Jace’s head shot up at the warning, and he couldn’t mask the surprise that it was Nick giving him the warning. He expected it from the parents, but Nick was barely a kid herself, and friends with Caitie, so he’d always figured her sense of adventure was pretty well honed. Guess he’d been wrong. “They gotta get their hands on something flammable first,” he countered with a shrug. “Don’t think that’s as easy you think, doll,” he punctuated his sentence with a Cheshire smile.
“Why would I tell ‘em that? You never learn anything new if you don’t try it.” He shuffled back through the cards, and then handed the whole deck over to one of the kids to let them try and figure out if they could replicate the tricks he’d taught them. “I never would of learned anything if I didn’t try things I shouldn’t,” he bent to pick up the bottle at his feet. Nothing fancy, just a beer tonight.
He took a pull then set it back down, turning towards Nick. “’Sides, chicks with casts on their arm don’t get to say ‘don’t try that at home’ anyways,” he pointed out, though he didn’t know how she’d gotten her injury. Maybe she was clumsy, but he liked thinking she’d done something death defying to land herself in plaster. “Or chicks that make moonshine.” He grinned again. “’Sides, aren’t you even a little curious to see someone breathe fire?” Granted, to do it he’d need to find cornstarch, since there was no way he was doing it with alcohol. That was a sure way to set himself on fire.