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Ignacio brushed his hands off before setting them on his hips in balled-up fists. He beamed whitely at the slightly-built brunette who was busily tying a pair of loose shoelaces. "Hey. Hey, Evan," he called. "I brought out the balls. What now?"

Evan looked up and squinted at the lanky teenager who had, a week ago, appeared at the day care with a proposition - he wanted to volunteer to help with the kids. Xi and Evan had discussed it in detail; after all, they both remembered his insane attempts to court chicken pox a few months prior. In the end, though, they had caved. If someone with boundless energy wanted to chase the kids, too, they were all for it. He sat back on his heels and scrubbed a hand through his hair. "How about you just go and find some kids to play with?" he suggested. "Maybe some of the littler ones so you can keep an eye on them."

With a snappy salute, Ignacio nodded and bounded off in the general direction of the sandbox. It only took him a few moments to identify this as one of the prime hang-outs for the younger set. Within another few moments, he had picked out his target. A little boy sat in the sandbox, eyeballing a plastic shovel. He had ears and a tail and that was good enough for Ignacio. Even if they looked like they might not be real.

He flopped down in the sand, mindless of his clothing, and grinned. "Hey, there."

Ignacio laughed, totally unfazed, and promptly rolled onto his hands and knees. He obligingly wagged his tail; it had become nimble enough that Devon repeatedly told him that it freaked him out. He took this as a compliment. "Yeah, kinda," he agreed. Then he twisted to flop down on his backside again. "I'm Iggy. What's your name?"

"I dunno," Ignacio admitted. "I just do." He grinned again and his white, white canines flashed. "I got faster when I got bigger." He took Todd's hand solemnly and shook it. Then he dropped his hands behind himself to brace his arms, propping himself upright. "It's neat to meet you, Todd. I like your hood thing."

"Ah, don't worry, Todd." Ignacio reached out to rub his hand over the top of the little boy's hood affectionately. "Not everyone has even a fake tail so you're ahead of the ones who don't. I think your tail is neat. Even if you can't wag it. You have ears, too." He withdrew his hand and tugged at his own ears. They were a bit pointed, true, but they were in the same location as any other human's.

He considered Todd for a moment and then nodded to himself. "Y'know, I bet we could make your tail wag if we tried."

"String!" came the immediate answer. Ignacio looked terribly pleased with himself. Realizing after a moment that Todd did not have mind-reading powers and was probably completely confused, he laughed. "We can tie a string to the tip and put it through your coat and you can hold it in your hand and just pull when you want to wag." He took a deep breath and tilted his head. 'You think that'll work?"

"Sure thing!" Ignacio scrambled up and out of the sandbox himself, scattering sand everywhere. Absently, he dusted his pants off but his attention was everywhere but on how tidy he looked. His golden eyes were searching for Evan who could conceivably get a hold of string for them to use. "You're little," he mused, "so we probably don't need much at all. Just enough to go up your shirt or something."

Ignacio adjusted his grip on Todd's hand and immediately adjusted the length of his stride to match the little boy's. "Nah, I'm not smart. I don't like school much and I think Dr. Darnell is gonna write my dad a letter about me not payin' attention in class." He glanced down at Todd and grinned. "I think this is the part where I tell you it's important to study hard and do good in class and listen to your teachers... Or something."

"Her." Ever the honest soul who couldn't shake fair play if he held its hand, Ignacio shook his head. "It's not her fault. I just don't like math. It's boring. I mean, she tries. She's smart an' all but it's still boring. I don't like numbers." He fell quiet for a few steps, considering. Then, suddenly, he shrugged it off. He grinned down at the boy. "An' gym's so great. You get to run around an' play sports. It's the easiest class ever. I'm definitely passin' that one."