She grins. "We baked a cake together! We don't have lots of traditions but we usually give each other small gifts for birthdays and Christmas. She likes baked potatoes with lots of mixed filings." She looks around. "What about you all?"

"Last year, Kit took Alistair skydiving."

"Small gifts sound nice. Very personal. Intimate."

"Our old man didn't really believe in celebrating, so Chris here is doing his best to give Alistair all the cheap toys he can."

"Didn't believe in celebrating?"

"Holidays, grades, sports...whether you win or lose, you keep going, you don't stop to mark the occasion."

"Huh. Celebrating's nice, though, and creates good incentives."

"Hey, I took Al skydiving, I get celebrations. I could celebrate right now, if I wanted to."

"Right, because property damage is the kind of thing that we show off to our friends."

"Depending on what kind of property damage it is and what the owners think about it it could be, that's how fireworks and bonfires work."

He doesn't respond, just drinks more wine.

It seems to help.

"See, she gets it. Pyromaniacs stick together."

"I'm not a pyromaniac!" she protests, but she's smiling. "And anyway there are lots of ways to celebrate things without destroying anything."

"Personally, I think destruction is a good way to mark any occasion, but I know I'm in the minority." 

"Mom, did you get the deal you were looking for? With that clothing line?" 

She happily goes into a discussion of how she acquired new product for the botique she works for.  

And Sadde can show interest and ask polite questions!

Everyone is charmed by Sadde, though increasingly less charmed by each other.

Eventually, dinner winds down.

"Do you need a ride home?"

"I wouldn't want to impose."

"You and what car? I'll drop her off, no problem. Come on, firestarter." 

She kinda wanted to be driven home by the cute Alistair and not other members of his... family... but well, what can one do.

"I only start fires when properly supervised and under appropriate safety conditions," she assures him.

And here's his car. 

Probably not stolen hours before, when he destroyed valuable artifacts in a mysterious fire, but some other time, perhaps.

"So, Sadde, how did you and Al meet?" 

"He captured a card that had me as one of its victims, I attached myself to his head like a louse until he told me about magic."

"Only way to get him to do anything, in my experience. I should be a hostage more often." 

They drive.

"Hostage?"