Duncan watched the girls go with a small smile, he turned his attention to Benjamin as he started towards the booth.
"I can only imagine." He said with a frown, "Which is odd, because Kids are said to have wild imaginations." He shrugged softly, "I'm sorry you had to go through with that sort of stuff." He sat down.
He wanted to say something, but he held back for now; Harriet had mentioned to keep himself on the downlow.

"But you're in a place that believes you." He said with a smile, "Well, for the most part I guess. General Public won't understand, as most of them are just humans. Often close minded." He furrowed his brow slightly before he relaxed. "Trust me, I know what its like. Being the only odd one out in a Police Task force isn't fun."

"Sorry about that." Harriet said as she got Steph into the bathroom, "I could tell Benjamin wanted to talk to Duncan." She said before she stepped behind Steph to move her wing from being caught, "Although your wing is actually stuck."
"H...How long has it been like that?" Steph asked, her cheeks filling with redness.
"Not long." Harriet said quietly, "Leaning against Ben in the car probably caught it."

---

Gaia looked down at Ethan as he asked the question, her tail swayed as she furrowed her brow.
A low rumble echoed from her chest. "I have." She said with a huff, "I once befriended one, someone I thought who was my friend. He got close and then turned his back against me when the Scientists found me."

Benjamin joined Duncan at the table and listened to him. It was true kids were imaginative, but they could also band together against those who they fought were weird. And sadly adults could do the same. That is why he liked working for the agency, where he wasn't weird. On the contrary, he was respected by those in charge. Some of the agents thought he was useless because he couldn't fight and could only see invisible things, but at least he wasn't being mocked for his ability. And he knew Mike felt the same way. It was good there was another place where people wouldn't look at him strangely if he'd say he saw a ghost.

"And what made you the odd one out in the police task force?" he asked.

---

"You were probably able to befriend one because you weren't considered pray," Ethan scoffed. "It's not a surprise it turned its back on you either. The other agents told me some things about vampires and they can't be trusted. At least not when humans are involved." He shrugged, it didn't matter to him. He'd show those creatures humans could fight back.

Duncan gave a chuckle at Benjamin's question, "Apart from dating the cities, and probably countries, most important Unknown Couples child; I'm not exactly..." he paused, almost not wanting to speak before he slowly blinked and continued on, "I'm not exactly normal." He said.

"I'm an Unknown." He said, "But... Not in the way Steph and Harriet are." He moved up his shirt, showing his arm, before small silver streaks moved up his arm from his wrist to his elbow.
"My father is a cyborg, my mother.. Well, she was pulled into a computer and became partially code." He continued, "So I'm also a cyborg."

---

Gaia gave a huff, almost a laugh; "It was a surprise fro me considering he was the one to show me freedom and the outside world, then confessed his love before turning against me without a second thought." She snarled, her spines down her head flexed upwards in anger.

She had tensed her fists, smoke now lightly billowing from them as she had formed a small ball of flame in her palms before squishing it.

A hint of annoyance crept over Benjamin's face at the mention of the term 'unknown', but didn't comment on it and looked at Duncan's arm before looking at him. "Wow," he said. "That is cool. But... your mother, A code? How? I mean... how?"
Out of all the things Duncan had said, that was the hardest to grasp. Not that he ever met a Cyborg before, but it was something he had at least heard about.
An alien and a cyborg together, for people on earth it could be the plot for a science fiction story. Benjamin had to admit he still had to get used to the idea of aliens and cyborgs, but that was just because he only recently met them. He was much more acquainted with the creatures that were mentioned in lores and legends for centuries.

---

"Yeah, well, maybe you'll get a chance for revenge," Ethan said. He looked at the smoke escaping from her fist. He wasn't certain who was emitting more smoke at this point, he or Gaia. He inhaled from his cigarette a final time and put out the remains against the stones of the wall as he blew out the smoke.
"I'm going to see if they have something to eat," he said. After getting up he only had a coffee, but now he was hungry. And it was about lunchtime too.

Duncan gave a shrug and laughed at the question.
"Neither of them really explained it to me." He started, "She was working on a new style of game; Much like VR but you plug your mind into it, you get one of those sleep pods. The AI she made for it went haywire and pulled her mind into the game, when she got out of it... She was part code." He gave another laugh, "Fuck that sounds crazy."

Steph and Harriet started to walk back out at this point, Harriet's ears pricked up as she heard what Duncan was saying.
"So he's finally dropped what he is?" Harriet asked as she sat down beside her partner, nudging him with an elbow with a smile. "It's kind of funny, the Electric Elemental and the Cyborg."
"A match made in fictiona-" Steph started before she paused, "Wait, cyborg?"

---

Gaia let out a low grumble at the idea of revenge before she looked to Ethan as he mentioned food.
She wanted to follow him, but didn't want to be too clingy. "Is it lunch time yet?" She asked, "There should be some food now."

"Yes, it does," Benjamin agreed, although he smiled as he said it. It did sound crazy, but also believable. Of course he was far from an expert on those things, but it did sound like it made sense. He turned his head when he saw a movement in the corner of his eye and waved at the girls when he spotted them. "So, this place has things to eat, you said? Is it all human food, or can I expect some exotic things on the menu?"

---

"Honestly, I don't care if it's lunchtime," Ethan said. "With agents leaving on assignments at all times and coming back at all times and agents doing night-shifts and shit like that, they better have food available at all times. We work for them, they have to take care of us."
Ethan looked at the door. "I'm pretty sure they have those pre-packed sandwiches and microwave meals and pasta's and stuff available 24/7, but only between 12 and 2 and 6 and 8 can you request a cooked meal. Which at this point I don't really care for. I'm just going to see if they have a sandwich." He looked at Gaia. "Do you want one too?"

"Both." Duncan said with a small smirk, "The drinks are usually the exotic ones but they don't do those until later in the evening anyway."
Harriet smirked, "They do a whole lot of human food here; most city-based Unknowns eat normal food. There are, of course, ones who have to vary where and when they can." She glanced to Steph momentarily before looking to Ben again, "Cubi have to feed off emotional energy, most times they dont need to feed in the way people originally think about. Werebeasts and Vampires have to sate their primal appetite when it calls for it."
Duncan grinned softly, "Harry you're rambling." He said; causing the females face to flood red before she looked at the table.
"Sorry. We're off work, no need to lecture you in the way of Unknowns."

Stephs face flushed red when Harriet spoke about Cubi; her branch of demon-type. She thanked herself nothing had happening to cause her to feed in the way her kind were known for.

---

Gaia listened to Ethan's words, her tail swayed softly as he spoke.
She paused at the idea of getting a sandwich. She almost didn't speak before she nodded once.
"I assume I'd like one." She said, trying not to hint at the fact she's never eaten a sandwich.

Harriets explanation made Benjamin wonder how much he would really mind if Steph would have to feed in the way people assumed of succubi. He looked at her from the corners of his eyes and noticed her blush. And what would be worse, if he would be the victim, or someone else... According to the stories Succubi could be dangerous, draining a man of all his life-energy, but he was certain Steph was not like that. And thinking about her feeding off another man actually gave a stab of jealousy. He turned his attention back on the menu, maybe he shouldn't be thinking of that.

"Technically we're never off work completely. If the boss calls because there is an emergency, we have to go, it doesn't matter if we're on a break of sleeping." He examined the menu and tried very hard not to talk about work, but he couldn't. "Why do you call them unknows?" he asked as he looked up. "How can you not know what you know? If we know a creature is a vampire or a werewolf or whatever, why are they still called 'unknown'?" He looked at Duncan. "You called yourself an unknown, but you are a cyborg, aren't you? Why not call yourself what you really are?"

---

"Yeah, I'll go get some and we'll eat outside." Ethan didn't feel for eating indoors, and he certainly didn't want to see how agents looked at her, it would only aggravate him and he didn't want. He was about to go inside when he thought about something. "Which one?" he asked, looking back at her. He didn't mind to grab a sandwich for her, but he did want to know what he had to bring back for her. "Cheese, ham, cheese and ham, chicken curry... I don't even know what else they have, there's probably more, but those are pretty standard."

Harriet looked over the menu as well, she listened to what Ben mentioned about work, before she nodded. She furrowed her brow at his question.
"It's... A Habit." Harriet started, "It's an umbrella term that Humans use for our kind." She continued, thinking quickly, "Despite knowing what species we fall under; but humans don't fully understand us."
"What was the word that you used back on Texveria?" Duncan asked as he looked to his menu.
Harriet paused, thinking back to everything her father has told her.
"They call them.." She started before she said something in what could only be thought of as the Nuric language. Stephs puzzled look told her she hadn't said anything understandable.

Steph looked to the menu and blinked at one of the drinks.
"The Succubus's kiss..?" She whispered more to herself, usually places had descriptions of the drinks, but this one had nothing.

---

Gaia blinked as he listed the options off. Her tail swayed mainly in confusion before she looked to the ground before she looked up.
"...Cheeeese?" She asked, she remembered she quite liked cheese from the times that Harriet had given her human food. "Definitely cheese."

Benjamin listened to Harriet's explanation. "I understand," he said at the end, " I don't think I'll ever use the term, I'm not a fan of umbrella terms when more individualistic options are available, especially one as vague as that, but if you all are fine with being called an unknown, then it's fine with me too. It's just..." he frowned and let out a sigh, "Humans are one species and somehow they are important enough to decide that all other species and creatures that aren't human should be called an unknown, an alien, or an animal. And I guess I wouldn't like to be called an unknow if I know very well who and what I am, but if it works for you then that's what matters."

He examined the list of drinks when he hears Steph mention something that sounded like a cocktail and found it too. Whatever the drink was, it would always be disappointing compared to what else it could be.
"I think I'll go for some soup," he decided.

---

Ethan looked at Gaia for a moment, she didn't sound sure at all. "Right," he said. "Cheese then. I'll go grab some and... he looked around and noticed a bench on the other side of the grass, close to the wall around the place. "We can eat there," he suggested. "I'll be right back."
He turned around so he could enter the base and grab a couple of sandwiches. Having lunch with a dragon girl wasn't something he had planned for the day, and before he had met her it would have never even come up as a possibility, but she was good company.

Harriet listened to Benjamin before she gave a small nod, "When it's used around you all the time you get used to it." She said with a small sigh, "Dad interchanges the Human word for the two Texverian Phrases. Gifted ones; for Elementals or others like you who have those different abilities, and Larenzec is the term for the other kinds of Humanoids."
She turned her head back to the Menu, "But using the proper name for Unknowns is always good as well; A good way to get rid of stigma against the entire term of Unknown." She said with a small smile as she glanced to Benjamin before she looked down into menu again.

Duncan looked to the menu as he tilted his head as he listened to the talk between Harriet and Benjamin. He found it interesting before he heard Steph speak under her breathe. "It's... A very sweet drink." He said, "Almost sickly. Not too alcoholic." He looked to Harriet momentarily before he set his Menu down. "I'm going to get a BLT." He said with a smile.

Steph listened to everyone, she stayed silent. She flinched when Duncan spoke to her before she nodded. She read over the menu and listened to everyone as they spoke.
She looked over the food items, she glanced up to Harriet at this point, unsure what to order.
Harriet smiled at her, "I'll order you something if you'd like?" She asked, Steph looked back to the Menu with a small blush before she nodded.

---

Gaia nodded, looking off to where he pointed. As soon as he was out of her view she bounded over towards the bench; she moved to awkwardly sit on the bench. She looked around quietly, hoping no one saw her run on all fours for a moment.

She fluffed her wings as she settled. She didn't notice Ari was watching her quietly with a bit of a grin.
"Interesting..." Ari uttered to herself as she moved to note something down. "Seems like things are going well with her. Now if only I can find Steven..."

"Gifted," Benjamin repeated as he examined the available soups. "Now that is a term I can live with. It has a positive sound to it. Ah look, tomato-cream soup with bread and butter." He closed his menu with a smile on his face and turned to Steph first and then around the table. He was curious what Harriet would order for Steph, but time would tell. He leaned back in the chair, examining the place a little closer. The decoration was nice and there weren't many customers yet, but he could imagine the general atmosphere of this place.

The girls had already said they had crowd anxiety, so Benjamin turned to Duncan. "I'd like to see this place when it's busy too, meet some of the regular clients. Maybe we can come back here with Mike and Ethan." He paused. "Or maybe just with Mike. I'm not sure how Ethan will like this place."

---

Ethan went to the cafeteria. Several agents were having lunch, some ate a warm meal, others had settled for a sandwich or some pasta. He went to the cooled counter and looked at the available sandwiches. Gaia had requested cheese, so he picked up one of those. And just in case he took a second one too, Gaia was a big girl after all. He settled for a chicken curry and with lunch taken care off, he went outside again.

He walked to the bench and handed Gaia her sandwich. "Here you go," he said, sitting down himself. "Enjoy."

Harriet moved to wave down one of the available waiters. A young male demon who was rather lanky in statue. He moved to the table quickly and Harriet read out the food orders; Benjamin's soup, Duncans BLT and two Crunch Specials.
"Anything specific for the second crunch special or are we wanting it the same as usual?" The waiter asked Harriet.
Harriet looked at Steph for a moment before she spoke, "Nothing spicy on the second one, my friend hasn't tried it yet." She said with a grin.

The waiter nodded and listed everything down, before looking back up to the group. "And drinks?" He asked, looking around the table. His eyes settled on Steph for a moment before he quickly looked back to anyone else.
"A large Chai latte." Duncan said with a smile.
"Two BloodRed smoothies for me and my friend please~" Harriet started before she gave a wink to Steph.

Duncan looked at Benjamin as he spoke, he hesitated before he nodded with a smile; "I'd be more than happy to take you guys back here during an evening if you'd like?" He offered with a smile, "They get busier when shadows set on the city- easier for others to come unspotted." He tried his best to not say Unknowns knowing Benjamin didn't like it.

---

Gaia glanced over as Ethan came back; her tail swayed as she smiled. She took the sandwich gently and moved to unwrap it from its keepfresh casing.
She waited for a moment to wait for Ethan to eat before she started eating.

"I'll just have water," Benjamin said, looking at the male demon, and turned his attention to Duncan after that. "Let's do that someday." As much as he enjoyed the company of the girls, it would be nice to go out with Duncan too. He seemed like a nice guy after all. He looked at Steph sitting next to him. "And if we feel like going out again, we can go too." A place where she would be accepted without having to uphold an illusion had to be easier for her too. And now he know where this place was he could get here without having to make it a double date. Which, if this hadn't been a work lunch, this could have been one already. He smiled a bit to himself, he wasn't sure if Steph would feel the same way about it, but he liked to think about it like that.

---

Ethan unpacked his own sandwich and took a bite from it. "I've agreed to meet the others at the old church tonight at ten. We will visit a park where vamps seem to hang out in the beginning of the night and observe them for a bit. Probably kill one too, but since I'm still a beginner they're taking it slow. Yesterday they had me practise on a dummy to get the stake in the heart at the first attempt and then I had to finish one of those bastards they had caught the night before, it had killed several humans the past week and it was chained to a wall. He hissed and promised to kill us all when he'd get out." He shrugged. "Didn't give him the chance. Then we patrolled and they showed me how to recognize vampires and we even battled one, but it was Morrison he finished him off."
As he talked about the last night, to give Gaia an idea of what she could expect, he ate from the sandwich. It was decent, but nothing like his mother made. That reminded him he probably should visit his parents, they lived in the city after all, although they probably didn't know about all the other beings that lived there too.

Duncan nodded at Benjamin's words, before he smiled to the waiter before watching him leave. He glanced back to Benjamin with a small smile, "Just let Harriet know." He started before he paused, "or even," He held his hand out, "Can I put my number into your phone?" He asked.

Harriet looked to Steph and smiled, "I had a feeling you'd like something lightly fried." She said to her female friend. "I didn't know if you'd like spicy or anything but this is good in terms of neutral flavours."
Steph smiled happily, no one had thought about her preferences like this before. "Thank you." She said softly, looking around the little cafe a bit more.

---

Gaia started eating as soon as Ethan did, her tail swayed as she listened. She nodded quietly.
"Do you think... They'll met me join you?" She asked after a moment of silence, "I could get in the way or just be a hassle."

"Sure, yeah," Benjamin quickly got his phone and handed it to Duncan. The contact list seemed to grow every day, but he didn't mind. And it was easier if he could contact Duncan directly. "I promise I won't steal him from you," he said to Harriet. "As long as his nightly text messages are still sent to you instead of me you have nothing to worry about."

He had to admit he was curious to see what the Crunch Specials would be. While he didn't mind to try something new, he had been in the mood for a simple soup. When looking around the café he noticed the waiter had already collected their drinks on a tray. He wanted to see those BloodRed Smoothies too, probably a smoothy made of red fruits, but in a place like this one could never know. A Bloody Mary could very well substitute the tomato juice with real blood for their blood-drinking clientele.

---

"We don't know unless we try," Ethan said. "And the others can't complain, boss agreed so they just have to accept it. I'll make sure to let them know, so they can complain if they don't like it and then be told that they have to shut up and listen." He showed the second sandwich. "Brought two in case you were really hungry," he mentioned.

Duncan took Benjamin's phone, he held it for a moment. He physically didn't turn it on or do anything, he just held it in his hand before he handed it back with a smile. "All done." He said with a smirk.
Harriet grinned at Benjamin's words, "I doubt he'd do that." She laughed before she glanced to Steph, "And anyway, I doubt someone else would be too happy in that case either." She said as she looked back to Benjamin.

Their drinks came first, the male demon returned with Ben's glass of water and Duncan's coffee.
"The Ladies smoothies shall be on their way soon." He said, before he moved to pick up their menus, "Apologies for not getting these sooner."

---

Gaia listened to Ethans words, she had finished her sandwich pretty quickly. Her ears pricked up when Ethan offered the other sandwich. She took it quietly and smiled to him.
"Thank you." She said, her tail swaying, "No one has really cared for me like this before." She paused, "Well, anyone bar Harriet of course." She lamented, "Although I don't think Harriet really counts."

Benjamin took the phone and put it away again. He had an amused look when Harriet reacted to his jest and nodded slowly when Harriet hinted about Steph liking him, if he read the quick glance right. "That is a nice thought," he said as he leaned back a bit to give the waiter room to put his drink down. With how easily Steph could be embarrassed, this was not the time to openly discuss it. But after lunch he would find a moment to talk with her.
He picked up his glass and took a sip from the water.

---

"Yeah, well, you look scary," Ethan said. "But that's no reason to not be decent, you know?" He finished the sandwich and looked ahead. "I don't know what you think... but this is boring." Sitting still, even in good company, was dull. Although he did wonder when he had started considering this dragon girl good company. "How long do you suppose the others will be gone?"

Steph wasn't really listening at this point; she watched the male demon quietly before looking around the area again.
It took a moment before she zoned back in. She looked to the table again, blinking at Benjamin with a confused look on her face, she confusion changed to a smile.

Duncan smiled and took his coffee, giving a small sip as the demon waiter walked off. "So after lunch, should I drop you guys off?" He asked quietly, "Unless we have something else to do?"
Harriet thought quietly, "It's up to the other two really." She said before she pulled out her phone, tempted to flick someone a text.

---

Gaia scrunched her maw at the mention of her being intimidating.
She swayed her tail as she nodded. "Aye this is a bit mundane." She stated quietly, "I'm unsure when the other's will be back; you could try texting one of them?"

"Right, good idea," Ethan said and he took his cellphone.
*Where are you? It's fucking boring here. Me and Gaia have nothing to do until tonight. Looking at a stupid house can't take this long.*

"Well," Benjamin began, but he stopped when he felt his phone buzz. "Excuse me." He looked at the message he received and send one back.
*having lunch, we'll come back after that*
"Let's go back to the base when we're done," he said as he put his phone away again. "Ethan and Gaia have nothing to do. And we need to report what happened at the house too, warn the agency about that guy that knows you and tells people to use those crystals."

When the answer came, Ethan read it out loud to Gaia. "I can't blame them for having lunch elsewhere," he said. "Food here is decent, but not the best. Maybe we can hit the gym while we wait." He examined Gaia from head to toe. "Although... I'm not sure how well you can fit on the equipment."