Masks 2

"...wha-what's an Eellion?" she asked, wide-eyed.

Houston culture was very niche.

Cadence GASPED and stood up! "Oh my goodness Theraea!!! You have such a beautiful voice!!! And I love your scarf!!" Cadence turns to Coyote and nods. "I really love your hair too!!! It looks so smooth and silky!!! Gosh It's perfect. And Nimue!!! I love how you got that red hair framing your mask!! It's a really nice aesthetic choice!"

Candy crosses her legs and leans forward. "Okay. I need to point out something that's been criminally missing from this conversation." She pauses dramatically and then looks left and right... Then takes a sip from her glass.

"Cool ass stories!!! Brag about yourselves guys!! I'll go first! I, with La Chat. Stole some precious blood diamonds from some Omnicorp fucks!! Your turn!" She points randomly, not even landing on anyone.

Oh, Zil's just here to listen. Just a normal ass woman, here to meet some people who are less normal-ass and, like, maybe remember a name or two? She leans back against the bar to face everyone else, brow arched.

"Stealing from the Omnicorp is cool, yeah. I like that. Surely an alien, a magical person, a not-cowboy-but-totally-cowboy, and an..." She glances at Maria. "Uh. Another person have some cool stories up their sleeves."

Out of nowhere, La Chat appeared behind Candy.

She was a couple inches shorter than Candy, with an agile, athletic build, bright green eyes and pale skin. She wore a sleek, dark blue stealth suit complete with extendable claws, a tight mask that kept most of her face and her hair concealed, a utility belt filled with gadgets and darts, and a small-arm-mounted grapple hook. It also looked to have a built-in compact wing-suit, and was probably resistant to small arms fire.

"I've never stolen anything in my life. This one lies," she smiled and winked, placing a reassuring hand on Candy's shoulder before walking off.

Maria finally accepted that Theraea was never coming back to thread and acknowledging her question and she was just gonna have to pretend she was asking this definitely regular-ass lady to avoid the awkwardness of admitting that like. You didn't actually wave to someone, but the person behind them. Oops. Not that she minded because she liked knowing all the new kids on the block, but apparently somewhere out there, God was getting antsy.

"'I guess' makes it sound like that was an interesting discovery, Zil." She smiled, already kinda sleeby. The old lady- it sunk into the soul. And, you know, the wind-down from tearing one's hair out over how this had all gone so far. "And 'healing hands' is about the most enviable skill in the book, that's great, good news. Pretty sure it's a whirlwind for everybody."

Cadence came crashing back in, and you know? It was kinda great. If nobody played the Bubbly Less Stressed Out Person, these meetings got lame pretty quick. Plus. On hard river water and home-made soap for the last bajillion years? Not something she heard about her hair so often. Had to wonder how a little ray of sunshine got through all the smog!

"Ooh, and a little theft now and again sounds like a blast. Or lying, maybe. Iiiiiiiiii made some bomb scones this morning. There's my contribution. A skill I'll be kicking everybody's ass with."

Desmond downed the stein of bier.

"Huh." he said after taking a moment to appreciate it. "That... Actually is way better than American beer."

Theraea's player missed that question! Theraea was like... busy thinking. Maybe being blindsided by Cadence's compliments! She likes her scarf!! Yes!

"Um... Okay, Coyote first, um! No 'field trips' planned right now, but there'll always be more things to do. Especially with how much Raven seems to get himself into trouble, you know?"

And now! They're talking about doing cool things! Yeah! Theraea does cool things, maybe, from the perspective of some!

"Okay, um... let's see... okay, okay, um, okay! I think you might like this one! A few days ago I prevented Genghis Khan and his entire army from trying to take over the Earth. Yeah, that Genghis Khan. ...I found him dancing in a club?? And. He was actually pretty good at it. It was an interesting little adventure!" Theraea... well, okay, smiling wasn't something Weavers did, but her antennae raised up in a way that was totally analogous to smiling! Close enough. "...I want to hear more about those 'bomb scones'?? Blood diamonds sound neat too!"

"I sorta helped stop th'wizert genocide, but tha's about it, since I got powers. Nae got much else up my sleeve - an' even that, th' cat was mostly responsible. Honestly, some of my mundane cases've been wilder rides. You e'er get intae a shootout betwixt th'mob and th'corpcops as a third party, tryin' tae get a pregnant lass and a box of donuts through? Wouldnae recommend it, but GODS is it funny tae think back on. Mostly since no-one died that time.

"Won't lie, though, Coyote, surprised yer keepin' tales tae yerself!!! Gods, I wish I could get ye in a room for three hours ta ask which o' the comics were based on real things an' which ones weren't - did you and the Red Reaper really  date, or nae? Cause honestly, swear tae god, ye could do better."

Raven finished his third stein, he thanked Adrasteia. Then he stands, looks around. Nods, and promptly fucks off.

Time to try contacting secret people again.

Raven went off, and in a few minutes that felt like a half hour for Desmond, the Raven came back!

The Raven was in shambles.

His armour was in ruins, with parts blasted off, massive dents, tears and rents, his right gauntlet was missing, his mask was off kilter, with one of the lens cracked and partially missing, there was chunks of rock embedded in his left pauldron as if they were blasted out of a shotgun and got lodged in it, everything was burned with fire damage, and there was still smoke coming off of him as he arrived.

Emily gave him a mandatory hug!

He accepted it, and made his way over to the bar with a limp, dragging the tip of his sword on the ground. He raised it, slapped it onto his wrist, and the black sword magically transformed back into a watch. He sat at the bar. He ordered a scotch whiskey, he asked that the bottle be left on the counter.

Adrasteia stared at him a moment before grabbing the bottle and glass and handing them to him.

"What...happened?"

"I..." Desmond began pouring himself a glass. "Helped save the world. Maybe. Guy might not be dead but he doesn't have a body anymore so..." he takes off his mask and downs the glass of scotch. "We'll see."

"Oh, yeah, fair, that Raven, always throwing himself into some disaster or another." Fuckin, Mood, Raven. "Genghis Khan... You'd think things stopped being weird after so much, but there's always something new out there. Did you at least steal a dance?"

"And hey hon, it's hard picking ones that aren't kinda depressing. That's why it's gotta be the scones- Theraea you HAD some you're basically an expert here compared to these guys! A- ... Oh god no I barely know that guy. None of that... Shipping shit, please, god why is everything with me in it so weird? I did do better, thanks." Maria rolled her eyes, briefly holding her left hand up. Married, please leave her alone with that garbage. She'd say something like 'no offense, Reaper,' but like. I mean, she was almost certain he'd understand. He HAD to, right??

...

"HEY DUDE WHAT THE HELL?"

"!!!"

How did Theraea pronounce exclamation points? Don't ask, but she did. In an awful hurry, she stood up and just sort of vanished in a puff of, for lack of a better word, vantablack. She was, of course, teleporting directly to her room here, and then running into her actual portable room to grab a first aid kit. It wasn't even thirty seconds before she reappeared again in a second puff. So... hey, that's a cool power to show off, at least!

"Are you hurt, Raven?? I got, um, some medical supplies for you. What happened?"

Raven held up a hand.

"Its fine guys, I've already been seen to, everything's just still a little sore." He drank another glass. "Also good news, Theraea, you're not going to go check that guy out for yourself. Like ever. He's dead. Kind of. And you'd probably be super dead if you confronted him on your own. There's a part of Northern Algeria that now better resembles Mordor than North Africa. A lot of explosions." He poured another drink. "A lot of fuckin' explosions."

Esen sips at the champagne and beams at Adrastea.

"Thanks. I'm Aura, what's your, uh, alias I guess?"

"An omnicorp genetic experiment they let get into the wild. It can generate electrical pulses, can bite a man in half, and digests metal to work alloys into its skin. Don't go lookin' for one."

Sam tapped his chin.

"Now... Philabuster, it's been rad-free, and I'd like to keep destroyin' fruit with ya, but I think I should keep meetin' more folks. If ya ever need anything, go lookin' around Megacity Houston for me. But stay outta the swamps, unless you want to meet an Eelion for real... Though, with those fists, ya'd probably be fine."

He started playing eenie-minie-moe to pick the next person to talk to!

Chef Marco was sitting at a table alone turning coasters into cookies, which he delicately ate with great satisfaction! He was a black-mustached portly man with chef's hat, apron, and bright clothes beneath.

Sam moseyed up to the table. He was immediately impressed by the cookie-alchemy before him.

"Shit, pardner, you turn stuff into cookies? They any good?"

"Pure excellence," Chef Marco smiled.

Finn blinks.

And then scoots out and stands up. Nope. Not dealing with Raven. Not this time.

"Right - Cadence, Zil, Theraea, C-Coyote," god that one still got her, "I think I need tae take care of a wee bit of business on the o'er side of the bar - but I'll catch ye in just a bit, if yer still around. Coyote, I have some questions fer you in particular, if ye have the time fer 'em. Toss me yer numbers, lasses, if yer willin' - until then!"

Andddd she gathers what numbers she can and slides across the bar (almost literally) to sit next to Essen,  stealing the question from Adrasteia. 

"Hey there - Aura, aye? Figured out my name. Goin' by Nimue, now - pleased tae meet ye."

Oh, yeah, Zil would totally give her number. Having hero friends to talk to sounds cool, even if she is mostly chilling and absorbing information. Were healing hands really that enviable? Huh.

"No worries." She offers her number to Nimue with a smile. "Take care, alright? Hope we can kill some Omnidouches soon."

Candy laughed quite a bit at La Chat's appearance and disappearance. Man, She just KNEW how to be really cool, it's the BEST.

She was enjoying everyone's stories!! And her having an absolute blast, she continues asking follow up questions to these crazy anecdotes like,

"Wait, so were the cookies REALLY good, or were they actually REAL bombs?? Because depending on the answer, I GOTTA try one." She asked in awe to Coyote.

To Theraea, there were so many questions to ask about that one!! "Wait, so Genghis never died in this world and he was just chilling out in a club?? Wait, How did you prevent that?"

She snorts at the opening of Nimue's tale. "Oh you know JUST helped to stop a GENOCIDE. No big deal." She says in a lightly teasing tone. "But hey, learning is still a very noble thing to do with your time I think. I also loved how you helped that pregnant lady! I really think hero's like you, who save the small individual citizens, have incredible potential. I think it's that kind that the populace will end up listening to the most you know?"

Oh! But the man who seemed pretty fine like... ten minutes ago? Just turned up looking like he got ripped apart. That's... Wow a bit weird, she still hoped he was okay! It looks like the others are already attending to them! Very good! Cadence continues to sip her lovely drink. She does tend to wink whenever she catches Zil's eye as well.

Cadence will also slide her number to Nimue!! Yay more friends!!! She waves bye to her with a 'good luck!' Chirp!

She turns back to Coyote. She can see that she's concerned for her friend, so she waits, because damn she wants to hear more about those scones. This seems like an incredible recipe score that she HAS to get.

While she waits, she lowers her voice and sends it to Zil's ear. "Hmm, would you like my number?" She asks discreetly.

"Ah, nice to meet you properly? And yeah, it's Aura."

Esen takes a sip from her drink.

"What's up?"