Gina might have been cool with Locke's impressive belch, but he wasn't. Amazing how someone could be perfectly fine with something, but unless all parties agreed on it than the situation was still horribly, terribly, awkward and painful. What bothered Locke the most about the belch was that he had been taught his manners and he should have known that chugging the soda was going to make something come out. Curse the crust!

"Three brothers?" he asked. Well that was the question, though with how much he was talking into his chest a few of the letters went missing. Oh look, there was a small hole in his t-shirt. How did it get there? The hole was very small, almost microscopic really but it was a suitable distraction from looking at Gina. Next time she was quiet and there was a lull in the conversation he'd ask about her mom's shop. Unless of course there was pizza in his mouth.

"Three adoptive brothers," Gina confirmed, bobbing her head, as she held up three fingers and counted them off, "Max, Jem, and Dante-- except, well, Dante is really the only one who can really belch... Max and Jem, not so much..." Gina didn't realize that she was rambling. She added on, with a note of pride, "I belch better then those two combined."

Gina really was shameless, in that respect. She broke out of her momentary reminscience, glancing towards Locke. he was staring at his chest, looking mildly embarrassed, or perhaps bothered. What, didn't he think girls burped, too? Or was that some un-girl-like thing that only boys could do?

"Locke?" she tried experimentally, taking a casual swig of her soda, "Locke, calm down-- it was just a burp. It wasn't even a 5-out-of-10 on my brothers' scale." Gina smiled reassuringly. Boy, this boy was shy, and easily-embarrassed.

"You have any siblings?" she inquired.

Belching it would seem was something of a family sport for Gina. Maybe it was because she was surrounded by guys. Two guys must not be the required number for a belch contest. Then again Locke's dad hadn't been the belching sort, and Chris was still in the age where the word "toilet" was funny. Locke wanted his siblings to have good manners, so belching wasn't the best idea. And it wasn't like it bothered Locke that he belched. He had contests with his friend growing up. Even a girl belching wasn't a problem. Sometimes it was actually cool to hear a girl belch like Barney. The problem was that Locke had belched in front of someone.

The addition of the word adoptive irked Locke slightly. Why should they be set apart with the term "adoptive"? Maybe they weren't literally adopted, just someone that she was around so much that they became like family. Before his dad died Locke was called "our second son" by the Tolks family.

Just when he was able to relax about the belch situation Gina asked him about his family. This time he didn't have pizza in his mouth, though it had been lifted up to his lips just as she was asking. No more near death accidents when talking to Gina. Thankfully she was asking about the one thing he could go on forever about. "Yes sir, er, m'am," Was it the talking about belching or just that it sounded more right to say sir that made Locke, briefly, turning Gina into a guy? "Two, twins actually. One's Chris, I think his blood's been replaced with Red Bull. Thing is that he gets worried over little things easily. Mai's his sister and she's a sweetheart. Clingy I guess. Kendra, that's my step mother, thinks that it's just a phase though. They're seven and smart."

>> "Yes sir, er, m'am,"

The Freudian slip earned little more than an arched eyebrow. The eyebrow arch said little more than, Do I look like a man to you?! Gina wasn't offended, she was just befuddled. She listened as Locke spoke freely about his fraternal twin siblings, Chris and Mai. It was quite adorable to see him speak so enthusiastically of them, but that wasn't something that Gina would have ever told a guy.

"Sounds adorable," Gina agreed, "Seven's a fun age-- they're smart and amusing, to boot. Sometimes I wish I wasn't the baby of the bunch... I'd have loved to have a little sister or brother."

Time for a little honesty. ”Being older isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” he confessed to Gina. ”Don’t get me wrong, Chris and Mai are the best thing that’s happened to me, but you always worry about them. Is he eating his veggies? Is she going to have guys try to flirt with her? Then they try to get into your stuff, so your room isn’t yours anymore, it’s got your clothes and your music, but it’s not really yours.”

”And I bet you probably got treated like a slave at one point, but that doesn’t work. Guilt for one and risk of being snitched on.” Hard to say which was a bigger reason for him to not abuse his position of power over his siblings. Probably the guilt. ”I bet your parents are more likely to give you a little bro or sis than Kendra is. I think twins kind of turns you off from having kids anytime soon.”

Gina's admission to wanting a younger sibling opened up a very familiar avenue of conversation. It was a debate that she'd had with her own brothers plenty of times. Just as Locke had so many reasons why being older wasn't as great as it sounded, Gina had her own reasons behind wanting to have a younger little shadow. She indulged Locke, and let him say his part. Again, it was probably the most he'd said all night.

>> "Being older isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Don’t get me wrong, Chris and Mai are the best thing that’s happened to me, but you always worry about them. Is he eating his veggies? Is she going to have guys try to flirt with her? Then they try to get into your stuff, so your room isn’t yours anymore, it’s got your clothes and your music, but it’s not really yours... And I bet you probably got treated like a slave at one point, but that doesn’t work. Guilt for one and risk of being snitched on. I bet your parents are more likely to give you a little bro or sis than Kendra is. I think twins kind of turns you off from having kids anytime soon.”

"Oh, it's just my Mom," Gina trailed absently, "Her husband, Robert, died before I was taken-in, and she hasn't really... stuck with a guy, since-" She shrugged, shifting back to an avenue that wasn't so awkward to discuss. Pamela didn't date much, since there was such a limited supply of men in Mendocino. Gina figured she liked the single-life, though, or was just waiting for someone who owned up to Robert. Robert would be pretty hard to top, from how Pamela spoke of him, "But, if she ever just adopted another kid, I think I'd like that. My brothers always fuss over me, especially when it comes to guys-- They're so overprotective, just like you said, and they totally spoiled me rotten when I was younger. I'd like the responsibility of looking after someone though-- not always being the baby, even though I'm fifteen... If I had a little sister, sure, she'd probably try and borrow my clothes, or at least mimic me... my baby brother might pester me just like my big brothers do, but... it could be fun."

All this talk of home made Gina a little homesick. With the inconsistent profit of the shop, there was no telling when she'd be able to go home. She really missed her family, and Gina broke off in reminiscience. She excuse her silent spell with a sip of her soda. It seemed as though the small talk had effectively mellowed her out.

Locke did one of those solitary laughs that doesn't mean that you think something is too funny but still is a little funny. "For years it was just my dad. I didn't think he went outside unless there wasn't food in the fridge or to drop me off at school I don't know how he even met Kendra." Absentmindedly Locke wiped some of the grease from his pizza off on his jeans. As much as he wracked his mind he honestly couldn't remember how his step-mother met his dad. Just someday there was Kendra. Thinking about it she had been there ever since she first showed up.

Time had come for him to ask about her mom's shop. Locke knew that this was the right moment for two reasons. Reason the first, he didn't have any pizza in his mouth, which meant that he wouldn't be choking if he tried to talk. Reason the second, Gina and him had both fallen into a quiet mode. "You said your mom had a shop, what did she sell?"

>> "For years it was just my dad. I didn't think he went outside unless there wasn't food in the fridge or to drop me off at school I don't know how he even met Kendra."

Gina couldn't remember Pamela ever being like that. But, then again, she'd come along later-on, after her mother had been dealing with the mourning process for a while. Gina smiled, though, and corrected Locke by saying, "It isn't as if she doesn't have enough guys around... I mean, she gets around, but it's just that dating gets complicated in a small town. There's only so many fish in the pond."

>> "You said your mom had a shop, what did she sell?"

Gina smiled and hummed faintly, her tail flicking from side-to-side absently.

"A lot of clothes, accessories, and jewlery, made by people along Highway One or in Mendocino... Some stuff that we make, too," Gina trailed, chuckling faintly, "And other things, too, but mostly just crafts of sorts... tourist-magnets." Largely, female tourists, but a fair share of men had followed mothers, wives, or other female relatives into the store, too-- there might have been a very slim chance that Locke had ever gone into the store. It was one of many such stores in Mendocino, though, "None of that commercialized stuff, though."

She broke off, swirling her soda around in its can. She had about half of a can left.

"What do your parents do?" Gina trailed. By parents, she meant Kendra and his father, but figured that Locke knew what she meant.

"Weird," Locke said, remembering what he could of Mendocino, "She goes fishing in a pond and my dad didn't even go scuba diving in an ocean." Great, first he had gotten into a conversation with Tarin about dating that resorted to the cliche baseball terms, and now, months and months later he was talking with a girl his age about the same thing, this time using a marine sport. At least the two were talking about their parents dating lives. That was tolerable in that it meant Locke didn't have to be embarrassed. Well no more embarrassing than anytime you think about your parents doing anything with romance. Ew.

As much of a sucker his dad could be for souvenirs, it sounded like Gina's mom's store was a place the two would have avoided like the plague. Hugo hadn't been much for buying himself new clothes, and Locke only wanted something new if what he had no longer fit or if it fell apart. The downside to finding out what was sold was now Gina wanted to know what Locke's parents did. "Dunno what my mom did, but I think she stayed at home when I was born. Kendra's an internet nanny. Sounds cool until you realize it gives her access to everything that you might want to watch or play. Everything turns into a debate. 'This movie's rated R, but this is what's in it,' 'You're not old enough to see that' 'I want to get this video game' 'Chris and Mai might have nightmares from it'" He argued back and forth with himself, raising his voice for the Kendra parts. It sounded awkward with how low his voice was. Now came the tricky part. Explaining his dad. Locke didn't want to just out and say that his dad had died. The topic was still sore for him and embarrassing to people if they casually brought it up. "Dad doesn't do much these days." he mumbled and chewed on his pizza.

>> "Weird... She goes fishing in a pond and my dad didn't even go scuba diving in an ocean."

Gina nodded her head. What Locke was saying was rather true-- Pamela did have a limited supply of men. Sometimes she went up to Ukiah to look around for guys, since it was simply a slightly-larger small town, but it didn't have nearly as much variety as a monstrous city such as San Francisco.

>> "Dunno what my mom did, but I think she stayed at home when I was born. Kendra's an internet nanny. Sounds cool until you realize it gives her access to everything that you might want to watch or play. Everything turns into a debate. 'This movie's rated R, but this is what's in it,' 'You're not old enough to see that' 'I want to get this video game' 'Chris and Mai might have nightmares from it'... Dad doesn't do much these days."

"Hm," Gina replied faintly. Internet nanny did sound kind of cool, but what caught her ears wasn't the fact that Kendra was an internet nanny, or Locke's miniature tirade about not being able to be doing certain things on the Web without Kendra knowing-- although, that did earn a chuckle from her, because it reminded her of Maxwell. No, what snagged her attention was the change of tone when he went from Kendra to his father. Locke was clamming up, at least in that avenue of speech. Gina could respect that-- she'd find some less-forbidden route of conversation.

"What do you want to do?" Gina inquired, inclining her head, "For a career, I mean-- or do you know?"

Locke stood back up and headed towards the pizza. Not because he felt uncomfortable with the idea of the future, but because he wanted another slice. Yes the future was approaching him at breakneck speed, and he still wasn't entirely clear on where he would end up, or even what sort of colleges he was looking for. There was at least an inkling of what he wanted to do. "Well, sort of." He stared at the remaining slices of pizza, deciding which one looked the best. It was crucial to go for one that had the right amount of pepperoni and cheese.

"I like English and writing, but I don't think I want to be a writer. History might be my favorite class, but I can't talk to teens now, so being a teacher..." he whistled to indicate something flying past, "That's right out the window. The only other thing I'm good at is kids." Slice selected Locke turned back to the couch and resumed his spot. "So I guess something with child development. You?"

>> "Well, sort of... I like English and writing, but I don't think I want to be a writer. History might be my favorite class, but I can't talk to teens now, so being a teacher... That's right out the window. The only other thing I'm good at is kids. So I guess something with child development. You?"

"I would love to work with kids," Gina breathed in agreement. She would love to have taught at an elementary school, and not a mutant one. But, there were downfalls to looking like a demon... no one trusted you around their children unless they were pro-mutant, or mutant themselves, "But that isn't likely. Something where I work with people... Or maybe tailor clothes to fit mutants... I mean, I've been alerting my own clothes since I was, like, twelve."

Gina shrugged, "I don't know, but I've got time to figure it out."

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Gina altered her clothing. If not her, then her mom. Locke didn't like going to get a haircut at people he didn't know. He had to go to someone who had known him from before the crash. Granted a dead eye wasn't quite the same thing, but Locke could sort of see why Gina would want to alter her own clothes. "That's cool, I don't think I can even thread a needle." That much should be obvious. Locke's jeans had holes in the knees that could have been sewn up easily enough, had he any skill with a needle and thread.

"Maybe you could figure out jeans for me that aren't a dirt magnet," he joked. It probably was just his mutation trying to prepare him for anything, but it did get annoying from time to time to have to do laundry so often.

Time for another subject, though Locke wasn't sure what to say. They had talked about the past, sort of, and the future, which left the present. "Good pizza huh?" he asked. The question was really lame. "Geeze, I told you was no good with teens." He had to laugh at his lameness.

>> "That's cool, I don't think I can even thread a needle... Maybe you could figure out jeans for me that aren't a dirt magnet."

Gina chuckled and reclined against the couch.

"Maybe," she agreed. Except that jeans were natural dirt-magnets.

Gina didn't mind the occasional silences. She was social, but she didn't mind the opportunity to change gears or switch subjects. Funny how the quiet ones always seemed the most uncomfortable with the silence.

>> "Good pizza huh?"

Gina had stopped on her second piece. Locke was making small-talk, and failing miserably-- but he was a shy, awkward guy. Given the circumstances (he was talking to a girl his own age), he was doing rather well.

"Spectacular pizza," she agreed, chuckling.

>> "Geeze, I told you was no good with teens."

"You're doing fine," Gina replied simply, grinning, "Look, I've been sitting here talking for you for... who-knows-how long, and I'm still here, talking. I haven't died or anything-" she chuckled again, to that she was teasing,"-You're doing well."

Locke wasn't a total idiot. He knew that he could have said some line about her being an angel or something and tried to look smooth, but that was more of Eaan's thing. Girlfriends were fine, he supposed, but a girl friend was much more obtainable and a whole less of a handful. "You might not have died yet, but I'm pretty sure that I have." Of embarrassment of course. Gina agreed with him that the pizza was spectacular, which meant that he could expand upon what he said. "This would be food of the gods."

Cheesy, yes, but so was the food. The topic was also a bit lame, but he couldn't help it. He was utterly out of his depth and food was always interesting to him. "You know what you pretty much never see on Food Network? Those big name chefs making pizza. It's got all the food groups in it, and there's so much room for experimentation but nobody ever really talks about it. I mean, just because something is usually considered fast food doesn't mean that it can't be gourmet right?" There. He had managed to take a dull topic and give it something interesting.