You want him to tell you a story about himself!

"Tell me a story!" You beam happily. "I don't know all that much about you yet."

Cameron blinks a few times. "That's.... not a game."

"Oh, come on!" You lean forward encouragingly. "It was your idea coming out here, and we're missing storytime because of it."

"The history lecture?"

"yeh"

Cameron takes a moment to look over your eager face. Then he sighs in submission. "Alright, sure. How about.... the time I found out that I was good at punching things?"

"...A-are you?"

"Yes. I am. Very, actually. A lot. It's really impressive when you see it." Cameron brings his knees in closer to his chest.

A moment passes. "What weapon did you end up asking for, then?"

"Shields." Cameron notices your confusion. "B-but bladed, though. Two bladed shields. To punch with. But also shield. The verb that time- but also to shield with, I mean. Shield myself."

"Oh, that's cool!" You encourage him. "So, how come you're good at punching things then?"

He seems to be a little bit appreciative that you're collectively moving on from that. He goes on to tell you a short story about the area of the city that he came from, which didn't have a lot of money and where his older sister still works as an electrician. The buildings were all great, because they were made like the rest of the city, but the lack of money meant that their upkeep was super difficult. His sister got a lot of work fixing stuff up in people's houses, and a lot of the time she worked for free just because the people didn't have money to spend but she still wanted to make the area and the peoples' lives better. Cameron thinks really highly of his sister -- it kind of reminds you of how you feel about Warriors, where you can just talk passionately for ages.

Because there wasn't much money in the place, and because most of the time his sister wasn't making any, buying a lot of tools was entirely out of the question. So instead, she just got the wiring and insulation and wire cutting stuff she needed with the money that she was making. When it came to actually getting inside of the walls and roofs, Cameron would help her out in lieu of the needed tools. By punching through them. But he was also a qualified plasterer, and covered it all up afterwards!

He'd been going to all of her jobs with her and helping her out this way since he was super young -- she was six years older than him, so she started working when he was still in his early teens. Well, later on, his family and part of the city still didn't have a ton of money, but it was a small community and just about everybody knew everybody. People there were always helping each other out -- their mum would bake a bunch of bread and give it out for free, and their family would get free clothes laundering and butcher meat and stuff from other families. Again, everybody knew everybody, and so everybody knew the electrician and her little brother who by this point was really good at punching stuff.

Warriors make a lot of money, but also Coinpilfer University costs a lot of money. The heads of each family met up and had discussions with each other, but ended up deciding to pool whatever money they had together so that Cameron could have a chance at a future where he could put his punching to use. They hadn't even asked him to return with the money he'd make as a Warrior to fix the place up, they just wanted him to get a chance to use his talents.

Cameron was homeschooled by his mum, and was a bit too shy to engage much with the people in his city even though they were all so friendly and tightly knit, so Coinpilfer wasn't just his first chance at a future and to pay back the people that gave it to him, but it was actually also his first real chance to make any friends.

"My sister took two years at a uni learning how to become an electrician. I kinda was just in my own head for that time, you know? S-sorry, am I oversharing?"

You shake your head.

"C-cool."

There's a silence, during which Cameron looks deep in contemplation. He opens his mouth to say something else, but then the door between you two is gently opened and Lexi steps out.

"Hey dudes! Thanks for waiting." You lean around the door to see Lexi stretching with a purr, then adjusting her pink pyjama top. Cameron's looking up at her blankly from his seated position. "So, we've probably got another hour or so before the lecture ends. What do you dudes wanna do?"

"You're bleeding!" Cameron finally and suddenly says. Hang about, he's right! There's bits of loose grass in Lexi's hair, and a bunch of small cuts and scrapes across her face and upper arms. Nothing gaping or serious, but still! Something happened!