#c: swimmingwiththefitzes

[efexumukoroxlc]

Efe cocked his head to one side, as if he were really considering this fact for the very first time. "Yeah, yeah...I guess he does. I don't know. Does he have laser eyes? That sounds pretty scary to me. I mean, I like to think I'm pretty strong too, but I can't shoot lasers out of my eyes." He pursed up his lips, voice trailing off. "We'll go with Superman. He's retro. I'm sure he'll be fine. I hear there's a new movie coming too, so maybe I can get ahead of that."

Turning back, he offered a smile. "Oh. Yeah, I've heard of Aquaman. But what can Dolphin do? I know he, like, talks to fish, doesn't he?" Efe wrinkled up his nose. "Maybe you had to have read, like, the prior issue. A lot of these things have been running for years and years. I can't even keep up with the movies, and then...you know, like I said, they keep rebooting them, I guess. Maybe I should get action figures instead, and they can just play whatever they want."

The smile which followed was gentler. "I wasn't really allowed to read them myself. My parents were big on...educational media. If it wasn't teaching me something, I couldn't watch, read, or play it." He knit his brow. "There was a lot of...Reading Rainbow."

"He wears red undergarments over his tights," Billie mused, looking at the hero brightly plastered on some of the walls. "How scary could he be?" But appearances could be wholly deceiving. She knew that better than most. "I suppose he can be scary. Isn't he rather strong?"

She held up the issue she was reading, frowning. "It's..." she sighed. "Aquaman, apparently. He wears orange and has a beard. HIs companion's name, the blonde with-- with grey scales, is apparently Dolphin." She found it a bit ridiculous, the whole thing, and mildly uncomfortable, especially since that particular shade of scales was something she saw every time she got wet, much to her own chagrin. "I don't believe it's very good, but I also don't know what's going on, so that could be... contributing to my opinions."

She scratched the back of her neck, embarrassed. "I'm really a terrible judge of any of this. I don't think I really knew what a comic book was until I was in my teens, and I'd certainly never read one, even after. I'd never watched the movies." She understood so few of the references that she was supposedly robotic. A computer would at least have access and understanding of pop culture, though.

[cantfightmoonlight]

@swimmingwiththefitzes

"Noted. Macing and kicking is a good plan B. Plan A is run like hell, by the way. But, maybe with your help, I could have knife throwing as a Plan C?" She offered up optimistically. Taking the other knife from Billie as she narrowed her eyes back towards the tree and tried to aim the tiniest bit above hers only for her to overshoot it. "Dang it," Bells bottom lip jutted out into a small pout. "That doesn't count! I- I would like a do over please."

[firefighterxefe]

Efe gave a short, understanding nod. "Yeah, I mean, we had a television and all ourselves. But no cable. And my parents didn't really like letting us watch it for too long. Hey! Maybe that's it. Maybe I have no moderation ability now because I never had to have it growing up. Like those kids who aren't allowed to eat candy." A laugh came at his own expense, but really, he did think his television watching was more a result of opportunity than genuine desire. "Well, there is Chicago, of course. Which is where I lived. But it's also a lot of corn. And soybeans, fun fact," Efe grimaced. "But okay! Billie then. Thank you. I like it too. You can call me that if you want. Or just Efe." Crossing his arms at that notion, though, the man gave a weak shrug. "I think we've all had to live that lesson a little too much, don't you? But, oh, uh, yeah. Humans are cutthroat about sports in general. We could make pool life or death. In fact, I've seen pool be life or death." He smiled more brightly. "Really? Okay, great. We can find a few more folks. If you have anyone you'd like to invite, you should. Otherwise, it'll be all the fire brigade. And I love them all dearly. But friendly competition would go out the window."

Billie blinked before smiling, glad she'd actually managed to make him laugh. "It's not really-- I mean, I grew up without one. My dad might turn on the news if we were staying at a hostel with a TV or somewhere nicer, but I didn't really have much control over any of it." It was why she'd always gravitated towards music, and musicals; even if she couldn't see the story performed, most musicals were telling the story straight through the lyrics. It was how Billie really learned to understand the world. She cocked her head to the side. "Is there not much in Illinois, either?" she asked before considering his own question. She'd never really considered her name that much, though Wilhelmina was associated with long nights and longer training sessions and some sort of failed task. "I don't think I prefer Wilhelmina, no. I like Billie just fine. Efetobo is a really nice name, though. I like it." She nodded. "Very grim, and all of them have some sort of lesson, even if it's just that there's danger lurking in unexpected places." The idea of something as mundane as bowling being considered cutthroat was both intriguing and mildly concerning. "Bowling is considered cutthroat?" she asked, a bit absentminded as images of bowling somehow being played with weaponry involved. "I certainly think the Catalyst has tried to take a lot of the security and... enjoyment out of living here. I cannot think of anything better than showing them that they've failed. I think a bowling group would be a good way to start that."

[cantfightmoonlight]

"Hi," Caleb repeated again, giving Billie a small, but reassuring nudge as he did. "Okay, well, then, to Wore-Drobe it is and exactly like the ones Dr. Sattler wears. Figure we should dress the part, right? And, I, uh, very much doubt that. But, the first rule of fun is not to overthink it. The only things you should be asking yourself is does this bring me joy and does this make me laugh or smile? If the answer is yes? You're having fun. If the answer are no, then we pivot and do something else," He promised her, giving her pinky a light squeeze in return. "Now, for my ideas, so option A) we dress up in Dinosaur suits which will conceal our identities so no one will know its us and then we can chase Mateo around the town pretending to be T-Rexs. Option B) Mateo dresses up as the dino and chases us around town dressed up as the characters from the movie. Option C) I either bring a sandbox to you or we can head over to my place. I live on the beach so there is sand in my backyard we can use and I can get us a whole bunch of tiny dinosaur figurines and legos and we can act out the movie with the dinos and destroy the tiny buildings. Option D) we head over to my place where you make yourself comfortable on my couch or on the beach while Mateo and I re-enact the movie for you. Option E) we get dressed up as the characters from the movie and head over to the lab that I work at to try to create our own dinosaurs and, when that fails, we can dress up my pet bunny and mice as dinos and take adorable pictures of them, or Option F) back to the drawing board. So, any of those ideas sound enticing to you or?"

@swimmingwiththefitzes

"Hi," Billie greeted, trying not to appear too nervous. She gave Caleb a smile as well, tentative and small. "We can go to Wore-Drobe, certainly." She shopped there mostly, anyway. It had been pragmatic, when she'd first gotten to Lunar Cove with no money and just some clothes she'd regretfully stolen from a house a few towns over. Now, she just liked it; she liked vintage styles and the worn quality of clothes that were typically thrifted. "Khakis like the ones Dr. Sattler wears?" she asked, her head cocked to the side. "I'm... interested to see what suggestions you have. I've never been good at this. Ah, fun. I'm not really good at having fun. Or coming up with fun ideas," she mumbled. She stared at his pinky for a moment before taking it with her own, linking them together.

(@cantfightmoonlight)

[efexumukoroxlc]

Efe flashed a small, apologetic smile before breaking into a laugh. "See, that's just the thing. I mean, I'd assume as much. Superman is usually pretty...PG maybe. From what I gather? But I feel like everything has a gritty reboot these days? How's someone supposed to know what's normal Superman and what's...scary Superman?"

He sighed, but really, some part of him knew he was winding himself into knots over nothing. Holiday toy drives were naturally not competitions he could or should strive to win. But he really did want to make someone's Christmas a little brighter if he could help it. It was that nagging fear of screwing up holding him back.

"What are you reading? That one any good?" He inquired, craning his neck. Efe almost asked how she was doing, but he held himself back. So much had happened, and he had, at least, witnessed Billie that night. But he knew pressing the matter was not his place. Perhaps casual neighborly conversations like this were more helpful.

Billie had never touched a comic book in her entire life. She only tangentially knew what a superhero even was, having seen glimpses of the movies or heard references being made. Superman could fly. Batman had a strange cape that she thought was horribly ill-suited for his line of work as apparently a billionaire vigilante without powers. Of course, if he figured out a way to utilize it as a weapon, it might perhaps be useful. As it was, though, she could only see it as, at best, a style choice and at worst a hinderance to mobility. So she knew nothing about comics, and yet she was at the comic book store, getting hopelessly lost in images of some brightly colored individuals intermixed with more sinister looking ones, dark greys and shadows punctuated by pops of red. Another attempt to broaden her horizons, since her usual reference to help explain pop culture references didn't want to talk to her, right now. Because Billie was an arsehole.

She was holding up a new-ish run of an Aquaman comic and attempting to not look deeply offended at the character apparently named Dolphin, with her blonde hair and silvered scales, when she heard Efe speak. "I have no idea," she admitted quietly. "I actually don't know who any of these people are. Superman? Superman is child friendly, right? He seems like he smiles a lot."

[firefighterxefe]

Efe raised his brow. "Uh, that's sort of the common notion, I guess, yeah. You ever catch those game shows on TV? People win tropical beach trips left, right, and center. They never send anyone to, like, Ohio. Or Rhode Island. You know what I mean?" Gesturing vaguely around himself, he thought better of the remark as soon as he said it; he did not mean to denigrate Lunar Cove specifically. But his feelings about the town itself grew more and more difficult each day, as though by being here, living in this place, he was avoiding something someplace else. He did not know how to move past it just yet. "Oh, really? Like Bill...or? I guess I never knew their first names. Is Grimm a real last name? Or was it sort of a pun thing?" Shifting a bit in place, he finished up the remainder of his folding and zipped up his laundry bag. "That's a good outlook to have. Very level-headed. But...I still hope you have plenty of much better ahead. I find it's kind of nicer to find yourself living one of your best days, rather than one of your kind of bad-ish ones, yeah?" He laughed, shaking his head. "Well, good. And thank you. Everyone has so much going on, this place can get a little solitary. I find an ear, and I go off. Random question. You, uh, ever go bowling or anything? Is that weird? I'm trying to find people to go with. Not, like, a full league or anything. But I figure recreation among the species might make us all get along again."

Billie wrinkled her nose. "Beaches are considered paradise?" she muttered. That seemed like such a ridiculous notion to her. Beaches were places that she spent the whole time either with sand in her shoes or worried that she was about to get wet and not have legs. To call them paradise seemed a little far fetched, but what would she know? She gave him a smile back, just as weak. "Solvable with a moral lesson for children. That sounds about right. I was actually named after one of the Grimm brothers. At least, that's what I was told. It wasn't my... thing, though." She didn't even know if she had a thing. She nodded. "Werewolf parachute pants, yes. Makes sense." Billie picked at her sleeves. "I really do appreciate that. It's nothing for you to be sorry for." She gave him another small smile. "Really, in the grand scheme of things, I've been through much worse. A brief amount of public humiliation-- which, really, it was just taking photos with children-- isn't that bad." She put her hands up. "No, no you're fine! It's nothing to apologize for! You're not bothering me at all!"

[firefighterxefe]

Efe sighed before managing a genuine laugh. "Good for you. Really. I watch too much. The firehouse can be a little uneven. Every big disaster, we're all on our toes, of course. But in the in-between? And I'm grateful for it, mind you, but it's just TV or weights. And I just washed all these; I'm not looking to go up a t-shirt size." He shrugged. "I don't know what's in Ohio either. Maybe nothing, but I also used to live in Illinois, so...I'm really in no place to talk." He knit his brow. "Ah, okay, that makes sense. Do you, uh, prefer Wilhelmina? I don't think you should apologize for your name. People should get it right. My full name is Efetobo. So, you know, we have about the same number of syllables, yeah?" He smiled sincerely, laughing and nodding in agreement. "They are grim, aren't they? I feel like bad stuff is always happening to the heroes in them. Not just to the bad guys. But...uh, yeah! Here's to better ahead. If you'd like to go, I'm happy to...you know, hang. But, ah! You say all that because you've never been in a league. League bowling is cutthroat," he quipped. "But maybe we and a few others can sort of...form a group. Try to have a good time. Might really tick that Catalyst off to see a few of us just having a normal discounted lane night."

"I, ah, don't watch much reality television. Or tv in general," Billie said, a bit sheepishly. She hadn't even watched any movies recently, and she'd started to enjoy watching movies. "I suppose that makes sense. I don't know what's in Ohio, and the beaches here are decided not tropical." Billie didn't think she'd ever been anywhere actually considered tropical. Her travels had been decidedly well above the equator. She was used to cold waters and colder people. She laughed a little, ducking her head as she folded a pair of trousers and added them to her hamper. "I mean, perhaps his friends called him Bill, maybe. His name was Wilhelm, which, well, my name is Wilhelmina, which is why I go by Billie because Wilhelmina is just a lot and it's a bit difficult for people to get on the first try and no one has ever wanted to say that many syllables in a row for a name without stopping, so. Ah, but, yes, it's a real last name, just German, though I think it makes sense. Those stories were rather grim." She didn't know if her outlook was level-headed, but it was the only one she could really fathom having, at this point. It could have been worse. It had been, actually, a lot and often. "I am... hoping for better, ahead," she said tentatively, letting the truth of it all actually mean something to her. "I think you're right about the solidarity. It's necessary for survival, at this point." Her head cocked to the side. "Bowling?" She did know what that was, as useless as the knowledge was. "I've never been, actually. That's a really lovely idea, though. It's not a contact sport, but it still adds a sense of competitiveness and camaraderie that inspires closeness."

[firefighterxefe]

Efe offered a weak shrug, shoulders heaving with an emotion between resignation and perplexedly. "I mean, I'm not sure it's a requirement. But a lot of those shows are set on the beach, you know? Dating in paradise. Surviving in paradise. Everyone living together in a big house in paradise. Those are kind of the genres. I mean, so I've heard." He flashed a weak smile. "Uh, yeah, I guess so. I think maybe being solvable is a cornerstone of those kinds of stories, you know what I mean? Everything needs to work out or not work out. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a moral. I volunteer for this program, for human kids. Reading is part of it. I don't, like, browse the Grimm collections in my spare time. Not that that would be bad if it was someone's thing!" His brow shot up, but he did realize he was being overzealous in his explanations. "Werewolf parachute pants," Efe decided at last, flashing another weak smile. "Ah, well...I'm, uh, sorry it happened. And glad it all worked out. Or at least I hope it did. I think this Catalyst has mostly succeeded at making us be bad to each other, though. I hate to say it. But I guess I have it easier. Being human, I mean. Not having to be here. I'm sorry. I'm talking a lot, right? Am I bothering you?"

Billie blinked, slightly confused and more than a bit concerned. "Do reality tv stars typically walk around shirtless? Is that a requirement to be on television?" If the thought of being put in front of people or on camera hadn't caused her to shrink before, it certainly did now. What a terrifying thought! She smiled. She knew what Cinderella was. "Couldn't hurt. Find who it fits, solve the fairytale. Can fairytales be solved?" She thought about it. "Fae trousers? Or... werewolf trousers?" She shrugged, looking down at her own clothing, careful to make sure that the buttons on one shirt were all done and that it was folded in such a way as to not leave an unsightly wrinkle. "I don't remember much of the sentencing, to be perfectly honest. I didn't... really pay much attention to what people were saying. I was just really ready to go home."

[firefighterxefe]

"Unless you're a reality television star, I guess. Then you wouldn't even need to wear a shirt," he attempted to joke, but immediately thinking better of himself, Efe lapsed into a sighing explanation. "Someone stole the remote at the firehouse. So we can't change the TV channel. I don't normally watch that stuff. For what it's worth." Looking over his shoulder, he offered a weak half-smile. A laugh echoed from his lips, and he ducked his head, holding up a solitary sock that had apparently lost its partner. He grimaced. "What? Like Cinderella? Should we...should we be looking for the owner door-to-door?" He rolled his eyes with a joking hum. "I guess not. Maybe she has turned over a new leaf, after all. What's the opposite of a vampire tee? A werewolf sweater?" He sighed, crossing his arms and giving up on his missing sock. "Well, I, uh, hope no one's holding anything against you or anything like that. My parents are on the Coalition, so if any stern doctors said anything rude during your sentencing, I would like to formally apologize on behalf of my family."

"I think that's rather reasonable," Billie said, smiling. "A shirt wouldn't have much purpose if it didn't fit over your head." She carefully folded a shirt of her own, adding it to her basket in hopes that it wouldn't wrinkle too badly. "Perhaps it was left here on purpose. Someone deciding to change their ways, give up on the sparkles and the silly puns. This could be the turning of a new leaf, you know." A ridiculous statement, and one that was likely not true, but, when one couldn't lie, it was best to live in probability. It was an improbable thought, but not an impossible one. The shirt was likely just left behind on accident, but there could be more to it. Billie's smile dimmed a little, but she managed to keep it up, despite the circumstance. "I'm doing fine. It's nice not to be considered a criminal," she said. All things considered, things could have been much worse.

[firefighterxefe]

"And I don't wear anything I can't get over my head." And really, the shirt was ridiculously small in Efe's grip. A low laugh echoed from his throat, and he folded the article of clothing gently and placed it atop the washers. "Someone must have forgot it in there before I threw my stuff in. Maybe they'll come back for it," he sighed weakly, giving a weak shrug. But, still, he thought, this was a sort of nice back-and-forth, normal neighborly banter. For the briefest moment, he believed that maybe things could simply be regular again, even here, in a town like this. He almost regretted his next question. "How...uh, how you been holding up?" He had, at the very least, heard tell of the Renaissance fish tank, and that was a pretty crappy thing to make a person do. Now that it seemed he would join the Coalition himself, maybe he would advocate for more sensible punishments. He tossed one of his t-shirts into his laundry bag.

Billie had the night off from work, but that did little to adjust her sleep schedule. If she was going to be awake long into the night, then she was at least going to get some things done. That included laundry. She had been folding her clothes, still fresh and warm, at the laundromat because she knew if she just threw them all in her basket and drove home, they'd simply never get folded at all. Her headphones were on, one of the few songs from the Hamilton soundtrack that she enjoyed played softly in her ears, the back of her mind pointing out each different stroke of the keys . When she heard the man's voice, she looked up, startled. She looked at the shirt, first mildly disgruntled before amusement set in. "I should think not," she said. Looking at the silly t-shirt made her feel lighter than she had in quite some time. "I don't wear short sleeves," she added with a slight tease in her tone.