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"Hunter!" Gus burst as he skipped out from around a booth selling wall prints, "I found some!"
"Oh!" Hunter beamed. He bounced on his heels happily and waved at Lilith. "C'mon!"
"Yes," she said nervously, falling in behind him at a tight heel.
She had indulged the boys by wearing one of the simpler outfits from Cosmic Frontier, but she hadn't exactly watched or read any of it and was wary of people who wanted pictures. Gus and Hunter both seemed happy, though, and she liked that. Camila had seemed somewhat uncertain about letting her supervise this outting to a human sci-fi convention, but she wanted very much to be a part of her sort-of-nephew's life in a more positive way than she had in the past. For all her discomfort, she was glad that she'd come.
"Oh, score!" Hunter bubbled. He gave Gus a high-five. "A whole booth!"
"Yeah, you never see that," Gus agreed, crossing his arms. "Go nuts, dude. Your mom gave you money for a reason."
"So what are these again?" Lilith asked hesitantly. "Model kits?"
"Yeah!" Hunter said brightly. He gestured toward the vendor booth which was filled with grey plastic shelves packed with colourful boxes. Art of robots abounded. "So these ones are Gundams which are like the most popular, but I don't really like the aesthetic of them, they're just like– I dunno, they're not cool looking to me, a lot of them are too boxy or too round, none of them look like, cool and sleek or something. I dunno, they're mech suits and that's fine and all, but I think actual robots with like their own sentience are more interesting character wise."
"Uh-huh," she said slowly. "I thought you said that 'Zoids' were… suits? Someone drives them."
"Yeah, well, Zoids are really cool so they're the exception," Hunter grinned. "Besides, it's not like it matters. I can pretend."
"Hey, Hunter, check this one out!" Gus called. Hunter slipped over to peer at what he was holding, ears swiveling up excitedly. She watched anxiously as the movement caught a few nearby human's eyes, but they just smiled and kept walking.
"Oh, wow! It's Captain Avery's ship!" Hunter bubbled, "They stopped making these in 1978!"
"You should totally get it," Gus said, prodding him with his elbow.
"Look at the price, man," Hunter frowned, "That's way more than my mom gave me."
"Huh? Oh… yikes, yeah."
"How much is it?" Lilith asked curiously.
Hunter held it up for her to see. The sticker read $100.
She took out her wallet and checked her human snails. "How much do you have?"
"Mamá gave me fifty dollars," Hunter replied.
"I have…" She trailed off as she counted. "Ah! Yes. I have one hundred human snails. I will buy it for you."
Hunter's face paled. "Oh, no, you don't have to do that!"
"But I would like to," she argued, "If you'll let me."
Hunter looked uncomfortable, but he glanced at his friend who nodded encouragingly. Nervously he swallowed and said, "O-okay. Thanks."
Lilith smiled. She'd begun to relish opportunities to do nice things for others. It was surprisingly rewarding.
"So is this one of those messy ones?" she inquired, "With glue and paint?"
"Well, technically no," Hunter explained, pointing at the picture on the box, "This is a snap together kit. It's all plastic pieces and they're made to fit together. You know, like a puzzle. So the only mess is like, cutting them off of the sprue. But it's pretty plain without paint or anything, so I'm gonna use some micron pens to bring out all the greebling and then maybe a little paint in a couple spots that could use it. Gundams and Zoids usually come with stickers or rub sheets, but this one doesn't have anything like that."
"Oh," she observed. "So these don't need anything?" She waved a hand toward the ones labeled Gundam.
"Nope!" Hunter replied, rocking on his heels. "I mean, you don't even have to use the stickers if you don't wanna."
"Hm," she said thoughtfully.
"What are you hm-ing about?" asked Gus curiously.
"I like puzzles," she admitted, "I thought the last one you put together was… interesting. It did look like… fun."
"Oh!" Hunter gasped, his eyes glittering. "Do you wanna do one?"
"Perhaps."
"We can pick one out here and buy it online later!" Gus bubbled, looking at his friend, "What do you think she'd wanna do?"
"I dunno!" Hunter answered, matching his friend's excitement. He turned back to Lilith. "What do you like? Robots? Space ships?"
"I'm… not certain," she admitted. She eyed the robots warily. "Something real, I think."
"Hmmmm," Hunter said, covering his mouth with a hand and scrunching up his eyebrows in thought. He turned back to Gus and they began rapidly whispering together enthusiastically. Lilith waited patiently.
They stood up and faced her. Hunter moved sideways and picked up a different box. It was a bit more plain, but had a painting of a car on the front.
"See, this one is a–" He paused to squint at the side of the box, "A 1967 Chevrolet Impala!" He held it out to her. "It's a car. You build all the little car parts in like the engine and stuff. The wheels even roll."
Lilith inspected it with intrigue. Ever since she had first visited the human realm she had found cars fascinating. Humans had all manner of vehicles, cars, planes, boats– complex machines dating back decades and occasionally centuries, with so many different aesthetic and functional styles. Humans were very creative in the ways they defied their limitations. She had been considering a temporary exhibit in the human history wing on motor vehicles. She worried that other witches would not find it as interesting as she did, though.
"Do they make boats and planes?" she asked.
"Yeah!" Hunter beamed. He pointed at the pile. "This is a Boeing B-52 plane, and this is a, um, a Navy Swift Boat MK.1."
LIlith eyed the Impala with growing interest before turning to the stacks that Hunter was indicating. She set the Impala down and picked up another.
"Oh!" she gasped. "A 1927 Ford model T!"
"Or that!" Hunter said, "Do you like it?"
"Oh, yes," she nodded. "I think I could use these in a museum exhibit. They would look very interesting all lined up."
"That's an awesome idea!" Gus beamed. "Can I help with this one?"
"Of course you can," Lilith smiled. Gus loved human culture and history. He'd spent a lot of time helping her with the human history exhibit. He'd taken great pride in putting the animal display together. "I need an artist to paint on the extra details, don't I?"
Gus looked like he might explode. He was a gifted young artist, better than she had been.
"You can come over and we can make them together," Hunter told him. "Like, we can make a day of it."
"That sounds awesome!"
Lilith rolled the name of the manufacturer listed on the box on her tongue. She would need to ask Camila's help finding it on 'eBay' later. The internet was still a bit frightening.
"Oh, this is only like twenty dollars," said Hunter, "I can buy this one!"
Lilith shook her head. "Pardon? I'm the one buying something for you!"
"Yeah, well, I can buy you something too, can't I?" he snickered. "Anyway, you can't stop me." He promptly spun to the vendor and pulled a bill out from his pocket.
Lilith sighed. No, she didn't think that anyone could ever stop Hunter from doing something he wanted to do. Certainly not her.
Camila stretched out her arms and yawned as she stepped inside the door to her home, shaking off the rain as she did. She pulled off her coat and made to put it on the rack before she stopped and stared.
"What are you three doing?" she asked.
Hunter, Lilith, and Gus were all sitting cross-legged on the carpet with tiny plastic projects in hand in complete silence.
"Workin'," Hunter supplied.
"Working… on what?" she pressed.
"We're making model kits," Gus said without looking up. The other two were snipping little plastic pieces apart and then fitting them together, but Gus was holding a pen and drawing details on his.
"Are you…" Camila smiled and tried to force down a laugh in her throat. She'd only met Lilith a few times and always found her nervous and formal, but her bi-coloured eyes were locked intensely on what she was doing, sharp nails pinched together to delicately place a sticker. She had her tongue between her teeth and didn't act as if she realized Camila was there at all. "Are you having fun?"
"Uh-huh," Hunter said in the complete flat-affectation that she'd learned indicated that he was, in fact, having a blast.
"Mm," Lilith replied vaguely. Camila assumed that she meant the same.
"Yup!" Gus bubbled, flopping onto his back and holding the piece that he was drawing on above his head at what she thought was an awkward angle. He seemed comfortable, though.
"Well," Camila puffed, putting her coat up, "Am I making dinner for four, then?"
"Uh-huh," Hunter repeated. Neither of the others responded at all.
Camila couldn't hold back her laugh this time and stepped around them carefully to turn the kitchen fan on.