Cake Treason

Cake Treason
Date of Scene:	07 July 2013
Location:	Manhatten - TDA building.
Synopsis:	Cake makes everything better, it also makes everything very silly.
Cast of Characters:	Deidra, Will Sherman, Mercade Alexander, Avira, Riku, Emi Dennou, Alma Hyral

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Alma Hyral has posed:
So, Alma and Riku just arrived at the TDA building. They solemnly carry in about two dozen white confectionery boxes, their expressions just as somber as people at Church. Though on occasion Alma's expression twitches and she looks like she's about to burst into a fit of giggling.

Once all the boxes are laid out on the table. Alma continues to hold one final novelty box in her hands, carrying it with a sort of solemnity which bespeaks the importance of the article within.

She did not speak a single word during all of this, despite whomever may have caught sight of her or questioned her on the way.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade is not prepared for the invasion of /maximum cake/. He looks up from the front desk as they enter, and he blinks at the mobile columns of baked goods. "I..." He pauses, blinking. "Well, this is unusual. Who is..."

He moves to one side, and blinks. "Oh, Riku. And... someone I don't know! Hi there. I'm Mercade Alexander of the Twilight Detective Agency, and I... don't remember ordering cake."

He pauses... And then he turns around, yelling, "WILL YOU BETTER NOT HAVE ORDERED CAKE DELIVERY WITH MY CARD AGAIN!"

Riku has posed:
Riku is just here for the food really. He is a little more active in greeting others than Alma is but he is just lugging boxes around.

They do look like solumn and somber folks, although doing so without the mirror shades does lend an aura of the ridiculous to the proceedings because it looks very much like Riku is trying FAR too hard to be nonchalant.

He looks around for Will with an absolute lack of curiosity, holding one of the boxes in his hands. "Yeah. We should probably talk to Will." he looks at the cake and then shrugs. "I don't know either." he gestures. "This is Alma Hyral. She also delivers cake."

Avira has posed:
AVIRA HEARD THERE WAS DELICIOUS CAKE.

Actually she's just here to harass Will over his report, which has /grossly misrepresented/ her actions on the recent TDA 'mission.' Well, more like TDA horrible, traumatic experience, but same difference when the TDA is concerned. Recovered from her duel (at least physically), Avira is the next person to arrive after Riku and Alma have walked through the door. Just as she does, though:

"Oh, this is Alma Hyral." Avira says, introducing her. "She lost a bet with Will once and had to cook for him. Later helped me out when a duel I was in went awry." she pauses, "...another...duel. Not the one I just had."

Emi Dennou has posed:
"Alma has promised us two cakes." Emi says from upstairs and, speaking of upstairs, she's heading down the stairs with Imi and (of course) Umi who is beaming brightly and excitedly. She heard there was cakes. She heard there were two cakes. She has appeared.

"Cake?" Umi asks.
"Cake." Emi says.
"..." Imi sighs.
"Cake." Emi says more forcefully.
"Cake." Imi agrees.

The three nod and then, arriving, they all turn their head to look at Alma.

o_o o_o o_o.

Will Sherman has posed:
"Yeah, that's Alma Hyral." Will says, right over Mercade's shoulder. How did he get there?!

Will lands on the ground and blinks...

"...This is pretty solem for cake. Though I didn't have anything to do with this one..." He frowns.

"I mean, I am not gona turn down free cake.." He says, "Oh well, I guess I did have her learn how to make stuff from Max...but you know, Max needs more friends. he is so grumpy..."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma tries very hard to keep her expression neutral as she looks at Mercade, echoing Riku in an entirely deadpan voice, "I'm Alma Hyral, and I deliver cake." She'd heard a lot about the leader of the TDA, but she hadn't met him during the time she spent cooking at the Cloud Nine as the result of a wager, when Will tied during a contest with a certain someone.

She says nothing more to Mercade, just holding out the box with that same Churchlike solemnity, like it contained some priceless artifact. It doesn't look like a cake box.

She does smile to Avira though when she comes in and clarifies who she is just a little, nodding.

Emi, Umi, and Imi all arrive, and see that there are more like....TWENTY FOUR cakes, perhaps even more, stacked all over the table.

Will appears, and Alma states, "On the contrary Will, you had /everything/ to do with this one." But then she quiets down, and let's Riku do his thing.

Riku has posed:
Riku raises an eyebrow at what Avira has been saying but doesn't comment on it other than. "Hey Avira. Sounds like you've been busy." He then looks at the three legionettes and pronounces. "Cake!" in a cheerful enough voice that he should probably be checked as a potential spy and or imposter and or Cake Pod Person.

Riku walks over with the box. "Oh, I'm sure somehow, indirectly. You had a hand in this." he says to will, opening up the box and offering a large slice of cake to Will. "Hey uh.. Wait. Max?" he laughs. "..Oh man. Well. That explains a lot." he snorts. "Including how I got roped into the cake delivery business."

He shakes his head and then tosses the entire box casually to Will, who might temporarily have his hands full.

Alma Hyral has posed:
As soon as Riku has adequately distracted Will with a cake box, Alma opens the box, snatches off Will's hat in one motion and replaces it with a giant novelty hat with a deftness that belies her age, the hat looks a lot like this:

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20081110

Except instead, it has in huge letters, Will Sherman, /SCHMELLY GUY/ on the plaque just above the brim. And then with all solemnity due to a hat for a man of his stature, she presses the switch on the side, and the center of the top of the hat bursts into a gout of flame, like a lighter, the little flame continuing to dance in the center of the absurd novelty hat.

Emi Dennou has posed:
"That's a lot of cake." Emi says. "You have a lot of orders."

Umi, naturally, says, "Ooooooooooooooh!!!" at Will's new hat.

Imi says, "You didn't spell smelly correctly--"

The other two Dennous give her a look and she shrugs her shoulders--like what, it's not spelled correctly!

"Still," Emi says. "An impressive hat." She walks towards Avira.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"I get the feeling I am caught up in something very silly." Mercade looks over and stares at Riku.

Slowly, methodically, and very obviously, he reaches for his arm and pinches it. Hard.

"Ow." He says, and then he looks around again. "Okay, this isn't a dream. A normal dream. Still haven't ruled out crazy visions or insanity." He pauses. "Or Cake Pod People."

Mercade folds his arms as he watches the bestowing of the hat. "Okay, this has achieved a new level of silliness." Mercade looks over to Avira. "I think this needs to be solved with cake."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will is distracted by Box! Wait what...

He catches the box...

But his hat is removed! The messy hair of Will Sherman is revealed, and a silly hat is placed on his head instead. He...stares at it for a moment...

"...That is very silly, but that isn't my hat..." he frowns. "I have no idea what this is even all about...and don't hurt that hat. It's precious to me..." He frowns...the hat is also hot as all get out. "What is on fire?"

Riku has posed:
Riku nods solumnly to the legionettes. "A fitting tribute. Also, it's probably the bread you stash in your hat. Or possibly your hair."

He sedately moves to another of the boxes, picking up a piece of cake from one of the many boxes that they brought in.

"Yeah. I get that feeling too." he looks over the boxes. "But I think.. I think this can only be resolved one way." He then casually, with the aura of solumnity befitting a Judge Magister pronouncing a sentence, throws a gooey piece of chocolate cake straight at Mercade.

He then takes cover.

Emi Dennou has posed:
"Your head is on fire." Umi supplies very, very, very--helpfully..?

Emi facepalms slowly.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma Hyral tries her hardest not to giggle. She actually has to resort to covering her mouth and just holding it in. Her side, /hurts/ from the suppressed laughter. She does take a moment to examine Will's hat, admiring that it's.. well, it looks almost ancient. That is one old hat, of superb quality and craftsmanship. And then Mercade says that final line, Riku picks up the chocolate cake, "Your wish is granted.. Mercade Alexander."

She then puts her hand under Will's cake box, thrusting the full box of Vanilla frosted cake upwards into Will's face. She then dives to take cover behind Mercade's desk.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will's face is covered in cake. He, very slowly, starts eating it from his face. "Umi. Destroy my enemies." Is all he says.

Avira has posed:
"Yeaaah....something like that." Avira looks sheepish for all of two seconds before she gets herself excited about CAKE! WAIT WHAT HOLD ON did Riku just sound CHEERFUL right there? What happened to him? Was he replaced by a POD PERSON? Riku does NO CHEERFUL EVER.

Right away, Avira is prying open a box. "Oh yeah nice hat." she says without looking up. "I agree. Cake solves everything that explosions don't."

She puts the box aside, "I'll get us some forks." Suddenly SHOTS FIRED SHOTS FIRED!

"Oh no you didn't!!" Avira plunges a hand into the cake box she currently has open, scoops up a handful of cake, and chucks it at Riku.

Emi Dennou has posed:
"Very well!" Umi says, "I will track down your enemies to the ends of the EArth! I will take them down with extreme prejudice! You can rely on me, Umi!"

And then she runs out the door.

"..." Emi is still facepalming. Imi adds herself to the mix.

A few moments later Will gets a text.

'WILL?? WHO ARE YOUR ENEMIES???'

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Nonsense, Will." Mercade laughs. "How can she be your enemy when she's giving you cak-"

SPLORT.

Mercade's suddenly got chocolatey goodness on his face. His eyes widen. "Riku! You... CAKE TRAITOR!" He calls, and then dives for a Black Forest torte, unleashing chocolate cherry goodness in retaliation!

"DAMN IT WILL! STOP STEALING MY CREDIT CARD!" He yells, apropos of nothing. Or everything.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will stands there, like the eye of the storm as Umi rushes out into the world. And sends her on a quest for Ice cream. Alma and Riku might have won the battle, but ice cream down your shirt will win wars.

Yes...everything is coming up Megatron...

Wait what?

Will just continues to eat the cake.

Riku has posed:
"I REGRET EVERYTHING.. I mean Nothing!"

Riku returns as he gets Splorched by Avira's Salvo. Frosting along shoulder and neck runs in splatters up the side of his face as he drags another box as ammunitition.

Yellow Cake Go!

A blob of it is hurled back at Avira as he crouches down behind a doorframe leading into the kitchen. It is a large blob of yellow cake, mixed in with some vanilla.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi picks up a cake, and gives a small nod to Imi, directing her to take a cake as well. They look to be chocolate and vanilla respectively.

And then they turn on their shoulder and just walk off with it. Meanwhile...

"Mercade...." A store clerk looks at a credit card, then looks up at Umi, then down to the card. "You don't look like a--"

"He gave us the card it's cool." Umi says.

"OH okay."

Deidra has posed:
Twilight, it's time to wake up. A statue on the roof starts to crack, splinter and finally explode as Deidra wakes up after a nice day's sleep. She lets out an inhuman yawn and glances about. Good Tom didn't try to use her as weights today and sown she goes seeking food. Hey she's hungry but then there's shouts about Will and the credit card. Okay that's standard fair, but wait what cake?!

"Cake? What the heck are all of you do...wait cake!!!"

Deidra is homing in on some even as the others fight. Though one might notice a few stone chips in her hair. She doesn't care even as others fights? She's starting to nom on the cake.

"This is the best breakfast."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Okay, she's a huge cheater. From behind her cover.. she suddenly zips out from that cover, and under the table beside, as a glow fades from her just as she gets down there.

"THE HORROR!" She shrieks out, as Riku gets splorched by Avira's salvo.

She reaches up over the edge of the table... and suddenly a huge glob of /CARROT CAKE/ is flying Avira's way. This is followed by more sailing in Emi's direction.

Avira has posed:
"Ha HA!" Avira crows, grabbing the box under one arm and diving behind the arm of the couch that Tom usually sleeps on. Taking cover, she re-arms herself with another glob of the cake in the box, which happens to be a delicious red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. Armed with another handful of cake, she peeks over the edge of the couch only to get a blob of yellow cake between the eyes.

"Ahhhh I've been hit!!!" she yelps, popping back down.

Then Deidra shows up. Avira pops up again and hurls her cake at Deidra. "Good morning, Deidra, HAVE SOME CAKE!!!"

Lifting a hand, Avira actually snatches the incoming carrot cake out of the air. TO EAT.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"YOU WON'T HAVE TIME FOR REGRET!" Mercade yells. A glob of carrot cake comes flying, about to strike Mercade, when... A moment later, inexplicably, he jumps into the air, making a perfect somersault and lands in a three-point landing. The cake is held behind him over his back, perfectly level. "So, what have you guys been up to lately? Hell, I haven't heard from you since the last time we saw each other in Cloud Nine, Riku."

He stands, grinning, as he throws himself into the chair and rolls away, laughing as he spins in the chair.

Towards Avira. "Hey Aviraaaaaa! Cake Delivery~" Mercade says, as he picks up a slice of cake, and reaches out to help feed Avira deliciousness.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will just grins as he eats, "He's with Arcadia now, like Cirra." he says, "OH yeah, Judge Gabranth is SO COOL man." he says, "He totally hi fived me after we thrashed that giant heartless." Will thinks he's SUPER AWESOME. Which has no indiciation of anything bad happening to will, at all.

Will actually smiles, happy for the diversion. He notices something between the pair...but he doesn't say anything...yet.

"So how are you guys?" he asks, still eating face cake.

Alma Hyral has posed:
"Judge Gabranth /IS/ cool. You should see him in civilian clothes. And that rune jump? Wow." Ahhh, Gargoyle, she's never seen one before! Heard of one sure! But Deidra surprises her, until she listens to her words..

Well the best way to make a first impression is always cake. Reach, reach. /GERMAN CHOCOLATE towards Deidra's face./ "Nice to meet you!"

Splat. An idle piece of cake hits her dead on. Down she goes, taking cover beneath the table.

"Well Will, I would have thought that /cake/ would answer that question. Is that not the answer to /every/ question that matters?"

Riku has posed:
Riku leans against the wall and ticks it off on his fingers.

"Oh. Helping Archades, trying to get my Judge-Cadet training finished before I /die/ of it, looking into some kidnappings.. visiting some old friends and kicking some undead into the middle of next week." He laughs a little at that. "So. Yeah. The usual. How about you?"

This comment is punctuated by Carrot Cake. He throws some straight at Will, and then some at Deidra. "Yeah. Most of the good answers come with cake. Hey, nice dodge Mercade. Dodge this."

CHERRY CHOCOLATE!

He then moves from one cover to the next, behind a large chair.

Emi Dennou has posed:
ELSEWHERE

The DEnnou swarm consume a cake.

It doesn't sound horrifying at all but it is rather rapid.

Avira has posed:
"Hm?" Avira peeks her head up over the couch arm again to spy Mercade suavely spinning himself across the TDA office while riding an office chair. No doubt his inner twelve year old is screaming in delight for the ride.

Climbing up, Avira perches herself across the arm of the sofa, lying on her belly and kicking her feet up into the air behind her. Her arms fold beneath her chin.

"Okay~" she says, opening her mouth and totally not expecting Mercade to mash it into her face.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade, in fact , does not mash it into her face. There's lots of cake flying around for that purpose already. He carefully begins feeding cake to Avira, moments before he gets splatted with cherry-chocolate. Max didn't warn him about /that/ one. "Oh, just playing around with stupid magic castles and stuff. Seriously, magic is <GOOSEHONK>." SPLART.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will steps to the side, as the cake flies off behind him...

Right towards Avira's head.

He finishes the cake on is face. "Oh yeah, totes talked to the Pan. Gota get with him on finding that other guy, but with the Pan with us we're golden."

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is staring in horror is cake is being wasted, she gets this drowned puppy look on her face while she goes for more not caring about the war right now. Damn it she wants some food and there?s food going everywhere. Then comes Avira, Alma and Riku fire cake at the gargoyle she actually moves to intercept some of the cake! Chomp! Oh this is very good cake. WHAM the other cake shots hit her, she doesn't get to reply to Alma. She takes a moment to recover. She starts laughing pretty loudly and then says "Thank you!"

She's scrambling for some more it seems she's going to have a combat cake breakfast, wait didn't she have a conjuring spell, no time to focus more cake! WHAM!

"If that's how you want a cake war! I will give you CAKE WAR!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Everyone is picking on Avira! Mercade starts tanking cake for her. "Did you seriously just call him The Pan? What is this, Happy Days with sparkly dust?"

Riku has posed:
"Yep."

Riku agrees with cheerful enthusiasm. "It is. It makes no sense at all." And then begins to lay in another salvo until he runs out of ammunition, in which case he just leans against the wall and licks the cake off his fingers.

He checks on Alma who is presumed FROSTED and raises an eyebrow. "Who, and or what, is the Pan?"

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi comes back, by herself this time, and then says, "A pan is a device that helps with the cooking of food." She nods to Riku. Wow that was an easy one. "Of course unless you mean the mythological satyr...in which case...he's a satyr?"

Will Sherman has posed:
"What that's his name. Peter Pan. He's a cool guy." Will says, "Peter pan is like...this guy who takes children with no families to a place to be kids forever or something. Basicly childhood innocence personaified." Will explains, "The shadow that that guy used was actually Peter's shadow, not a heartless,."

Avira has posed:
Avira does not object to this recent being fed trend at all. She daintily noms the cake as Mercade feeds it to her. "Definitely Max's doing." she remarks, regarding the quality of Alma's cakes.

Cake flies at her! OH NO! But Mercade slips in the way, blocking a shot that would have no doubt gotten in Avira's hair. And that would have just been /awful/.

"So not the Great God Pan, eh?" Avira slowly frowns. "So wait, do /you/ go with him, Will?"

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma is laying on her back, quite thoroughly frosted over.

She raises a finger, "That'd be the awesome flying kid in green tights who calls me uptight lady."

Alma then continues to remain in the throes of sugar overload.

Riku has posed:
"Huh. Thank you Emi. Will. Yeah Avira, I think it's more guy.. flying around in green. There is a hat involved. That kind of thing."

Riku looks at the ceiling and the cheerful cracks for a moment, but the power of cake cannot be denied and he just laughs softly. "Yeah. What Alma said."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will mouth's 'she's not' to the others and grins, "Yeah that guy." Will confirms.

Emi Dennou has posed:
"Huh." Emi says, listening to this information about Peter Pan. She doesn't argue Alma being uptight (or not being uptight for that matter).

"So he kidnaps children he thinks won't be missed, hm..." Emi strokes her chin thoughtfully.

Will Sherman has posed:
"No, he rescues lost children." Will shakes his head. "Like ones that need familes."

Deidra has posed:
Deidra pauses for a moment "Wait the Pan?"

She pauses in the cake fight and goes to eat some more darn it, she's hungry. She's actually very hungry all things considered.

"Man I haven't seen Happy Days in forever I should watch some when I get a chance."

She listens tot he tale and seems surprised at the whole thing as she hears.

"What are you planning Emi?"

Emi Dennou has posed:
"That would be one way to--" Emi begins, but stops, looking towards Deidra. "Thsi one isn't planning anything." She has had cake, after all. She seems alarmed at the suggestion that she be trying anything in the first place. Gosh so surprising.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Come on, guys, I think there's more cake on us then there is in the boxes now. Cake is for /eating/, not wearing!" Mercade calls out.

He continues to feed Avira more cake, seeming to take a certain amount of amusement in watching her do so. "Well, it's all good to me, Avira. I think we should make the best use of this work, shouldn't we?" He chuckles, and looks over, shaking his head. "Things just can't not be complicated for longer than a couple days, I guess." Mercade munches on a little cake of his own while he considers what new catastrophe is going to happen next. "You know, Riku, you're sounding really happy lately." He mentions. "Either you're just throwing up your hands at the ridiculousness of your situation, or you've finally snapped from exposure to Sora."

Riku has posed:
"Blame Alma and accelerated judge-cadet training. I'm too sore and frustrated by those who cheat magnificently to even deal with HALF of the horrible things I've had to try and unsee in the last week or two."

Riku looks haunted for a moment and then shakes his head. "And it was enough. I just wanted.." he raises some cake and then eats it off his fingers. "This. I wanted to share the ridiculousness of this situation. Because of Alma and the Lord Spooky Doom guy. It happened to be the TDA.'

He chuckles faintly, splorching as his head knocks against the side of the wall. "It was just.. enough."

Avira has posed:
"Definitely not god Pan." Avira concludes as Riku describes this one as a boy in green. She doesn't think much else of it though she can appreciate someone who gathers up orphans and takes them to a better place. She's seen stuff like Annie. She knows orphans have it rough.

"Well Will just ate a whole cake off his face. That counts for something, right~?" She leans forward just a little so she can take a bite. "Mmm. Well said, Mercade, well said. We'll just have to eat it all."

As she eats, she peers over at Riku. While she has spent a respectable amount of time with him, she's far more used to his rather pessimistic attitude about everything. "I'm not sure 'blame' is the word I'd use this time. Maybe 'credit.'" Avira half-grins.

Emi Dennou has posed:
"Why are you undergoing accelerated judge cadet training?" Emi asks.

And then, as if in afterthought, "Well thank you for the cakes, in any event."

Riku has posed:
"Because I'm too good for anything slower."

Riku says in an absolutely flat tone of voice, trying not to laugh. "And because the Archadian military has accelerated the training program because of the assault." he shrugs one shoulder.

"They need people. I need practice. It works out well."

Will Sherman has posed:
"And you take it pretty seriously." Will points out. He is already cleaning his face off, and slipping the redicilous hat off onto the table, and is now trying to fight Alma for his hat back.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade lets Avira have a bite. Om nom nom. delicious cake. "IT's good to be here in the middle of ridiculousness. I appreciate it, really. We all needed it after..."

He gets a look on his face like he tasted something foul. Not the cake, but instead, memories.

"Eh, not a big deal. "We all need ridiculousness once in a while. Thank you both for coming!"

Deidra has posed:
Deidra says "That sounds pretty intense given their army's level of a training. It likely be on par with what they throw the Marines through. Or special forces given what I know of the judges. Your strong enough to make it though Riku. I got faith in you."

She noms down on more cake seemingly quite happy to do so.

"Take care Riku."

Emi Dennou has posed:
"I apologize, I suppose I mean--why are you becoming a judge?" Emi asks. "Though honestly, this one imagines while formalized training in such may come in use, you already seemed adept at 'kicking the ass' already, so the issue may be more the memorization of an alien--to you--law code."

Avira has posed:
Avira goes quiet too at the same time Mercade does for those few seconds of unpleasantness. She's quick to speak up, perhaps even doing so before Mercade continues. "We needed it." she reiterates, "Thank you and Alma for the cake, it is delicious."

She shifts herself a little to get more comfortable, lounging on the couch arm as she was. "How goes your quest to make your armor, by the way?"

Riku has posed:
Riku looks at Mercade with a raised eyebrow. There is almost a palpable 'Yeah Right' hanging in the air for a second, but he looks down at the ground and the challenge cracks and falls apart in the air unsaid.

He brushes himself off as he pushes himself to his feet. He looks briefly at Avira and then away again. "Yeah." he says with a smile that he doesn't entirely mean. "I think we all do." He looks at Deidra and nods. "Come on, Alma. Let's help clean this up.."

Riku turns back to Emi. He stares at her ":|" for about 30 seconds. "I also apologize." he says frankly, knowing the abrupt and honest truth is something to be wielded when dealing with Legionettes.

"I deflected because I didn't want to answer the question." His words are clipped and precise, his manner shifting slightly as he looks toward Emi

"I don't know where I fit anywhere. And I don't even know if I do. But Archades is the closest I've felt towards doing that.. and if I've got to do things I don't like in order to keep feeling that. Then that's something I have to put up with. It's the closest to Home I've felt since my world was destroyed. And I will do what I have to.. to keep it safe."

He shrugs as if this is self-evident. "This seemed like the best option."

He looks towards Avira. "Cut short, I'm afraid. Because of the assault, they are bending the rules it looks like. Which.." he chuckles. "..is sort of ironic, all things considered." he shrugs again, obviously uncomfortable now.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma is too overloaded on sugar and silly to put up a fight.

. Nor would she, Will said his hat is precious to him after all. She just continues to wear a goofy smile and let's Riku answer the questions.

"Glad you like it Avira."

. She gives Riku a concerned look as things turn to serious time, but otherwise falls quiet.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will wipes his face out, siiighing a bit. He just..he is silent here. This is something Riku is gona have to deal with, when he wants to talk..well, Will will listen. Will's not good at the talky, that is Mercade's job. "Well.."

Riku has posed:
Serious time is serious.

Also forbidden. Dangit. He's the wrong sort of judge to simply red card seriousness. But it's a thought that is pretty much written on his face. He does NOT want to go down here. So he doesn't

"It's trendy AND delicious. More people should wear their cake." Riku helps Alma to her feet and smirks at the goofy smile as he starts gathering up the boxes. He has an aura of anti-awkward that sinks into obliviousness anything that he's going to grind his teeth over later.

Avira has posed:
"There should be more cake deliveries like this, Alma, just sayin'." Avira smirks.

The subject of Riku's armor quest is simply dropped. The huntress is easily picking up on those signals of discomfort and awkwardness from Riku so she doesn't ask about it anymore.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"I don't think it's a question of if you fit anywhere, Riku." Mercade says, leaning back in his chair and letting Avira handle her own cake for a moment while he sets to help clean up.

"Wouldn't it be a question of where you feel you can let yourself fit in?" He asks, as he gets some paper towels and spraybottles with cleaner. "I'm not sayiny you shouldn't continue pursuing your work with Archades if that's what your heart tells you is right." He shrugs. "It's all up to you. It's your future and it's certainly not my job to tell you how to live it. Just remember that you'll always have your friends around to help you if you want it, you know? You'll always have a place here if you need something."

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi didn't seem to realize it was a deflection--no doubt because she understood her own question as a bit vague so she just assumed it was an honest mistake--she's got some things to work on when it comes to grokking other people, it seems.

She is about to say he doesn't have to answer that, but he actually goes into it pretty quickly all things considered--at least relative to The Network whose greatest flaw when it comes to conversation is taking their time and discussing amongst themselves before sometimes making common or basic statements depending on how conflicted they are likely to be on any singular conversation at any point in time.

"This one apologizes." She says after a period of thought. "Didn't mean to force you to say."

Closest thing to a home, Emi has had plenty of reason to be wary of Archades, but maybe she should cut them some slack for Riku's sake. "--But thank you for answering all the same. I'm glad you've found a place important to you ass well."

She reddens a bit, embarrassed, she actually sort of doesn't comment on the rule bending--normally she would--but she's embarrassed enough she just wanted to get that out there and stay quiet otherwise. She looks away and tries to act nonchalant.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra says "Finding a place to belong is a respectable thing."

She looks back to Alma for a moment and grins. She goes back to the last of her cake while some more serious business comes up. She has her concerns about Archades too but they did actually come to help Manhattan several times and that does count for something.

She looks over to Alma again.

"We have never met before I wonder. Where are you from? I'm curious."

Riku has posed:
"Should we do Pie next time? I think pie is more traditional for throwing." Riku says to Emi, smiling at Will with only his teeth grit a little bit at the sighing. "Cream pie or otherwise." The words held out like a peace offering.

Riku looks towards Mercade and then just silently takes some paper towels and starts to work on the mess. That continues for a little while. "What my heart tells me.." he snorts faintly. It's not derisive.. just sad and uncertain, unable to keep up the facade as the detective continues to talk.

"I'll remember." he says finally. There is an iron determination, like a heavy weight being dropped as he says those two words. He then looks to Avira, then at Deidra and Mercade and then at Will again.

"Do you the same, alright? I.." he trails off and then snorts. "I worry about you. After all. A detective agency run around in circles must develop a REALLY deep rut in the floor."

Will Sherman has posed:
"We found oil." Will says to Riku, holding the gaze. "So it isn't all bad."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"I'll have you know, we make the /best/ ruts in the floor. Tom even wears them perfectly smooth. It comes from all that practice in running around like chickens with our heads cut off." Mercade jokes in response, and then adopts a terrible Humphrey Bogart impression. "There's a world of troubles out there. Deep troubles." He adjusts the brim of his hat just so as he says that. "It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta go out there to find out just how deep those troubles go."

Emi Dennou has posed:
Umi busts in with ice cream and a broken baseball bat.

"I did as you asked, Will, I defeated your enemies and got some ice cream. And lost Mercade's credit--oh hey Mercade!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade suddenly deflates, as if on cue. "... And get a new credit card."

Riku has posed:
"I'd be careful with that stuff, oil baron. It stains something awful."

Riku laughs at the entrance. "Well.. it seems that defeat was inevitable, Mercade. Such is the lot in life of those who go looking for trouble."

Avira has posed:
'Just follow your heart' isn't that what she said to 'Sable' once, Avira recalls. And received derisive laughter over it? With a snort, she rolls off the arm of the couch onto the couch proper now that Mercade has left to help clean up. She stretches out, then rolls off the couch to join in on the help.

"Running is good cardio." Avira notes. "Perfect practice for our next zombie encounter, you know." She gives Riku a friendly two-fingered salute-wave as he gets ready to depart.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will looks at Umi. "Atta girl." he says, and grabs one of the Ice cream. "RIKU! IT IS TIME FOR REVENGE!"

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma smiles as Riku helps her up then answers politely to Deidra, "I'm from a world called Galianda, I'll tell you about it some other time."

. She chuckles at Avira at first, "Note to self: All cake deliveries from now on will end in cake fights, or pie fights. Even if we are lacking pie."

. However when Avira brings up zombie fights, her pale skin looks decidedly sickly grey, her jaw working at itself almost numbly, she then states in a quiet voice, "Neither of us are particularly fond of zombie movies..." Her reaction definitely seems like an emotional overreaction, but the reason is unclear, she takes off her glasses to wipe the cake off them, before trying to sound more light-hearted, "I threw out all of our George Romero and Evil Dead DVDs weeks ago."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Run, Riku! I'll cover you!" Mercade yells, as he leaps to intercept delicious ice cream.

Riku has posed:
Riku is covered, and fleees before the might of the ice cream vengeance cometh.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra looks over at Avira. "We have had a lot of zombie problems lately haven't we."

Well comparatively when all things are considered. She seems a little sad about Evil Dead being thrown out. Then again zombies have been proven to be a real thing too.

"I'll be happy to hear. For what it's worth I'm a Gargoyle. We're not very common but we're the other native species of the world Manhattan was a part of."

Alma Hyral has posed:
"Yeah I've heard about your kind. We even had robotic Gargoyles show up in Archades not too long ago to help foil the kidnappings." She says conversationally to Dei, then realizing she's still potentially in the line of fire if Will gets back states,

"Well! Would you look at the time! I think I should catch up with Riku."

She nonchalantly walks out the door before tearing off into a run.