[crow]

"So, how many did you get?"

Delphi made a face as he stepped out of the classroom. "Nice to see you too, sis," he said drily.

Destiny sighed. "You know, I liked you better before you learned about sarcasm. Anyway, spill. How many?" He kept walking, and she fell into step beside him, taking the opportunity to nudge him with her elbow. He considered, for a moment, attempting to deflect her, but decided against it. When Des had gotten it into her head to get to something, no one could stop her for long.

[crow]

"None," he said casually. Or, well, he attempted to say it casually, anyway. Not that it helped. Destiny's eyes went wide as saucers.

"Are you serious?" she said. He hoped that was a rhetorical question. "No way, that's not possible. Come on. You're cute." Moving in front of him, she grabbed his shoulders, turning him this way and that. "Geez, the girls in your class must be blind, huh?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he said. Hopefully she'd sense the truth to those words and leave it at that.

[crow]

It wasn't as if Delphi believed himself to be unattractive. His sister's verdict would have been biased, but Delphi knew he certainly wasn't ugly, anyway. That wasn't the problem here. The reason everyone in his class avoided him was because he was a freak, not because there was something wrong with the way he looked. He just didn't have it in him to have that argument with Destiny.

In an effort to change the subject, he said, "How many did you get?"

Destiny broke into a triumphant grin. "Ten," she said. "Wait, no... Eleven!"

[crow]

This time it was Delphi's turn to be surprised. He had expected Des to do better than he did--- after all, she was the one with the sparkling personality. Someone must have liked her enough to give her valentines chocolates, even with her family background. Moreover, Des was the only one whose abilities wouldn't manifest, so she never did anything... alarming by accident during class. Still, ten was a lot, even with all that. "Were they all from the same person?" he said, before he could think better of it.

That earned him a noogie. "Don't be mean just because you're jealous, Delphi. And here I was thinking of sharing my haul with you. I guess you don't want it, huh?"

[crow]

"Who wants your stupid chocolate?" Delphi retorted, scrambling out from her grip and furiously trying to smooth his hair back down. "If I wanted to eat some, I could just buy it myself! It'll all be on sale tomorrow anyway." It hadn't been his intention to talk back, but in his defence, he hated being noogied, and she knew it. "Who are they from then? Are you sure they're not filled with wasabi or something?"

"I dunno," said Destiny. She had slung her backpack forward and was now rummaging through it. Delphi could hear the sound of something clunking around in boxes. "A whole bunch of guys in my class dropped these off."

[crow]

Delphi leaned over to peer into her bag. Sure enough, he could make out several packages, some lovingly boxed and gift-wrapped. Their ribbons were crushed from their time in the depths of Destiny's backpack, being thrown about with the rest of her stuff. "Wow, they really went all out, huh," he muttered under his breath.

Aloud, he said, "I probably wouldn't eat it. What if they filled it with wasabi or something?"

"Ugh, you just have to go there, don't you?" Destiny shook her head, but he could see that he was getting to her. "Fine, what would you do with them then?"

"Try it on someone else," Delphi replied immediately.