The meal, as expected, is delicious that night. Some pasta dish with lots of subtle things, a side of braided bread covered in a garlic-butter concoction, and a lemonade-adjacent drink in a clear pitcher. It's devoured in minutes.
Afterwards, with the trio laughing and joking around, the group grabs their new gear, sets up a little camp, and prepares to sleep. They've chosen to sleep together, without ever asking Tussle for input. Therefore, the tent is large, practically a hut made of canvas.
The idiots even color-coded everything for them. Red for Snow, blue for Sparky, yellow for Thrasher, and purple for Tussle.
He rather likes purple, but did they know that? If they did, they don't act like it, and he doesn't know where they figured it out. The most is that he uses purple pens, but he said that's because black is boring and blue and red are always competing with each other.
How much attention would these kids have to be paying to his every action for them to know that his favorite color is purple? Too much.
"Can we make a fire and tell ghost stories?"
He sighs, nods, and waits for them to create a little fire and set up some chairs, and even go back in the supermarket to grab smore makings. They settle in and look expectantly at him, as though of course he'll be the one to start.
He waits a little longer, just for the light to finish fading and the kids to get a bit antsy.
"Well, my first contract was pretty wild. Max and I were with a pair of seasoned guys, they taught us everything in the beginning. Man, it was a ride and a half, start to finish..."
~
He wakes up to three weights crisscrossing his torso.
He laughs, shoving them off and reveling in the groaning of his interns as they wake up abruptly. Their faults, really. They were the ones who fell asleep at the fire, forcing him to carry them inside the tent. They were also the ones that gravitated towards the center in sleep, which apparently meant also climbing up to use him as a pillow.
This pillow has a soul, after all.
"Wake up, time to move!" He shouts as he crawls out. "We got a busy day of being weird ahead of us!"
By the time they manage to piece together their consciousness, he's put the seats away and finishes making the instant oatmeal packets he found. They're perfect for moments like this, when all three of the younger ones are practically zombies from the fact that they're tired.
"You lot wanted to hear more stories."
"Yeah, well, we didn't realize you've done everything. If we had, we would've waited until other days."
He laughs again. It's truly their own fault. He doesn't need nearly as much sleep, not after so long on so little so consistently.
"Who's driving?" he asks instead.
Snow volunteers, and insists that Tussle be the passenger. He agrees only if he gets to take a break after they stop for lunch.
And if they follow the roads out of the city. After all, they've got everything they need now, including more than enough food. If not, chances are that whatever brought them will provide some help.
~
Lunch, when they have it, is a very lively affair.
Sparky has finished cracking safes and registers, and is now trying her hand at learning mechanic stuff. Thrasher has been both preparing food in general - things like kimchi and mead and pickles - and helping with the basics he knows for mechanics. They've been chatting enough that Snow and Tussle barely need to speak, instead just enjoying a good meal and listening to the eagerness of the other two.
"And we have more than enough money, I think, that we could get something big, like a house! And if I can figure out how the appliances are wired, I think I could then start with making a EMF mapper!"
"I think there should be a shop in the city, it'd be pretty obvious, that we could go to to salvage some parts for her!"
"Eat your food and we'll keep an eye out. Parts shops should be full, too."
They immediately start shovelling food in, still talking but reducing it to finish their meal. He laughs at their antics, and finds he's glad that he's laughing more. He hasn't really had much reason for a while.
Even with his team on the floor, they didn't get to hang out as much. Maybe having interns isn't that bad after all.