(Disclaimer: this is not my view of the Typical Gen-z. It's purely fiction and entertainment)

"Can you not call it that?" The wizard (I know he said he's not a wizard but He's acting like a wizard ) asked in exasperation.

"Why not? It makes sense. It's small, it's shiny, it looks innocent but it corrupts the souls of all who touch it." I held it up to the light to watch it sparkle. It IS pretty, even if it does have the power to destroy worlds.

"Yes it can do all those things but it's not... just don't call it a Ring of Power please." The wizard puts his head in his hands.

"I'm just saying it's the same thing. How do we destroy it anyway?" The wizard looks back up at me, pure terror in his eyes.

"Youthrowitincrsdfiur" He mumbles.

"What?" Was that a spell? An enchantment? Did he turn me into a newt when I wasn't looking?

"You throw it into the cursed fire" the wizard says more clearly. "Don't- just dont..."

I shrug as our order is called. "Gandalf? Medium dark roast 2 Splenda, one cream?" The batista calls. The wizard shoots me a look.

"You told them my name was Gandalf?" He hisses and storms over to grab his drink.

The shiny falls off the chain and begins rolling across the table. Out of reflex, I put my hand over it and scoop it into my palm. The wizard pauses and looks at me.

"NOOO YOU FOOL! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???" He screams and nearly drops the coffee.

"It slipped off the chain. What was I supposed to do?" I quickly fixed the chain and reattached the sparkly.

"How did you.... How did... what just happened? You held it in your bare hands and- you can't be that simpleminded, surely?"

"Hey! Wizard or not you don't to insult my intel-intela- umm...."

"Intelligence."

"Thank you. My Intelligence. I'm not an idiot. I know how the rings of power work and stuff. You have to put them on and wear them a bunch and I just touched the sparkly."

"OK. Let me explain this in a way you understand. " the wizard paused (either trying to dumb himself down to my level or trying to remember his OK, Boomer to Gen-Z dictionary) "the uhh... the Sparkly is like a ring of power on steroids. The minute it touches your bare skin, most people go into a trance as it shows you all your heart desires and how it could be yours. You- you didn't."

"Nah. I mean- I guess it tried but there were so many things and it couldn't decide what to tempt me with."

"Power? Riches? Love? Admiration from your peers?"

"Nah, dude. The usual. Affordable Healthcare, reasonable housing rates, a living wage. College without going into debt. Not living in a constant existential crisis... But I dream about all that on such a daily basis it barely even registers."

"Ah." The wizard took another long sip of his coffee." So your generation is more resilient to evil because your day to day lives face so much injustice already."

"Pretty much."

The wizard sits quietly and ponders all this. The more he thinks it through, the angrier he seems to get.

"Also we have avocado toast. So you know it's not all bad"