing his backpack, and slipping on his sandals. Danny was halfway out the door when he heard his dad call out. "Stay safe." He leans back into the house to check if his dad was facing him. Confirming that he was not, Danny makes a face at him before heading out for real.

---

The walk, followed by ride to school were both uneventful. Homeroom was similarly uneventful, but also incredibly boring, as homeroom tended to be. Danny found his feet tapping against the ground in impatience as the teacher spoke at the slowest possible pace. Eventually, the topic of the field trip was brought up. Somehow the school thought a good way to keep their students happy and not bored, was to take them to a damn museum. It was dumbfounding, but also slightly better than not going anywhere. Danny unzips his backpack, and takes out the permission slip signed by his mother. There was a bit of a kerfuffle when he handed it over, as Danny had faked several permission slips in the past. But when the teacher saw it was his mother's signature, he knew it was legit. Danny's sloppy handwriting could be mistaken for his father's, but his mother? Not so much.

The bus ride was over quickly. Danny tended to just zone out in vehicles, and this time was no different. He secured himself a window seat and just stared out of it blankly the entire way there. Not realizing that the person sitting next to him had fallen asleep, and drooled on his shoulder. Leaving a wet mark on his shirt that remained as they headed into the museum. After everyone lined up and sounded off, as if they weren't borderline adults capable of fending for themselves, the students were given their leave to wander off wherever.

While most scattered off to aimlessly trudge through various exhibits, Danny moved with purpose straight towards the gift shop. He had seen a t-shirt of a dinosaur with sunglasses that completely entranced him, and using the money he got from selling middle school kids a bunch of lighters, he could probably afford it. Besides, what else was he gonna do? Look at how people cooked mac n' cheese in the 1800s- actually, that sounded pretty interesting to him. But it could wait until after he bought the sweet shirt.

Rich cracked three eggs on the side of the frying pan, allowing the contents to land with a furious sizzling sound onto the metal surface. She had been awake since 5:00 AM, a tradition that she had upheld ever since she was in elementary school, and had spent the last few hours preparing for the day that laid ahead of her with intense fervor. Rich counted off her tasks in her head, seemingly going down an imaginary checklist - she'd showered and applied all the makeup she deemed necessary, her bed was made and looked as if no one had ever slept in it before, her hair and clothes were in perfect order, she had her wallet and lighter in her pocket, and her bag with all of her school supplies was slung over a nearby chair.

Pretty successful, considering it was only 6:00 am. Rich smirked smugly at the fact she had already completed most of her morning routine so quickly, considering she had so much extra time until classes started. Having extra time was a beautiful thing - Rich could make herself an extra nice lunch, check over the homework she barely focused on last night, or even arrive at school early and stalk the halls for easy ways to get some quick cash. Who knows what kind of stuff was left lying around in the early morning in Linden.

"Ugh..."

Rich's smirk disappeared almost as soon as she heard the groaning coming from nearby. A door creaked open, and a woman with unkempt brown hair and dressed in casual clothes stumbled out of the room she was in. Rich's mother had an hour before she needed to clock into her job, and she was only just waking up - Rich would have sighed if she hadn't grown accustomed to this.

"Morning mother - I'm making breakfast, so you can start getting dressed."

Of course, Rich's mother instead simply sat at the table, resting her head against her arm and trying desperately to stay awake. Rich frowned when she saw this. Her mother worked 14 hours yesterday, 2 more hours than usual - it was to be expected that she'd be exhausted. Rich turned on the coffee maker as she cooked.

"Are you excited that today is Friday?"

Rich didn't hear a response, which probably meant that her mother probably nodded her head or used some other nonverbal cue. She didn't press the issue further - if her mother didn't want to talk, then it was best that they didn't talk this morning. Rich finished making the scrambled eggs and coffee and slid bread into the toaster as she made her mother a plate. Rich didn't eat breakfast most of the time, and today was no different - instead, she made herself a lunch using about a third of the scrambled eggs that remained, scooping it into a Tupperware container and grabbing some fruits to go along with her lunch.

"...Thanks for breakfast."

Rich paused, fridge door open. She didn't respond. A few seconds later, the toaster buzzing broker her from her trance. Rich grabbed her bag and made a beeline for the exit.

"Have a good time at work."

---

Rich paused as she was making her way to school. She loved taking the path she took to school - it added an extra 5 minutes to the time it took her to walk there, but it allowed her to observe the object of her dreams. In front of her, behind the glass of the motorcycle dealership, was the brand new 1999 Honda CBR600F4X. The fact that Rich remembered that name when she couldn't care less about cars was a testament to how much she loved that bike. She shook her head and kept walking to school after staring for a few minutes.

While she loved the bike, her license didn't allow her to drive motorcycles in the city. And even if she could drive it to school or work, it was far too expensive to only be driven rarely. She simply kept walking to school, resigning to having to wait a few months until she could upgrade her license.

---

Rich got to school two hours early and, as expected, the school was very empty. Rich spent her time going over her homework, and by the time classes were actually starting, she felt very confident that she would get at least a B. Classes went normally for a short while, but when the time came, students started filing out onto buses. Rich was one of them, eager to avoid the rest of her classes for the day.

Rich chatted with the person sitting next to her on the bus ride, but the ride to the museum was uneventful, to say the least. By the time they finally arrived, Rich was actually looking forward to looking at a bunch of bones. They accounted for everyone and made sure attendance was normal before all the teenagers were let loose to explore the museum. Rich found dinosaurs to be boring, and while many of her fellow students were going towards the gift shop to waste their money on knick-knacks, Rich couldn't think of a good way to take advantage of the situation. Besides, she couldn't even begin to explain how dull she found the stuff they filled gift shops with.

Instead, Rich made her way to the one exhibit that interested her - the exhibit on gemstones. People who knew Rich might have been a bit skeptical and nervous that she was going into an exhibit with such expensive items, but Rich didn't have any bad intentions by it. Honest, she just wanted to see something more interesting than dirty bones and taxadermied animals!

...And it didn't hurt that the gems were under very heavy protection. Even with Rich's special power, there was no chance she could steal something like that without anyone noticing.

---

Aela's usual morning routine was to awake to the sound of exotic birds crying within the tranquil beats of drums and flutes. Relaxing sounds that would make most people beg for more rest woke Aela out of her sleep in a calm mental state. Whether it was a bad dream or a nightmare she soon was over it. Her pink pajamas with white rabbits were in full display as she pulled the sheets from over her. Nearly springing out of her bed and into a morning stretch. Her rooms carpet was a bit fuzzy and a few grey tints away from being white. Her mirror and dresser were very similar to a Hollywood wardrobe. Her makeup supplies, hair supplies, skin care and right next to the dresser was her closet. Everything she needed to be prepared for the day. Her room had only a single painting of a field of flowers being over looked by mountains. The window was where she really enjoyed the view. The city from the high rise apartment was beautiful in the early morning. "School starts at 9 but here I am up at 7 and it's still so loud outside... I love the cities spirit!" He opened the window and rested her elbow on the edge.

Hubs of human activity, Aela thought, was where the most spiritual energy resonated. Much like an ant hill where they were born, lived, and died. The city was brimming with life. It didn't bother her at all that most of it was artificial. Electricity, gas, it all was powered by human spirit not the other way around. She moved by the call from one of her family members below. She cut the nature sounds off from her clock and stepped out of her room to join her family.

"Morning." She said mid yawn. Her hair was still disheveled and her furry bunny slippers were dragging her to the table with a variety of fresh fruit sitting in a bowl. She grabbed a peach and walked it over to the sink to rinse it off. Sitting at the dining room table across the shiny white tiles of the kitchen floor was her dad, mom and brother. Her father was reading a news article while sipping coffee and sitting on a stool, occasionally he bit into a piece of toast and a orange slice was tossed in as well. He wore thick rimmed glasses and a button down collared shirt. The usual attire of a high end salary man with a cushioned position. He was clean and trimmed, a contrast to his wife. Aela's mom wore long dreads with pink ends all tied into a bun and wrapped in a golden and black cloth with all sorts of patterns on it. Her dress was like a long tunic and around her neck was a natural looking necklace having a obscure pattern for peace in its center. Her moms thick eye brows and lack of makeup just added to her sense of earthy spirituality.

"You're up at a good time." Her dad said not taking his eyes off of the paper. Her mom sipped her tea whilst observing a magazine on health and wellness for people with health and wellness. While her brother ate a full breakfast while simultaneously watching the news on the fat tv. Aela's mother looked up. "Perhaps you're up for some morning yoga?" Aela look at her and shook her head. "Not today I think I'll just meditate a bit. Gotta keep my chakras aligned for my first day back to school." She bit into her peach and had to hold some of the juices from spilling out of her mouth. Her mom chuckled a bit at her daughters natural charm. "That's right dear, I've taught you well." She said proudly sipping her tea.

"Going to get all cleaned up now, thanks for the breakfast!" She swiftly kissed her mom and her dad, gave her brother a rough pat on the head and walked down the hall to her room again where she had her own bathroom to get ready in. A young city girl's dream. Once she was ready and finished meditating she would catch a taxi to school. Bus routes were her last resort to get anywhere.

---

Arriving at school was a bit underwhelming. Instead of some journey to find yourself through the maze of classes each student was given direct locations to go to. She swam in the river of people so to speak, a lone pink fish, and made her way to her homeroom class. There she was informed during her teachers orientation speech that they would be going to a museum. Also she stood for the pledge of allegiance for the first time in a while. She would eventually not recite the pledge, not place a hand over her chest, or stand. But for now she pleased everyone's desire for some continental unity.

The bus ride she spent by a window. It was thankfully very short. She hated being boxed in so close to people. She entered the museum with the others and listened to their teacher who to her delight let their students explore. The objective was to introduce students to history, for those who it may interest. Aela didn't at all find it interesting. I mean, to her the statues looked cool. But most of the creatures looked obviously fake compared to a real animal. Then there were the old rock looking spears. All basic stuff in her opinion. Where were the deity statues? The ceremony knife for sacrificing to their gods. Something resonating with spiritual energy. She wanted to find it if any were to be found here.

"Better find something worth while to look at. You'll likely be taking a test on it." She gently said to her classmates who were kind of lost. Being told what to do was their usual mode this early in the day. She grinned and snickered while walking away. Giving her classmates a bit of a scare this early in the year put her in a good mood. "In fact I see lots of tests in our future." She said while walking away. She was headed to an area with any civilized ancient artifacts in the museum.

---

The alarm clock was put on snooze. For the fourth time that morning. Benjamin decided to reluctantly open his eyes to read the time, and immediately shout out of bed fueled by panic and adrenaline. He was going to be late! How did it manage to get so late without his notice?!

Hastily throwing on a black Wu-tang clan t-shirt and the nearest pants he had to hand, which were sweat pants, Jamin descended the stairs, grabbed his schoolbag, shouted a quick "Ma! I'm late! I'll see you later!" in the direction of the kitchen, and grabbed his jacket. He was already out the door and running along the sidewalk by the time he finished putting it on. There was no way he'd be able to make it in time on foot. Maybe. Maybe just this once...

---

Jamin had arrived at the classroom only a few minutes late, which was notably early for him. However at present he was inside the natural history museum. The bus ride had been uneventful. This whole day was, as far as Jamin was concerned, a write-off. It was an excuse to not be at school. He rummaged through his bag, taking out his headphones and a Sony Walkman, and was about to use them when he overheard one of his classmates remind them that they'll probably be tested on this. He inwardly cursed to himself. She was right, of course. Now that she mentioned it, they definitely would. He watched the student who'd given him this food for thought as she left. Aela Avdol. Not somebody who Jamin thought had any leg to stand on when it came to putting the work in. Not that she had to. She seemed to be naturally talented, while Jamin's approach to scholarly success usually involved playing it cool until the last possible second and then pulling a panicked all-nighter in order to get a B or C.

So, Jamin decided to look around. Most of the things he read were forgotten the moment he took his eyes away from the signs. However, one of the attractions finally caught his attention. It was a little Terracotta toy cart, made in some country he'd never heard the name of, dating back to a number he wouldn't remember BC. Still, it raised a chuckle out of him. Guess even back then, kids played with Hot Wheels.

---

Cyne had slept soundly and found himself waking up at 3 minutes past 6 am. A little later than usual for him, but still in an acceptable range as far as he was concerned. He noted that he had a dreamless night, something that was fairly uncommon for him. Cyne had found that thinking about his dreams and what they meant helped him get through the morning, but he didn't find such solace today as he realised that his aunt had already left for work. Her shifts normally began pretty early but even still, she didn't usually leave the apartment until around half 6. Maybe she'd been called in for an earlier shift. He'd have to ask her when he got back from the school trip.

He did his morning workout and hit the shower straight after. There wasn't much for him to think about, given as he'd lost his normal topic of thought with the loss of his dream, but he refused to sit in silence as he prepared his food. Turning on his aunts small kitchen TV and turning up the volume so he could hear it over the sound of the cooking, he got to work on preparing some bacon and eggs. The news happened to be the channel that was on, something that he didn't have a preference for but didn't care to change given the chances that he'd end up on a worse channel.

Most of what was said was monotonous and not really interesting, but it kept his mind buzzing along as he cooked and ate his food. Something mildly interesting caught his notice however, the emergence of an infamous hacker. Admittedly, he wasn't too interested in the subject as a whole, but what made him take notice was the fact that this was something of a rumour at his school. If something dangerous like this was near him, perhaps he'd have to be more careful. Finishing off his breakfast, he sat his plate in the sink and finished getting ready, putting on his typical uniform-esque outfit before heading out. He liked to look proper and presentable, and honestly didn't have much going in the way for him regarding casual clothing. He'd have to remedy that situation someday.

---

Cyne had an easy commute to school. Whilst he could get there very quickly if he took the bus, he found himself preferring the walk given that it saved him money. Whilst he'd lived in a city before, the Big Apple was an entirely different beast and he found himself enamoured by its size and the chaos that'd fill it from dusk till dawn. He just loved, being the gambler that he is, the idea that anything could happen at any time. Random street fighters at 7am? A guy walking on his hands across a road? This city just had a flair to it that he found hilariously fun.

However, his morning commute today was uneventful. He'd arrived at the school slightly early and found himself irritated already. He barely held himself back during the pledge, but he quickly began fidgeting with a pen that he'd brought to school already. Why was life so insistent on making today mundane. No dream, no street fight, not even a bit of gossip before the roll call. He hoped the rest of the day wouldn't be as boring, and figured if nothing happened on the bus ride then he'd have to make his own entertainment. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened on the bus ride. He sat next to someone he barely knew and exchanged small talk, but the ride was over much faster than Cyne had planned it to be, so no significant conversation happened. Regrettable. He'd have to follow up on his promise now.

He had a look around. He didn't mind dinosaurs, but they weren't exactly his preference. Nor was overpriced novelty goods from the gift shop, though he did think about buying a lunch for later. He spotted a couple of exhibits that interested him, namely the ones on wars and culinary history. Whilst these weren't topics that completely engrossed him, it made him less agitated for the time being. He made sure to make a mental note of what he read too, given he'd overheard something about a test later. Regardless of interest however, he still was bored after 10 minutes or so and found himself aimlessly roaming the museum and spinning a pen in his hand, looking for something fun to do.

---

The gemstones that Rich had checked into were significantly less interesting than she initially assumed. Sure, they were really pretty, and she could definitely see the value in having one... But in the end, they were still stuck behind glass containers. It wasn't the same as holding it, but Rich knew it was obvious that the gems would be behind at least some kind of protection. The thought of using her special ability crossed her mind, but she immediately disregarded the idea. It wouldn't be worth the trouble, especially when selling the stolen gem would be nearly impossible. After another few minutes of looking at the gemstones, she finally grew bored and decided to look elsewhere in the museum.

Even if everywhere else wasn't as interesting, at least walking could help distract her from the trip. She only really decided to come because she wanted to avoid some of the other students at school. She couldn't even try selling anything to anybody - not when the gift shop had that area cornered... and the fact that security would probably escort her away.

Dinosaurs, Mummies, Neanderthals - none of them struck any chords with Rich. Sure, they were interesting at a glance, but Rich preferred things with more tangible existences. The gems still existed, and compared to a fossilized skeleton, were much easier to identify as valuable and sell. Extinct animals and plants meant nothing to her.

As Rich explored the massive museum, the thought of taking notes for the inevitable quiz - another student on the trip said that it was likely, and Rich didn't doubt that. Still, without a syllabus or checklist of things to look at, Rich honestly didn't feel like even trying to study. If it meant spending the entire trip reading pointless pieces of trivia, it probably wasn't worth it.

She passed a few other students, but she only decided to interact with the guy looking at a small toy on display. She wasn't interested in the attraction in the slightest - no, the young man was what Rich was looking at. Honestly, Rich barely knew the guy, but compared to the occasional student she passed by, this was the one with the most personality. Well, Rich was basing that solely off of the fact that he was listening to a Walkman, but at the very least he might be a good way to kill a few hours. She got within his sight and motioned for the man to remove his headphones.

"Pretty lame museum, huh? Wanna help me find something cool to do, chief?"

It was pretty boring in the Museum, but Rich felt that it would be at least tolerable with someone else there. She always felt more comfortable in a pair.

---

Stepping into a gift shop filled Danny with a sense of major nostalgia. He remembered being willing to go through any boring event his parents dragged him to if it meant picking out something cool from a store. Gift shops just happened to be made almost entirely for this purpose, with the rest of the money earned by gift shops coming from tourists. Though, despite having grown up, Danny somehow hadn't become harder to entertain. He was more mature now, sure. But that only meant he was aware that playing hop scotch was about as mindless as fun could go. Not that he liked hop scotch any less now.

So to Danny, the inside of a gift shop was like a den of temptation. His goal? Get in, get the shirt, and get out without wasting all of his money on stickers with crappy puns, or erasers in the shape of old paintings. Shouldn't be too hard, museum gift shops were far from the most exciting, they couldn't even hold a candle to aquarium gift shops. Danny was fairly confident he would not be lead astray-

Woah! twenty marbles for two bucks!? And you could pick whichever style you liked too! And over there, was that a T-Rex plush toy wearing a tiny graduation cap? Dammit! They even had little historical figure paper weights with googly-eyes! Danny takes a staggering step backwards. Sweat dripping down his brow. He had..underestimated this gift shop. Yes, it was clearly more dangerous than anticipated. If Danny wanted to get out with his wallet intact, he'd need a plan.

Danny starts chewing on the nail of his thumb while furrowing his brow. The shirt was what he came in here for, but would he really be satisfied with just the cool dinosaur shirt? But then again, the shirt was the most expensive item. He could get all three of the others for less than the shirt. But it wasn't like he could wear around any of the other prospective purchases..Oh, wait. Danny was missing the easiest possible answer.

Thievery.

The shirt he'd purchase, but the marbles? Logically speaking twenty marbles for two bucks was actually kind of a rip off, regardless of if you could pick the different colors! It wasn't morally bankrupt to rob someone who was robbing others. You could get way more marbles for a tiny price increase. If anything, Danny was more of a Robin Hood type. Except he was both Robin Hood and the poor people Robin Hood was giving to in this instance.

So, Danny takes his coveted shirt off the rack, and while making his way to the counter, 'coincidentally' passes by the marbles. His hand stretches out in a quick and fluid motion, allowing Danny to grab a fistful and pocket them unobserved. Though it wasn't particularly impressive, given that nobody was observing him. He was not in a situation that required a great deal of skill.

Upon approaching the counter, Danny cautiously places the shirt down on it. It was imperative his movements were calm and slow, otherwise the sound of marbles rattling would be totally obvious. "Just the shirt, please." The woman behind the counter gave him a polite but stiff smile. The type of smile most people working a gift shop in a museum would give. It wasn't exactly a dream job after all. She rung him up, and the cash was exchanged.

Danny grabbed the plastic baggie, and took gentle steps towards the exit. Making absolutely certain not to rattle his marble filled pocket. The moment he was out of the gift shop, Danny knew he was home free. He started strolling towards the early settlers exhibit with purpose. No longer afraid to let his stolen marbles rattle. They now rattled freely.

---

"Bastet is the Egyptian goddess of the home, domesticity, women's secrets, cats, fertility, and childbirth. She protected the home from evil spirits and disease, especially diseases associated with women and children..." Aela read the description out loud to herself. Inside the clear polished glass was a black cat statue. It sat as if patiently waiting, which from what she knew of cats was hard to make them do. They may have used a dead cat for reference way back when. A morbid thought. But not one out of place. She walked around the item to see it's every angle. She was intrigued by it and wondered if her parents would let her own a copy of it. To her, it was brimming with spiritual symbolism.

Satisfied Aela now found herself without a purpose. Since it was the new year and all she had a plethora of people to interact with. She wanted to pick someone interesting, different, having a varied future. Or maybe someone like her. As she was imagining her ideal friend she heard the sound of marbles clacking together. She turned her head to not only notice that she had wandered into an entirely different exhibit but to see a straight-up dude walking in sync with the weird clacking sound. She sighed at the sight of him, contemplating ignoring his presence. If not for those damn marbles...

"Come to see what the settlers did without all the genocide and smallpox? Well, look no further than this very Museums watered down history." She said to no one in particular whilst standing straight up as if giving a presentation. Behind her were some old farming and churning tools. As her target audience wasn't alone in the room. But most would ignore her comments. She shot marble boy a mischevious glance and smile.

---

Jamin was going to put his music in, wonder round for a bit, and then hopefully pick up as much as he could in the last twenty minutes so he could hopefully answer one or two of the questions. That was the plan as she slid his headphones over his ears, pressed play, and turned away from the toy cart display with Wu-Tang blaring in his ears.

That's when he noticed one of the girls from his class. The short one with pigtails who shouted a lot and dressed like a soldier sometimes. Jamin didn't have the best memory for the names or nicknames for pupils who weren't his friends but when the rich girl's called 'Rich', that kinda sticks in your head. She gestured for him to remove his headphones, which he did, and then asked him if he'd help her find something cool to do. Jamic shrugged nonchalantly and turned his walkman off.

"Sure. Ain't like I got nothing better to do. What did you have in mind?"

---

Upon completing his victory strut and reaching the early settlers exhibit, Danny noticed one of the people from his class. He didn't tend to pay attention to his classmates on the account of not caring even a little. But he recognized this one as one of the weird ones. Except unlike Danny, who was weird in the sense that people were concerned he was going to attack them in the eyes, this lady was weird in the sense that she was some kind of fortune teller or whatever. Danny only caught bits and pieces of school gossip, so he wasn't sure if he got that right. But that was what he gathered from fragments of conversations heard while hiding underneath the school bleachers and huffing glue.

Other than acknowledging her presence, Danny didn't really make much note of her. Which was why his attention shifted away until it was drawn back by her abruptly talking. He briefly glanced around to try and see who she was talking to, only to find nobody he recognized around. Danny furrows his brows, and scratches his chin. This lady seemed to structure her sentences like she was some type of stage magician. It wasn't until she glanced at Danny that he realized she was talking to him. "Ah, nah. I don't really care about the settlers themselves. With or without the smallpox." Danny strolls over to this stage magician lady, the marbles in his pocket gently clacking together.

"I was actually looking to find this stuff." Danny gestures to right behind her. Pointing right towards the incredibly mundane churning tools, surprisingly. Danny looks dead ahead at the little pedestal things that had information. Did those things have specific names? He nods his head a few times, and then, without looking away, elaborates. "Museums are kinda boring. I don't like looking at historical oil paintings of dead dudes, or anything like that. But seeing how people did stuff without modern technology is kinda cool. I can appreciate people finding shortcuts when they're handicapped." Despite having terrible grades and being considered a slacker, Danny was a big fan of creative solutions to problems. Which was somehow what he took away from old-timey butter churns. It was a weird comparison to draw for sure.

"Whaddabout you? You into uhh.." Danny looks over at the farming tools, as they were the other portion of that particular display. "Early versions of irrigation farms?" Danny's tone was dry and deadpan, only for him to frown immediately after finishing his sarcastic question. "Damn, that's actually interesting."

---

Well the girl certainly seemed impressed by her random knowledge of how they kept dinosaur bones together. Where did she here about that anyways? It was probably some random bit of information she retained on her last visit to a museum. But it was whatever. So her name was Jocelyn huh? Didn't ring much of a bell but hey, she seemed at least somewhat interesting. Well, My name's Annie. Annie Ohkae. Coffee addict and sweater extraordinaire. I... Don't think we've been in any classes, but you've probably seen me in the hallways at some point. The whole green sweater is kinda my thing."

It was only the last two years years where she had started wearing green sweaters. The story is a bit of a weird one. Her father had wanted to order her ten of them, but instead accidentally ordered a hundred and ten of them. And the rest as we say, it history.

About this time is when another person had approached them. Some blondie she didn't recognize. He pulled out a sketchbook of all things, and began sketching, presumably, the dinosaur. He could always just be super creepy and drawing them. But Annie gave him the benefit of the doubt. But then she heard his name. She let out a half snort as the name "Broccoli" was said. "I'm- I'm sorry, I just... didn't expect that name is all." That was probably going to take a little getting used to, but at least it would be mildly entertaining for a moment.

---

Aela smiled with pleasure at the boys' attention. However, to her dismay, he didn't join in on the fun. He instead spoke in plain simple terms. Even worse he was interested in the old technology the early settlers used hundreds if not thousands of years after natives already discovered it. To her, this was merely a sham of true history, a small portion. America was only alive for a short time, let alone as it is today. She shook her head, still smiling, however. She found his simplicity a bit amusing. "If by interesting you mean disappointing then yes. I'll give it to the Amish though for withholding some of these... treasured traditions." She spoke with her hands a bit and shrugged with the last part. It was kind of hard for her not to show how unimpressed she was at the displays. Even if it scared off her peer she couldn't help it.

She found herself laughing a bit at the thought of Nirvana here finding interest in the simple ways of a past farmer. "Perhaps you should join. The Amish that is." She said with a brief poignant finger. "My theory is that anything your heart desires will direct your path. So farming might already be written into your future." She gave him a bit of a curious smile.

---

Luckily, the guy she was talking to seemed willing to at least humor Rich. That was good - at worst, she'd have someone to bounce ideas off of, and at best, she could actually make this trip into something worth her time instead of an excuse to escape classes. When he inquired what the pair should do, she paused and thought about it. Really, she was expecting him to have something in mind, but asking would be kind of awkward, especially if he didn't have anything he wanted to do...

When Rich realized she was silent for nearly 8 seconds, she laughed very loudly. It was somewhat of a nervous tic she had, but she didn't find it too debilitating in her daily life. Not to mention, it bought her enough time to think of a good plan of action!

"I'm glad you ask, my newfound ally! I am as of yet undecided - Would you prefer to prank some people, or look for something to eat?

Rich thought about it for another few seconds, before her energetic disposition fled.

"Honestly though, anything is better than looking at this ancient stuff..."

Really, at this point, Rich was starting to get a little upset with herself. In her haste to leave her house in the morning, she didn't bring anything with her to even attempt to sell to her classmates, so her chances to make any real profit from this trip were basically nonexistent.

---

Danny's attention was not drawn away from the information about irrigation farms until the magician lady spoke again. He tilted his head back around towards her, moving just enough to crane his neck, but not enough to fully face her. It was like even Danny's posture had been chosen to expend the least energy possible, what with his constant slouch, and traction-less sandals letting him merely pivot in place. His left eyebrow rose slightly, which had to do more with the lady's gestures than her words. She really did act like a magician what with all those hand-gestures. "Disappointing? I dunno about that, my expectations for irrigation farms aren't exactly high. In fact I can pretty confidently state I have no expectations for irrigation farms, past or present." Danny gave a shrug of his own. He didn't consider it to be some marvel of old technology. Just seemed kinda nifty.

"But if that's disappointing, what're you into? Don't say oil paintings, I'll fall asleep. On my feet." He had done it before, so it was only a half-joke. Maybe only a quarter joke, because man he could not care less about paintings of dead people. Not even if he was held at gunpoint, his life on the line, with a Chili Peppers album for him if he managed to. Actually, nah, he probably could care less. Since someone who cared the least probably wouldn't have thought up a hypothetical like that. Stuff was still boring, though.

Before Danny could spiral into his own mind and debate how few craps he gave about old paintings, he was distracted by the magician laughing. He found herself actually taking in her words and considering them. Amish, huh? Danny wasn't the type of person to actually think ahead in life, he always assumed he'd get lead in one direction or another and end up alright. Or at the very least die in an interesting manner. So stuff as life-changing as becoming Amish had never occurred to him. It'd be pretty peaceful, though. "Ehh, nah. Couldn't pull off the fashion. Plus I like video games." Danny liked video games so much, that he had once managed to steal a Street Fighter 2 cabinet once, and was sadly forced to abandon it because it just wouldn't fit in his room. It was one of the saddest moments in his life.

Hold on, she mentioned 'written into his future' didn't she? That was kinda weird. Guess the rumors were true. "Future, huh? So you actually do fortune-teller-y stuff? I figured it was just a rumor annoying gossip-y people spread, like how people say I got a criminal record." Danny hadn't once been caught for his criminal activities. Those chumps had no base for those rumors, even if they were mostly true. It was just coincidence. But if this rumor had some merit to it, Danny was interested. Why? Total curiosity, and nothing more. Magician-y stuff always seemed bogus to Danny, but he wasn't the type of guy prudish enough to not be interested in it regardless.

---

Jamin didn't seem fazed by Rich's long pauses. He was at a loss for any way to liven this trip up either. And he was a patient guy. He just stood there and looked around as Rich unfroze herself. Then she laughed it off with such an air of misplaced confidence that Jamin found it kind of endearing. Still, he felt like he was humoring her more than anything else. Not that he didn't want to hang out. She did have a point. Anything was better than looking at museum pieces all day.

The two suggestions she gave were either pranking people, which ain't cool in Jamin's book. He preferred to let people be. He'd make fun, talk smack sometimes. But that was different. The wrong prank at the wrong time could start a fight. The most making fun would do it make the target surly.

"I'd rather get something to eat, if that's all the same to you. Anyone else coming, or what?"

---

Danny's persona became ever more clear the more Aela spoke with him. She couldn't hide her smile but it was likely he would think it was a part of her constant showmanship. But in truth, she was enjoying this discussion with such a character. If he could awaken to a deeper mindset he could easily shift into a spiritualist lifestyle. Some still called hippies. He was thrifty enough for it. Aela, on the other hand, was far too regal and loved shopping. While not the most material or affluent girl she did have loads of psychic and spiritual items. Almost like a collection with yoga mats and dragon tea. She was quite pristine in her simple black sweater, shoes, and pants. If only she had a magicians hat she could be on stage.

"Games are cool. I'm pretty good at Tetris." She briefly mentioned in reply to his video game comment. Less aware of even what their initial conversation was about. Talking was far more fun than looking around this museum. This early in the year it was quite nice to talk to other new faces. She kind of could tell he didn't entirely understand what she was getting at but it was better that way.

"Well..." She shyly placed her hands behind her back and looked away. She didn't know people were talking about her. But over the years she couldn't help but be a bit showy with her belief in her ability to see people's future. She was warned several times by her parents to not read people's futures. But she couldn't help it, she loved making people believe just as she does. "I don't have my cards. So I would have to do some palm reading." She seemed to be thinking aloud. "Want your fortune read?" She looked to him tilting her head a little. Feigning an innocence in her look.