Tiny Dancer

1.08 Robarazzi

An otherwise normal lunch at the Asphalt Café is interrupted when Cat walks up to their usual table and sets down some kind of machine. She looks at them expectantly, clearly waiting for someone to ask, but they all just return to their food without comment.

"Don't you guys wanna know what that is?" she asks.

"Is it a transporter from the future that can beam you to another table?" Jade asks. "If it is, what button do I push?"

Jesse sighs. "Jade, be nice," he tells her for the nth time.

"Yeah," Cat says, a slight pout on her face. "That's so hurtful."

"You know, you don't always have to be mean to everyone," Tori informs the goth girl.

Cat takes the empty seat between Tori and Andre. "See? Tori's interested in my device."

Tori looks at her for a second. "I'm really not," she admits.

Andre gives Cat a one-armed hug with a bright smile. "Aw, come on, Little Red. Tell us about your doohickey."

"Okay. It's called the Snowbee!" she tells them in excitement. "Watch."

She presses a button and fake snow starts to shoot out of the top of her machine, quickly covering the table and all of them. After only a few seconds of the impromptu blizzard, Jade reaches forward and turns the machine off.

"It makes fake snow!" Cat says happily.

"I see that," Andre deadpans.

Jesse scrubs his fingers through his dark curls, trying to remove as much of the snow as he can. "What even is this stuff?" he mutters.

"It's all over my tostada," Beck complains, holding said tostada up with an unhappy frown.

Jesse reaches over and runs a hand through Beck's hair to knock some of the snow loose. He hums in sympathy while he does even as he smiles slightly at the grumpy look on his face.

"And my pizza," Tori adds.

"Well, do not eat it."

"Why?" Jade asks slowly, trying to brush the snow off her black shirt.

Cat picks up the booklet that came with her machine. "It says the fake snow is toxic and can cause abdominal bleeding," she reads.

They all immediately push their food away and toward the center of the table.

"Cat, I think maybe you shouldn't use that machine in an area where people are trying to eat. Okay?" Jesse suggests gently.

Cat blinks innocently at him. "But it's fake snow!" she exclaims. "It's so fun!"

"Yes," he says patiently, "but it's also very dangerous."

That curbs her enthusiasm. "Oh."

Beck smiles as he watches the way Jesse handles Cat so easily. That gentle and caring nature is one of his favorite things about his boyfriend.

"So, what made you buy a machine that poisons people's lunches?" Tori asks with a fake smile.

Cat lights up. "This catalogue!"

"Sky Store?" Beck reads.

"Yeah. I went to visit my uncle and uncle this weekend in San Francisco, and they had these on the plane," she explains. She opens the catalogue. "It's filled with all kinds of cool stuff you can buy. Ooh! Like this, a tree face. You put it on your tree to give it a face."

They all just stare blankly at the excited redhead and her magazine.

"What if you don't have a tree?" Tori asks flatly.