{MIW} I Need a Hero!

[Charity Croft]

"Got it: hair is not for eating," Charity repeated. She let out a laugh and rolled her eyes. "Boy, have I been doing everything wrong," she gave him another smile before walking a few steps forward. She paused as the finger went up, freezing and looking at it, wondering what was going on with that whole gesture right there. Words followed, words that explained the situation all too clearly.

"Oh, cool, yeah," Charity said, nodding her head a few more times. "They're right over here. Just," she did a weaving bob with her head, using it to sort of pull herself forward before she started walking, "walk this way," she let out another laugh, before looking over her shoulder. "And yeah, I pretty much talk this way all the time. It doesn't get any better. You've been warned," she leaned back, stage-whispering the next bit: "Escape while you can!"

[Ethan Parks]

"You really have though." Ethan shook his head in mock disappointment before chuckling more to himself than anything else. What was he doing?

He followed behind her as they went over to her booth. Ethan passed his surly assistant who didn't even acknowledge him but the bone manipulator smiled widely at him before turning to where he was heading. Charity's warning was met with a bark of laughter.

"Scary." He responded with silent laughter. As he closed on to the muffins, he took one of the blueberry ones and took a whiff of it. "Mix or from scratch?" He asked, holding it out to Charity.

[Charity Croft]

Charity let out another light laugh, again glad that Ethan was willing enough to play along with her little goofy quips. She was genuinely enjoying his presence, and she had to admit that he did look quite good too. Which just meant that she was probably going to end up close friends with him and bitching about students over coffee or something like that. Because that's how it always ended up and Charity was definitely okay with it (plus, she'd probably end up being several years older than him, just like with everyone around here).

But hey: at least he thought she was funny. So she had that going for her. Soon he'd be tasting her muffins and know that she could really bake (albeit in a very limited but quite delicious range), so she'd have that to her advantage too.

"Would you believe both?" Charity asked, laughing slightly as she adjusted her armful. "I sort of put together these mixes when I've got some serious downtime, sort of to get it out of my system and prep for when we suddenly need several dozen muffins. Makes things a lot easier," Charity held up a finger before walking over, quickly explaining the armful of muffins to a helper before sliding them over. She did grab a regular chocolate chip one that only looked slightly squished. "The blueberries are local," she said, pointing at the muffin in his hand while unwrapping the one in hers. "Most of the ingredients are. And organic and all that good stuff. I know some people around here, and my dad has a lot of old students in the area, so it's more about getting a good deal then being all fair trade and all. Not that all that's not important," Charity shrugged and took a bite of the muffin. Yep, still good: that little trip to the floor didn't affect it much at all.

[Ethan Parks]

Giving her an impressed look, Ethan took a bite and chewed on it thoughtfully. It was pretty good and he smiled once he swallowed. "Not bad, Miss Charity." He purposely picked out the blueberry and popped it into his mouth. "Yum."

He chuckled lightly at her explanation and nodded. "Discounts galore huh?" That did seem the most effective way to get good stuff for a reasonable price.

"Well, they're good either way. So I should probably head back to my booth. But my student aid doesn't like me hanging around...can I just hang here? Maybe guard the muffins from being stolen again?"

[Charity Croft]

Charity grinned. "Technically it's Miss Legrange, but we'll let it slide this time," she winked at Ethan, then watched as he popped a blueberry in his mouth. She didn't need to hear his response to know that it would be "yum." She'd been eating those blueberries for years now: the grower had been thrilled when she'd shown back up in Kalispell after her "little break."

"Oh yeah," Charity repeated. "You wouldn't believe the stuff I got when a lot of the community heard who's kid I was. If jams and homemade jellies were currency I'd be rivaling the Bellefontes about now," that had definitely been an awkward box to unpack when she'd finally moved in with Reid and Bell. At least now she had three people to help eat her way through it all.

"What booth are you manning again?" Charity asked, standing up on her toes. "I'm actually supposed to be helping with the whole move in and guiding process. It mostly entails making sure that Ellen Banks and Elsa Bellefonte don't actually end up guiding anyone, that Frank Cox is kept distracted, and that the cheerleaders don't attack the volleyball team," Charity leaned in to whisper: "They have a secret feud," before coming back. "But if you want to stick around for muffins, I'll definitely understand. My baked goods bring all the boys to the yard."

[Ethan Parks]

"Semantics, Charity. Semantics." Ethan waved his hand dismissively before breaking into a wide grin. Which quickly turned into a chuckle, wondering how big an influence her dad had had on the community as a whole. She sounded like royalty. He had to admit, he was a little intimidated.

He chuckled when he imagined her house filled with jam and jellies just all over. Maybe he could steal some for the loaves of bread the Adams gave him every day, despite them knowing he lived alone.

"Sports. Specifically boxing but because I'm the PE teacher, they've given me brochures for all the sports we have." He grimaced lightly and shrugged. Listening to her list down what she was doing, he ended up shaking his head. "The muffins. I'll man the muffins."

[Charity Croft]

Sports, boxing, Charity had this feeling that he'd mentioned that before. It sounded like something that would've come up before this moment, and she was already tilting her head as if to knock some of that knowledge loose from where it rolled around in her brain. The grimace just had her grinning. "Hey, someone's gotta let them know."

Charity heard his claim about the muffins and had a bit of a brainstorm. Turning, she looked at the two students currently manning the stand. "So, whaddaya say, want a break?" To their credit, they didn't quite leap at the opportunity. One of them even seemed reluctant, and she kept giving both Charity and Ethan suspicious looks.

"C'mon," Charity said, rolling her eyes. "We're teachers!" she gestured between them with a finger, knowing that they hardly looked authoritative given the amount of muffin. "And Ethan promises to make sure I behave, don't you Mr...." and there Charity had to pause, realizing that she was totally spacing on Ethan's last name, "Eth---aaan," she drawled, trying (and probably failing) to cover her for total fail.

[Ethan Parks]

When Charity started to dismiss the students, Ethan scratched his five o'clock shadow and gave them a sheepish grin. He turned to Charity when she called him Mr. Ethan. The grin turned into a soft smirk.

"Mr. Parks promises to keep Miss Legrange in check." He crossed his heart and held a hand up in promise. He didn't know why the students were looking at them so strangely but it was what it was.

[Charity Croft]

The students exchanged looks again, but seemed satisfied that at least Ethan could keep Charity under control. The female flashed her most assuring smile and watched as they wandered off, probably finding friends or possibly getting into something of their own. They'd been around before, so it wasn't like they'd need to be reoriented or given pamphlets or something along those lines.

"Sorry about the name thing," Charity said, turning to Ethan and hitting her head. "Total brain fart. Buuuut," Charity leaned forward, grinning, "the kiddies are gone, and you know what that means, right?" She wiggled her brows and then tilted her head toward the muffins. "Free muffins."

[Ethan Parks]

"Have fun moving in!" He waved at the students and bit into his muffin. He turned to Charity when she announced free muffins and he chuckled. "Yay!" He threw his hands up before walking around the booth to stand in front of the trays of baked goods.

"Yeah, you can go and do your duties. I'll...man the muffins." He playfully looked at the muffins hungrily, biting into the one in his hands distractedly.

He didn't actually expect her to leave him there but he wouldn't mind being surrounded by it right then.

[Charity Croft]

Charity saw the nibble and had to let out a chuckle. "You sure I can trust you to man it all by yourself?" Charity asked, gesturing at the trays. "It's a pretty big responsibility. That's why we have two people." Charity had wandered back around to the other side of the booth, coming up to stand side by side with Ethan. She had to pause to start organizing the muffins. Not that they'd been too disorganized: at least one of the booth managers had been one of those go-getter, A-student types.

"Plus, being alone at a muffin stand is just torture," Charity continued, nodding. "Nobody to talk to, and pretty well everyone ignoring you. And actually this isn't just muffins," Charity said that as she looked around, noticing that there were, in fact, other baked goods. You'd think she'd remember that, particularly given that she'd baked several of them herself.

"I seem to have an obsession with muffins," Charity said, sighing. "Clearly there's something wrong with me. You should run now. While you still have a chance."

[Ethan Parks]

"Oh sure." He elongated the syllable, jokingly of course. He looked on as Charity rearranged the food in their trays and he had to grin. So she was one of those people.

"I'll try to survive." He sighed, biting more into his muffin. He was two bites away from being done at this rate. "Yeah, I can see that." He coughed slightly before stealing a square of brownies into his mouth.

At her warning, he whimpered slightly. "I can't...these things are calling out to me."

[Charity Croft]

Charity let out another chuckle at the elongated of course. She also watched him absolutely wolf down the muffin, unable to stop from looking impressed. That look only became all the more evident as Ethan continued. "I'd be careful, those actually came from students," she said, pointing. "Not that I don't trust the Happy Homemakers, but I can't vouch for their quality."

The whimper had her shrugging again. "Seems like you're stuck in my trap. Who would've thought that my grandmother had it right when she said the only way I was going to get a man was through baking skills?" Charity let out another sigh and looked skyward, silently thanking her grandmother. She'd been quite the sweet woman; tough, but definitely one of Charity's biggest supporters.

"Shouldn't you be careful though?" Charity had to ask, looking at Ethan, "what with being an athlete and all? I'd expect you to be going for the granola,' she pointed where there were, in fact, several granola treats on hand. She happened to know that some of them were even pretty tasty, if you were into that sort of thing.

[Ethan Parks]

He shrugged and finished off his muffin. "Food is food." He said after swallowing. "They're decent enough." He continued with a smile. You couldn't really ruin a brownie.

Ethan looked at Charity when she looked up at the ceiling. She was just joking, he thought to himself, when she said what she said. Right? She wasn't actually trying to get a man? Least of all not him? He shook his head and chuckled to himself.

Looking down at the granola, Ethan grimaced and shook his head, taking another brownie before swearing them off. "That's the last one. And no. Granola is just a sad trail mix. I happen to love my body and I put everything I love into it." He shrugged.

"Why, I don't have to worry about anything do I?" He asked, pulling his shirt up and poking at his rather firm and toned torso.

[Charity Croft]

Food is food? Charity had to snort at that. Clearly Ethan hadn't attempted to eat some of the stuff students around here made. "Next batch of burnt cookies that taste like flour I'll have delivered straight to you," Charity offered, putting a fair amount of cheer into the words. After all, she was sure to get some, and she'd likely have to eat at least one in front of a student. When an eleven year old who struggled with their power baked you cookies you sure as hell ate one in front of them and told them how very delicious it was and how very much you hoped to get more from them very soon.

"Hey, that granola's good!" Charity protested, before leaning down to stroke one of the bags. "Shh, don't let the bad man hurt your feelings! Seriously though, that," she pointed at one of the granola mixtures, "is about as delicious as the brownies. They, like, roll, the stuff in brown sugar and mix it with some sweet stuff. You barely even know you're---abs," Charity stared at the bit of bared flesh, blinking. She had to hold a hand up.

"Noooo, it's like staring into the ark of the covenant. Put that away," she waved at him, 'before it melts my face off!"