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〖 Neeve entered the shop, and the smell of sickly sweet ice cream filled her nostrils. It made her cringe, remembering she didn't actually like ice cream. It had been spur the moment, the first shop she had seen this morning, the only establishment serving food she remembered when instructing Mir, Rykeir, and Lucas on what she expected of them. But she also suspected that Number 8 had loved the stuff... The thought made her twitch again, just as she always did when remembering a detail about something she sought to bury forever.

She walked up to the counter and ordered two plain sugar cones. The larger woman on the other side of the counter gave her a peculiar look, but obliged. She paid, and went to sit at a table in the far opposite corner, where her view of the rest of the confectionary as well as the front doors, would be unobstructed. The eleven year old sensei sat down in the booth, and stared out the glass window. 〗

〖 Neeve had been enjoying the sight of pigeons pecking about on the sidewalk when Dio walked in. she heard the tinkling sound of a bell, and turned away from the window to see who it was. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought for a moment it was [Lucas] Amsel. They had a similar build, same stride that gave off attitude when they walked, whether intended or not. She took a bite of cone, and chewed it slowly, watching him. What really got her were his eyes, they were an incredibly bright neon lime green. Normally the hazel-eyed girl didn't notice such ordinary things as eye color. She was to busy analyzing the rest of you, using her extensive knowledge to figure out what, exactly, you could do. So no, unless it tells her something about you, she usually can't tell if your eyes go from brown to black.

She turned away, paying him no more mind. He wasn't one of her charges, so she didn't really care. To amse herself, she took tiny bites around the edge of the empty cone, slowly trimming it down while rotating it in her palm. She noticed the new boy sit in a nearby booth, but chose to ignore it, absorbed in eating until she heard the sarcastic comment. Ah, finally. Someone just as snarky as she was. . . .

"Thank you." A fake grin was plastered across her features. "I take pride in my sense of originality." she replied sarcastically to the blonde boy. 〗

〖 "And I believe a John Stuart Mill said "Originality is the one thing unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of." Neeve shot back. Chomping another big bite of cone-shaped empty carbs and she looked straight back at him, meeting his strangely chartreuse eyes. She'd already begun sizing the boy up, trying to figure out what his little 'ability' was. Normally you could say she was being presumptuous, but it was pretty much a fact that not many around this area didn't have one. Fuyu was just one of those places where if you weren't in the loop, you'd leave this town feeling a little confused.

Maybe . . ? Nah, too obvious . . . She hadn't really been paying attention after the whole quote exchanging thing, but she caught wind of his last little comment. She took a moment to decide what to say. Even though comments like these always annoyed her, it wasn't often she let herself get worked up over something so small. She rolled her eyes. "Please. They're probably somewhere in Scandinavia. Contrary to ignorant public opinion, I am a good deal more capable than you'd think." She was 4' 9" and 65 pounds, but she made up for it in attitude department. She munched more sugar cone. 〗

〖 Neeve laughed at him. It was a vague laugh, but she didn't really care if he thought she was laughing for a different reason. Truthfully it wasn't his business. And it wasn't like their was this big feud going on between them. They just weren't as close as before. They had their job, and now Neeve had hers. "And what about you? Run from your mummy too?" She was half curious, and half just wanted to throw a wrench his way and see if he'd get smacked in the head, or build something with it.

She dusted off her hands lightly, and rolled her second cone up in a napkin. With a tiny body came a tiny appetite. Searching for some form of amusement, she pulled out the small indigo 'cell phone'. It had been flashing, but she'd ignored it, too lazy to get it out every five seconds. Turned out the dots hadn't moved. The hell are they doing . . . Bah, whatever . She snapped it shut as quickly as she'd opened it and set it next to her thigh on the red vinyl seat. She looked back at Dio. He was still smiling. Odd. 〗

〖 She shrugged. She'd met a lot of people who'd done that, run away from home. If they even had a home. Yet his answer was just not quite believable. Sure, a lot of horrible parents did kick their kids out, either because they were just cruel like that, or scared. That was one of the hard parts about being 'special'. Life could be so much pain, for something you usually couldn't control. But at that moment, something shifted inside.

She rolled her eyes. "Nah. Just checking something." She said casually, not bothering to elaborate. A) What did he care?, and b), she didn't really want to go into it. She'd have to waaay back, explaining that she was actually a teacher, that her first class had been practically insane, and she had to punish these kids, and then about the little phone-thing, and blah, blah, blah. Neeve liked to read stories, didn't particularly enjoy recounting them. Especially with this guy. They were similar in a way, and she didn't care for wheezebags that told their life's story to every other Joe on the street.

She was fixing her short, dark ponytail when the picture fell to the floor. It looked like a family photo, and the little guy in the middle of two smiling faces seemed awfully familiar. She cocked her head at him. "Hey-wait- What was that?" She knew perfectly well what it was, but wanted to ask anyway. Her voice had lost some of its attitude now. Neeve was definitely not the kindest, most caring person in the world, but dang it, if she had one big weakness, it was 'families'. Or rather, the whole classification surrounding loved ones and friends, companions. Growing up around so many broken people, mostly kids like themselves had made her sensitive to the matter. They came from all walks of life, all species, all with different stories. But they all had one thing in common; they had lost someone or something, and emanated hurt. Almost tangible, it was not easy pain to heal; and Neeve had seen so many... But that was why the Home was there in the first place. That was what she always told herself, what she believed. To help. Nothing compared with seeing someone change from bedraggled and struggling to survive one more day to someone who could laugh, smile again. A bandaid on the heart.

Neeve made a bold move, standing up and walking around the half-wall to Dio's booth. She sat down next to him. Not so close to be overly awkward, but she was there, nontheless. 〗