It was early. Too early.

Aelia opened her mouth and let out a groan as sleep left her. She had spent the whole night playing video games with her friends, and had only fallen asleep a couple hours before. Why in God's name did she listen to her friends and play "one more game"? That one game turned into two more, and then five more. Before she knew it, it was five o clock in the morning. She ultimately accepted that she had to wake up two hours later for school, but at the moment, she wanted to stay in bed. She had a splitting headache...

The brunette rolled out of bed, almost losing her balance as she struggled to reach full consciousness. She better hurry up... she didn't want to be late! If she went late to class, she would get chewed out by her parents. Aelia made her way to the bathroom, yawning as she did her deeds. A cold shower woke her up somewhat, which was good... but she needed something in her stomach. Maybe it would be better if she went to the nearby cafe and had a coffee or something. The thought of ingesting a sugary drink that her body needed to function made her dress even faster than she usually did. She pulled on a short-sleeved black shirt with a white silhouette of a lion on it, along with a pair of cream-colored khakis. Her hands moved in a flurry as she tied her shoes, and, grabbing her bag, darted out of the apartment.

Aelia almost fell down the stairs in her rush, but who cared? At least she had woken up just in time to bathe and get dressed. Rays of sunlight hit her face as she opened the door leading to the outside world. It was a warm day; she was glad that she didn't have to wear a jacket like she usually did during the spring. The young lady sprinted down the street, crossing streets in a hurry and almost getting run over a few times. Thankfully, people were careful enough to stop when she got in there way.

By the time she reached the cafe, she was out of breath. The few customers and employees glanced over at her, giving her weird looks over the fuss that she was making. Aelia grinned and laughed nervously. "Heh, sorry about that," she told them, walking over to the cashier and placing an order for a caramel-flavored coffee with extra sugar in it. The man behind the counter prepared it with expertise, handing over the coffee in just a few minutes. "That'll be three fifty," the employee said, holding out his hand.

"Alrightie, then!" Aelia said, reaching for her wallet. Her heart dropped when the usual place her wallet was located was empty. W-what? "U-uh, I don't have my money with me..."

The man's face contorted into an annoyed expression, but in the blink of an eye, he suddenly appeared to take a sudden interest in her. He leaned forward, grinning broadly. "It's fine, sweetheart," he chirped, gazing at her as if he had suddenly been struck over the head with a bat. "You can have it for free~"

Aelia blinked in confusion, but returned his smile. "Oh... thanks!" the woman told him, taking the coffee from his hand and turning away, making her way outside once more. That was weird... but hey, at least I got free coffee!

Alex grunted roughly as he rose from bed as most humans do, sitting up and looking around himself with disappointment. Ah well, money didn't earn it self now did it? In hindsight playing league until three in the morning may not have been a good idea knowing he had work. Whatever. Alex quickly tossed on some clothes and threw on his uniform.

He reached for the pocket knife on his computer desk, but before he could touch it, the blade sprang into his hand. He recoiled a couple steps still holding the blade in his hand. "The hell?"

Slowly he dropped the blade to the ground where it clattered loudly. After a few seconds he reached down and it once again sprang into his hand. A grin slowly crept across his face. Well this could be fun. Then his alarm rang again. Time for work. Alex tucked the blade in his pocket and put on his roller-blades. He would experiment later.

---

Artemis yawned and stretched much like a cat on her queen-size bed. Way oversize for just her but it came with the house. She rolled over to the edge of the bed and reached for her glasses, rubbing her eyes briefly before putting them on. Having accomplished that first task she stood up and fumbled around for the light switch. Or she would've if it'd been dark. But it was dark. Artemis scratched her head in confusion.

The lights were defiantly off and the curtains were defiantly closed. But she could defiantly see. Just to be sure she waved her hand in front of her face and pinched herself. No dream and it appeared she had the ability to see in the dark. For whatever reason. Artemis decided to walk out into the backyard to get some fresh air. The moon shone brightly and Artemis's clear vision became even more obvious. It was the most odd feeling. She'd gone to bed after dinner and couldn't have slept for more than a couple hours but she felt better than she'd ever felt before. Like she was... full of energy.

Artemis flexed her hand experimentally- and small slivers of moonlight moved with it. She viewed them curiously. Artemis pulled hand closer and then pushed forward. As she expected the moonlight mirrored her actions. It felt like pushing through water in the way it was slightly draining. Artemis looked her pool as an idea formed. Instead of moving her hands she attempted to control the moonlight with her mind. It slowly formed into a ball, though with some resistance. It seemed the moonlight liked to move in certain patterns. She concentrated and pushed it into the pool, as she half-expected the water was pushed away by the hard-light. Most interesting. It seemed she had... some sort of superpower. Artemis would be out here for a very long time.

Artemis looked at the sunrise in surprise. She'd been out here all night testing out her whatever this was and hadn't even noticed. She was kind of tired though. Artemis walked into her house with a yawn and got ready for some more sleep and her eyes happened to fall on the Diana cosplay she had in the middle the room. Her mouth formed a little o of surprise. She had, Diana's powers? Needed sleep, she might be jumping to conclusions. When she woke up she would find out more. For sure.

He wasn't in a good mood. He really wasn't. Not only did he have to cram five papers in one night, but even that damned Lesson Plan was not making his life as a college student that easy. If only; oh, if only his group members were as fond as NOT cramming as Leon was... things would have been far, far better. Now, the sharp shrill of the alarm clock sent him bolting up, causing the books that had slept with him to fly abruptly. The books fell over his head, showering him in a flurry of academic pain. Not only did he have a part time job at the café, but he also had to finish another paper by tomorrow. Nope. This was not the best day for Leon; not at all. In fact, when he did his routine in the bathroom, he slipped on the tiles, and smashed his head against the wall, causing an angry-red welt to spawn from the side of his head. This was not the best day for him; not at all.

Thus, he rushed towards his part-time job, a small café in the heart of the town, and, before the sun could rise, he was already dressed in his usual uniform: a white long-sleeved polo, with the sleeves folded neatly to his elbow, and a red apron tied in front of him. Leon adjusted his glasses as he got to work. The sign had yet to be flipped open, but he could already see his fellow workers filing side by side, getting busy on adjusting those valves, preparing the milk, and whatever stuff they had to do. Still, as he observed the people around him, a question boiled up within Leon: were there others like him? The boy had already discovered his powers a few months ago, and has since kept it under wraps. If he had revealed himself, next thing he would know, he was strapped to a chair with a dissecting tool above his abdomen. He was not really in the mood for that.

One thing is for sure, though. Leon was not the only victim. The interesting question is: who are his kindred, then? And, for another thing, if others do have the powers of some other champions in that single videogame... who knows who would use their powers to start another Runewar? Oh, well... that's far too extreme to even think about, and rightfully so. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted as a young woman entered the café, bouncing in what seemed like artificial energy... or lack of it. She panted almost like a dog who had ran for miles, and whatever customer they had had their attentions drawn to this invader. Deciding that nothing good would come out of entertaining such a guest, Leon busied himself with the pastries that were still being placed unto the small glass display. As such, he let one of his colleagues do the entertaining, and when he was done, he noticed that his colleague had given the complete order for free.

"For... free?" Leon muttered to himself as he looked at the girl who had nonchalantly started skipping out of the café. "Dan..." Leon began as he placed his hand on the lad's shoulder. "You do know that's coming out of your paycheck once the boss knows. We don't give stuff for free, you dingdong." the lad could talk freely since Dan was one of the first friends he ever met in Darkwell.

I-I.. d-don't know what happened, Leon..." Dan stuttered as he massaged the temple of his head. "It's like... I g-got drawn to her or something."

"You're a twenty-five year old man. That's pedophilia if I had my way." Leon stole a last glance from the woman. Unless... just unless.... "No. It can't be."

"What was that?" Dan tilted his head in inquiry.

"Nah. Nothing. It's nothing." Leon shook his head. "Just don't do that again." he pulled out a three dollars and fifty cents, putting it into the cash register. It should be nothing.

John was awoken by the sensation of something tapping his face. Opening his eyes, he found it to be his pet ferret Danny "Danny? It's so early. Is something wrong little buddy?" he asked, even though he didn't expect the animal to answer. As John picked up his ferret and held him in his arms, he could easily tell that he was distressed by something. Danny was squirming around like crazy, and not in an attempt to get out of John's hold (something that would be an even greater cause for concern; since Danny was a little cuddle bug, he absolutely loved being held and petted. So if he didn't want to be held by John of all people, then that would really mean something). "Are you sick? Here, let me get you to bed, I think you need more sleep." Setting Danny down in the smaller ferret bed next to his, John tucked the little guy in as he gently rubbed his head, which relaxed him. "There we go buddy, you just get all the rest you need." Once Danny had been soothed to sleep, John got back up and started heading for the door.

However on his way there, something strange happened; a huge blue shield suddenly appeared at his side. "What the!?" He jumped in surprise. To his dismay, this woke up Danny "Oh Danny, I'm so sorry about that" but Danny didn't seem too concerned about being woken up. Rather, his attention was solely on the strange shield that had just appeared, as he danced around it. "This...this is simply insane. How could something this large just appear out of nowhere? Although the more I look at it, the more that I feel that I've seen this particular shield some...where...before" that's when it dawned on him "...it couldn't be...could it?" Checking the other side, he found an ornate carving of a ram head "...it is. This is Braum's shield. But...how is this possible? More importantly; what do I do with it? This thing is far to large for me to carry around or leave here." As soon as he had finished saying that, the shield disappeared before his very eyes. "Well that was...strangely convenient. Am I still half asleep? It would certainly explain all of this."

Pain was all she could feel.

Claire was hunched over on her bed, gasping and ready to pass out at the tearing sensation in her back. She panicked as she asked herself what was wrong. She was unable to answer herself but the pain seemed to cease all of a sudden, yet it felt like something was there. Claire felt weak and her head was throbbing, but she got up and stumbled over to the bathroom. Examining herself in the mirror, she realized her favorite onesie was torn apart and was held together by a mere thread. The next thing she noticed were the large blue wings that had blossomed from her back and the bluish frost that covered her arms and hands like long dress gloves.

She looked out into the small apartment which had been turned into her very own winter wonderland. Oddly enough, she didn't feel cold at all but she felt at ease with everything being frozen around her. The next moment, she passed out from exhaustion and awoke the next morning on the cold tiles of the bathroom with her apartment looking as it usually did. The only proof of that night's events was her destroyed onesie and the wings that were wrapped around her which already felt as if they had always been there.

---

That following morning, she awoke on the cold hard tiles of the bathroom. Blue feathery wings were wrapped around her body and they felt soft but cold to the touch. They were sensitive and stroking them gently made her shudder.
"What...what is this?" She asked no one in particular. Her hands were covered in blue frost just like the night before and her back still throbbed from the intense pain she went through. She cringed as remembered the experience.

"I look kinda like her..." She thought to herself as she studied herself more. Claire thought of her favorite champion in League of Legends, Anivia the Cryophoenix.

Claire looked out at the apartment, recalling everything was frozen in ice before, but it all seemed to be gone now. Turning back to the mirror, she frowned at her appearance. She couldn't possibly go out in public like this!
"How can I make these wings disappear?" To her shock, they faded away in a blue ethereal light along with the rest of the frost on her body. "I guess I can control them by will then." she guessed.

Claire proceeded to shower and get dressed, pulling her hair into a ponytail. She had nothing planned today and she was off today as well, thus she decided to get out of the apartment and grab a cup of joe at the popular cafe down the block. She figured getting some fresh air might ease her mind for the time being. She slipped on a green tshirt with the mountain dew logo printed on the front and a pair of blue jeans as well as blue converses to accompany the simple outfit. As soon as she was finished, she was out the door and enjoying the warm morning.

---

"What should I get?" Her eyes scanned the menu as the line shifted forward as each order was expeditiously prepared and served. Claire was leaning towards a cold frappucino, which was a little abnormal for her, however she craved it this morning. Eventually she was at the front of the line and she stepped up to the counter.

"Hi. Good morning!" Claire chirped. "Could I have a white chocolate mocha frappucino, please? Oh, make that a grande as well please." @Cubix

The fiercely painted eyes of Sam darted across her computer screen; mini-map, then battlefield, dragon timer, then csing, then pinging, and then back to the mini-map. Her fingers hit at the keys and her mouse flurried with clicks. Sam was focused on a game of League of Legends. Granted, it wasn't in a venue she was used to. She had tried to hide herself in a lonely table in the far back corner of this cafe, secretly sucking the place of all of its wifi. The woman hadn't expected it to work, but hey! She was doing fine so far. No one had noticed and she was already 30 minutes into her match.

However, things weren't looking good for her team. As usual she played Shyvana top, minded her own business, and was pretty even coming out of laning phase. Mid tower went down, bot fed, and the jungler was an idiot. Sam was the first to post the surrender vote (going on further with this game would just hurt her kda), but obviously her team didn't see how pointless it was. So, they played on... and on... and on. Slowly the woman could feel herself get more and more frustrated. Her pings began to get more spammy. Thirty minutes in and the other team had taken their inhibs. On the bright side, they had respawned and finally repaired things enough in lane that, Sam decided to inch her character into the jungle as her team went with her to try to get dragon. This next fight would make it or break it. The other team was already at drag and already killed it as they got on the scene. They had retreated, going into the jungle near blue buff (they were the purple (red) team side). The other team followed into the crunch zones of the jungle and Sam saw that they were bunched up. THIS WAS IT! Sam turned around to press R all over the enemy team, Shyvana's dragon becoming released and dealing massive damage! Yes! This was such a great engage!

Then she was stunned by Annie. "YAY! Tibbers!" Then greyscale screen. Sam sat back in the booth, face blank--dumbfounded. It was only then that she realized that none of her team had been there and she had engaged without them. They had decided to go in full retreat and leave Sam to die. The woman lunged back at her laptop, her fingers racing across the keys typing in chat: wtf TEAM?!?! Now down by a member, the other team won the next fight and destroyed the nexus. "Fuck!" the woman raged out loud in the rather quiet cafe without a care. Sam exploded in all chat (also unintentionally saying what she was typing outloud): NOT GG. BG. BAD GAME. report bot for feed.. With that she slammed her laptop closed and banged her fist on the table. She kinda just froze there tensely as her anger built and built. Little did she know she was emanating a great deal of heat, anyone within passing would feel it, as if she were a space heater.

It was after a few long seconds of this that finally she remembered what people had told her. She closed her eyes, and stubbornly heaved a slow breath in and slow breath out. Sam did this for about twice and opened her eyes with a sigh. Whatever, the silver IV thought, maybe I won't be matched with noobs next time.

Finally she turned her gaze to her coffee that was next to her. She had bought it so that if she got questioned about the wifi usage she could make the claim that she was a paying customer, and thus entitled to it. Of course, it was cold by now after having sat for 30 minutes. She took it in her hands and stared at it pathetically as she contemplated getting another. However, before she let that train of thought go for too long, all of a sudden she saw steam rise from the cup. It was soft at first, but as she stared at it longer in confusion it began to steam a great deal, as if it had just been poured. Her body froze and she couldn't stop staring at this cup that was suddenly coming back to life (or warmth). All too quickly it began to bubble and boil, and then it boiled over all in a matter of seconds. Sam yelped in surprise, flinging her hands away from the cup that had boiled over onto her hands. The cup suddenly retreated from its fury, as if it had been taken of a stove top and onto a counter, leaving it steaming furiously in the end with a bit of spilt coffee on the table. She instantly investigated her hands for burns and then realized that there was nothing. The coffee hadn't made her feel pain and the jerk and been from expecting pain more than anything. The once boiling coffee dripped down her arm and she felt no pain and saw nothing, not even redness rise from her skin. Her eyebrows knitted together in amazement and deep confusion. She blinked out of it and hurriedly began to tear out napkins out of the container at her table to clean up the mess that had been made.

Arthur yawned in the morning light, his suit was ironed and imaculate but the owner was anything but. Hair uncombed, stubble running rampant, and eyes half open, the young man stumbled from his home on the familiar road back to the grindstone. Every day was the same for the him lately it seemed as he thought over the last month or so in his head.
Wake up, go to work, come home, and either Play Games or waste time on his phone.
What a life to live, with nothing but the next day to live for. His body yearned for adventure but his spirit had long since relinquished the enjoyment of the thought. Today seemed no different, but his thoughts were interrupted as he turned the corner. There in the middle of the street was a chime. At first it seemed like a hallucination so Arthur walked by it but it wasn't long before another chime appeared. Then another and another!
At this point he was trying to keep calm as best as possible. His nerves were on end. Nobody saw them, nobody even mentioned them, and he heard the tinkling of every single one.
Arthur worked up his courage and finally caved in to the incessant ring of these strange things, his whole body was excited, and gently touched one with his finger.
In an instant he felt reality crumble about him, the infinity of the stars invaded his every sight, the tinkling of chimes invaded his mind but it was pleasant now. A call he would answer, he had to answer, as he felt the connection between them and the universe come to life.
With a groan he woke in the alley, his head throbbed painfully and his sight was blurry as he tried to sit up but found himself incapable of completing the task. His mind was totally empty as he lay motionless on the hard cement staring at the bright sky.
The tink of a chime caught his ear as he turned to inspect the noise. There, hovering above his head, was a keep. The chime creatures that bard charmed with his own strange music.. The realization was like a bucket of cold water.

The chimes, the keep, his vision, he had become or gained the powers of, Bard! Arthur laughed at the insanity of it all but the sound caught in his throat. It almost sounded like... A flute.
He opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was a deep baritone, like a tuba on a low note, forcing him to cover his mouth. Too weird!
Arthur got to his feet and looked at his body expecting it to be swollen and more akin to Bard but ti his relief it was the same old Arthur. With s sigh that sounded more like the wind through a chime he leaned back against a wall to catch his breathe.
A portal like the one Bard made opened up from behind him and stole his balance as he shifted to a spirit form that traversed the portal to its destination in a dizzying display of lights and sounds.
The ride ended when the portal opened very briefly at its destination and spat him out. Directly into the path of a guy on rollerblades.

Alex grinned. He'd been having great fun testing his new found 'power'. Alex had tested the knife at longer and longer distances, even from one alleyway to another and found his power seemed to work no matter the range. Though it was slightly draining, not enough to make him stop. He'd been skating around town for a couple minutes now, his shift started soon so he should probably get to the cafe. Alex had even practiced throwing it at thing as he skated, finding that he was incredibly accurate. It just came naturally and even if he was slightly off course it seemed he could correct it slightly with his power. He'd just turned to head to the cafe when a hole made of shimmering lights opened in the wall in front of him. Alex tried to halt but the portal was too close and before he was able to come to a stop it spat something out, vaguely human shaped.

In an attempt to not hit it Alex jumped it. Unfortunately due to the forced circumstances he happened to land with one blade on a can. The rest as you would imagine, Alex tumbled to the ground in an undignified heap. He got up from the ground groaning and looking at his hand angrily, at least one of those fingers was broken. "What the hell was that?!" Impressively enough he had actually regained his feet without the use of his hands while wearing roller-blades. Also he was pissed.

---

Artemis jumped out of bed, literally, and looked at the digital clock at her nightstand. Only one hour? It felt like she'd slept for twelve. Oh well, perks. She tossed on a sweatshirt and some sweatpants along with some sandals. Just because she felt charged didn't mean she wouldn't get coffee. Of course she wouldn't make her own. She'd never managed to get the same flavor the local cafe did despite her best efforts. Artemis had considered applying for a job just for the experience but had decided against it.

Luckily it was only a few blocks away and Aremis was quickly waiting in line waiting for her coffee like everyone else. She arrived just in time to see a goth girl sitting by herself in a corner curse excessively loudly and spill hot coffee all over her self. Or cold coffee since it wasn't burning her and there wasn't a corresponding scream of pain. Artemis looked again, the coffee was steaming, clearly hot, but this woman was acting like it didn't affect her. Interesting. Perhaps it had nothing to do with anything.

But it had happened too close to her powers developing that she would find someone with either an incredibly high pain tolerance or resistance to heat. Artemis noted the girl's appearance for later and idly ran her fingers over the lighter in her pocket. She'd nearly forgotten it'd been there. Artemis had a habit of grabbing things laying on the ground and you'd be amazed at what people dropped and left behind.

Alexander was not looking forward to meeting Erick at the cafe, it required him to get up, on his day off, and go to his place of employment--on his day off. It wasn’t like he had plans or anything, it wasn’t like he was trying to scale the ladder. Nono, if Erick called, the world heeded to it! Or something to that effect, or so it had always seemed… The other guy had something of a commanding atmosphere that surrounded him, honestly, Alexander was a little jealous of it. Maybe if people listened to him, he could be Diamond 2 or 1 or whatever Erick was, but instead he was stuck in Plat 2, but at least he always had the joy of crushing nerds with Ezreal.

Nothing made him happier than Arcane Shifting straight into battle, landing the empowered Triforce AA, followed up with another Triforce Q proc, then standing on his enemy’s body and spamming ‘You belong in a museum!’ while typing “G E T S H I T O N N E R D S” in all chat. He paused for a moment, looking in the mirror and placing his tube of toothpaste on the counter, grinning to himself. Maybe, he thought to himself for a moment, I’m stuck in plat for a reason. I mean, I kinda am a little bit of a troll. Which, as we all know, Platinum MMR in League of Legends is filled with.

He left the bathroom and strolled down the hall into the kitchen area of his apartment, looking around for his phone. He found it, but he couldn’t exactly reach it. He stuck his fingers out, the tips grasping, grinning to himself. “Maybe if I believe hard enough, I’ll just shift over there! I’ve done it probably tens of thousands of times in game. I can get over there.” He started laughing but it was cut short after a slight whump! sound filled his ears and he ported next to the counter where the phone was.

A grin came over his face. “Alright, round two. Let;s try that again.” He snatched the phone and punched Erick’s face with his thumb, dialing the number as he looked over to his favorite chair, thinking like he had last time. As the dialtone began, he warped again, this time appearing in the chair with a little added issue: there was a dark, burned mark in the wall where his bolt had hit. “Got it… Not entirely safe. Gonna keep that in mind… Oh, hey, Erick? Dude. I got something to tell you!”

“You inherited Ezreal’s powers and Arcane Shifted around your house?” The other man’s voice flooded through the speaker on his phone and Alexander froze.

“Hey! How’d you guess that, wadafak?”

Erick looked up at the Sand Soldier in front of him before he spoke again, still as calm as ever. “Just a hunch. I’ll see you at the cafe, right?”

“Uh, yeah, see you there.” Alex responded, then shut off the call, wondering how Erick had known that as he stood up and left the building.

---

As the phone call ended, Erick stood up and again looked at the Sand Soldier, walking around him slowly, observing him. Perfect. The spear, everything was exactly like the soldiers of the actual Shuriman emperor. Erick lifted his hand and pointed in a direction, and immediately the soldier’s spear lashed out, stabbing at the air where Erick had pointed. He tossed his hand to the side this time, this time wanting the soldier to move, and, obediently, the Sand Soldier moved, gliding over to the side.

For a moment, Erick wanted to dash to the ally, to see how well he could execute an actual Shurima Shuffle, but he stopped himself. “I’ll figure that out later.” He said, then looked at the soldier and cleared his throat, and spoke, finding his voice to be even more powerful and booming that it had ever been before, almost echoing in his apartment. “Go. The order is given.”

Almost immediately, the soldier dissipated, leaving nothing but a few grains of sand on the floor where he had once been. Smiling, Erick pocketed the knowledge of his newfound powers, and left the building.
**
It was barely ten minutes before he arrived at the cafe, smiling as he saw his friend waiting outside. Gesturing inside, Erick led Alexander into the building, and to a table, sitting down beside him. “Alright. Let’s talk,” Alexander suggested, and Erick shook his head.

“No way, I’m thirsty. Drink first. Then talk.”

Alex sighed.

Arthur made a soft groan which sounded suspiciously musical as he rubbed his head, trying to get the dizzying colors and lights to stop blinking so close to his face. It took a lot longer than he expected for reality to come to full screen as he realized that, yes, he had survived his own weird astral journey to the opposite side of a building, and yes he had injured someone unintentionally. Getting to his feet proved a difficult task while stars swam across every visible part of sight but he did manage to make out the image of a man standing angrily in front of him demanding an explanation.
Arthur smacked himself lightly in the head to focus up and opened his mouth to explain. His lips moved, his hands moved trying to explain, but the only sound that came out was a deep trumpet sound to punctuate every letter instead of actual words. Arthur gasped and held both hands across his mouth and locked eyes with the man on roller blades and prayed he didn't look like a total freak to this dude, though they both knew at this point what a freak he clearly was. Arthur bowed his head and pointed to himself, before clapping his hands and bowing with his hands over his head in forgiveness. On impulse he pointed at the ground and a small chime formed at the roller bladers chest before dissipating into a harmless glittery cloud. Though it did nothing to aid the broken finger, it did momentarily distract the lad while Arthur reached out and realigned it before shrinking back with both hands covering his face in an attempt to stop any retaliation. Please don't kill me please don't kill me please don't kill me! Arthur thought over and over in his head.

'All I need is a drink, then everything will be back to normal' John thought to himself as he sat down in a booth at the cafe near his home, his coffee already in hand. Setting his satchel down beside him, he took a drink 'wonderful! I can feel it working already.' He mentally sighed in relief as the rich dark roast flowed down his throat. With caffeine now in his system, he was starting to feel wide awake. 'But still, how strange; to suddenly dream that I could summon Braum's shield. How very peculiar.' John took a quick look around the Cafe to assure himself that everything was indeed normal. After that, he returned to his drink.

---

"Fancy something cold in the mornin', I see." Leon grinned, trying his best to not sound like an awkward chicken whilst he adjusted the name tag on the top right of his apron which spelled out 'Leo the Lion'. "That'll be... a white chocolate mocha Frappuccino; and, uhh, the size is a tall... I-I mean grande." the lad stuttered as he punched in the details, sneaking subtle glances at the girl who he had seen somewhere in the university. There are a lot of things impossible in the world, like breathing and swallowing at the same time; but, at this moment, it was also impossible to not notice that she fit the description of beautiful, or rather, alluring. Her cerulean eyes were what captivated him, though. Cold as ice, yet, there seems to be something more beneath the surface. But, oh, he was the barista here, and his job was to serve her drinks-- not ogle at her 'till she calls 911. Besides, Leon needed to get this over with before his cheeks became hotter than they were starting to be. "That'll be $4.25." The order slip ejected as he nimbly tore it off, and extended it to the woman. Leon had heard her name before... Clarisse? Cassandra? Oh, well, that mattered not. He only heard of her because she was one of those rare girls who do play League. Murmurs, rumors, nothing else, though. "Things are pretty chilly all of a sudden. Then again, some mornings are always stranger than others." Leon blurted out before softly instructing his colleagues to prepare the drink.

Then, Leon turned once more to the girl, a softer smile on his face. "Well, I--" A slight disturbance caused Leon to look to the farther side of the café, noticing a woman who was nervously trying to clean up a spilled drink. Spilling drinks wasn't something unusual, per se, but the thing that made the lad raise his brow in wonder was the mere fact that even though steam was furiously rising from the spilled beverage (signifying that it was scalding, by the way), the woman was wiping it without even retracting her hand which was what every normal human being would do. Leon turned to his colleague, instructing him to take the payment as he excused himself from the lady, and grabbed a few towels and tissues en route to the table concerned. "Let me help you with that, ma'am." Leon offered as he draped the towel over the spill, causing a dark brown stain to immediately surface on the towel's threads. However, upon doing so, drops of the coffee just had to fly, causing the barista to recoil from the searing heat. Oh, it wasn't the usual 'hot' coffee... It was... just... burning! "Good lord... how much did they heat this up? A thousand degrees?" he exhaled, wiping the coffee drops from his arms, and the apron.

"You... a'right, ma'am?" Leon looked over to the dark-haired lass who looked like someone he could already cross out from his 'potential friends' list. "I'm... uhh... surprised, though. You don't seem to mind the... uhh... heat." Leon grimaced and furrowed his brows before softly angling his hand with the spare towel, attempting to wipe the spilled beverage from the woman's slender arms. "Wow, you're hot..." Leon immediately shook his head. "I-I m-meant the drink... I'm not even touching your arm yet, but I can already feel the heat..."

Just as she stepped outside, Aelia noticed that someone had dropped their coffee. Her bright eyes cast in the direction of the fumbling man and the punk-rock looking chick, who appeared to be having a bad day. Maybe she should stay a little bit longer. It wasn't like class started any time soon. Well... it did, but these people were much more entertaining. Not to mention, she was already doing well in the class that she was taking. She could skip a day, right?

The girl walked back into the store just in time to avoid the large fuss outside. She didn't want to get involved in that... two strange men tripping over each other, or whatever? No thanks. Aelia bounced on her toes as she walked around, looking for a place to sit. There was that pale-haired girl, then the awkward boy... And then two rather charming looking men sitting with each other. They looked like they weren't as busy as the others, right?

Aelia trotted over to them, offering them a literal charming smile. "Hello~" she greeted them cheerily, pulling up a chair. "Room for one more?"

Little did Aelia know, that her charm abilities were still working rather well. Even though she felt a little light-headed as she awaited their answers, she maintained her smile and upbeat personality.

@Cubix @Universorum @Kiroue @DFA

Sam wrenched several napkins from the carton and threw them onto the spill, however, the cheap-ass films sucked up hardly anything. Just another thing to make this more frustrating! Before she could lunge to get more, she paused as one of the employee's came up to offer help. Hmm, at least that helped a bit. She didn't smile or offer thanks, she just watched as he draped the towel over the accident. It was much more effective than her use of napkins, soaking up most of the spill. Suddenly she heard the employee yelp at the heat of some of the coffee drops landing on him, reddening his skin. The women looked at the phenomenon with concerned and confused look. That coffee had been boiling and she hadn't been effected, but the other man had. Was it just luck? Was her skin just more used to heat? No. Being used to hot dish water was one thing, but boiling hot coffee was a completely different thing. Her mind was finally catching up to the weirdness of it all, examining her hands longer and longer, her painted face showing severe concern. Where was the redness? I mean, there was no way she could get out of spilling boiling water without at least gaining blisters, but her skin remained unchanged and she felt no pain. In fact, to her astonishment, it even felt good, like a pleasant warmth. The words, 'You... a'right, ma'am?' drifted into her consciousness, but all she could utter was. "I..."
More words weighed on her, 'You don't seem to mind the... uhh... heat.' The words came through surreal out out of place. For not the first time she felt as if this whole thing was surreal. Was she high? What the hell?

Suddenly a towel intercepted the odd scene of her hands before her, breaking her of her trance. Blinking to look at the man in confusion as he carefully padded down her arms. 'Wow, you're hot...' These words hit her and immediately she fell back to being herself. Her eyes, extravagantly winged with eyeliner, narrowed in annoyance and her lips pinched ever so slightly. Is this guy serious? she thought to herself. He must have seen this because suddenly he began to retreat, looking like an idiot. Her head cocked to the side and her body shifted. "Okay, Hercules." She said, her voice dripping with annoyed sarcasm. She snatched the towel from him, and began wiping herself down. "You can step off of that chivalrous horse of yours." Sam looked up straight in his face and flashed an aggressive smile full of sarcasm. "I think I got this." she quipped. Her smile fell to a blank, annoyed expression as she turned back her attention to cleaning off her hands and wiping off the table. Little did she know, she was still radiating waves of heat, and as she cleaned up the mess more and more, it was quite clear to anyone that the heat was not, in fact the coffee.

Leo the Lion? Claire silently read his nametag before looking back up to him, making eye contact as he greeted her and repeated the order, somehow stammering in the process. Claire raised her eyebrows in slight amusement, but paid no mind at all.
"Yup," She nodded, "I just had a small craving this morning. Just a tad bit, Mr. Lion." She smoothly said as she took the receipt from him and then proceeded to dig through her wallet for a five dollar bill. Mr. Lion then talked about how the morning was chilly then how some were stranger than others and that gave Claire pause for a brief moment. The morning didn't feel that cold to her but it definitely landed at the top of the list of one of her stranger mornings of all time.
"Oh it didn't feel very chilly at all, it felt more of a pleasant temperature to me. But it did start off in a weird way though..." Claire shrugged. Suddenly, the barista excused himself and was drawn away to help a customer with a spilled drink, which was a shame as she was interested to hear why exactly he had brought that up. She cringed as she watched him burn himself on the scaldingly hot brown liquid on the table. It then clicked in her mind that she had seen him before.
Wait...I think I might've seen him around at the university. I think we might've passed each other on campus a couple times before but just never talked or even acknowledged each other. She thought to herself, glancing at him. I'll make sure to say something to him next time...

Claire paid for her frappucino and brought it to a table next to two gentlemen in a deep discussion, silently savoring the chilly beverage. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the heated scene taking place at the other end of the cafe. Claire could practically feel..no, sense the enormous volume of heat emanating from the girl as she took matters into her own hands albeit, in a rather rude manner. Claire's eyes were full of disapproval at the girl's antics and she frowned at the sight. Oh, he was just trying to help! No need to be so snarky about it, let him do his job. However, she wasn't quite able to capture the exchange of words between the two of them.

"Hello~....Room for one more?"

Her attention was briefly diverted to a brunette who had seated herself at the table with the two gentlemen. The cafe was crowded this morning and it seemed that open seats were gradually being occupied as each customer appeared. She observed the girl, but kept tabs on the goth several tables away.

@Kiroue @Cubix @Ambra @Universorum

"So, what do you think?" A dark haired man spoke out, walking along a quiet street with a blond haired male of slightly younger age at his side. The duo have been pacing for awhile now, keeping their eyes open for something quite intently, though not making mention of it. This patrol has been taking some time, finding the morning fading fast into noon as the city streets were alive with the traffic of others. Despite this, neither of the male's seemed phased, their eyes focused ahead.

"Not much to think about. If you had told me this a couple of days ago, I would've called you insane. But the fact that it happened to me as well-" The blonde haired male shrugged his shoulders, "Well, we have to assume we're not the only ones." With that, the male would reach into his pocket, drawing out a rectangle shaped box and opening the top with his thumb. Raising the vessel to his lips, he'd pull back the carton before offering it to the older male at his side- a fresh cigarette positioned on his lips. The brunette male, took the carton and did the same before returning, pulling a lighter from his pocket and igniting the paper cylinder as he inhaled a drag. The two continued on in silence for a little while longer.

"So, took the day off?" The brunette spoke again.

"Yeah, who wouldn't? Fall asleep one night, wake up with supernatural powers? Kind of overwhelming, and still somewhat bad ass." A couple of people who passed the blonde male could only cast him strange looks and cautious glances.

The other sighed, "Just let everyone know... Still, we need to keep our eyes open."

"Especially yourself. I'm still trying to get over how you look. I mean you look normal mostly, but -at times- it's like looking through a kaleidoscope."

"Yeah, I know. It's not good, but what can you do?" With this final exchange, the man flicked the butt of his cigarette on the ground as he began looking around, "Where should we start looking?" His gaze shortly landed on his comrade, raising a brow curiously as he saw the male sniffing the air, "Really? When you got your powers, did you turn into a dog yourself?"

"Maybe... I don't know. Just I smell coffee, and it is still morning you know. Gotta get my fix."

With a chuckle, the brunette nodded, making his way towards the cafe as he signaled the other to follow, "Fair enough. You're buying."

Alex looked at the strange man in front of him in confusion. He was making some sort of freaking musical noises instead of talking. Maybe his vocal cords didn't work right or something. He looked at the prostrating man in disgust. Then the freaking wierdo shot some sort of magic dust at him and he was blinded for a couple seconds. Alex brushed off the dust severely irritated and turned around walking away from the strange man. Seriously, his day had been going great. Freaking random ass man show up out of nowhere with his magic portal nonsense. Magic portal. The portal. Looked like... what was it? Bard. The chiming noises and freaking weird portal thing. Normally that would've been a long jump but his last game last night had involved a bard and the memory was fresh in his mind. He looked at the strange man one more time, ugh whatever, he would deal with it later. Alex couldn't afford to pay a hospital bill for fixing his hand so he would have to hope for the best. Alex looked at his hand again as he walked away. It was... fine?

He could've sworn it had been bent all out of shape. Alex sighed, what the f- ever. He cut off his shirt sleeves and bound up the hand regardless, then he walked into the storm in a foul mood with his left hand wrapped in a blood covered cloth. Of course the cafe was packed, when else would it be freaking packed? Alex walked behind the counter and signed in angrily. Of course Leon was hitting on customers, big surprise there. Alex stepped out behind the counter and tapped Leon on the shoulder, "You got a job to do remember? Goth girl looks like she can take care of it." Why the hell was it so hot over here? And why was that brown hair- wow super hot. Shit he was thinking like Leon. Whatever, he shook his head to clear it and walked back to the counter getting more and more irritated by the second. Freaking nothing was going right as soon as that weird ass guy showed up.

@Kiroue@Ambra@Cubix@Zelosse


Artemis watched the events occur with some amusement. It seemed things were getting very busy for such a little cafe. Most of it seemed focused around the girl with the split coffee. Since it seemed Artemis wouldn't be getting her coffee for a while she took a backseat along with a girl who had gotten her coffee before the spilling incident and the line got halted. The girl was about the same height as her, "You watching the show as well?" Artemis asked in a friendly fashion as she waited for the situation to sort itself out. She had a strange feeling that things were only going to get more exciting, how very strange, normally she didn't have these kinds of gut feelings.

@DFA

---

His eyes figuratively rolled off of a cliff, softly snorting in disdain whilst retrieving the used towels from the mess. "Of course, of course. I don't know about you, but picking a fist fight so that you'll be late is not really the best choice as of the moment, Alex." Leon fixed his apron, and folded the towels neatly in a pile. Leon could only pray to whatever deity deigned to listen that this woman did not misunderstand him (which, probably, she did). Scratch that, she was totally out of his 'nice people' list. If she took it the wrong way, then, it's her problem; and, if she did think of herself as hot (in the physical sense), then, she might need to see an ophthalmologist... or an eye surgeon-- whichever works best. Leon not only felt hot in his head, but also his skin. It seemed as if someone turned on the heater... or someone was the heater. His eyes glided subtly to the woman, eyeing her carefully. Then, and there, he knew that this was not the coffee anymore. Perhaps Global Warming had decided to invade this little café as evidenced when he felt rather extra chilly upon meeting the blue-eyed maiden, and, now, torrid just by being beside this eyeliner-stricken vixen. "Oh, and it's Leo the Lion, madame. Not Hercules." he jested gently before noticing how she was messily cleaning up the table.

Knowing that if she kept it up, her laptop would be the one to suffer the repercussions of a caffeine-injected beverage, Leon hoisted the laptop, and aided in cleaning the table anyway. The sooner she was out of here, the sooner his life will return to normal (if having ghouls back at his apartment was considered normal, that is). After the entire table was spick n' span, Leon straightened his posture, set down the gadget, and reacquired the used towelsfolding them neatly once more. "As per Wi-Hi café policies, valued customers who spill their initial drinks within the establishment will be given a complimentary blueberry, whole wheat muffin." the barista stepped back, tilting the purple-colored visor in a not-so sincere salute. "Thank you and you're welcome." He smiled, putting a much needed emphasis on gratitude since this irate consumer (who brought upon her own destruction; not to mention that she was obnoxiously loud a few minutes ago, and that it was because of her idiocy that caused angry red welts to spawn all over Leon's arm) who was not really taught the proper way to express 'thanks'. "Please, do wait for a while whilst the muffin is being served." You just wanted a free muffin, didn't you, eyeliner witch? Leon thought grimly to himself.

Thus, the barista spun around, and headed to the storage room, dumping the coffee-stained towels into the washer before bounding off towards the counter where he once again met his colleague, Alex. They were not really on the best of terms, but both of them came from unstable backgrounds. Hence, Leon somewhat sympathizes with him. "If you keep scowling like that, you'll chase the customers away." Leon remarked coolly as he placed the muffin into the heater, setting it to 'warm'. "Oh, and in case you were wondering, I'm not interested in her, so you don't have to worry about me being a rival or something. It's quite obvious, from the way you looked at her, that you fancy her face or something. Go, and get her tiger." the lad chuckled, handing the blueberry muffin on a plate to Alex. "Go, serve that thing to her. I can't stand her for some reason. It feels like a broiler near that woman."

In the meantime, Leon prepared for his next, daunting task: cleaning the glass doors. Equipping his trusty utility belt at his waist, Leon headed for the café doors, and stepped outside. He held the spray bottle in his right hand, and the squeegee in the other. At least, he was away from that witch whilst he could still steal glances at that blue-eyed maiden under the guise of cleaning the doors. Leon sprayed a bit of the mixture upon the surface before vertically wiping it with the squeegee. However, the reflection of the glass revealed two guys with one of them having a cigarette between his lips. Oh, how Leon hated cigarettes-- the bane of humanity. It appeared that they were headed for the café, though, as evidenced when they actually were a few steps away from the door. "Oh, I'm sorry, sirs," Leon spun around as he addressed the two potential guests. "Smoking's not allowed inside. Although, I can propose that you extinguish that smoke first, then, it's fine." he pointed to the trashcan beside the door with an ashtray on top of it. Or, you stick that cigarette up your ass and spare others the burden of lung cancer, you dimwits.

Sam stubbornly kept working on the mess, still going over in her head how she was appalled at the unprofessionalism that the man had displayed in hitting on her. I mean, she got it a lot, but that didn't make it any less annoying. Perhaps in a way the whole musky and brainless words 'you're hot' were a pet peeve of hers. Now, her second pet peeve was being called a 'goth girl'. She hated the expression because that was how people referred to her so often. She was punk, scene, or grunge, yes, but a goth girl? The label really triggered her to no end. Did she look like she was 17, had shitty makeup, no self-esteem, a horrid taste in rock music, and had a never ending hate for the world? Perhaps that could have described her during her rebellious teens, but she had evolved from that to something more sophisticated as she grew up. She had perfected her makeup, though dark, to a look of something like a makeup artist would do (she had practiced very vigorously and she liked to think of makeup as a secret hobby of hers). Having been bullied and gone through a lot of shit in her teens, she had come out of it with not necessarily a great deal of confidence (but still much more than before, being able to stand up for herself), but with instead an air of not being one for BS. Her music repertoire had expanded and refined, and she simply held an annoyance for annoying people, not the whole world.

So! Though the dude had stood up for her in a way by trying to get the ogler away from her, the fact that he used the term 'goth girl' just turned her off completely from his act. She looked up from her cleaning to see him with a very unhappy look on his face. He was probably just doing the deed purely out of the fact he was pissed anyway. Annoyance sprung to Sam's gaze again as she looked at the man.

Fortunately, for some reason the Hercules guy felt that he had some balls enough to propose fist fighting the newer man. She was kinda dumbfounded by the fact that they would start a fight just over some coffee, but when he said it, the other man moved back to the counter. Honestly, she didn't really like either of them, but at least having one gone made her in a bit of a better humor.

She thought that she was just going to finish up the job herself. However, the man decided, despite having been given venom by her earlier, that he still wanted to help and lifted her laptop (which she had been having trouble getting around). She gave him a light look of grudgingness, like a wary feral dog to a human trying to pet him, and went along with the cleaning. The act seemed more genuine with him acting out of kindness despite how she had acted toward him. At the very least she wasn't bothered by this move and was actually, to some degree of stubborn admiration for it.

'Oh, and it's Leo the Lion, madame.' He had corrected with a comical amount of pride. The name hit her ears and she paused in wiping around with her rag, and blinked at the silliness of a name that he seemed so dignified about. Sam just couldn't get over the ridiculousness of the name. In her pausing she let a tiny smile slip across her face, never looking up from the table, before going about cleaning again, shaking her head a little. "Oookay, Leo the Lion." She held back a bit of a snicker. (See! She wasn't all bad!)

Soon enough, the coffee was cleaned leaving a steaming towel in her hands (though again she felt not one bit of burning). She handed it carefully over to Leo the Lion who then folded it neatly. Right when she thought the silly boy was going to leave, he stood at attention to her and began to recite their Muffin Policy. The emphasized gratitude she knew wasn't of the kindest nature, but the notion of getting a free muffin actually made her eyebrows come up with a bit of surprise. She hadn't known anything about this free muffin clause, and there was nothing she liked more than free stuff. Sam gave a pleasantly surprised and kind of "hmm, not bad" expression. "Hmm, no lie, that's actually pretty awesome." She didn't give quite a smile, but she definitely looked pleased about the unexpected compensation. He went away, but not before asking her to wait until he got back. No worries! She wasn't just going to walk away when she was being given a muffin. However, she was somewhat confused when Leo entered in again with no muffin and was more concerned went over to do other things. Maybe someone else was getting her the muffin?

"Ahhhh...much better" John sighed in relief as he downed the last of the black beverage. 'Although that was quite a bizarre waking dream of mine; summoning Braum's shield like that. Although I-' his train of thought was interrupted by the sudden appearance of that very shield. It had come without so much as a sound, or any kind of light. Once second it wasn't there, and the next it was. Before John could break out into a panic, it vanished, just as suddenly as it appeared '...it wasn't a dream. I really summoned Braum's shield. Wait, did anyone notice?' He hadn't heard anyone gasp or scream, so that was a good sign. Since he didn't want to look too suspicious, he didn't look around at everyone in the cafe 'I...might be in the clear.'