@Eklispe

Arthur stumbled out of his bedroom half-awake, dressed only in pajama bottoms and pink slippers he had taken from his mother the last time they had stayed over for an extended period of time. They lived on the opposite side of town and were arguably as unmotivated as himself. They were also the first owners of the surplus store Arthur had inherited 3 years ago.
Odds were that both of them were in the store right now, since Arthur rarely bothered to be awake so early. He had sent both of them a text informing him of his absence yesterday and the event at the coffee house. He left out the part about not being able to speak anything but brass horn and left it at that.
Taking a break was the only option at the moment.
Arthur warmed up the kettle as he yawned, the tinkling of chimes escaped him comically but he ignored it. Problems for later. Despite it being nearly 11am, early by his estimation, there were still issues from a month ago on his mind.
The store was doing fine buy his parents wanted to travel, not mind the store, so Arthur needed to hire a new cashier for the AM shift. Maybe tweak the hours so it opened later and closed later.
The next issue was him not having a voice. Cashier would need to know what was going on without being scared or shocked by it.
The next was maybe finding a damn roommate. With the money from the shop he could afford a great many things, but it was the unending quiet of the place that bothered him most. Too long without a friend drove a man mad.
Arthur shrugged and poured himself some tea as he 'walked' back through the apartment to his PC, but stopped as he heard the familiar tapping of his laptop.
Also the lack of footfalls.
He glanced down and swooned he realized his was floating nearly a foot off the ground. Bard in game did the same thing, though nobody knew why or how, so Arthur took a few breathes and focused on putting feet to the floor. A moment later he knocked on the spare room and entered when Alex replied to come in.
Arthur opened his mouth to ask if everything had been comfortable but the same noisy horn noise was once more foiling his attempt at polite communication. As if the poor guy wasn't bad enough at such a thing.
Arthur held up his finger with a look of annoyance and put his cup down, grabbing his cellphone and sitting cross legged in the air, again unaware of how he floated.
The two had exchanged numbers the night before for easier talking. As he looked at Alex inspiration hit.

(message reads; Morning. I'm starving. Care to hit up a diner for brunch, my treat? I can't order alone. I also want to know if you would be willing to consider a small lifestyle change. I need help at my store and you don't seem to care for your current employment. 15/h to help out since I can't speak. Think about it over lunch?)

Arthur picked up his tea and 'walked' back to his room. Dressing up in his usual suit and dress clothes with a dark blue tie.

Alex read the message trying to ignore the whole floating thing as best he could. It was kind of weird. Really weird. Back on topic, a job offer sounded great. His job at the cafe was in a perilous position what with the whole murder thing, he didn't like it that much anyway, and the pay wasn't even great. Besides that he felt bad for Arthur. It must suck not being able to talk anymore, especially as a business guy. Alex finished off the game and got his shoes on. Then he walked over to Arthur's room, knocked on the door and said, "Sounds good, I'll be waiting at the door for when you're ready to go, just text me your order and I'll handle it."

@Eklispe

Arthur slipped on his shoes and adjusted his tie, focusing on walking properly on the ground. On a whim he thought of Bard magical horn and watched it materialize in his hand, a similar thought sent it away to nothingness. That was good to know, since bards main damage spell and ultimate utilized the magic horn for their effects. Interesting concept to think on Arthus mused as he stepped out of his room. His phone was out in a flash as he sent another quick text to Alex.

(Message reads: Cool. There's a diner not far from here. We're gonna go together. I also wanna test something.)

Arthurs apartment was on the third floor but lacked an elevator so going up and down was a pain but the idea of earlier, the incident where he had accidentally injured Alex's finger had given him a new idea. The horn materialized in his free hand as Arthur placed his empty cup in the sink. He flashed Alex a thumbs up and blew a single note aimed through the floor as a swirling vortex opened up. With a shrug the horn disappeared along with Arthur as he stepped into the portal and felt himself transported through reality to land feet on the ground outside of his apartment building. Another quick text was rattled off in quick succession as the portal disappeared.

(Message reads: If you're talon, maybe you can do his blink move? Come to the balcony and give it a shot. Doesn't work, spare key is hanging next to the door. I'll wait below.)

------------------------------

Alex and Arthur left the apartment soon after and followed the main road. As per usual the Darkwell City Diner was relatively busy as they both entered and took a booth seat in the far corner. Normally Arthur was not the kind of man to stare but he was always a little weird here with one of the servers. Usually he could talk to women with ease, rarely shy but not overly charming either, but this one gave him a lump in his throat so big he always feared it would explode into a shower of words that condemned him forever.
His sigh of relief came out like a flat flute note as he realized she likely wasn't in today.
Arthur took out his phone and sent another quick text to Alex.

(Message read: Got a lot to talk about. Powers, friends, family, jobs. For now lets just have a nice meal and relax. Figure all this out later. If you're still ok shadowing me a bit, would you be willing to stop by my store later?)

“What the…” Clarice said in surprise now that she had changed into her waitress attire. She only now noticed that every now and then that strange golden armor thing would show up for a little while before vanishing again. This was a problem, a big one at that! Forcing all willpower and concentration she can muster in that moment, she tried to make the armor stop appearing as it pleased. Hey at least Garen’s armor was way better than Mordekaiser’s… or Zyra’s… clothing for that matter. A quick image of her running around covered with leaves and petals appeared in her mind.

Dismissing all irrelevant(if you can really call them that) thoughts from her mind at the moment, she entered the main area of the restaurant. She was smiling as usual and standing taller than most if not all people in here. Still she had long legs and elegant figure so she appeared more like a model than anything else. As she took her small notebook to write down the orders she noticed a pleasant surprise! One of her more amusing customers was present today. The man seemed to lose the ability to talk properly whenever she was around~

With a smile and an elegant walk, she quickly made her way to his table, taking 2 menus with her.” Thank you for visiting the Darkwell City Diner, here are your menus.” She said with police voice and a big smile, leaving the menus on the table.” I will be the waitress serving your table for today, feel free to call me when you’ve made your choice.” She said with a slight bow before returning back to deliver and take more orders.

Claire had walked home from the previous day with the meep still in her possesion. She didn't encounter the "Braum" from earlier like she had hoped, but she had a slight suspicion that he'd be present at the gathering later. As Claire got home, she immediately dressed into comfy clothes and booted up her laptop, logging into League and reading into its lore surrounding the champions. She especially studied Anivia's abilities in great detail and read her background, eventually finding herself admiring the splash art for the "Blackfrost Anivia" skin which was her favorite skin to use for her main.

After a while, she started to play matches which carried on well into the night.

~

The absent-minded and sleep deprived Claire snapped back into reality as one of her coworkers stormed into the diner late. Well that was a surprise! Clarice was never really the type to be late as far as she knew from a couple of side conversations with her in passing. She was one of the more popular waitresses at the diner too with her fair features and shapely curves, the uniform serving to enhance her elegance.

She blinked. Wasn't she serving someone? Claire looked at the slip of paper in hand, remembering that she was serving coffee to one of the diner's elderly customers. She walked over to the coffee machine and found a freshly brewed pot of coffee, grabbing a cup nearby in order to pour it out for her customer. Claire wondered about the meeting, Artemis and Sam were sure to be there by now...Leo would probably follow suit after that. She also hoped that the "Braum" she saw the other day would be there as well. Unfortunately on her way home on that day, she wasn't able to find the gentleman but if he showed up to the meeting, she could meet him along with everyone else invited.

Then what would happen?

"Here you are sir! And cream and sugar to go along with it as well." Claire served her customer at the counter while she fought the urge to yawn in front of him. He gave her a silent toothless grin in response. After making sure he didn't need anything else, she collected his money and went to the back, looking for the pot of coffee reserved for the employees in the small break room.

"I shouldn't have played so much League last night..." She muttered.

Aelia Stark

She had taken one of her many tails and wrung it between her hands nervously, her eyes focused on the two males in front of her. Erick seemed to be much more aware of what had happened, but the other one appeared to think he was still in a dream. Aelia sure wished that she was in one, still; she felt like she was one of those "furries" that she had heard so much about over the internet. They were pretty weird people, and she didn't want to be compared to them.

The young woman flinched as Alexander drowsily touched her ear, saying that he was probably dreaming. A blush crossed her cheeks. Well, she did know that Ahri was the object of many male League players' dreams, but... "Stop being weird," Aelia whined childishly, swatting his hand away before turning towards Erick.

"It kinda hurts," she finally answered, shuffling her feet slightly. Aelia really did feel uncomfortable-- then again, who wouldn't if they all of a sudden had nine tails and fox ears? "My back aches and my head hurts. But in a way, it feels like I'm much more powerful than I was before."

@Universorum



It was the same day as any other; he came into work, he sat down, and decided to have a cup of coffee to get rid of the violent hangover that he had the night before. Sinking deep into one of the chairs located within Darkwell City Diner's break room, Garrett half-heartedly sipped at the cup of coffee in his hand. The man's eyes were half-lidded as he struggled to cope with his pounding head and immense weariness as he reached over to pick up a nearby newspaper. One of the headlines read: "Young man, 20, Still Missing After.."

Garrett sighed, placing down the newspaper as he rubbed the ridge of his nose. Why did he even come to work today? He wasn't even sure if he could read the orders correctly... not to mention, it would have been better if he stayed home to avoid getting in trouble with his boss. The older man had already given him several warnings, stating that if he kept coming to work late or disoriented, that there would be repercussions.

One of his coworkers entered the room, and his amber-colored eyes flicked up to see the pale-haired woman complain about playing too much League of Legends the night prior. Garrett scoffed at her words and lifted up the newspaper again, attempting to shield his face from her prying eyes. Honestly, he'd had enough of League, at least for the day. After waking up staring at his own shadow and getting the living shit scared out of him, he didn't even want to think of the stupid game.

@DFA

Travis enjoyed the previous night playing lots of League of Legends with his friends. Supporting was the best thing in the world! The amount of plays and unseen work that you put your effort into to ensure victory... there's nothing like it! However, that all changed this morning, he woke up with a massive headache, and a cold sweat. Did he have a nightmare? He shrugged it off as he closed his eyes, yawning and stretching. However, as he extended his arms out, something metallic made a very loud thunk on the floor, and something pulled his arm down, weighing it down. He opened his eyes, looking around and raising an eyebrow in confusion. He looked down the side of his bed where the thunk came from. It was... it was... it was Thresh's hook, with the chain sliding out of his arm. He screamed out in alarm, panic and sheer fright. What's going on!?" he thought inside. It was lucky he lived alone, otherwise his family would be running up the stairs in a heartbeat! He scrambled out of bed, and.. it snaked it's way back up his arm, until he could hold it by the handle part of the scythe hook itself. "What the hell is going on?" He asked himself outloud. He had to get out of here... now! Travis got dressed and slipped on a black hoodie, with a front pocket big enough for him to conceal the hook. He had to figure out what's going on. However, something quiet, like a whisper kept on repeating itself in his head, but Travis couldn't make it out.

Travis walked outside after locking the door to his house, looking left and right to see if anyone came out if they heard his scream. Fortunately, no one yet. He quickly walked out of the street and into Darkwell City. Was there others like him? Is he some kind of government experiment? Or a monster? Is League of Legends real? That hook was exactly like Thresh's. It's no coincidence. Thresh was Travis's main champion in the game, so he would immediately recognise any element of the character. The whispering grew louder, he could make it out now, but it terrified him.

Souls... souls... souls... souls

It said this over and over and over again, like a broken record. Each time getting slightly louder from the last. "Get out of my head!" He thought back, screaming inside his head. This is driving him literally insane! However, what he didn't know is that this voice could overwhelm him, and he would indeed be lost in eternal madness. He had to find somewhere, somewhere safe. Travis went through all the alleys he could find. Eventually, he did end up at the Darkwell City Diner. Hopefully, he could find some sort of sanctuary here. He found an empty table, slightly afar from the main group of people that were huddled together. He stared at the table, covering his face with his hood.

Alex stood on the balcony and looked down. Talon could teleport short distances seemingly without much preparation or effort, leaving Alex little clues to work on. He looked down at Arthur below. He couldn't feel anything. Alex experimentally tossed his knife and returned it to get a feel for the power he was drawing from it and focused on trying to move without moving. After a few seconds of what amounted to staring creepily to no effect Alex gave up. Maybe he'd try again later. Regardless he raced down the stairs, snatching the key and following Arthur to the diner. Once again he breezed through the text and replied, "Sure, we can talk when you have a computer to type on. I'll stop by whenever you need it, you've got my number."

Then they arrived and quickly had a waiter come by. A very, erm, big waiter, who looked like she could get in several lines of work other than this one. He couldn't imagine why anyone would work in a food place when they had other options. "Thank you." he said to the women as she left and he viewed the menu. "Alright, I got what I want, what's your order?" Alex asked his potential boss, putting his own menu down and looking around the room. He saw another girl dip into the back room and could've sworn that he'd seen her yesterday. Odd. It seemed the Darkwell cafe was well named, given the two people brooding on opposite ends of the cafe.

Well that had been a huge bust. He had hoped to get the attention of someone with the same...condition as him, yet no one approached him 'It's the not knowing that's killing me. I feel like I've become part of some conspiracy, yet I'm the only one with no idea what is going on. I really hope that I didn't just give myself away to a group of crazed serial killers. No, what are you thinking John? That way lies madness. Besides; that was all yesterday, and nothing has happened so far' he thought to himself.

It was currently the next day, and while he normally went to the cafe in the morning, he wasn't ready to return to there just yet. After all, a man had died there. Although he knew it wasn't fair to the owners of the cafe; the man wasn't attacked there, he just stumbled in while he was already bleeding to death. So to deny them business because of something that wasn't even their fault was completely unfair. That being said, he didn't feel ready to return there just yet. So instead, he decided to try a diner close to his house 'It's quite bizarre, now that I think about it; I've passed by this place more then a few times...yet I've never gone in before' entering the diner, he took a seat and opened up the menu.

@Ambra@GingerBoi123@Eklispe@Card Captor

“You are welcome.” Was her reply to the companion of her usual amusing customer, before she continued onward with her duties.

“Hey there, Garett!” Clarice said as she went to her coworker.” What’s with you, hiding behind that newspaper today? I know you usually prefer to not interact with people, but to hide, that’s new even for you.” She said jokingly to Garret. He was a hard person to approach, but she wanted to anyways. Even if it was just to poke at him, at least that was some interaction with that mysterious coworker of hers. She also noticed her other coworker, Claire, to go to the backroom for some break, most likely. She looked tired, Clarice felt tired also, but she was used to it.

As she was preparing to poke some more at the younger man, she noticed another customer had sat down on a secluded table. With a smile she quickly left Garett to his solitude and walked to the next customer.

The boy that just sat had kind of a nervous attitude and he was keeping his hood on even indoors. At first all of Clarice’s alarms went off in her mind for possible criminal, but something seemed off about him. Normally robbers didn’t take tables, but got directly to where the cashier was. Still with a smile she approached him and stopped by the table, placing a menu in front of him.” Good day, thank you for visiting Darkwell City Diner. Here is your menu. I will return in a moment to take your order.” She said with a smile and slight bow as she noticed yet another person entering the diner! That meant this was going to be her third table! What timing for Claire to be taking breaks.

“Good morning, have you finished choosing? Anything I can bring you?” She politely asked the man who well appeared to be even taller than her! Wasn’t that a surprise, she rarely saw such customers; still she kept her smile on.

Arthur relaxed in his seat as he browsed the usual menu, though his eyes roamed the page his mind was a thousand miles away. Only 24 hours ago everything about this situation would be entirely different with himself sitting alone in a corner with a cup of coffee in quiet contemplation. That was then, now he sat in a relatively open area with what could be called a friend trying to come to terms with the idea that people, regular people, had been given powers and abilities from a video game that many people played! Madness was the only way to describe the situation now with his voice turned to a trumpet and another man had been gifted the powers of what appeared to be Talon, though as of yet they had not accomplished much in finding out the truth.
A soft chiming noise stopped his heart cold as he glanced up wide-eyed and stern faced at the dancing Meep hovering over his head. He gave a panicked 'eep' of surprise that came out like a trumpet as he reached out and grabbed the meep in both hands, putting it in his coat before anyone could see it. Nobody but those effected could see the creatures he had come to discover but that did not mean he WANTED those who could to see. Too weird.
The brunch menu was pretty standard so he flipped the menu and slid it to Alex, gesturing with his index finger to the eggs benedict and then a picture of a glass of water. Not being able to speak was a huge problem but if he and Alex could come to an understanding then maybe both of them could get to a better way of life. Arthur dared to hope.
As he turned to stand he was met full in the face with the towering figure of Clarice, the only server in the establishment he had a hard time speaking to. Though he would never admit it to himself or otherwise he fancied the tall woman as an example for all women. Strong, beautiful, and capable. Why she worked here confused him to no end. Though they were of the same height, Alex standing closer to 6'3, he still felt short compared to her.
Unlike his lanky form this exquisite creature exuded strength.

Arthur opened his mouth to greet her but forgot about his predicament, the only thing escaped now was a low-pitched tuba sound. His eyes flared in alarm as both hands shot up to cover his mouth and slide back further into his seat. Frantically, he made various gestures towards his throat and offered a small head bow in apology. Hopefully Alex interpreted it as somewhere along the lines of 'My friend here has a bad cold.'
Arthurs head sank a little lower in relief when the server walked away to help other customers. He took out the phone and texted Alex.

(message reads; Imagine that one with powers. What a sight to see!) Arthur tried to chuckle as he sent it but again it sounded like a chime. The meep in his coat pocket peeked out to see what was going on.
Another meep trailed along Clarice's shoulders but never let her see it. Playful as ever.

@Rivaan @Eklispe

Claire was never really fond of the young man half asleep at one of the chairs in the lounge. He was consistently late and she perceived him to be a sloppy vagabond and rather lazy as well. It was here that she found herself feeling slightly irate at her rogue coworker as he had the audactiy to scoff at her as he heard her mutters, her irritation aggravated by the lack of sleep from the past couple of days. The comment wasn't even directed towards him anyways!
"Hmph, I wasn't talking to you Garrett...Be quiet would you? Oh wait, you already are~" Claire said to him without bothering to look at him as she poured herself a cup of hot coffee...which felt very warm in her hands, probably due to the poor insulation of the small styrofoam cup in her hands. After adding a little bit of cream and two times the reccomended serving of sugar into the brown liquid known to keep the world turning, she took a seat away from Garrett and enjoyed it for the limited time she had back in the lounge, knowing she'd be needed out there soon.

Clarice entered the room and poked at Garrett, you could tell she enjoyed bothering the him. Garrett never really spoke to others nor reacted dramatically as far as she observed so far, but you could gauge his mood by the facial expressions he displays. To her, Clarice was like a curious cat pawing at a raven that seemed to be content to just sit there and let her toy with him. Claire remained quiet while she longed for a cold white mocha frappucino. If there was ample time before nightfall, she could probably swing by the cafe again to grab one real quick after she was done here, before she went to the gathering. She would feel so much better too! The blue haired maiden sipped her coffee as Clarice left the room as fast as she had entered in order to serve a few customers who had walked in. Claire took this cue to quickly down the rest of the hot coffee and took a deep breath, straightening herself out before joining Clarice out there in the grind, only to find to her surprise that a couple of the people from the cafe were here as well. And the "Braum" was here too!

"I'll take this one!" Claire said to Clarice in passing, and then made a beeline for the polite young gentleman (John) she had briefly encountered yesterday. She offered him a smile as she whipped out a pen and a pad. "Welcome to Darkwell City Diner! Shall we start you off with a drink?"

@Ambra @Card Captor @rivaan

@rivaan



Souls... Souls! Souls! Souls!

Travis couldn't block out the voices, and now they were getting louder! His eyes dashed from side to side, he would look shifty as hell if someone could see his face. And... now a waitress came over. Shit! She was so polite too. Fuck, fuck, fuck. What does he do? He politely took the menu and smiled, but tried not to look at her. "Hehe, uhmmm, thank you." He weakly said. The boy's stomach felt like there was a rock in it, and his heart was going to jump out of his throat and onto the table. When the woman walked away, he exhaled with relief and slouched into the seat. However, what probably didn't help his situation was the nervous, nearly maniacal giggle that escaped his mouth.

"Hehe. Hehehehehehehehehe."

FUCK!

Travis stood up straight almost immediately and decided to stare at the menu. He did have a bit of change in his pocket... he could get a drink. Where the hell did that laugh come from? Was it nervousness? Was it insanity? Did anyone hear him? He took his non-weapon hand and rubbed his face, like he just had a long day at school. He was really starting to feel the pressure of his predicament now. What... the... hell... does... he... do?

Sam flashed a pleased smile when Artemis claimed that she was 'smokin' hot'. The way she said it though was as if the compliment was coming from Spock from Star Trek. Still, Sam took it gladly all the same. Then Artemis stated that she was as ready as she would ever be. Sam wished she could say the same. She felt mentally prepared to go in there with her cautious mindset, but what if something did go down in there. Unless they were going to try to hit her with a flamethrower, Sam really didn't have anything impressive to back up any kind of nefarious goings on that might happen to them. Sam hadn't tried and didn't know how to produce flame or anything like that. Still, knowing that Sam had brought with her some pepper spray and a switch knife in her purse. Just in case. So, she supposed she was ready, but not supernatural power fight ready. But, hey! Maybe Sam was just too stuck on the idea that violence would occur. For all she knew this could be a totally calm and peaceful encounter. Still, in a way that would be a shame, some part of her craved a thrill of fighting like one craves riding rollercoasters.

An elderly voice cracked it's way through the intercom and for a moment she wondered whether they had called the wrong person, however after a moment a second voice made itself known. It was a younger voice that asserted that the two of them had been invited. With this the doors worked their way open automatically. Carefully, Sam went through the entrance, her heeled boots making a greater clack as the floor turned from concrete to a shiny, tile floor. The whole area was nicely kept but... plain. There was no real splash of real color anywhere, just this cream color and the dark desk at which sat an older man. Her eyes met with the eyes of the elderly man who then welcomed them to the apartments. Liam crept his voice to direct at the man, stating that more people were to be expected before turning his attention to the two of them welcoming them in turn. In the end, he claimed that this mysterious Matt person was waiting for them.

Oookay. Well, this was all very villain like. They had the old butler desk dude and then a mysterious guy who was in charge at the end of an elevator ride up to his lair. With a thump, the doors shut automatically behind them. Sam couldn't check to see if they were locked or anything, but the sound made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She clutched her black leather purse closer to her. Artemis seemed to have the situation under control, inquiring about what was going on as if she wasn't even phased by it. She looked at the sense of ease that Artemis had gotten and Sam was suddenly quite upset at herself for appearing such a coward. At that moment her eyes steeled a little bit as she felt much more like herself with the daring confidence she usually held.

Sam strutted her way over to the elevator before getting face to face with this Liam guy. "No, how about this:" she snipped, "you tell us what this meeting is about right now or we don't go up there." She punctuated by jabbing her finger up to the sky. "Oh, and maybe stop acting so snobby and villainy, okay? I mean, do you realize how fucking creepy you're being right now?" She was now satisfied with her blustery, daredevil-like confidence and looked back at the gatekeeper with a challenging look. As if to make her point known, unbeknownst to Sam the temperature of the nearby space rose just a few notable degrees.

@DFA



'Well that was certainly fast. Almost frighteningly so' John remarked to himself at the sudden appearance of the waitress. "Yes, thank you very much. I'll have a large glass of orange juice, and a sausage and cheese omelet." In truth, he hadn't gotten as much of a look at the menu as he would have liked, but he really didn't want to waste this girl's time. So it would be better to go with something safe that he knew he would like. Since his mother had been in the service industry when she was younger, she made sure he grew up knowing how to treat a server.

'Hold on a minute; haven't I seen her somewhere before?' He wondered to himself 'she looks so familiar...perhaps, she was at the cafe yesterday? Yes, that sounds right...but who was she? The girl who first ran over to that poor man? No, I think she had a different hair color. Well I can only hope that we don't know each other personally, otherwise this might get very awkward.' While his mind was on this train of thought, he made sure not to stare too intently at her. People in her line of work often had to be friendly with all manner of freaks and over all rude people, and John didn't want to be one of them.

Aelia’s protests broke the sleepy spell on Alex, and as he rushed back to reality, he felt his cheeks flush, and then a sharp throb on the back of the head, where Erick whacked him. Looking at him with an incredulous look on his face, Alex spoke, “What’d you do that for!?” He demanded, and Erick just shrugged. Huffing now, Alex nodded absently in agreement that they should probably go see the men. Without another protest or complaint, he went off to his room to get changed and into clothes that were more suited of a meeting compared to the pajama pants and t-shirt he was wearing then.

Erick gazed at Aelia, looking at the tails and the ears and wondering if something similar could happen to him. Would he grow a beak? Perhaps he was in over his head… no. That was not a thought he should allow himself to have. This was a situation that he would simply learn to control, not one where he would allow others to control him. He would go to the meeting at the man’s house, and allow himself to listen to whatever the guy had to say, but he wouldn’t let it change things. “It’s only temporary, I’d wager.” Erick said cautiously, looking at her tails. “It can’t be permanent, or surely we would have changed as well, right? Maybe you can change back… Just, I don’t know. Concentrate on not having the tails and ears, maybe. That’s usually how this sort of thing works, right? Just think you don’t want it, and it goes away? I don’t know. Either way, we’ll go there as soon as Alex comes back, alright?” Erick explained, shaking his head as the reality of the situation sunk in.

@Ambra

“Sure~” Clarice replied to her passing coworker with a big grin as the smaller girl moved in to take the order from the big man. The former mercenary wasn’t sure why, but her intuition screamed that Claire fancied that man. She just smiled again as she turned back to head to one of her tables to see if they had decided on their order. She had barely made a step before she heard a chime and sensed something following her.

Claire threw a quick look behind herself, only to not find anything there. She narrowed her eyes as she began walking only to continue feeling that thing following her. It was annoying her quite a lot. Being someone who spend a lot of time on battlefields, she disliked having this sensation of something tailing you without being seen.

She stopped just a few steps away from the table where Arthur and Alex were. “Alright, that’s enough! I don’t care who it is or what it is, but whatever is making this annoying chime sound and following me, show yourself right now!” She shouted, stomping with her right leg. What she originally planned to be just a normal stomp, turned into a loud cracking sound as she noticed that her right leg was now covered with metal gold and steel armor that appeared with a slight shine. “ Ooooooopss…” She said, noticing the cracked tiles on the floor as suddenly the rest of the armor flashed and appeared on her body.” For heaven’s sake… “ She finally sighed.

@DFA@Eklispe@Zelosse(and anyone else in the dinner :3)

Alex was about to explain to the waiter that Arthur couldn't talk on account of a bad throat, but just as he drew in breath to speak their shouted and angrily stomped on the floor, amour briefly flickering into existence and lending such force to her stomp that it cracked the tiles. "You had to say it didn't you?" Alex asked Arthur rhetorically. Did this only happen to poeple in cafes? Perhaps the sample size was too small but so far it seemed to be the case. "You look like you're having a bit of trouble there." Alex said casually to the giantess, who only was more imposing with a full set of armour on. Leona? Eh like it mattered. Though she couldn't see the meep that was bugging her Alex clearly could. He could say it was Arthur's fault because it was, but that'd be rude.

"The little bugger pesking you is one of these." Alex explained as his hand flashed out and caught the pesk that was on him, just behind his right shoulder and holding it in front of him as a demonstration. It was trapped for a few seconds and chimed angrily before it wriggled out of his grasp. "We've had a similar problem. Anyway, Arthur's going for eggs benedict and a glass of water, I'll take the same." He finished pleasantly, as though the event had never happened. Alex certainly wasn't going to be a creepy person and be like, here's a card meet here as soon as you can, or some stupid shit like that. If she wanted to know more she'd ask, simple as that.

With a not-so-subtle groan, Liam merely pinched the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. The old man behind the counter merely raised his brow as he began shying away. It seemed like he was going for something under the counter, before Liam frantically waved his hands to catch the old man's attention.

"No, no need for cops!" Liam spoke, an uncomfortable smile spread across his visage, "They won't cause any problems!" His words were frantic, visibly sweating (though one could not be sure if it was from tension or the rising heat). "We met them at the cafe, and needed to speak with them on something." At this point, Liam began tugging at the collar of his shirt, drawing attention to the heat in the room, "By the way, you need to get maintenance on the horn. Getting a little toasty in here now adays."

It was this suggestion that gave the man pause, checking his thermostat with a wary grin, "Yes, I guess so. I thought it was just me and my old age." With that, he moved further away, tucking into a back room.

At this point, Liam watched carefully as the man left sight. Once free from vision, he looked at both women with an obvious anger to his gaze- or at least when it was directed towards Sam, "Look, he's just the landlord. He owns this place and wouldn't know how to be devious if he tried," At this Liam loosened his collar, obvious trying to manage some form of comfort despite his angst, "And as for what we want with you, it's a simple talk! What you think of me, is of no consequence, but don't go flying off the handle and exposing yourself!" At this point, he was staring daggers at Sam.

Shortly afterwards, he'd give a heavy sigh as he attempted to soften his gaze, "Matt was worried that there might be people with powers... Safe to say, you two and the others proved him right. We decided yesterday that we would attempt to make contact with these people and gauge their intentions. This meeting was his attempt to get to know you and your powers, and whether we should be worried about your intentions." At this, he couldn't help but chuckle, "And despite my best efforts to be cordial, you've grown to suspect me. Well, whatever. Now you know the big surprise," Liam turned to the elevator, noticeably mumbling under his breath, "No one appreciates subtly."

As he entered the vessel, he reached to the side, seeming to be holding the elevator, "Welp, now's your chance. Are you coming or not?"

@Eklispe@Kiroue

It seemed Sam unconsciously affected her amount of heat output with her emotions. Noted. Her outburst was amusing, informative, and effective. Artemis spared a glance for the old man and the counter, it seemed he'd been moments away from tripping some sort of alarm, though it was hard to tell how he was trying to call it on. Most likely herself and Sam given they were newcomers and Sam had just been somewhat provocative. "One would argue a simple talk could've been conducted over the phone or at the cafe but I have no issue with it." Artemis stated, not objecting but merely pointing out what seemed to her to be a flaw. "In any case thank you for sharing your intentions. We should be going now." Artemis said neutrally and stepped into the elevator beside Liam somewhat impatient to take part in this 'meeting'. It should at least prove to be informative, since these people clearly knew more than she did. And knowledge was power. "Any particular reason we shouldn't be exposing ourselves?" Artemis asked thoughtfully, more to herself than to Liam. Perhaps just fear of the government, but perhaps there was something else going on? So much to find out.