I made a list of synonyms for "things" and then...

The same old colorless and lumpy porridge was served for breakfast. Nur swore that some days they also had raisins, or toast with blackberry jam, but Shadrack had yet to see any type of fruit in the mansion. He pushed the lumps in the mush around with his spoon disdainfully. Next to him, Warren wolfed down his second bowl like he hadn’t had third helpings at all his meals the day before. The Catherrams were further down the table, and Nur pushed her half-eaten bowl away from herself, quietly excuse herself from her family and walked around the table to sit across from them.
“Morning,” she said. Her napkin was still tucked into her shirt front. Warren paused his attack on the porridge bowl to nod in greeting.
“Morning,” Shadrack answered sourly. He couldn’t fathom how the other man could find the food palatable.
Since Shadrack seemed not to be much of a morning person, Nur ignored his mood and asked, “What will you be doing today? Warren and I are going to keep marking the wall.”
“Oh, you know, stuff.” Shadrack waved off an invisible fly. “And things.”
Warren’s spoon stopped halfway to his face and he glanced over at Shadrack with his eyebrows raised ever so slightly. “Items and objects?”
Nur beamed, excited for this new game. “Materials and paraphernalia!”
Warren lowered his spoon back into his bowl. “Odds and ends.”
“Entities and nonentities.”
“Miscellanea and–”
“Stop it!” Shadrack finally snapped. “You two are ridiculous.”
They both exchanged bewildered glances, as if it never occurred to them a prose-spewing bald girl and a wandering demon exorcist could be ridiculous.

AWKWARD STOPPING PLACE FTW 8D