“You know, I’ve never actually tried those? Could be fun. Probably end up a disaster, but hey, most first attempts do…” Marcus said, trailing off slightly as he tried to remember if any of his cookbooks actually had any recipes for donuts. He could always look online of course, but that tended to be...intimidating. He liked to bake sure, and he was pretty decent at it, but pinterest put him to shame. Shaking his head slightly, he laughed, “I’m pretty sure that’s just a bribe at that point. Baked goods have a long standing tradition of being neighborly housewarming gifts - thinly disguised bribes, but disguised nonetheless.”
While he knew it wasn’t the truth, Marcus also had the hangup of still having Chicago’s neighborhoods in the back of his head and they honestly just seemed...more organized. L.A.s seemed all over the place, merging and separating at a whim. And he knew it was just because he wasn’t used to them, that it’d come with time, just like Chicago’s had, growing up, but still. “Kind of have to - I may not be driving too often, but reports need addresses, and I’d hate to be the one behind the wheel the one time an address pops up I don’t know the general direction of.” Too many of his coworkers were already indifferent about him. Best not to nudge that over into open dislike.
“Overbearing family’s like that. Pretty sure that positions up to anyone - hell, my grandpa’s just as bad. Except his is more of a voicemail left at six am asking why I’m not home for breakfast, than a speech.” For such a big family man, his grandfather had never really taken to being...sociable. He did what he needed to for the pack, and Marcus knew he’d be comparing any Alphas he met to the man for as long as he lived, but the emotionally open side had never seemed to work. Sure, he doted on his grandkids, and the gaggle of people his kids brought into the pack with them, but it could sometimes be hard to see, especially if his grandmother was right there, being sarcastic and bright and loud enough for both of them.
He nodded along quickly, glad someone got at least a little bit of it. “It gets too quiet, everything sounds too...big, I guess. Cars passing by though, someone’s just down the road. May not be someone you like,” he glanced up at the ceiling, remembering the neighbor he’d been previously considering bribing, “but still, they’re there.” And wow, he needed that. He was okay admitting that. In the privacy of his own head. Maybe to another wolf, eventually. Big maybe on that.
“And that sounds...mildly intimidating, honestly.” Marcus said, laughing softly. He vaguely understood what an engineer did. Any kind of subset tended to fly right over his head. Sure, he hadn’t been awful in school - had to keep up with his siblings after all - it hadn’t been his favorite, and he hadn’t even really considered going to college. He’d briefly looked at getting an associate’s degree before the academy before waving it off. He’d be able to get it later, if he wanted to, and all he’d been focused on at the time was passing the entrance exam. “Sounds like you’ve found a good fit though, so congrats on that. What got you into it?”
And, speaking of mouths getting people into trouble, he really screwed that one up didn’t he. Oh, Dante can’t get too personal. No context there to take it to that level. Marcus really, really needed to learn to shut his mouth sometimes. Sure, Dante had no context for any answer Marcus could give, and he was the only one here that could make it weird, but still. Sometimes he really, really wanted to smack himself. But he started this part of the conversation, and he didn’t want to drive Dante away yet. “I mean, it wasn’t...the reason I moved out here you know?” In a roundabout way, that wasn’t a total lie at least, “But it’s not hard to transfer between precincts, if you’re at least semi-decent at the job.”