Sandro sits at the communal table. He's taken to lurking in a particular seat there, when it's unclaimed. There is a mug of tea nearby, along with the remnants of a brutally slaughtered muffin. In the after-meal moment, Sandro has a needle and thread, and a ragged shirt in mid-mend. He's muttering under his breath, apparently having yet to conquer the torn seam he's trying to fix.

The door to the diner opens, and Ren pokes his head in, breaking into a bright grin as he spots the Corax. "Sandro! Onea the top two people I was lookin' for!" he exclaims, and comes the rest of the way inside, letting the door fall shut behind him. "How's it goin', cutie?"

Sandro glances up briefly, grunts, then goes back to studying the seam critically. The needle descends and is pulled through the ravaged cloth. It won't be a pretty fix, but it'll keep the elements out. "Why're you lookin' for me?" he asks, adding a belated, "Howdy yerself."

Serendipity flips a chair around, straddles it backward, and crosses his arms on the back of it, resting his chin on his forearms and batting his lashes at Sandro sweetly. "'cause your angelic smile brightens my day and sets my soul aflight," he assures her earnestly, then grins again. "Just happened t' come across something t'day I thought you might like... what'd you do to your shirt?"

Sandro points out, "If my angelic smile set your soul alight, then we'd be talking." There's no venom in his tone, though. He even lets slip a small smile as he studies his mending job. "Caught it on a snag," he replies. "Tore it up real nice, but I think it'll be okay. What'dya bring me?"

Serendipity's grin widens. "And here I thought you were =against= settin' my soul on fire," he teases, and unwinds one arm to pull a small, cloth-wrapped and ribbon-tied packet from the pocket of his coat, and set it on the table in front of the Corax. He folds his arms back up, and watches expectantly.

Sandro arches a brow, pausing in his toil to regard the packet with a healthy dose of suspicion. "It ain't gonna explode, is it?" he asks. Curiosity overweighs caution though, and he carefully sets aside the shirt to reach for the packet. It wouldn't do to just shred it open. No, he has to turn it over in his hands, peer at it, inspect the ribbon before giving it a tug.

"Sure hope not," Ren replies cheerfully. Untying the bow and letting the fabric falls away shows it isn't that necessary a hope; inside is a large, heavily faceted teardrop of clear glass with a small metal hoop at the small end. Even in the relative sedate dimness of the Diner, light glimmers and reflects off those facets, tiny rainbows bouncing within it. It was part of a chandelier once, most likely, but it certainly isn't now. "Found it in a corner in this half-burned house a few miles out..."

Sandro's eyes widen as he stares at the crystalline thing, and he carefully lifts it from the nest of cloth. "Oh Ren," he says softly, and any previous attempts at manliness are washed away with the light, wavery tone of that voice. "Well, look at this! You could put a chain round the hoop bit here and wear it round your neck if you wanted."

Serendipity veritably beams at that reception, and dips into his pocket again, coming out with a good-sized length of leather thong. "Yup," he agrees, looking distinctly pleased with himself, and offers the leather. "...I didn't find a chain handy yet, but I figured this'd prolly do in the meantime -- if you wanted."

Sandro reaches for the thong, quickly and neatly loops it through the metal hoop. "Here, tie it round my neck," he says enthusiastically. "This is so sweet of you, Ren. Almost makes me wonder what the catch is."

Serendipity glances down, and the grin goes crooked for a second as he stands up again, moving around behind Sandro to tie the leather off as requested. Say what you like about the boy, he knows how to tie a knot. "No catch. Just... saw it and thought you'd like it," he replies, just a shade quieter, and shrugs.

Sandro draws his hair back and up off his neck so Ren can tie the knot without putting his hair in it. "Well, that's still sweet," he says. Once the necklace is secure, he pats the glittery glass against his chest, watching the sparkles. "You want something to eat?" he asks. "I could run into the kitchen and get you somethin, maybe some tea?"

Serendipity reclaims his seat, shaking his head. "Nah... nah, I'm good for now. Ate at the Farm t'night. Thanks, though." He watches the sparkle of the glass for a few moments -- and no, his gaze doesn't =appear= to be wandering to any potential nearby sights of interest, just the bauble -- and nods once, satisfied.

Sandro strokes the bauble absently, grinning like an idiot. Ooh, sparklies. "I should go see this farm," he muses. "I keep hearin' all these good things about it." He pauses, glances to Ren briefly, then says, "I think I'm gonna try stayin' this time."

"Here, y'mean?" Serendipity asks, sounding pleasantly surprised, "...nice. 's a good choice, I think. Definitely on my short list, if I was gonna go stationary. And yeah, the Farm's a good place... lotsa things t' recommend it, gotta say."

Sandro nods quickly, toying with a grin, but also trying to maintain some shreds of cool. He grabs up his mug of tea so he can hide behind it somewhat as he says, "Yeah, figured I can't run forever, and there's people here who might help, you know?"

Serendipity nods. "They're helpful kinda people," he agrees, "...what're you planning to need help with?" He shifts a little, getting more comfortable on his chair, and adds, "I stayed at the Farm, when I got here t' start with... Still do sometimes, just not so often now. Hard t' get a bed there once in a while, and seems like Tristan can't find me when I'm there." He shrugs a little.

Sandro nods a little, sipping from the mug. He leans forward to prop his elbows on the table, and his new pendant sways and glitters. "Nice enough folks," he agrees quietly. Then he hesitates, regarding the table thoughtfully. "There was some trouble," he says. "Back home. Had to get away."

Serendipity half-smiles. "A'ight, well, I know =that= feeling well enough... what kinda trouble, though? Somehow, I'm not thinkin' it was the kinds I mostly run into..."

Sandro shakes his head and says with a small laugh, "Nah, not as such. There was just..." He glances up at Ren, frowning faintly, looking troubled. "I had to leave. There was somethin' there, and if I'd stayed, it would've killed everyone I cared about."

"Somethin' after you specifically?" Ren asks, brow furrowing slightly. "What 'n' why?"

Sandro exhales a low sigh, leaning back as he looks around the diner. Quiet as it is, empty as it is, he still looks a touch paranoid, and he keeps his voice low. "There's these people that ain't good folks, Ren. If you know too much about 'em, they'll get ya. They got my granny, and they went lookin' for me, but I got the hell out of there."

Serendipity considers this a moment. "Only if they =know= y'know too much about 'em," he points out, "...but there's a buncha people you could prolly describe that way. So these ones, how'm I gonna know 'em if I see 'em turn up?"

Sandro says with a weak smile, "They'll be standing over my gutted corpse laughing? Hell, I dunno, Ren. I'm kinda hoping they don't turn up at all. I'm hopin' there's something about the mountain that'll keep 'em away."

Serendipity reaches over to tuck one of the errant strands of Sandro's hair behind the youth's ear. "I'd kinda prefer figurin' out which ones they were =before= there were any gutted corpses t' deal with, let alone yours," he replies dryly. "Maybe there's somethin' about it that'll keep it away, but maybe there's somethin' that'll summon 'em like it does others. Better if we got some idea how to identify an' fight 'em, right? Just in case."

Sandro perhaps surprisingly doesn't draw away from the touch, instead bowing his head and swirling his mug in his hands dolefully. "I don't know," he says. "They look like people, Ren. They act like people. You wouldn't know one of 'em to look. Why do you think I don't go around raisin' an alarm and telling everyone hey, look out? Because for all I know, they could already be here. Or not."

"So you just gotta hang around and wait 'til they kill onea your friends?" Ren asks, sounding distinctly less than satisfied with that idea. "Gotta be =some= way to know who they are. I mean -- how d'you know it's them otherwise?"

Sandro shoots Ren a dirty look. "I ain't gonna do nothing like that. Look, I just got here, okay? I don't have any friends. I don't know anyone. So y'all ain't targets just yet. Okay?" He puts on his Stern Face, just to prove he's all business. "If they come around here, I'll know. You just gotta take my word for that. And if they do, I ain't gonna keep quiet. I ain't gonna let them get anyone."

Serendipity glances toward the ceiling a second. "By 'you'," he explains quietly, "I meant, y'know, people in general. ...No, I meant me." He tilts his head at Sandro, adding, "Anyway... I kinda thought =we= were friends. But yeah, a'ight. Takin' your word for it."

Sandro says awkwardly, "Well, we are, kinda. I mean we're gettin' there." With a defensive shrug, he adds, "So I don't become bosom buddies with everyone I meet overnight, don't mean I don't like ya. It's just that, you know. Anyway, I doubt you got anything to worry about."

"Mmm," Ren replies noncommittally, with a quick, slight nod. "Well. They show up, you tell me right away, yeah?"

Sandro gives Ren a bland look. "No. I'll keep it to myself." With a snort, he slides his mug away and takes up the shirt he was mending a moment ago. As he takes up the task again, he adds, "I'll tell you. I don't got a death wish."

Serendipity half-smiles. "Glad t' hear it," he replies, and then sighs, sitting up straight and stretching, arms high above his head. "....nnm. What t' do tonight..."

Sandro smiles a little, and though Ren gets a brief glance as he stretches, Sandro remains more or less attentive on sewing the tear in his shirt. "Anyone in town you ain't nailed yet?" he asks conversationally. "That you have even a remote chance with?"

That gets a quick, surprised and amused laugh. "Sure's hell hope so," Ren replies, an odd combination of dry and wistful, as his arms drift back down to the chairback. "...but I'm not really expectin' tonight to change the numbers any, more's the pity. Couple people it's temptin' to see if are busy tonight..."

Sandro nods, showing he's listening despite the muttered curse he gives the shirt as he pokes his finger with the needle. "What about that Miki guy?" he asks. "He's a cutie, and he didn't take your head clean off when you put your arm around him that one time."

Serendipity sighs long-sufferingly. "Yeah... hasn't when I've kissed him, either. But he also shoots me down without fail, so far..." For just a second, it looks like he does, in fact, care about it. He grins, then, and shrugs resignedly. "Someday, though. I'll win him over eventually."

Sandro says consolingly, "Well, it's probably nothing personal. Believe it or not, some folks like to get to know the guy they're gettin' naked with." The mended seam seems more or less conquered, and Sandro moves on to stitch up smaller tears and unraveled bits on the old garment. "Who else in town you got yer eye on? That Bryce fella's kinda cute."

"I'm =tryin'= to get to know him," Ren protests, revealing a little frustration, and thunks his chin onto his arms, with another little sigh. Then he wrinkles his nose. "Bryce... we didn't 'zactly get on like a house afire, let's just leave it at that," he replies, and considers a moment. "...I'd prolly fuck him if he asked, but he's not gonna and I'm not gonna go outta my way." Shrug.

Sandro murmurs, "Poor Renny." His tone is only a little teasing, and there's almost something akin to sincerity there. "You should take to trading. You'd meet all sorts of new people, and none of them would know you. There's bound to be a few who'd tumble you."

Serendipity laughs, tilting his head a bit to let his cheek rest on his arm. "Trading might be fun, actually... keep me from gettin' too stir crazy while I'm stayin' 'round here," he muses. "...but I'm not, y'know, =completely= lacking in lovers 'round here. ...thank Coyote," he adds dryly, "After three months here? I'd prolly be insane."

Sandro smiles crookedly, nimbly working the needle and thread along the shirt's ragged edge, where the hemming, such as it is, has begun to fray. "Maybe when the weather turns right, you and me could go tradin'," he ventures. "Used ta go back home, every spring til winter, the festival season. Me and my kin, we'd come down from the mountains and work all the markets and fairs in the valley."

Serendipity grins, and nods a bit. "Yeah, I'd be up for that. Bring stuff from the Farm, maybe, and somea that glass stuff Justin 'n' Danny 'n' Bryce're making -- gotta be demand for that, yeah? We'd need a caravan, an' a horse or two... I think we could swing that, though..." He's gone all thoughtful, working it out in his head. "...my folk, we useta do some trading. Mostly skills, though, fixin' stuff, makin' stuff, that kinda thing. Entertaining."

Sandro waves a hand vaguely, but only briefly as he once more assaults the untidy hem with thread and needle. "Don't need all that much. We made do with our cart and horses. Traded all we needed from one village to the next, and then loaded up on the way home with stores to get us through the winter. If it got too crowded, we'd just perch on the cartside as ravens. Course I wasn't old enough then, but Brother Soliel used t'say I was so small it didn't matter none." He laughs a little, mumbling, "Used t'call me half-pint."

Serendipity nods. "Well, that's all I was sayin'," he agrees, "...caravan, horse t' pull it, some stuff t' sell people, and we're pretty much set, I'd say.... half-pint." He grins broadly. "Heh. Only thing I remember bein' called is trouble."

Sandro shoots Ren a Look before looking back to his chore-in-progress. He seems more comfortable having something to do with his hands. "Wonder why that is," he muses. Wistfully, he adds, "Those was good times. We'd trade Granny's medicines for food, and we'd entertain for our money and drink and places to camp. We'd meet folks, too. Most of the mates my brothers and sisters took were from the valley villages, folks you'd meet in the festival season."

Serendipity looks at Sandro thoughtfully a minute. "Wonder if our families ever visited the same place at the same time," he says, "...I mean, I'm pretty sure we spent some time down in your area, when I was pretty small. Maybe 5, 6 winters or so?"

Sandro shakes his head and says, "I wouldn't have been there, but I wouldn't doubt it. Granny didn't let me go til I was around ten or so." Sandro's voice cracks a little as he does an uncanny mimic of an old woman chiding, "Them valley fairs is no place for a little girl to be running amok and gettin' underfoot."

Serendipity laughs. "I dunno, my sisters'n the other girls were gettin' underfoot 'n' other things, depending on age 'n' inclination an' all, all over the place..."

Sandro points out, "You're also 'wisha, and the lot of ya's more trouble'n yer worth. My Granny, she wanted me to grow up to be a respectable girl. Do her folk proud." As though ravens were never known for getting into trouble not ever. "She let me go when I was old enough to be more of a help than a pest, though."

Serendipity grins a little. "Au contraire," he replies, "I'm worth every =bit= a' trouble. Alla it." His expression falls a little as he continues, "...and we're -- were -- all kin. Haven't seen a trueblood since the sun came back."

Sandro nods a little, his expression skimming over commiserating sadness as he says, "Yeah, there's that. But if they're still out there, they'll come, Ren. When they're good and ready. You of all people should know you can't out-stubborn a coyote, and there ain't a thing in any world that can keep one out of where he wants to be."

"I'm =gonna= find them," Ren asserts, soft and determined. "Sooner or later, wherever they went, I =will= figure it out. 'cause hey, if anyone can out stubborn 'em, it's me. Not gonna find anyone who'll tell ya I'm not persistent."

Sandro inclines his head agreeably as he says, "That you are. I'm just sayin' that, til you do find 'em, you don't got anything to worry about. I mean, they're there. Somewhere. They gotta be. If anyone is gonna outlive us all, it'd be Coyote."

"Darkin' right," Serendipity agrees, drumming his fingertips briefly against the chairback. "They're somewhere. Somewhere that was a hell of a long journey, that they took Perunka with 'em for it... maybe in the Umbra, but I don't have any way t' go huntin' there. Yet. But eventually..."

Sandro muses, "I can go into the Shadow Lands." He lifts the shirt to bite the thread free of the mending, then sticks the needle in a pincushion, whose grubby appearance implies it has been traveling with him for awhile. As he inspects the shirt, he adds, "I'm just sayin'. I never took long trips or nothin' but I can go there."

Serendipity studies Sandro a second. "...could you take me?"

Sandro finds no other pressing repairs needed on the shirt, thus folds it up carefully and sets it aside, reclaiming his mug of now long-cold tea as he glances up at Ren. "Huh? Oh. Um... you know, I never tried takin' anyone in before. I dunno if I can, but I don't mind tryin'."

Serendipity grins like the sun coming out. "Kick ass. Thanks. If it doesn't work... well, I'll hafta find another way, but. Definitely worth a try..." He stifles a yawn, covering his mouth. "Though, I know this'd be a long trip, in or out."

Sandro says mildly, "Well, let me at least have a few days to figure out what I'm doing in this world before we go gallivanting off into the next." He sips from his mug, then makes a face and sets it down. Cold dregs must not be his thing. "Anyway, I was gonna head home and get some shut-eye. You gonna be around tomorrow?"

Serendipity quirks a smile. "I'm always around. ...I might be home in a li'l, too, depends. I gotta check on a thing or two first, see how they go..."

Sandro quirks a crooked smile. "Yeah, I'll see you before I drift off, I reckon, if you don't get laid." He uncurls from his chair, moving over to Ren in order to lean down and give him a peck on the cheek. "Take care, sugar plum. Thank you for the sparkly."

Serendipity grins, not =quite= sheepishly. "Pretty much," he agrees, and slips his arms about the Corax in a sufficiently brotherly hug, returning the kiss chastely. "G'night, cutie. And you're more'n welcome. Dream sweet, yeah?"

Sandro grins stupidly, dimples and all, but it's short-lived, and his cool is reclaimed as he ruffles Ren's hair, then shrugs his shoulders a bit, standing just a tad taller. Ahem. "You too, whenever you do. Wherever you end up. I hope they make ya breakfast."