Aftermath Of British Occupation

Aftermath Of British Occupation
Date of Scene:	27 February 2013
Location:	Cloud Nine - First Floor
Synopsis:	After Clayton's invasion, the TDA winds itself down.
Cast of Characters:	Deidra, Will Sherman, Mercade Alexander, Avira, Cirra Constantine, Morrighan Alazne, Celina Duvalis, Maximilien, Emi Dennou, Isaac Hanlon, Jihl Nabaat, Percival

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Maximilien has posed:
Maximilien Amadeus Renaud-Sylvianne is not feeling terribly good right now. Oh, yes, certainly, there's the scar from where he was shot in the back by an EXPLOSIVE ROUND FROM AN ELEPHANT GUN; despite the healing, it's still quite visible, terrible-looking scar surrounded by...well, a lot of other, terrible-looking scars, definitely not from this engagement. In fact, now that his shirt is off and he's wrapped in bandages, it's shockingly apparent just how much damage he's actually taken over his life.

But it's the spiritual pain that is hurting him, not the physical. He can deal with physical. Long, long ago, Maximilien learned to crush physical pain into nothing...but the pain of the shadows encroaching on his heart, by his own choice, by his own will, for the sake of his own survival? That was something different. Something...very different. That was not so easy to swallow, so easy to destroy.

Max does not have a room at the TDA, by his own request. He does not really consider himself part of them, for their safety as much as his own; a thief with a base is a thief who can be tracked. They set him up a bed downstairs, and while it isn't exactly high-comfort, Max doesn't need anything of the sort right now. He's just down there, resting, hands under his head, cape and tuxedo sent off to be cleaned and mended, deep in thought.

His eyes have gotten a little more black around the edges.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Perhaps the people in this world who can get help from 'nowhere else' are not always the kindest of people, or the most ethical. This is a thought that Emi had to think about for some time since Morrighan's 'acceptance' into the TDA building and, presumably, her allowed departure. Perhaps there is more to Morrighan than initial appearances showed.

But it's Max who has the full breadth of her concern right now. She didn't hear much, but she heard enough to be troubled. She steps downstairs. She's no medic--her 'healing' generally of a brute force nature--but she knows the basics and knows that bringing Max FOOD might not be a great idea right now after a shotgun injury. She has, however, brought something that is hidden by her hands which she is holding close to her body.

She pokes her head in. The only sign that Max's current state is a shock is a slight widening of the eyes, but she keeps her face otherwise neutral as is typical. She says, "Max...This one inquires if she can come in to harass you needlessly while you are recovering? The Network exagerates carelessly."

Maximilien has posed:
Maximilien does not show any sign that he notices her coming down the stairs, but he does. The tell-tale creak of weight is very difficult to hide, if you don't know how to compensate for it; it's not as if Emi is trying to do so, because why would she, it's not like she's *hiding* from him. But he pretends like he doesn't notice, until she speaks to him. It would make her feel good, he figures, to feel like she had pulled one over on him. He smiles as she speaks.

"Of course, petite. You are always welcome," he replies. He notes the little widening of her eyes with the same sort of detached awareness that he notes everything else, tilting a bit to sit up for her. "You will forgive me, I hope, for not being dressed to receive a lady. I am afraid that my other suit is somewhat uncomfortable to lay down in."

Max's eyes glide over to the tuxedo and cape hanging on the corner. The cape is a beautiful blue-and-silver, much darker than his flamboyant red; the tuxedo is black and silver. No wonder he didn't want to wear that right now.

"What may I do for you, petite?"

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi is only trying to be as quiet so as to not be startling, she has little goal or ability when it comes to hiding from phantom thieves. They can be stealthy, but Cronus wasn't a Phantom Thief and as such a lot easier to hide from. From someone like Max, they don't have a prayer. A lot of their 'breadth' of skill comes from having to work against Cronus.

The 'shock' is gone quickly. Emi is not accustomed to showing emotion either, after all, for a few reasons. One such reason is that emotion is established via consensus and as such little is really neccessary to emote. Indeed, most Dennou conversations are really for the benefit of the listener as the conversation already happened in their head by the time they say it. Umi does manage to speak before she thinks, though, so that creates some interesting situations.

She doesn't know Max summoned ZA DARKUNESS yet, and indeed probably misinterpreted the hints that he had as something else, but she does file away that darkness around Max's eyes--but lord knows that could just be from having a difficult time sleeping due to being shot in the back with an elephant gun.

"May I sit with you?" She asks. "The Network sits down before receiving an answer." And indeed, she does sit nearby just like that.

"I'm sorry I was not at home to help, The Network provides consensus on this point."

Maximilien has posed:
"Of course you may, petite." Max smiles, answering her after she's already sat down anyway because he doesn't really mind. He pats her on the head as he is so wont to do, moving back a bit to allow her to sit better on the bed and be more comfortable, without his long legs jabbing her or anything uncomfortable.

"You do not need to apologize. I was not expecting monsieur Clayton to come show so early; we were caught a bit unawares, and it is only through our combined powers-" and the power of the Heartless, he doesn't say, "-that we were able to drive him off. Fortunately, the TDA is so very strong."

He pushes himself up bit more, resting against his pillow. "Please do not feel guilty, petite. I do not think you could have done anything madamoiselle Morrigahan could not have done for me; I am not exactly built to deal with explosive bullets. I am somewhat light and thin, after all."

Max holds out his arm for her to see. He's got muscles, sure, but he doesn't really look like he weighs all that much, that's for certain. He never has, really, but the coat apparently actually added a fair amount of bulk.

"Did you enjoy the party?"

Emi Dennou has posed:
"Why did he shoot you?" Emi asks bluntly enough. She doesn't know Clayton, really, but she hasn't heard of the TDA wronging him in any capacity. PERHAPS HE WISHED TO HUNT THE MOST ELUSIVE FOE, THE PHANTOM THIEF? But Emi is even quieter than normal. Guilt, being an emotion, is not always logical and Emi, the ever logical, no doubt understands that but that doesn't mean she's not feeling it. She practically shrinks when she's told there was little she could have done.

She looks over the scars. She is probably wondering if any of those were on her behalf. Eventually she says, "I know." But it doesn't seem to lighten her mood in the slightest.

"The party," She segues suddenly as she's asked about it. "It was a nice party, as far as parties go. We kept to ourselves a lot, this time, we weren't really sure how to behave." She looks over to Max. "This one does not mean to brag or exagerate...but we saved a city. We helped many people." The way Emi says this makes it seem more like she's confessing to a great sin than commenting on a virtuous act. Naturally she doesn't see it as sinful, but she hadn't done anything like that before, and certainly not on such a scale.

"Everybody was so nice. They seemed to think a bit too highly of us." Emi reddens despite herself. "We did ask for money, after all. People we didn't even know seemed to think we were worth something."

She sighs faintly. "It was so strange, The Network was just doing their job. So we stayed out of the way, ultimately but..."

She shrinks further, and maybe this is the sin(?). "...It also felt really great. Seeing all these happy people, knowing we helped them be that happy. I really felt like a detective, Max. Even if I wouldn't have been much use, I should have been here, though, right? Instead of indulging, The Network asks for honest confirmation." She presses that word 'honest' into place like a stamp.

Maximilien has posed:
Max smiles. She was not innocent, per se - it was not innocence that drove her, because she had already been involved in terrible things, things that a young girl should never have been involved in. Max knew that, logically; he understood that Emi was not an ordinary little girl (regardless of her actual age). He had even come to terms with it. But he still did not wish to shatter the illusion of her innocence - whether for himself or for her, he could not tell.

"He shot me, petite, because I was defending a woman that everyone loathes, helping her escape from captivity before a terrible evil befell her. He shot me because he sought to profit off her misery, and I could not allow that. Money and greed are terrible motivators, and few people know that better than a thief, non?"

He notices the shrinking and smiles, reaching over to touch her cheek and push her head back up a bit. "Now now. You are a skilled medic, petite, but I would not have wanted you to jump into the path of the bullet for me - that would have merely made me angry. I am alive and relatively uninjured; there is nothing to worry about, non? I am not exactly in a critical condition. What good does guilt do you? You could have no more prevented his gun from going off than anyone else could have."

Max chuckles. "You are worth a great deal, petite, but I will admit that a party for heroism is silly. I have never found real heroism to be something you charge money for, nor something you throw a party over. But I am glad you had fun. Did you find a handsome young man to catch your fancy?"

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi has always been quick to point out that she is partially to blame for the deaths of her sisters, but she's ultimately a prosocial being. She endeavours to consider the needs of others before her own and while part of that might just be that self-worth just really isn't a major part of the Legion vocabulary, she has undoubtedly seen the TDA--even Max, honestly--guide their practices to trying to do the right thing, even if their hormones may play a role.

"The Network admits to not being especially fond of her," Emi does not use the word 'loathe' because The Network doesn't really loathe anybody. It would be too easy to be hateful with her life that honestly in of itself that's a turn off to being all that hateful. she'd hate to be so easily summarized.

"But you did the right thing." Emi says. "We're detectives, not judges nor jury, and however much it would be easy to judge on first glance, we know very little about her. Still... hopefully this can be applied to those without such magnificient breasts too."

^^^SUPER DEADPAN EMI-CHAN^^^

"We aren't heroes, thankfully." Emi agrees. "Otherwise we would be considerably malnourished. We would have helped regardless but this one is saving up money." For what? She doesn't say. Maybe she's just saving up just in case for the moment, but Emi is certainly a hard worker. She's like a little tiny Tiana. "It was fun, though, we really want to help Manhattan. Hopefully we won't need too many more shards..."

She pauses a moment. She has been talking a lot about herself, she realizes. Could she have stopped a gun from going off? Actually they probably could--certainly could break it. But she says, ultimately, "I think a shield would have been more apropos, though some kinetic force would have likely still made an impact from a gun as powerful as that."

Maybe she's just imagining it, but is Max doing one of those half truth things about what happened? She supposes she could just ask the others, who seem to know more about what happened. But then, if he doesn't want her to know....does she really have the right to snoop?

Well of course, she's a detective, prying into someone's personal matters even if the don't want her to is her job, well duh! Only an amateur would think otherwise, she's pretty sure.

"Are all those scars from defending women?" She asks instead, with an actual honest-to-god wry tone.

Maximilien has posed:
"In truth, I already know more about her than I think she herself does; I will not tell you, because I made a promise. But I had a hunch, and it was accurate. I picked her apart, and found everything I needed to know in what she told me, " Max shakes his head, frowning - and then his own lips twist upwards in a wry smile. "And it had nothing to do with her breasts, I promise you that. I am not so weak a man."

Max lays back a bit, then looks up at the ceiling. "Non. I suppose we are in fact not heroes...but I cannot help it. A woman in danger makes me...angry, I suppose. Frustrated. It is a gentleman's anger - even though I have nothing but respect for women combatants, I still...I am old-fashioned, I suppose."

Max doesn't say anything for a bit, letting Emi stir in her wonderings about his half-truths and part-lies. He does a lot of those, after all; he's about as half-true as one can possibly be. So yes, Emi, your instincts are probably correct - he's probably not being entirely truthful.

Then she asks him about his scars, and he laughs. Max swings out of bed and stands up; he grabs his cane so as not to fall down, touching his chest briefly, and laughs again. "Non, petite, they are not. A few of them, perhaps; some of them are from defending men. Some from boys. Some from girls. Some of them are from carelessness. Some of them are simply marks of my life."

Max tests himself against his cane unsteadily, then begins moving upstairs. "I am hungry, petite. Let us go find something upstairs to eat, ehn? It is, after all, a bar. Perhaps I will cook something for us both."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will is coming down from upstairs about the sametime as Max and Emi will be coming from downstairs. Will wasn't terribly hurt in the fight, luck managing to be on his side, but the fight had left him extremely exhausted...much more than normal. It was harder to channel that attack...he wonders if it's because the relationship between him and Loki had changed. Loki wasn't talking on the matter, and he is pretty sure it was for the best, but he was slightly worried about himself being able to keep up his efforts.

Then he remembered basicly avoiding GUN all night long.

He yawns again, and plops down on a bench, and thumps his head into the counter. "I need a drink." he mutters into the table, after a moment, and rolls his head into his arms, as it was more comfortable than the bar counter.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac was already here. Given that the apparently teleport-capable bartender isn't around at right this moment (seriously, he thinks, how does she do it?), he's taken it upon himself to fix up something for dinner. His dinner, that is, not anyone else's.

Will comes down. Isaac wanders out of the kitchen and puts a can of what appears to be Mountain Dew in front of him. "You look like you need some caffeine," he remarks, "and the coffee's been sitting there since morning." He's wearing an apron he probably scooped up back there and it smells like some kind of meat is cooking. Deliciously, even.

"Late night?" he asks, striding back towards the double doors. He knows that there were some problems last night, but figures someone should give him the full story. Maybe Will will even explain why he's so wiped! He's not /usually/ that exhausted after a fight.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade is sitting at the bar. He's already got some food. He's trying take 2 on the soda, chicken club sandwich, and steak fries (lightly seasoned). This time, at least, he doesn't expect to have it ruined by BULLETS.

He's got a look on his face. That look. The look for when he's been Thinking About Things. He nods to Isaac as he appears, and nods to Will. He's not looking as run down as Hobo Lad, at least. "There were some problems last night." Mercade says, as Isaac inquires. He looks to Will to see if he wants to explain... And then he hears people coming up from the basement. He looks over at the Dennou and Max with an inquiring expression.

Maximilien has posed:
Maximilien Amadeus Renaud-Sylvianne comes up the steps from his makeshift medical room in the basement. He is wearing his customary white pants; his torso is wrapped in bandages, presumably from the incident with the EXPLODING ELEPHANT GUN SHOT, and he leans heavily on his rune-carved, materia-tipped cane as he walks, thumping his way up the steps carefully. With the tuxedo and cape off, he looks much thinner - which is an accomplishment, given how thin and stretched he looks in the first place - and a great deal more muscular, though it's thin, fragile-looking muscles meant for specific tasks rather than the broad, badass musculature of a man who actually trains himself for his health. His torso is covered in scars - some identifiable, some unidentifiable.

Also, there's a new darkness in his eyes - a ring of black around the irises. It's thin, but noticeable. To Will, his aura has grown a little darker than it was the day before...the incident.

"...but they are magnificent, I will concede," Max admits to Emi, a wry smile on his face. He moves up into the bar, and pauses as he sees Isaac, Mercade, and Will standing there. Awkward.

Max limps his way over to the bar carefully as Isaac sets the can down; he frowns. "You are cooking, monsieur. You do not need to; I am still more than capable of doing so, if you like. I was about to make dinner for myself and la petite; I would be happy to make dinner for the rest of you as well."

Percival has posed:
Clack, clack, clack. Percival walks downstairs deliberately, gripping several small wooden boxes stacked upon each other. Despite the events as of late, he was actually in a pretty good mood, as he seemed to be humming the theme to the Breakfast Club.

He'd come out of the battle unscathed last night, and he half suspected that Will was involved in some way. He probably really wasn't, but how else was he to explain that series of unfortunate events. As he approaches the bar, he pats Will lightly upon the shoulder before putting down the wooden box. Upon it is the text 'WEREWOLF KIT' which has been crossed out and the word VAMPIRE with the smaller word 'Daylight?' written beside it. And so one of the newly christened Daylight? VAMPIRE KIT was put down beside him.

Then he sat himself down in the bar a few stools away from Will as per the rules of etiquette in bars and bathroom worldwide when it came to men. He sniffs the air for a moment as he grumbles to himself. "The coffee is stale, isn't it?" Stale coffee was always a mood dampener.

Avira has posed:
Strangely enough, Avira is also coming down from upstairs last night. Seems she took the liberty of staying the night, which is actually kind of odd since VALKYRI headquarters is...located in the same town. She could easily just walk back home, shower in the VALKYRI communal bathroom, and sleep in her own bed.

When she arrives, she's not currently wearing her metal breastplate, reduced to a white tank top and her usual green shorts. Looking closely at her shirt will reveal that it's kind of "bumpy," which is caused by bandages wrapped around her torso beneath said shirt. Her hair has been left completely undone instead of bound up in her usual ponytail or braid-in fact, it looks a little messy in that 'just woke up' sort of way.

"'Some problems.' he says." Avira speaks, sliding up to the bar. "More like group of armed men lead by SUPER BRITISH."

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
With the events of that fight left quite an impression on Morrighan. Even now, as she sat in her currently no-longer-magically sealed room, she had to wonder what in the world she was still doing here. On one hand, these fools did defend her, for what it was worth. And that even bigger fool, Max, had gone and gotten himself shot in the back because of her.

She really should have run off when everyone was still confused, but... Well, there was no turning back now. Standing up from the bed that she had become rather well acquainted with over the past week or so, Morrighan gathered herself before stepping out of the room and heading down the stairs to the first floor, where the others likely were.

She had absolutely no idea just what she was going to say, but really, sitting in that room as if she were still being detained was not going to move things along either.

And so, she soon came to descending the stairs, eventually stepping out into view of everyone while remaining silent.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi is coming up with Max. Umi, of course, is sitting in the kitchen. She is staring at the meat. It is important to note that Umi listens to Will a lot and Will also notably has a tendency to steal other people's meats. Still, should Isaac make it back to the kitchen, she hasn't consumed the meat or anything. She's still staring, of course, but apparently there hasn't been group consensus to allow her to steal Isaac's food. The Network is considerate!!

Emi hasn't eaten anything, though, and her stomach grumbles. She ignores it easily because her stomach often grumbled in the past and it will often grumble in the future. She does quickly shove something back in her pocket that she WAS going to give to Max but she totally forgot about that. She notices Mercade's look and smooths out her skirt lazily, averting her gaze just so. Of course private conversation is put at hold as they are now in public.

Regarding Morrighan's breasts, she nods to Max as if receiving instructions. "Understood."

She nods to Mercade and tilts her head at him. "Hello Mercade. We are sorry we were not present last night, but we were at the party in Fluorgis. We have an envelope with the excess funds transfered to local currency for you."

"Meat...." Umi says. Imi also is milling about nearby, she hasn't been back in town for some time--but with Fluorgis handled, she is taking a day off from the city.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
A fight of the magnitude that Clayton perpetrated last night in Cloud Nive was hard to miss.

And that is why the tall woman with silver hair steps through the door into the bar, wrapped in a black winter coat and wearing winter boots that come up to her knees.

Cirra looks aronud the bar, she does not say hello or anything to anybody really, she just walks over to a wall and pushes a picture frame aside and pokes a gloved finger into hte large bullet hole revealed.

"Redecorating, so soon after you moved in?"

Jihl Nabaat has posed:
A few minutes after Cirra walks in, the other half of Max's love life does, and by that we mean the most terrible part. Jihl Nabaat sweeps into the room in a smooth motion, her waist-length silver hair swinging behind her.

"Huh. It looks like I missed a fight." She says, her cool voice thoughtful as she looks around.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade smiles to Emi. "It's okay. We were able to hold him off." He pauses, and takes the envelope. "I'll put it in the general fund for repairs and rent." He nods. "Thanks for the help, Emi. You did a good job out there in Fluorgis."

Max offers to cook, and Mercade arches an eyebrow. "Max, you're still wounded. You should sit back and relax. I'd cook for you but..." Mercade pauses, shrugging. "I'm afraid you'd find my talents lacking."

He waves to Percival as he arrives. "Hey there. Glad you were there to help, Percival. Are you doing all right?" He pauses. "If the coffee is stale, why not put more on?" He asks... And then looks around. "There is someone who can make decent coffee here, right?" He pauses... And then mumbles, "Uh, never mind."

Morrighan shows up, and breaks up the awkward Mercade Time. He looks to her with slight surprise. He didn't know she... stayed. "Morrighan." He says with some surprise. "Are you all right?"

He turns to Jihl and Cirra as they walk in. Wow, this is going to get weird. "Yeah, we had some trouble last night. Don't worry, everything is fine." He says. "Come on in."

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Isaac nods at Mercade in return. He stops and glances back at Max, frowning with some severity at the Frenchman. It isn't because of the events of the previous evening, but rather because he's limping and offering to cook despite it. This will not stand. "I am in fact cooking. You are in fact sitting." He points to a seat. "Once you can walk without the limp or having to hide a wince I'll let you in the kitchen to cook a grandoise meal for the whole crew."

The Bar Wizard snaps and points a finger at Percival. "Right in one. Do I need to put a new pot on? I wasn't expecting everyone to kind of show up and..." He glances at Avira, Percival and Will. "...need it so badly."

Isaac slips into the kitchen. The food on the grill appears to be ground beef. It looks like he's making the traditional American dish of 'needlessly large burgers.' "I'll make you some if you want it, Umi," Isaac says, flipping patties without looking over at the staring Legionaire, "if you go tell me how many people I'm feeding." Which is to say, how many Dennous and people sitting out in the bar want food.

It is a little-known fact that Isaac can cook. At least, /some/ things.

Morrighan and Jihl and Cirra go unremarked upon. He will make smart-ass comments when he's done here.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
"On second thought," Isaac suddenly says, "I could use a second pair of hands."

He glances over his shoulder. "Viens ici, monsieur!" There is only one person he could be calling for aid. Clearly it is not motivated by anything else.

Maximilien has posed:
Max smiles at Morrighan, as kindly as he can given the circumstances. "Bonsoir, ma belle. Are you feeling alright?" He's not actually surprised she stayed. He has a pretty good handle on people; he knows how to read people really really well, as he'd proved to her last night. "I was just about to make-"

Aaaaaaand in come the other two women in his life. Max just sort of stands there for a moment, looking awkward, before he moves off to the kitchen as quickly as his wounded state will allow. "Dinner," he finishes to no one, moving for Isaac as rapidly as possible. He waves his hand idly at Mercade as he passes.

"I am capable of cooking even wounded. I could cook in my sleep, if need-be, monsieur." He gives Isaac a look that essentially says 'for the love of God, let me into the kitchen', because, for the love of God, he doesn't want to be here right this instant when like ninety percent of his insane Relationship Chart is here right now. So to that end he definitely does not sit down, because dear sweet God, as he just explained to Isaac: the woman he's in love with, the woman he's sleeping with, and the woman whose cold heart he has been working to melt for her own sanity are standing in the same room. This was like the most dangerous place *ever* for him.

*Ever*.

"Bonsoir, madamoiselles. Are you staying for the meal? I will cook something delicious for everyone. Let us say a full-course meal, monsieur Hanlon?"

SANCTUAAAARYYYYY

Will Sherman has posed:
Will looks up and he looks up at Isaac.

"Uh...well, that douche Cl-" Avira says something, that he HAS to correct, "NO! He was not SUPER Brittish, he was Sir Brittish of the East. He has to defeat the Sir Brittish of the West, North, South, and Center, to become SUPER BRITTISH, the greatest threat that Max has ever known, and also America." He looks back towards Isaac before he leaves, "Clayton came to shoot us to try and get the Witch." he says, NOT EVEN SEEING MORRIGHAN there. "Max got shot real bad, the rest of us beat the crap out of him, but...when I used my powers, I felt just...so drained. Like, really drained. I have no idea what the heck is up with me, and now I've slept all day and I still feel crummy." he yawns again, and sits up. He opens the In Case of Vampire Kit, and looks through it for a moment, "Needs holy water. AND THIS GARLIC IS NOT FRESH ENOUGH!" Will says, closing the case, "Garlic is important!" he frowns at Perci. What was he trying to do, get them all undead?

Cirra makes herself known, "Bounty hunters, came after Dark Elf, punched in face." he makes a punching motion...and then there was Jihl. He pauses...looks at a string, follows it to Max. He frowns, looking back at Jihl, and then looks at Max again. Will frowns again. Just, frowns.

And then with a sigh he grabs Umi and pulls her onto the stool next to him. "Umi, today we are learning about Vampire kits, and why they are important when you have to deal with VAMIRES!" he makes finger waggle motions.

Avira has posed:
Unable to help herself, Avira giggles at Percival. "Oh, my mistake." She grins at the gargoyle and edges to him, "I might be up for a song a little later."

"Can you both cook?" Avira is quick to interject, suddenly realizing how hungry she is this 'morning'. (Morning, of course, being a relative term.) "I mean like, both get in there and cook things. I know you both can actually cook." Avira gestures wildly, "I can take some coffee too. -oh, good, you're both gonna cook. Fantastic!"

Three women show up that Avira was, frankly, not expecting. Cirra, the Judge of Wrath, occasional ally of the TDA, and in a very complicated relationship with Max. Respectfully, she gives the serious Judge a nod in greeting.

Jihl, whom Avira has only met once...but once was enough. That woman just radiated creepy crazy. She notably does not make eye contact with Jihl.

Then there is Morrighan, whom Avira was expecting to be long gone by now. She wasn't being constrained by magic any longer and Max had promised her her freedom. Experience taught her at first opportunity, she would run off to greener pastures. Yet here she is. Wordlessly, she stares at the dark elf.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi considers thanking Morrighan, right then and there, for helping Max but it's a bit awkward because she is worried that if she does, Morrighan will go 'OH HO HO HO YOU THINK I WAS DOING THAT FOR YOU?' or something akin to that and just cause trouble. Still, she is thankful, so maybe she should think of a way to show her thanks without actually saying thank you. Perhaps even a way so subtle that Morrighan might not even realize she's being thanked, and thus cannot counter with her tsuntsun defense mechanism.

BUT HOW?

"Well at least three." Umi says. "Will is going to be hungry too so that makes four. Imi...five..."

Sounds like it's going to be time for COOKING HANLON! Will Isaac's restaurant go under or succeed?? IT'S UP TO YOU!! THE PLAYER!

But Umi shortly pokes her head out and just asks. "Hey...The Network inquires who would like to eat today? We are attempting to establish a headcount, The Network clarifies further."

She pauses a moment as Isaac mentions hands and pairs thereof. "Can I help?" Umi asks.

Umi is not an experienced chef, even with Dennou shared knowledge, but maybe there's something she can't mess up! Hooray! (Emi is probably the best chef all told of the group). Then again the team might just be saved when Will seizes her up and puts her on a stool, eyes wide as he chats about VAMPIRES.

"VAMPIRES!?!?! I HEARD THEY SPARKLE!" Umi is amazed.

Imi sneaks into the kitchen instead to live out Umi's dream for her.

Eventually Emi approaches Morrighan, "Would you like anything? The Network inquires." she bows her head faintly to her.

Percival has posed:
The Gargoyle shrugs, his wings actually lifting off his shoulders briefly in the action. "I'm hanging in there, Mercade." At his suggestion, he rises from the stool, and walks around the corner, groping around in the cabinets to find a proper filter, and the beans. "I definitely could be better though."

He looks into the can, and grimaces, mumbling something about this really being their idea of coffee? He then pours it into the filter and readies it in the coffee maker. He doesn't finish quite yet though as he picks up an extra Daylight? VAMPIRE KIT, opening it briefly to remove a sheet of paper he had folded within it. He then hands both the paper report and the kit to Mercade. "You'll need this, the report will explain why." He then busies himself behind the bar again as he locates the pot and continues the process of readying the coffee.

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
A cursory glance about at those present. She did not know these people in any sort of capacity other than perhaps as enemies. But here she was regardless. Once done assessing the situation, she turned that glance off towards Mercade, nodding numbly. "Greetings. I suppose." She spoke, maintaining an air of indifference about her.

"I am in fact, fine. You should worry more about yourself in that respect, you fool." She answered Max after, moving to approach the de facto leader of this band of misfit investigators, which would be Mercade. "...Do not get the wrong idea however. I am only still here because there was a debt to be paid. Nothing more and nothing less." Or so she seemed to stress in any case.

"...But thank you." The elven woman finally conceded to Mercade, speaking in a low tone so that hopefully only he heard.

Avira's staring went pointedly ignored as the healer took the time to glance at Emi. "I am not particularly hungry at this juncture. But I suppose that your offer is appreciated. Perhaps." It really looked like Morrighan was doing her best to not haul off and start pulling the spoiled princess act so far. For now anyway.

The Box has posed:
The Box rings out a fearsome, loud BING for no reason. There's Stuff, whatever.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
"Bounty hunters." Cirra repeats in distaste. Speaking of ditaste, Jihl walks in which causes Cirra's head to incline upwards a tad as she looks at the other woman for a moment.

She thn turns to look at Max as he scrambles to flee the room. "..."

Avira gets a poliet nod. Morrighan gets a less familiar nod because Cirra's never met the elf.

"Anyidea what these bounty hunters were after?"

Percival has posed:
"Also, Will..." Percival states in an idle tone as he finishes filling the pot, and putting it on. "That's ridiculous, Clayton would have to dethrone David Attenborough first and that is impossible. The throne of Super British will always belong to him."

Jihl Nabaat has posed:
"A pleasure, sir...?" Jihl trails off, quietly prompting Mercade that she knows no one. She does notice Will looking between her and Max, and she can't help but raise an eyebrow, a smile crossing her pale lips, one that sort never quite reaches her eyes.

"Hello, monsieur Max-i-mil-i-en." Her voice drawls the word out, even as she calmly regards Cirra as well.

"Miss Avira, apleasure to run into you again."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will looks at the Box. He pauses...considering it for a moment... "You need more Stakes." he says to Perci. He nods, just nods once.

To Umi he looks, "No! REAL vampires DO not sparkle. They are dangerous, blood sucking things that will do anything to suck out your blood and make you a vampire. However, we have KITS...which by the way you need to carry with you at all times!" he says, "Because Perci didn't finish the job." he frowns.

He looks at Morrighan, "Sorry for the witch comment." he says, flatly, "Thanks for healing our mysterious man of mystery." And that is about as nice as Will is going to get to Morrighan right now. At least in pubic, there might be more incommon, later, but not now.

"Her." Will points at Morrighan for Cirra, "Mercade's policy is we help people, and we helped people." Will shrugs, "It's not like I wanted to help her or anything, she was just happening to be in the building I lived in." he says, HE CAN BE TSUNDERE TOO!

He stares at Perci, "Maybe. MAYBE." Then slowly he thuds into the table again, "Ugh..."

Deidra has posed:
Yesterday had been quite chaotic with various revelations and such. She'd been happy she could not fight going to sleep least she'd have had trouble sleeping to be honest. She however was hungry and seeking food as she came down stairs. She yawns a bit inhumanly and calls out "Hey, is someone cooking I smelled the food from the roof! I'll take something if your willing Isaac."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Welp, Isaac makes the decision. Mercade guesses he wants people to have edible food tonight. Mercade shrugs to himself. He won't interfere. Especially since Max is way better at cooking than most people.

Will rants about Clayton and simply lets him do his thing. He narrows his eyes at Will. "Vampires?" He queries, and Percival is there to quickly give him a sitrep. "Well." He says, looking over the report... And he sighs. "... Vampires." He says, facepalming."

He slowly looks up, recovering from Status: Facepalm as he looks over to Morrighan, and nods. "Stay as long as you need." He says back in the same quiet tone.

Jihl's prompting causes Mercade to blink. "Oh, right. I never introduced myself." He smiles, and provides a business card to Jihl in his usual manner. "I'm Mercade Alexander, of the Twilight Detective Agency. A pleasure to meet you."

Maximilien has posed:
Really, a fair amount of this trouble was on Max's account, and he knew that. But he didn't really feel guilty about that, as he moves into the kitchen; he didn't really feel guilty about that at all, mostly because he had gotten /shot/ over this. "Do not worry. I am quite fine; I have had...more than my share of injuries." Max gestures at the scars that cover his torso, still smiling kindly at Morrighan. He holds up his hand at Cirra. "It was not me, Cirra, who was being shot at. I was trying to defend her from a fate she did not deserve - a fate no one deserves. I got in the way of an exploding bullt, that is all." His cane points briefly at Morrighan as he passes through the kitchen doors and begins working on whatever the hell he's going to be cooking. Something that will go well with whatever Isaac is cooking, obviously.

"Like a decent person," Max mutters under his breath, so that no one can hear but Isaac. He shakes his head, then raises his voice again.

"So, I will be putting together some bread, perhaps something sweet for dessert, and a helping of steamed vegetables! Does anyone have any particular allergies I ought to worry about? Oui? Non?"

Golly, the forced optimism in Max's voice is almost scary. But at least it seems that despite his limp he's not having much trouble.

Emi Dennou has posed:
"Are you sure? I read that they sparkle." Umi says. "What's going on?" She usually goes along with just about anything Will does no matter how sudden but this is pretty sudden. "Did vampires show up or something? We're sure they're vampires? Do I need to get a stake? Are vampires vulnerable to stakes? I heard vampires sparkle. Maybe they're here to war with Skoll, he reminds me of that wolf guy in that book I read about vampires. Being a vampire didn't seem bad in the book, though kind of weird."

"Understood. We'll let him know." Umi continues to randomly give off a count even as she's learning about vampires.

"Thank you for helping Max." Emi gives in and just says it. She pauses for a moment and then calls over to Isaac.

"Cronus is coming by too." Wait what.

And indeed, the sourpuss time mage is dragged inside, Shida is with him, all smiles and grabbing his arm with both hands.

"Rghghh..." Cronus says.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
The kitchen kind of counts as a church. Kind of.

Isaac checks the fridge for more food. "Yeah, sure, any help we can get, right?" he calls to Umi. Who then gets promptly stolen away by Will, and trades in an Imi. Isaac picks up a pile of stuff and nudges the door closed, and passes Imi a bread knife and a bag of rolls on the way to a butcher block. He intends to finish /his/ portion of the meal, even if Max wants to be more fancy. He's already halfway through one course.

Isaac gives Max a sidelong glance while he turns ground beef into patties. He quirks a brow, and asks in a murmur, "You feeling alright? Mass girlfriend rush aside."

Emi calls out. There is a recordscratch.

(No, seriously, the juke box makes the noise. Isaac doesn't even mean to do it.)

"Wait, what?"

Percival has posed:
Percival finishes brewing the coffee, and pours him a cup in a mug which is labelled 'I'm having a Red Shirt kind of day.' He doesn't add any cream or sugar at all. "Good evening Madame Deidra. All is well I trust?" He then leans upon the bar, watching Will and Umi. "Just one vampire Umi, and she didn't sparkle. She was a....well, I'd rather not say what she was like in polite company, let's just say she was a tremendously rude sort. She's gone now, but unfortunately she created one more before she left. Don't trust any Burmecians that aren't Faruja, and stay away from any Alexandrians, as they may be her victims that would be my advice for now." He takes a long sip of the coffee, as his tail twitches about.

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
Cirra's nod of greeting is noted and returned, and then she gives Will a withering look. She very much wanted to make a snide rebuttal, but...It looked like he was trying. So she just huffed and looked away from him, crossing her arms in the process. "As I said, it was merely a debt owed. Nothing more!"

His total show of dishonesty regarding his intentions caused Morrighan to smirk just a tad. But really, she did not want to talk to him for as long as she could help it. Maybe later, but not now.

Mercade is given a small nod then and she mumbled something inaudible, but was probably another 'thank you', before she turned away, grumbling to herself at the fact that people were pointing her out as some sort of object of bounty. ...Which she technically still was really. But that did not make it any less irritating!

Emi's words of gratitude are met with another huff of irritation. "Again, I must stress that I only 'helped' because I was partly at fault to begin with. Do not misunderstand my intentions!"

And then in came Shida and Cronus. But since she had no idea who this supposed time mage was; the dramatic effect was entirely lost on her!

Avira has posed:
Getting ignored by Morrighan? Nothing new there. Avira breaks her stare away, cringing a little as Jihl says hello to her. Carefully, she sits herself down upon one of the bar stools, one leg daintily crossed over the other. "Hello Jihl. It's been a while, hasn't it? Been busy? I sure have." In spite of everything, she manages a pleasant smile.

While she doesn't envision seeing a duel erupting over Max's fair hand, if what she's been hearing about the various women involved is at all true, she does expect...some fireworks.

Politely, Avira jerks a thumb at Morrighan as an answer (and supplement to Will's!) to Cirra's question. "They were after her. Someone posted a ridiculous bounty on her head for a number of crimes."

Much to her surprise, Avira sees another familiar face being dragged in alongside Shida. "Cronus!" she gets up out of her seat and actually goes over to him, only to stop, hesitate for a moment, before giving him an awkward hug. "..heh, looks like you got caught again."

Deidra has posed:
Deidra shifts her wings and tail a little bit as she finds a good perch in the bar. Mercade gets a grin from the gargyole and Jihl gets a suprised look. She didn't quite expect to see her here at least today. "Your the Securityy Chief from the Parade in Coccoon right? It was an impressive display of technology and art." She notes before settling in fully and then Cronus shows up and gives him a wave. he'd given up on hunting the network so she had no real problem with him at this point. "Hello Cronus."

Maximilien has posed:
Max laughs at something from the kitchen, really really loudly.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra looks over at Morrihgan as Will indites her as being the cause of the mayhem last night. "Hmmn." she considers. "Will, shouldn't you be more pleasent when helping people?" Coming from here, thats either shocking or a joke.

It's a joke, her humor is as deadpan as the rest of her.

"Ah, I see." she says to Max. Which is Cirra for 'you saw a pretty young face and swept the girl into your arms' She knows this pattern by now.

"Vampires are a plague."

Looking from Avira to Morrihgan again Cirra raises an eyebrow, "What were these supposed crimes?"

Jihl Nabaat has posed:
"Jihl Nabaat." Jihl is surprisingly charismatic when she wants to be; she sticks her hand out in a offering for a handshake from Mercade, even as she politely peers at Avira, her smile finally reaching her eyes. That's almost scarier than it not, really.

"Always busy, but I have had some very enjoyable weekends off since the night of the parade." She then nods at Deidra. "Not for the parade, but in general, I lead the world-wide forces who fight." Jihl sounds incredibly reluctant to admit this, for some reason.

Will Sherman has posed:
"Oh god." Will says, "There is too much of it here..." he says, trying NOT to wither in his chair. He slowly, raises his head up, looking towards Cronus, and gives him a slow wave, "Sup?" he manages to get out, trying to be friendly and NOT godsawful tired.

"They don't sparkle, they are undead abominations, they hate garlic, a steak to the heart will kill them, and they hate the sun." he tries to answer Umi's questions, he isn't getting any less tired.

He shrugs at Cirra, "I'll warm up to here in the future, I think. Maybe not now, maybe not ever. It's...something I'd rather not talk about here. Needless to say, it's a personal thing." he comments. "And yes, basicly that Cirra." before he turns towards Jihl. "Will Sherman, King of the Hobos." he says, at least trying to be engaging...lots of people here tonight!

"And they are! Freekin' vampires man! Freekin', vampires.."

Towards Cronus, "How's things been?"

Emi Dennou has posed:
"Your intentions do not change the result. We are thankful." Emi says. She does not explain herself further. Nor does she explain Cronus's 'deal' to Morrighan as she honestly is not very fond of dramatic effect personally and hopes to keep matters as drama free as possible which is difficult because Shida is a bit individualistic and seems to involve herself in Cronus's business with distressing regularity.

"Mmhmm, Shida of the Network is an expert tracker." Shida grins widely.

"No less than ten minutes after I leave, I run right into her, haven't shook her since." Cronus mutters. He's embarrassed but too proud to admit it. "But this time I figure, haven't heard from you in a while, figured I'd check in." He looks to Deidra, throwing a wave her way, though he remembers after he's trying to be relatively standoffish and shoves his free hand back into his pocket. "You been in those colliseum fights, yeah? Almost got your world back?"

"Why do they hate Garlic?" Umi asks. "Garlic is awesome. I love garlic. Maybe if we all put garlic on our food and eat a lot of it our breath will scare them away!" She assumes Will doesn't care about his breath smelling like garlic for some reason. Imi smiles vacantly at Isaac as he asks what's going on. She shrugs her shoulders helplessly.

SUDDENLY WILL. "...<goosehonk>, what happened to you?" He asks instead of answering the question, his rival power makes him unable to be especially polite to will. It's a blessing, it's a curse, it's Cronus, man.

Maximilien has posed:
"The fact that she is beautiful has very little to do with the reasons I helped her," Max replies to Cirra after he calms down from his hilarious laughter. He knows what she's thinking; he knows exactly where she wants to take that. Unfortunately. He knows his reputation, too.

Max chops up vegetables almost fiercely. "I cannot...in good conscience see a woman in need of aid and not want to help her." He has trouble ignoring people in need of aid in general, but he'd rather keep that on the down-lo and pretend like that wasn't. He closes his eyes as he slices through the carrot, scraping it into the pot. "I do not think with my lower body, regardless of what some people may think. I am a gentleman first and foremost."

Max sets the pot on and goes about to start kneading the bread. He is silent; he doesn't want to interact with Jihl just yet, because that's going to get really goddamned awkward really goddamned fast.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Wait, what?" Mercade says in chorus with everyone else. "Cronus? Seriously? How is he..." He pauses. "All right, I'm sure it'll be fine." He hopes. It's hard to not be a little itchy around someone who can poke you to death.

And then he appears. Mercade looks over to him, and smiles. This comes easily to Mercade. When in doubt, smile. It makes things better, usually. "Hey there." He calls to Cronus. "Come on over and have a drink." He says, waving the guy over to the bar.

Something in him wishes he had a frying pan, though.

Mercade shakes Jihl's hand, and looks her over for a moment. "So where are you from? I haven't seen that style before. You must be quite the traveler."

Mercade does inject into the Dennou rant, "Garlic /is/ pretty awesome."

Avira has posed:
"Weeeeeeellll..." Avira takes a deep breath, in preparation of the answer. Since she doesn't have Morrighan's wanted poster at hand, she can't really remember the exact nature of the numerous crimes listed, but she can get them pretty close. But for now, she starts with the legit ones:

"Attacking the SeeD's Garden thing, aiding the Shadow Lords in the taking of Manhattan-hey you were even there that one time at the big Light-, summoning some kind of undead evil monster through a sacred tree-that's the big one. Hmm, what else...oh yes."

She starts ticking other 'crimes' off her fingers, reusing each hand as necessary, "Truancy, delinquency, impersonating a Judge, impersonating a DPS agent, impersonating a Turk, desicrating holy ground, inciting riots, failing to report in traffic court, disobeying 'No color magic' laws, parking too far away from the curb, stealing the souls of orphans, trashing the camp, jaywalking, improper User worship, overage drinking, and kicking puppies."

She takes in another deep breath.

"I think some of those are a little bogus."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will yawns from his position, to look towards his rival. "Uh...long story. I finished a story arc, and of course have problems with my powers right now. You know, standard things, try and lay it easy on me for a little bit, kay?" he yawns again. He then freezes...

"Oh god." he says, and then jumps from his seat, ignoring Umi, with good reason, and looks towards Perci, who is protecting the coffee...no he can get a cup outside, he has to get outside!

Will runs for the door, throwing it open to find...

Celina Duvalis has posed:
Celina is standing outside the door, wielding a bath-brush. "Will."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will slams the door shut, pushing his back agianst it and breathing heavily, with a look of fear on his face.

"UMI! PLAN 49!" he says, and runs for the back door! surly, he can beat her there! He runs by everyone, and moves to throw open the back door...

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
Guh, there was no arguing with these green haired clones, was there? Morrighan instead elected to sigh and shake her head. "Do whatever you wish then. It has nothing to do with me!" With that said the dark elf turned away from Emi, incidentally hearing Max's spiel in the process. It caused her to frown deeply.

The way he kept talking about 'being in need of aid' repeatedly as his reason. It somehow infuriated her. But then perhaps it wasn't the contents of his speech, but rather his flameboyant.../frenchness/ in general that was irritating her.

And then Avira began listing off all the crimes that Morrighan was supposedly responsible for. Almost feeling a blood vessel pop in her head, the mage whirled around and pointed angrily at her. "You and I both know that the second half of those crimes are completely and totally untrue! Why do you even bother to list them! It is plainly ridiculous and...argh!"

Unable to articulate herself properly in the face of this 'bounty, Morrighan found herself reduced to growling angrily and mussing up her hair in frustration. "Now I am thinking about it again! Why do you do this to me!?"

Celina Duvalis has posed:
Celina's back there too. How? Ask the other magic party member. "Hi, Will!"

Will Sherman has posed:
Will looks up only in fear as he backs up slowly...the shadow of Celina overcoming him.

Only the sound of TRUE horror can be heard as the shadow falls..

Percival has posed:
Percival raises his finger as Will looks his way, twitching his finger back and forth, as he takes another long sip of the coffee. As Will retreats out the door, he finally takes the time to look at Cronus, regarding the figure cooly, as if he's not sure what to make of him. He does smile at Shida though and wave. Long coffee sip, as he looks behind him at Will's escape being blocked by Celina. He states idly. "You know, there are plenty of windows that you might try to escape out of. I recommend the second floor though, not the third."

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra raises both eyebrows at Avira'slist of Morrighan's crimes, then looks at the elf. "Are you saying the first half are true?" She ignores Will's plight.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra ist just keeping to herself for the moment as sh leaves Max to his fate at the hands of the rest of the TDA It's quite the large gathering and she seems a bit well overhwlemed she doe snod abck at Jihl "Deidra." Shee adds giving the human woman her name. "Must be a hard job some times." Then comes up the talk about vampires. "It could depend on the world will and if we find one where they sparkle I'm blaming you."

Avira has posed:
"Morrighan, it's HILARIOUS!" Avira blurts out, finally turning to face the elf, "Someone went through the time to think up all those silly 'crimes' and you don't find it all the least bit funny? How can any of these things be considered crimes in the first place? 'No color magic' laws? What does that even mean?"

She shrugs, "There are some things in life just not worth getting so angry about, you know?"

Avira doesn't answer Cirra's question, feeling Morrighan should speak for herself in this case.

Jihl Nabaat has posed:
'Really goddmaned awkward really goddamned fast'.

It already is, Max.

Jihl smiles crookedly at Mercade. "My world is called Cocoon. It seems to be um, more technologically advanced than most of the ones I've come across." She gestures vaguely. "Sort of how like most of our bars can be ran by advanced intelligence systems and stuff, so... it's neat to get out, really."

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
Morrighan sighed and slumped her shoulders then, suddenly feeling very tired. "Hilarious you say. I suppose if that is how you want to look at it. But I still have to worry about every last two bit bounty hunter and otherwise that will attempt to collect on this nonsense!"

The dark elf glanced at Cirra then, straightening up and crossing her arms. "Why yes, the first half of those crimes are completely and totally true." She nodded then, seeming to make light of the fact that she did all of those things. To her, the second half is what ground her gears after all!

And that's what mattered!

Emi Dennou has posed:
Umi leaves Will to his fate. Celina reminds her too much of Omi for her to go against her.

Cronus laughs at the crimelist. "You gotta be shittin'." He tells Avira. "Failing to report in traffic court? Jaywalking?? Was she jaywalkin' cause she lost her car cause she didn't appear in traffic court?"

Mercade calls him over and he heads that way. Considering he nearly killed Mercade, he figures it's only proper. He doesn't seem to be able to dislodge Shida from him though, maybe he's thinking Mercade will have better luck.

"...sup." He says. He's a lot calmer now than when they last saw each other! But he's still pretty surly.

Emi has gotten a little lost by all this talk about vampires. She looks over to Percival and says, as if on behalf of Shida, "How are you holding up, Percival? It has been some time since we really talked."

Maximilien has posed:
It's really driving him mad, as he kneads the dough. He's in love with Cirra Constantine - fiercely, really, truly in love with her. She hates him, or at least really doesn't like him terribly much, despite his best (and persistent) efforts. He's in a relationship with Jihl Nabaat, and he doesn't love her. He's trying, God help him, but he doesn't love her, and she doesn't love him - she doesn't even understand what love is. He wants to help Morrighan, because he feels thorough sympathy for her and her situation, because he understands her.

And then there's the touchy subject only Cirra is actually aware of, in regards to his life. The part that she figured out after he took the Goddess Magicite, in the hopes that it might, perhaps, help him. The part that she figured out because he more or less flat out told her so.

And then there's the /other/ touchy subject Cirra is aware of, because she volunteered her history to him and he felt wrong not telling her at least SOMETHING back. Then again, after last night, they were probably beginning to suspect.

And then, yet again, there's another touchy subject that EVERYONE is aware of, and they're being so blasted respectful about it! He said he didn't want to talk about it, and instead of kneading him like he kneads the dough of the bread, they're actually respecting his privacy! His desire not to speak!

It was amazing and flabbergasting all at the same time.

Max raises his cane and brings it smashing down into the bread; there's a flare of heat and smoke from the kitchen, and in a few moments, Max brings out the steamed vegetables and a warm, delicious-smelling, very-very-very large loaf of bread, leaning heavily on the wall. He smiles.

Despite the madness, he could always pretend to smile.

"Voila. Steamed vegetables, bread, and well-roasted beef. Enjoy, whoever wants it." Max tears, for himself, a chunk off the bread, and leans back heavily on his cane, keeping his eyes on Cirra and Jihl, as if to say - now what?

Celina Duvalis has posed:
Celina, armed with the brush, starts scrubbing behind one of Will's ears, as, with the other, she drags him upstairs.

Will Sherman has posed:
"Nooooooooo!" Will shouts, being dragged upstairs.

"TRAITORS! ALL OF YOU! TRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAITOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORS!"

Celina Duvalis has posed:
Celina uses the ultimate threat.

"Bathe properly for once and next time I won't use the girly /sweet/ smelling bath soap!"

Percival has posed:
"I've been through the wringer Emi." He states Emi, since she's the one talking, though he nods over at Shida, as he manages to realize that she's the one who is interested. His wings ruffle slightly, and become agitated enough that they lift a ways off his shoulders and expand slightly, but then they fall to a rest once again. "Whether I'll come out better or worse for it is still up for debate. And how are you?"

Upstairs, in case Will gets any ideas for escaping, all the windows are boarded up on the second and third floors with a warning sign: 'Windows out of order - possible routes of Vampire Infestation.'

Will Sherman has posed:
The Scream of TRUE ULTIMATE SUFFERING comes from upstairs. It strikes sorrow into all that hear it, unless you are SOULESS!

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
And Morrighan completely and totally tunes out Will's plight. His screams of utter agony scattered to the empty winds...

"Hmph. She had better bathe him well." The elven woman muttered to herself quietly.

Nope. No sympathy.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade isn't helping dislodge Shida at all. Call it karmic justice. "Sup. Are you doing all right? What are you up to these days, anyway? It's been a while." He waves. "Have whatever you want."

FOOD. Mercade instantly abandons his mediocre plate for Max and Isaac's work. He takes generous portions of each, and takes them back to his spot, completely ignoring Will's agonized screams as he is dragged off. Will can get cleaned before eating. DOUBLE TORTURE. THERE IS NO SORROW HERE FOR YOU WILL. NONE.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra watches as Will flees getting a Bath she'll prehaps debate on gettingfood or not as she's poltiely not getting into the whole Max affair as it would get even more umfortable for many people. At this point she'll get her food later but she's getting up and saying. "Excuse me I have a hobo to hunt." And off she goes to seek out where Will is hiding!

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra uh-huuhs at Morrihgan, "What was this about summoning something at a giant tree?" she begins to unfasten her winter coat slowly and slides it off her shoulders to hang over the back of a chair. She's wearing a black wool turtleneck and a skirt underneath.

Maximilien has posed:
Max really does just sort of change around Cirra. She takes off the coat, and he just...stares at her, to the exclusion of everything else. The look in his eyes is just sad, sad and distant. He /looks/ as lovesick as he is, for a few moments, as he commits the mental image to, well, memory.

Cirra may ALSO notice the increased aura of Darkness around him, because he did sort of summon a heartless yesterday.

Then he turns away and resumes eating bread, scrabbling to put his mask back on.

Emi Dennou has posed:
"Poor Will..." Umi says. She's probably the only one with a soul, as a result. Her sorrow is short lived however because Max has brought food. "ooh! The Network would like to eat!" Imi is staying in the kitchen for the moment, however, for mysterious reasons. Umi darts over to the table.

MEanwhile Cronus and Mercade 'talk' with Shida :Ding all the way.

BGM CHANGE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAr_TQ3nPMU

Cronus jerks his head towards the jukebox, and then glowers towards the kitchen--he's blaming Isaac for that even if it was total coincidence. "At least Will is suffering too..." He mutters to himself.

Louder, he says, "Uh...yeah...sure." He can mix his own drinks apparently. He makes something hard and even puts a little olive in it. He pays for it, even, and takes food too which he doesn't pay for.

"Been checking out the worlds. Didn't get to see 'em much back when the experiment was going on." He does let himself say. "Avira said I should skip town. Wish she told me a day earlier."

Emi nods to Percival slowly. "We are...doing rather well actually, The Network is ashamed to admit. We helped Leida pick out clothes." She pauses. "If you need help, Percival, you can always turn to us." She says genuinely, nodding to Max. "Thank you very much, it does look very good. You are an excellent chef." So is Isaac, of course.

Avira has posed:
Avira will happily confront Max about his personal 'problem' when she can get some alone time with him. As much as a show-off that he was, his own personal feelings about that touchy subject made it unlikely that he would say much in front of a large crowd. It's impossible to tell if thoughts about his little summoning trick are on the scarred woman's mind right now.

She's too busy digging in to the wonderful food arrayed against them. Of what's available, Avira seems to give preference to the meat itself for some strange reason.

"...oh man, Cronus, has Shida been latched onto you since that meeting?" she interjects, looking up in surprise.

She completely ignores Will's suffering. It's just a /bath/, for Faram's sake.

Will Sherman has posed:
MORE ULTIMATE SUFFERING FROM UPSTAIRS!

"YOU BETTER SAVE FOOD FOR ME!" he sobs.

Maximilien has posed:
Max suddenly looks really, really surprised, like he said something really, really horrible, and turns away, limping back into the kitchen.

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
Max is given a sidelong glance and a raised eyebrow for his effort of staring at Cirra. She did not even want to know. Bur despite that, it was easy to tell exactly what it was. Not her business however!

"Oh? You wish to know more?" She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly as she answered. "I summoned a powerful entity known as a Fiend by using the Iifa Tree on the Southern Continent as a catalyst. Some other things happened and now it is still running about."

And that was the painfully short version. Details were not going to be given. Nope.

The food set out before everyone however goes foregone by Morrighan however. As if she would partake in such low class food!

Percival has posed:
Percival stares at Emi for a moment, and then unconsciously seems to glance at the liquor lining the shelves behind the bar, He then attempts to take a sip of coffee, only to find his cup his empty, he sighs and moves to refill it. "I actually could use the services of a detective such as yourself Emi. Your help would be invaluable. Though we should save it for another time. Now is a time for celebration. And I've already brought enough doom and gloom to parties for a lifetime."

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra nods her head slowly, as if deciding ot keep a closer eye on Morrighan in the future. She glances at Max as he decides to leave, but doesn't try to stop him.

"Perhaps if you took some responsability for the thing you unleashed, there wouldn't be so many people willing to track you down for the embeleshed charges. It's easy to whip up a host of false claims to incite people when the first one on the listis true."

Morrighan Alazne has posed:
Handwave.

"Nonsense. I have absolutely no control over that abomination. Regardless, I accomplished my task merely by summoning it." With that, Morrighan turned away. "Now then, if you will excuse me, I believe I will be turning in." The elven woman had spoken her piece to those she wanted to speak to. The rest of the proceedings had absolutely nothing to do with her.

Nor did she want to know what was going on and who all the new faces were really. Instead, she made her way over to the stairs and began to head up, leaving the others to confer with themselves.

Back to her room it was! The time could be spent figuring out just where she was supposed to go from there anyhow. There was still a bounty on her head after all. That would need to be cleared up before she could go about and do as she pleased again.

How in the world that would be done however would need to be further deliberated upon.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
"How insufferable." Cirra comments once Morrighan is out of sight. She turns and pushes a chair out so she can sit in it and crosses her legs.

Emi Dennou has posed:
"Not the whole time," Cronus says. "You hear the song 'the cat came back the very next day'? Sort of like that." He actually is able to talk like a human being to Avira. "I'm not gonna pretend to understand it, so don't ask for an explanation."

"Hi Avira," Shida finally speaks up, still a-smiling. "It's nice to see you again. How are your VALKYRI friends, Shida of the Network enables small talk mode."

Emi frowns a bit at the kitchen. Should she go appraoch him over that? She wonders. But before she can, a case is presented to her.

"Alright, Percival, I won't pressure you." She bobs her head at MOrrighan as she departs. "I hope it turns out well though."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"He needs it occasionally. It keeps him from being completely insufferable." Mercade replies. He considers in between bites of delicious food, and then nods to Cronus. "That's good. There's a lot to see out there." Mercade adds. "But I think Shida's taken a liking to you. Or at least, she's keeping a solid grip on you." He chuckles. "Never a dull moment."

Mercade looks over at Max as he says a certain thing. He watches Max for a moment, a small, sad frown on his face, but he doesn't keep it on him. He makes a mental note.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will finally comes back down the stairs.

He looks absolutely miserable, he smells like women's sented soap, and he has none of his normal clothing on, instead they are all being nuclear presure washed. Including his hat. He looks absolutely naked without it. He is in a set of what look like to be comfortable clothing, and he just looks miserable. "Food." he says, trying to not be increadibly embarrased and also hungry.

Percival has posed:
"Its not that you're pressuring me..." Awkward. Now he felt terrible. "Uh...let's, plan a date night, Emi. I'll take you and whichever of your sisters wish to come, and you can hear about my woes if you wish. I truly do need the services of a detective in determining something."

Noting Will's listless state, he does in fact pour him a cup of coffee, and hands it over to him. "Here, you'll need this."

Avira has posed:
"Yeah, she's like that." Avira mutters, only glancing over briefly at Morrighan before she leaves. Looking back to Cirra she half-grins, "She likes to complain a lot too so this is probably for the best."

Setting her plate aside for a moment, Avira resumes laughing at Cronus's predicament. "Maybe it's like that imprinting thing that ducks do? Have you been able to leave town at all? And Shida..."

Avira looks to the ressurected Network node. "They're all quite fine now! We have a new-ish member now. Well, ally, really. From old Ivalice."

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi blinks languidly. "Oh, I am not...I don't mean that I am pestering you when I say I am pestering you, The Network explains it is just a polite phrase to say when you elect to change subjects on their behalf."

"Are you...saying I am a duck, Shida of the Network isn't sure how to take that. Who is your new ally?" She's pretty sure it's neither Cirra nor Morrighan.

"We'll be glad to help, then." Emi adds, though she does pause a bit at the term 'date night'. Is Percival asking her out???????????? Well it'll be interesting either way, she supposes.

Cronus's eye twitches and then adds, "Yeah, I think duck's about right." He presses his hand on her head and EXPLOOOOOOOOOOOODES IT--okay he doesn't actually do that, but he has exploded her before so her decision to keep hands on him is really bewildering him.

He does push down on it as if he was trying to make her shorter. "Should be Quack of the Network if you ask me."

"Well if you want to call me Duck." Shida says. "Then that could be fun, Shida of the Network is Shida, though." She glances over to Mercade. Then back to Cronus. "Cronus, can we visit Shibuya later? It recently was restored, this one would like to see it."

"No way in hell." Cronus says.

LATER

Cronus stands outside of the 109 department store with Shida. "...Why am I here..."

NOW

"Alright if you don't want to." Shida says mysteriously.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will takes the coffee, drinks it, puts the cup down and takes the plate from Umi. He starts eating, before disappearing to get the peanutbutter pie out of the fridge, and put it down infront of him. He gives everyone else the stink eye. EVERYONE ELSE, who is not Umi. The rest of you left him to BURN in the horrible fires of BATH TIME.

Maximilien has posed:
Max is having two very different conversations over his radio right now, so he's sitting in the kitchen, making hand-made ice cream because Max is /awesome/.

Jihl Nabaat has posed:
Jihl has gotten her hands on water and a piece of bread, which she is idly picking at as she also has a very unique radio conversation, because radio conversations are where it is at.