If Jake were some old-fashioned, maybe slightly problematic, heroic figure, he mightâve been offended that the person whoâd leapt to his rescue was a girl. But Jake was forward-thinking, thank you very much, and though there was a moment of surprise â actually, it was more of annoyance towards the dudes in their group who were just sitting on their asses and doing nothing, really â he grinned.
âThanks! Itâs just such a weird thing to maneuver, ya know?â He shifted it and positioned the gate on the hinges, holding it steady so that it would align properly and he could grab the screwdriver he needed. âHmmâŠI think thatâs good. Oh, Iâm Jake by the way!â
He reached for the screwdriver, waving it a bit in greeting.
âSorry to distract you from what it was you were doing, but this gateâs definitely a two-person job so I totally appreciate it.â He flashed her another grin, then tilted his head towards her. âHey â you look kinda familiar?â He squinted a little. âDo I follow you on Instagram, maybe? Or Twitter?â
There were a lot of people Jake followed without actually knowing â usually notable Magicks and pro-Magicks figures in the community â and heâd run into a few of them, like, in person and Fu always said it was a good networking opportunity.
(âI may be 900 years old, but I ainât no stickler when it comes to social media,â he grunted, as he set up Jakeâs twitter account. âItâs a valuable tool. Make connections. Donât post anything stupid.â)
The gate was--heavy. Heavy-ish. Not too heavy that she couldnât manage, but just heavy enough for Kida to be uncomfortable. She considered rigging helper drones just for occasions like these, where an extra set of hands (or claws) could be useful.Â
But, you know, drone laws were so finnicky and drones themselves could be so expensive--not to mention how weird people could get around them, considering their spying abilities (not that they were any worse than cellphones or webcams) but--that was besides the point.Â
âNice to meet you, Jake!â Kida replied, in the brief break in sentences.Â
Jake, as most teenage boys did, launched right into his next part before she could properly introduce herself.Â
What a great segway, though.Â
âOh--maybe? You might, actually. Iâm pretty active on both. My nameâs Kida,â She did not remove a hand to wave, too caught up with the gate to risk it. Not everyone had... Lizard arms to help them support whole gates.Â
âI do a lot of travel stuff, if that rings a bell. Magick rights stuff as well--a lot of amateur journalism, if you wanna call it that.âÂ