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"Just the two of us?" Sylas blinked, surprised.
He'd figured Missy would bring friends. This worked too.
"Yup. Come on." She led him straight into the amusement park.
First stop: the roller coaster.
"You're not worried about accidents?" Sylas asked, impressed by her nerves of steel.
Missy shook her head, totally confident. "Coasters are basically trainsets on looped tracks, cars, rails, circuitry, motors, and a control console. Classic closed-circuit gravity run. Statistically, accidents are like one in a billion… give or take. Honestly, you're more likely to get hit crossing a street."
Before Sylas could answer, the train clicked forward and climbed the hill.
He stared ahead, dazed. 'Who am I? Where am I?'
When it screeched back into the station, Missy threw her hands up, laughing. "That was incredible! What'd you think?"
"Not bad," Sylas said, smoothing his hair. He was still replaying her pre-ride lecture in his head.
"It's not lunch yet. Let's do a few more." She checked her watch.
"Sure," Sylas said, shrugging off the thought. Unlike Peter, he wasn't the study-hard type.
They stopped at a midway shooting booth.
"Hey there, gorgeous! Bring your boyfriend to win her a prize!" the barker called, wagging his eyebrows.
Missy wasn't short on cash and didn't need the prizes but the fun was the point.
"Sylas? Want to try?" she asked.
"I…" He hesitated.
"C'mon, champ! Give your girl a surprise!" the barker goaded.
"Alright." If he didn't know what to gift her, winning something big would do.
"Five bucks for ten shots," the barker said, palm out.
"Here." Missy handed over the bill without blinking.
Sylas hadn't expected her to pay first he'd meant it as his gift.
Missy read his face and pointed to the farthest target. "Get me the giant bear."
"You got it." He loaded the (toy) pellets, sighted down the barrel at the far number.
He eased the trigger, focused then fired.
Pop.
"So close!" Missy clapped. "You've got this."
He'd dinged 38 instead of 39, the bear's number, but 38 still won a small prize.
"Keep at it, kid," the barker said, lounging in his chair. Even if the bear went, he wouldn't lose; his buddy owned a plush warehouse. Overstocks for days.
Pop.. Pop.. Pop.
Shot after shot, Sylas kept shaving the edge until the eighth round, when he finally nailed 39. The last two he sent off casually.
"Winner!" The barker hoisted the prizes over, the jumbo bear sealed in a clear plastic bag, towering at nearly five feet seven.
Missy took it, delighted. "Mine!"
"Hard to keep playing while carrying that," Sylas noted.
"I planned for it." She pulled out her phone. "Yeah, swing by my pin."
Two plain-clothed bruisers arrived moments later.
"Load these into the car," she said.
They nodded and left with the haul.
"They were here the whole time?" Sylas asked, surprised.
"Waiting near the gate. I asked them to come today prize sherpas." She checked the time. "It's getting late. Lunch?"
"Please. I burned through breakfast hours ago."
"I know a spot. Great food. Let's go." She took point; he followed.
They grabbed a table, ordered a seafood sampler and fresh juice, and settled in.
"So… you into engineering?" she opened.
Sylas propped his chin on his palm. "I like it. Not sure I've got the talent to build anything."
He'd tried to make a small robotic arm. It… had not gone well.
"You've tinkered?" Her eyes lit up.
"Tried. Built a mini arm, but something was off. It wouldn't actuate just wobbled."
"Power train or torque delivery, probably. If your drive can't sustain the load, the arm stalls," she said immediately.
"Sure," Sylas said, lips quirking. Truth was, he'd kludged it from a schematic and spent six months cobbling parts together only to watch it fail.
The food arrived. They ate, talking shop until the plates were clean. Missy tipped the server and waved Sylas out.
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Evening
"Today was fun. Let's do it again," she said first, stopping by the curb.
Sylas nodded. "Deal, see you."
"See you." She slid into her car and was gone.
Sylas exhaled, slumping a little. "Finally. I'm free."
Not physically mentally, They'd talked mechanics all day, Mercy on a proudly average student.
If the topic was machines, why not just hit the tech expo? They might've even run into Peter.
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At Home
"Back already?" Aunt May called, halfway through clearing the table.
"How'd it go, kiddo?" Uncle Ben lowered his newspaper.
"Good. Just… exhausting," Sylas said.
"Getting out's good for you," Ben smiled. "Oh—Peter's been looking for you."
"Me?" Sylas frowned.
"Want some dinner? There's pizza. I can heat it up," Aunt May offered.
"Thanks, Aunt May, but I'm stuffed. I'll head up."
"Alright," she said warmly.
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Upstairs
"You needed me?" Sylas nudged Peter's door open.
Peter's eyes lit up. "Dude! You're back. I got so many cool shots with the camera you gave me."
"Yeah? Nice." Sylas hadn't expected that to be the reason, but he was genuinely happy for him.
"Thanks again. Where'd you go today?" Peter asked.
"Amusement park."
"What? You went there? Man, if I'd known, I'd have tagged along," Peter groaned.
He loved the expo, sure but at his age, rides still won.
"Right. Like I needed a glowing third wheel," Sylas teased.
He was already thinking ahead to the next science expo.
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Thanks for reading!