Sarah Vale and Wade, Thursday Evening

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Sarah and Wade meet up to make some flashcards as a study aid for her driver's license preparations.


Sarah headed for the rec room where she was supposed to meet up with Wade. His idea for using flashcards was a fantastic one and she hoped it'd really help her with things. Reading about all those different types of signs was one thing but having a visual aid to burn a mental picture into one's brain along with the textbook definition was just brilliant.

Entering the room, she looked around to see if he was there yet. She brought her test practice manual with her for reference but didn't really bring any other art supplies, so hopefully he did or they could find them elsewhere around the mansion if need be.

Wade walked into the room carrying several things - a laptop, a printer, a fake steering wheel of the sort used for computer games, and a bag full of index cards, glue sticks, and colored markers. He wasn't sure about girls in general, but Molly really seemed to like having options when it came to coloring stuff. Since they were mostly just writing with the markers, he didn't think it'd matter one way or the other, but the mercenary was also a big fan of covering all his bases.

"Sweet," he said when he saw that Sarah had brought her test practice manual with her. "That'll make figuring out which signs to print off a lot easier."

She smiled at Wade as he came in. "Oh wow, that's a lot of stuff!" Sarah frowned at the steering wheel. "Hey, I didn't know we had one of those around." There would potentially be driving games in her future, if she could find a game that used the steering wheel.

She grinned as she waved the manual in her hand. "It will, once we make the flashcards." Biting her lip, Sarah thought for a second as she flipped through the book. "Can you draw? Because I can't, not really well anyway."

Moving over to the table, Wade sat everything down. "You really don't want to see me attempt to draw a stop sign," he said, his smile crooked. "That is, however, what the printer's for. And the laptop. We'll print the pictures off and glue them to the flashcards. Because we're smaht, y'see? Also, the steering wheel is a prop. I found it in the dollar store with some weird video game stuff when I was getting the flashcards and markers and whatnot. But you can have it, if you want it, once we're finished with your training."

Walking over to the table, Sarah pulled out a chair and took a seat. "Oh, yeah, of course. That's good, it'll be nice and neat too!" Sarah wasn't the best artist so using the laptop and printer would be much better. She giggled at his pronunciation of smart, then picked up the wheel and turned it a bit. "Very cool, thank you! ...do you still have the video game stuff still, by any chance? I'll pay you back for it!"

"Nah, I didn't buy the video game stuff, just the wheel. But I'm sure I'll wind up going back to the dollar store at some point, if only to pick up a hat for Molly to decorate with her glitter puff paint or something." Wade smiled as he said it. "So I can pick it up for you then. But, uh... only after you've passed your driver's license test..." He paused and frowned at himself. "Scrap that, I'll pick it up over the weekend. Just don't play it instead of studying for your test."

"Aww, you don't have to do that, but it'd be awesome if you did." She grinned, feeling a little guilty but it passed when Wade gave in about giving it to her before her test. "Hehe, you're the best!" Sarah reached out and touched the laptop. "On please!" The please wasn't really necessary but when dealing with someone else's things it just felt like being polite was the thing to do, and besides, she was in a good mood. "It would be beneficial, though, I've done so much of the paperwork behind this that I need to start in on the actual driving soon."

"Can you give Maude 2.0 there a once-over, make sure she's doing alright?" Wade asked, plugging in the printer and hooking its cords up to the laptop as he spoke. "I mean, nobody's hacked her and put singing voices in her or anything, which I'm pretty sure is a massive plus. And then we're heading to Wikipedia to find the pictures of the signs you need to memorize from your nifty little booklet." Reaching over, he picked it up and leafed through it. "Shouldn't be too bad."

She nodded, patting the computer gently. "Sure can, not a problem. Maude... for Maude Flanders?" That was the only Maude she knew about, of Simpsons fame. Sarah started typing in the address for Wikipedia so they could look up the signs that they needed to print off. "Nope, no singing voices. I'll give it a thorough check-up once we're done to make sure, though." She brought up a stop sign on the screen. "So, hmm. I'm pretty sure I know this one, but to be complete I should print it, yes? And thanks again for doing this. It's good to have you back around."

"No problem, kid," Wade said, smiling. "And no. Maude for Maude Findlay, a character played by Bea Arthur from 1972-1978. Outspoken, liberal, absolutely awesome - Maude lived in Westchester, actually. Tuckahoe, to be precise. She was on her fourth husband. But really, it's Bea Arthur that's the important part."

"Oh, ok. That's cool." She really had no idea who that was but it was obvious that Wade sure did. "Sounds like a good show, though a little old." 1978 seemed like a zillion years ago to her pretty much. Sarah didn't know what else to say so she went back to the pictures, bringing up some more somewhat familiar ones.

Shaking his head sadly at the youth of today, Wade opened the driver's ed book to the page with the signs. "Make sure you're getting the ones out of the book." Bea Arthur was timeless. Brilliant. He got the paper situated in the printer, turned it on with the push of a button, and then nodded. "You can print whenever you're ready."

Going through the ones in the book, Sarah started finding their pictures on Wikipedia and printing them out on the flashcards. "This is great, it's going to help so much!" She looked over at them coming out of the printer, excited to see how well it was working. "I really do owe you one, thanks again, Wade." She hesitated for a second before giving him a quick hug.

Wade managed to halfway return the hug, sort of surprised to've gotten one to begin with. If he'd been anywhere else, he might've been paranoid enough to wonder if someone was going to bust through the window aiming a gun at his head or something. But no glass was broken and a moment later the mercenary was picking up the first of the printed-off signs and grabbing a pair of scissors from the dollar store bag. "Like I said, no problem. I'm happy to help." He seemed to be 'helping' a lot of kids these days. He wasn't really bothered by it, though a small voice in the back of his head kept telling him maybe it was dangerous, getting attached.

He told the voice to shut up and started cutting the sign out.