"They're going on a tropical vacation! With their kids. And teeth."

"Do people pack their beach toys for tropical vacations? I guess I don't know how scarce luggage space usually is."

"...Probably not, no," she admits. "Curses. Foiled again..."

"I didn't note where they live. They could just have a backyard sandbox in Los Angeles. And teeth."

"Huh, I would have thought it'd ship from somewhere closer in that case? But maybe, yeah, you'd know better than me." She pauses. "And teeth."

"And teeth," he nods sagely.

Giggle. (She likes Skip! He seems nice. She hopes she'll run into him more...)

Next Tuesday, she doesn't seem to get back to the house till 1 am, but she looks weirdly energized as she heads into the kitchen for a quick bite to eat.

Somebody's asleep on the couch but is awoken by nearby movement.

"Oh! Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," she whispers.

Yawn. "'S okay, it happens... why're you up so late?"

"Ah - it's, uh, a secret, sorry."

"Oh. Okay."

Xeya gives him an apologetic wave and makes herself a nice midnight (well, 1 am) dinner.

Xeya continues to behave oddly over the next few days, to someone who was paying close enough attention.

She often comes home much later than she did in the month prior, and occasionally a bit underdressed for the chilly weather, but it doesn't seem to bother her.

She asks a few different people what the most-attended sporting events around here are. When people ask what kind of sport she shrugs and says that any are fine.

She radiates even more joy than usual! Not enough that it feels badly out of character, but like she's having a week's worth of really really good days in a row.

"...so are you going to the soccer game tonight?" somebody wonders while he's emptying the dishwasher and she comes through.

Huh! She smiles up at him. "Yeah! Why, are you?"

"It's only free for students, and I'm not."

Oh, huh. "Sorry, I shouldn't assume everyone is a student..."

"It's a natural assumption. I'm actually just Annika's non-college-going brother."

"Oh! Nice to meet you - I'm Xeya."

"You've come up once or twice, you're the only one with blue hair. I'm Skip." Because she usually asks.

"Hi Skip! Do you like soccer?" (She would offer to tell him about how the game went but she's planning on doing homework while she's there, so.)

"I'll watch it if it's on, it's not my main thing, I just heard you like going to games."

She nods. "This is going to sound weird, but I just - I love the vibes? It's so energizing!"