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Guest Psyber     For some reason, barbequeing is the one actual cooking skill that Psyber excels at. And because of this, on the rare occasions that people convince him to grill, they tend to turn into giant events that attract huge throngs of people. Last time, he hadn't quite expected the turnout, but this time he's anticipating the crowd and so has set up a huge grill out in front of his office in the courtyard area just off the sidewalk.

    It's a pretty mild afternoon/evening in the city of Boston, a pleasant low-70s temperature and the humidity is manageable. It's sunny, pleasant, and definitely the type of weather one wants for an outdoor meal and social gathering. There's any number of reasons someone could arrive at the office, with the most likely reasons being: Office membership, arriving with a friend, or having heard about it from any of the office members.

    There's multiple tables of sides out, though mostly it's stuff like chips and sodas, with leftover room for people to bring their own side-dishes to share in a potluck style thing like last time. There's a couple coolers with beers and sodas in em, along with some waters. The main event, of course, is the grill.

    One side of the courtyard is firmly occupied by a huge grill that's meant for cooking for large numbers of people. Atop it are various meats, including hotdogs, burgers, ribs with sauce ranging from mild to spicy, and fish wrapped in foil. There's even a couple steaks on there, but one gets the impression at least one steak is already spoken for, since it's off in its own corner.

    The owner of the building, Psyber, is the one manning said grill, turning meats and spreading extra sauce while necessary.
Riva Banari Riva is present. It would be physically impossible to keep her away. She's brough a seven layer dip just like last time. They're simple, easy, and delicious. Several bags of chips have been provided to go with them, and she's donated to the drink pool as well with a couple cases of carbonated and alcoholic beverages.

As it stands, Riva is sitting at one of the tables, preparing to begin social predation in the barbecue jungle.

Er, I mean, hang out with friends and meet new and interesting people. Yes.
Xiaomu As before, Xiaomu has brought a very generous supply of fried tofu and inarizushi, as well as a platter of what look like eggrolls. She purloins a couple of pieces of fried tofu along with a pouch of inarizushi, and meanders over towards the grill, nibbling on her chosen 'appetizers' and waving to Riva as she spots her.
Nathan Hall     Nathan's not the kind of guy who can cook much especially well. He has People for that, by which I mean he has a lot of people who make double-sure all the time that he eats properly without ever really having any need or impetus to cook for himself. That is, of course, why he's here. As per the norm, he's somewhere near Psyber, distant from the grills but at the seat just about nearest them. He's been here for a while, actually, just sort of reading some small hardcover. Doing his damndest to keep it buried while the others arrive or begin their... SOCIAL INTERACTIONS.
Ayako Hasekawa     Ayako is of course here! She wouldn't dream of missing one of Psyber's Barbeques! She came with Riva, of course. She didn't really bring anything to the potluck other than herself-Ayako cooking is a dangerous thing!

    So where is Ayako right now? She's in one of the coolers. Rather, she's up to her neck in ice and glancing about cheerfully. She never was a fan of summer's heat, and is taking refuge in the cool ice. Oh, it seems she did have something to give to the potluck after all! Lots of ice for the coolers!
Kyra Hyral     Kyra's attendence was mandatory in her mind. She'd missed the last Pysber Barbeques event due to being busy with something else at the time. A shame, really, because she was a super new Heaven or Hell member when the party came up and attending really would have helped!

    Kyra has brought a side to share with everyone. She's clearly labeled it as from her. Fortunately, it's just cut up chunks of watermelon. She can't possibly mess up cutting up a watermelon, right? It's very unlikely anyone will get food poisoning from this today. Probably.

    Before getting any food, Kyra creeps up on the seated Riva from behind. She can't move THAT silently due to the jingly boots she wears, which clank a little bit with each step, but she certainly tries. Of course it also doesn't help that she calls out, "Sneak attack!" before hugging Riva from behind.
Duet Fortuna     Elliana had to step out of the office to get some things, and she's just now returned. A covered dish! She cooked... and brought a side! A fairly big one, given she's used to cooking for Saber/Mordred. "I wanted to bring corn on the cob, but it kept getting away from me. So, stuffed potatoes and eggs." She unrolls the foil to reveal several large potatoes, with stuffing pushed into them and still steaming. They look seasoned, and their legs have been clipped of feet, plus of course the feathers havee been removed. One ither side are some soft-boiled potato eggs.
Bertram Silent Bertram couldn't resist making some food to bring along. First there's a bowl that is more properly qualified as candy, spherical pieces of white and dark chocolate, both filled with bubbles. Then there's a hearthy pie shaped like a rabbit, filled with carrots, some kind of small game and various spices and other fillings. Finally there's a big pan filled with a stew made out of some kind of lentils and chestnuts, boiled in red wine.

He places all of it on the designated part of the table before moving on towards Kyra, further reducing the quality of the sneaking by means of loud greeting. "Hello miss Hyral. How are you doing?" He sounds to be in a good mood, and looks around for something tasty to try.
Rebecca Chambers     Rebecca Chambers has decided to show up, even though she's not entirely the type of person who would fit in well with the Heaven and Hell organization. Nevertheless, she's not one to pass up a cookout like this. She arrives dressed casually and bringing what looks like some kind of Irish dessert platters as well (Yes, Rebecca's part-Irish.) She smiles as she arrives and sets her food down.
Konoe Kanno      Boston was such a confusing city.

     Confusing AND loud. Thankfully she'd gotton those custom earplugs she'd spoken about with Reiji somewhere down the line. It didn't completely block out the noise, but they dulled her hearing enough to not make her twitch irritatedly at every little thing. And so Konoe arrived.

     The last few times she'd bothered to walk through the city in humanoid form, her clothing had gotten her strange looks. This time, she decided to wear her Shinra issued outfit. She would have just come as a cat, but she'd promised to 'socialize' and 'meet people'. Ugh. She could already see plenty of people she either had no idea about, or only passing knowledge of.

     "........"

     This was awkward. What was she supposed to say to these people? ...She'd figure it out somehow. Instead, she walked over to one of the coolers, depositing a bottle of what looked to be sake into it. Someone would drink it. Or someones. Not her concern. Probably best not to ask how she got it as well.
Mordred     There is a significant magical presence with Elliana, as usual, which after her arrival manifests out of red and blue wisps of mana. It forms into a five foot tall blonde girl (well, Mordred has always been a bit androgynous, but for most purposes she's a girl). She's wearing a blue and gold sweater, zipped up, with a big blue and gold scarf, and a black baseball cap on her head. Black shorts, and some almost-knee-high matching boots. A large ahoge sticks out of the baseball cap.

    This is MYSTERIOUS HEROINE X.
    We'll never know who it is.

    "Are we eating yet? I had to watch her carry that food the entire way here, you know?"
Duet Fortuna     Rumble rumble. Or more like buzz buzz. On a VESPA, Duet Fortuna pulls up and parks. The blonde girl is dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, but oddly she is still wearing that nearly-full face mask that she usually sports. She REALLY doesn't want her face seen. She did bring a bag of something though, sliding some homemade dip onto the table. "Hey."
Theo Morrison Theo's contribution to the feast of feasts is Simic Slaw. It looks an awful lot like someone started making regular ol' coleslaw and got carried away with the... /extra/ stuff. There are things that might be tentacles inside. If it's twitching, it is sixty-five percent likely that it's the viewer's imagination.

At the moment, Theo is prowling the tables of sides, having gathered a fair number of things to tide him over to the main event. He's also occasionally calling out instructions to Kickotron, who, along with three other Myr Servitors, is currently assembling a number of other tables and chairs of varying height and size for people to relax in and at.

Theo looks up when he feels a weird prickling sensation, looking over at the manifesting magical presence that is Mordred. Rather than engage in pleasantries, he asks, "Aren't you hot in all that?"
Guest Psyber     Psyber, as previous post indicates, is mostly manning the grill. Occasionally, he turns some meat or moves it off the grill with a pair of tongs, putting them on a platter and then carrying them over to a table for people to dig into. He seems to, if nothing else, enjoy grilling so it's a pretty good use of his time. Overall, Psyber is supplying medium-rare burgers, bratwursts, and ribs done with one of three sauces: A spicy sauce with jalapeno and pineapple glaze, a sweet sauce with honey and cayenne, or a mild sauce with tomato and sugar.

    "Oh, you brought Wrathborn Brand Vegetables?" He comments to Elliana, giving her a wave, "They're safe to eat, I figure?" He notes, looking at them with a bit of curiousity. After the advent of Flycorn, he HAD been curious about their edibility, but had abstained from asking. He picks up one of the foil-wrapped potatos and kind of munches on it after unwrapping a corner.

    "Yeah, you can chow down, Mordred. Feel free to go nuts," He says as he waves at the food, "You both said your house hunt was almost done, right?" He asks as he looks over both Elliana and Mordred, "I hope you wound up finding some place worth the trouble."

    Konoe, when spotted, gets a wave, "Miss Kanno! Your steak is just about ready. I made sure to leave it towards the rare side for you, but I can cook it a bit more!" Psyber comments as he sets down the first tray so he can shuffle back to work.

    As he passes Nathan, he hand-delivers the man a burger. It's a plain cheeseburger, no fancy toppings, with just a dab of mustard and ketchup. Very ordinary.

    Duet's arrival gives him pause on the way back to the grill, "Oh hey. You must be the new girl? Nice to finally meet you."
Nathan Hall     Nathan Hall hears a Vespa engine approaching, and by instinct, ducks. Those not paying attention to him will not notice this, and those paying attention will receive no explanation for this.

    "Oh, thanks, Psyber." He says, simply, taking the burger's plate in both hands. His tone is the usual exhausted sort these days, the tired one he's had and that hasn't changed since very recent relevant events. He begins kind of nibbling on it. Not really a fast eater or a big eater over here.
Xiaomu "Ah, Konoe!!"

Yeah, even when you've got an angel manning the grill, a water elemental in the cooler, and a Conspicuously Normal Librarian With Nothing Special About Him At All (tm)(c)(r) gathering, among many others whom Xiaomu isn't quite sure how to categorize off the top of her head? She notices the girl with the kitty ears, puts two and two together, and heads over to join her fellow Shinra agent. "Glad you could make it, and great to finally meet you face-to-face!" the sage fox grins, offering a handshake to Konoe. She doesn't even try to hide her own fox ears or tails - the fact that the latter can potentially be mistaken for her actual hair is about as much of a 'disguise' as she bothers with for them.

"How hungry are you?" Xiaomu continues. "I don't think I know everybody but I can introduce you to the folks I *do* know ..."

And with that, she starts actively leading Konoe towards the grill. Or at least, she's trying to.
Mordred     "Nah, I'm a Servant. We don't really do the whole discomfort thing. Plus, I look awesome," Mordred answers Theo, before grinning at Psyber's answer. "Fuck yeah, free food. And yeah we're working on it still. I dunno, master can fill you in if she wants."

    The Saber moves to the tables, but not before passing behind Nathan. How aware of his surroundings is he? Ah well, it's not like Mordred would try harming him so openly, would she?

    Nah, she's too busy scarfing down food already. Like she hasn't eaten in months. At least someone appreciates Psyber's cooking.
Crys Gattz BBQ, she loved food she loved meat, what's not to love? Also a chance to catch up with Pysber's people was good. Given what a Ghost Crys has been the last few years. SO here she was she'd brought several bags of chip brans native to her own world and seems to be in a good mood as she comes trotting in hotpants and all. She's happy to bring some side for the thing. When she was far younger she likely would have made an ass of her self bringing freshly butchered game for the BBQ, but that was a long time ago. Soon Xiaomu would find a elf eared and one eyed lady coming upon her and Konoe.

"Hey, where should I put the sides I brought?"
Rebecca Chambers     At first Rebecca is finding things a little uneasy with so many attendees and no one seeming to be familiar. Then she spots Xiaomu and she gives a wave and a smile. "Good to see you again... albeit under less stressful circumstances," She says, glad to find a familiar face.
Kay     A little gray-skinned girl is sniffing around the table, and reaches for one of the sides... only for Kay, the girl standing nearby, to sharply say, "No, get in line with the others. It's not that long a wait." Pouting, the demon-girl shuffles over to get in line to grab something... not that there's much of a line. Maybe demons just like to break the rules.

    Kay is looking /extremely normal/ today, with a sleeveless top and a pair of shorts. Pretty utilitarian. Complete with pistols, apparently. "Wow... a lot of people..."
Konoe Kanno      "Eh!?"

     Konoe jumped at Psyber's greeting and she quickly stood to look in his direction. "Ah...yes, thank you, Psyber-san. I appreciate it." She replied awkwardly, ears twitching a bit in her nervousness. Talking to people face to face was nerve wracking. Her awkwardness continued once Xiaomu called out to her, making her look that way.

     Fox ears...tails(on her head?)...Yes, this was Xiaomu. "Um...it's nice to meet you too." The cat youkai stared at the offered hand for a moment. Oh! She knew this one! Smiling a bit, she took the sage fox's offered hand into two of her own, shaking it up and down awkwardly. Obviously wrong. Well, okay, half wrong.

     Konoe's stomach answered Xiaomu's question before her mouth could. An audible growl escaped from her. "......" A faint blush spread across her cheeks after. She must not get much food. Silence was her answer, and she didn't resist being lead to the grill. She had a steak waiting for her anyhow.
Sakura Haruno     There was a time in Sakura's life where she'd have made an effort to be at least a little more presentable at a social gathering like this. That time has passed, for better or worse, and she's managed to find a presentable enough shirt and shorts pairing to make her way all the way out of the office to the barbeque, though she hasn't bothered to bring a side.

    She did carry some extra napkins down with her, at least. And of course she's heading towards the grill to bother people. "Aah, is there chicken?" She'll ask, as though she couldn't have just asked this at any point in the last week.
Nathan Hall     Mordred passes just behind Nathan's back. He's at the very least aware that Mordred is here, because he saw a bit of Elliana's arrival before shoving his nose back into his book. However, he is not aware and he will remain unaware of whatever Mordred is doing around behind them. After all, Psyber is here to protect from any harm.
Duet Fortuna     Laughing, Elliana shakes her head, "Some negotiations still ongoing, but I think I've gotten matters under control." She shrugs, then gestures to the potato-birds. "Yes, they're safe to eat as far as I can tell. Not quite how I wanted them to come out, I think they're a bit salty." They are just a tad salty, but otherwise they actually have a pretty rich flavor.

    Duet smiles, nodding to Psyber, "Yeah, I took care of most of my business. Still hanging out in Terra Majora, but I can swing by the office more if you need me for a job." She fusses some with her ponytail, then decides to socialize! She picks... Sakura Haruno. "Chicken? Oh you need something lighter? Lady Fairchild brought some birds, but I'm not familiar with them..." Speaking of. "Ah, it's nice to finally meet you in person, Lady Fairchild. Thank you for tolerating my selfish request."
Theo Morrison "Oh. Huh. Yeah, guess so." Theo shrugs, and goes back to casting about for foodstuffs. He's got a little bit of everything.

"Sides and things go over here." He points to the tables. There's some empty space for dropping things off. "We've got a little bit of everything."
Kyra Hyral     "Bertram!" Kyra flails a little. "I'm trying to move silently! Shh!" She drapes herself over Riva's shoulders from behind, peering over the fellow redhead as she watches the food that Bertram has left behind. Her gaze immediately gravitates to the bowl of CHOCOLATE. "But! Since you asked, I'm doing fine! Magic problem free for at /least/ four days now!"

    Kyra hears the sound of a Vespa and looks up, assuming that her other big sister has showed up to the party. It wouldn't surprise her since Haruko was kind of a Heaven or Hell Hanger On. "How've you been, Bertram?"
Ezio Auditore     And then Ezio was there. Technically he's been around, just idly chit-chatting with folks while dressed for once not as a crazy murdering monk but as a guy on a jog. It's the most casual thing he could get on short notice, and it's not like he'll worry if it gets dirty. He knows people, of course he does.

    Ezio munches on a burger, having shook hands and exchanged how-are-yous and good-to-see-you-agains with Psyber of course, and he is content to approach Duet. "Ahh, madam Duet. Good to see you again after the mission the other day." He greets with as polite a smile as he manages, and he also gives a nod of greeting to folks he recognizes, like Theo, Kyra, Sakura to a degree, also the lady by name of Elliana. "And it's a pleasure to meet you in the flesh at last, Lady Elliana. I suppose I can't be surprised you're here, I trust the food is fine?"
Xiaomu "Good to see you too, and the same!" Xiaomu says with a grin and a wave to Becky. Her grin gets a bit wider as she hears Konoe's stomach growl like that, and offers her remaining piece of fried tofu to the catgirl (bakeneko?) to help tide her over until she's got some meatier food in-hand. "Konoe, this is Rebecca Chambers, a police officer from ..."

She pauses, looking at Rebecca. "Where were you from before the Union, again? Or are you still officially part of your home department while liaising with the Union? - Anyway," she looks back to Konoe, "Becky's also one of the Union's field medics, so if you get hurt in a fight, she might be the one to come and patch you up."

Crys shows up at roughly that point, and Xiaomu waves to her as well ... albeit with a slightly sheepish look; she doesn't now Crys quite that well, but this is about to pose a good chance to rectify that!

"And this is Konoe Kanno," the sage fox continues, introducing her cat-eared comrade to both Becky and Crys. "I don't know her that well yet - she's fairly new to Shinra, Reiji could tell you more about her than I could since he recruited her." She pauses, sniffing at the air, and this time *her* stomach growls. "Gonna have to talk on the go, ladies, I think I smell a steak with my name on it. A couple of burgers, maybe, too ... but we *definitely* have steak sign the likes of which not even the gods have ever seen!"
Bertram Silent "That's good to hear, miss Hyral." Bertram nods in approval, he then picks his last boxes and heads towards Psyber. "I prepared some Meat Miq'abobs, if you can grill them that'd be nice, but if not, that's fine too, I'll just finish them at home later. Pray don't feel pressured on my behalf." He grabs a bratwurst and some of the other food people have brought, and settles down somewhere near Kyra and Riva, sitting down to eat.
Guest Psyber     "Yeah, no problem, Nate," Psyber comments as he hands off the burger, "You still sound tired, you know. Any idea when you're gonna be feeling better?" He asks curiously, fully knowing Nathan probably won't have an answer. It's still his way of showing concern for his friend, even despite the blowout the two had in the library only a couple weeks ago.

    Psyber meanders his way back towards the grill, though still talking to Elliana and Duet alternatingly as he goes, "Oh sure, Duet. I could probably put you to work in the vaults, organizing some stuff, after you settle in a bit more. I don't usually let people down there, but I put up a set of cameras, recently, so it should be fine," He comments to the masked girl before looking between her and Elliana, "You know eachother?" He asks to both of them.

    Haruno is next to get an answer, "Ah, right so. Yeah, I have some chicken I can throw on for you." He replies as he exchanges pleasantries with Ezio on arriva. Getting back to the grill, he tosses some chicken quarters onto the grill and then coats them with some sauce while they go, "I was just taking a quick break for a snack," He notes as he holds up the delicious potato-thing Elliana gave him.

    Konoe won't have to wait TOO long for the steak. A minute or two after he's back at the grill, Psyber tosses the ribeye onto a paper plate and holds it out for the feline-oriented woman, "Here ya go. One rare steak, on request."

    He does spot Mordred chowing down, "I have plenty, but save some for others, Mordred!" And then he's turning back to Bertram, "Oh, you brought... hmm..." He starts sliding some meat over, "I suppose I can make some room, yeah. Toss em on," He says to Bertram.
Nathan Hall     Nathan speaks, aside, to Duet. He's not taking his nose out of that book long, but he speaks with the recent slow exhaustion. "You'll likely not be aware, not particularly aware of that aspect of things, but I am very doubtful that Haruno's planning on eating anything Fairchild brought. On principle, on a general sort of... Principle of the matter~." What was that last bit? He doesn't seem to be aware he's doing that familiar little voice thing, and it sounds REALLY weird with that monotone.

    He makes a vague, helpless sort of gesture. "I stick to the guarantee that if I keel over, you know, fall over dead and full of owls, Psyber would immediately begin murder, so I can trust that won't be the case for what Lady Fairchild brought~." There it is again, with the same lack of awareness or reaction. He goes back to nibbling at his hamburger.

    He doesn't speak directly to Haruno, but of course, he doesn't engage her in conversation unless she chooses to engage him.
Sakura Haruno     Sakura doesn't recognize Duet, of course, but will at least offer a friendly enough smile as greetings. "Something lighter is one way to put it, yes. I.. think I'll leave those birds to others, though, as Psyber seems to have found some chicken."

    At least Flowers isn't publicly accusing Elliana of trying to poison her, though this may simply be due to poisoning the medic being a nontrivial task.

    "But I don't think we've met. I'm Sakura; I'm one of the resident medics at the office." She'll try to have a conversation with Duet while studiously ignoring Elliana unless directly addressed. She'll glance to Nathan, though, squinting a bit. "...What's with you? Is something about to burst out of your head again?" She sounds almost hopeful; she hadn't managed to catch that in person yet, and it might help with a diagnosis of his condition.
Konoe Kanno      The piece of fried tofu is gratefully taken, and promptly wolfed down without much in the way of manners. While she chewed, she stared at Rebecca. "Owh, weeve me--" She paused to swallow, and then spoke again. "I remember you from that incident at the caverns." She bowed her head a bit. "Thank you for your help."

     She looked towards Xiaomu again, tilting her head. "Field medic...?" And then back to Rebecca. "You're a healer? That's good. I can heal too." She smiled a bit. "Being able to help people is satisfying." Her tail waved a bit at that. Suppose she was happy.

     At Crys' appearance, Konoe frowned, but mustered up the will to not immediately be suspicious of strangers. She was supposed to be socializing...supposed to be socializing. Sigh. "...Nice to meet you. It's as Xiaomu-san says." She bowed a bit before proceeding to follow the sage fox, talking on the go as suggested. "I came from Gensokyo." Is all she says on the subject of herself. She too had a steak with her name on it!

     Psyber's timing is perfect. Handed the plate, she smiles much more visibly than she has before, taking it in both hands. "Thank you!"
Mordred     Mordred frowns at Psyber, slowing the rate of her food scarfing on request. She wipes her mouth with her sleeve, dusts herself, and then rumbles. "You'd have been a shitty knight, offering food and then going oh but, not ALL the food, geez. Hospitality rules, man!" She's being a jerk, yes. Not entirely serious. "Fine, fine."

    Her attention shifts to Nathan, and she regains her smile. That, that just made her night. Revenge for the awesome tree fort has been served. Oh, but, you know, not that she'd have ANYTHING to do with Nathan's behavior. Psht, nope.
Nathan Hall     "Is there some problem with it~?" The exhausted monotone Nathan has fades a bit. He tries to restore his older, more firm tones of speaking. "My apologies. I have been getting sleep, plenty of sleep as I understand. More than the norm, honestly. As for feeling, well~." That weird little bit at the end sounds more faltering than mischievious now. "It is rather a bit difficult, rather... Difficult to sort out timeframes for things like that. Rather difficult to even determine what is being felt, of course~." He goes back to his book for a moment before responding to someone else...
Nathan Hall     "Is there something wrong~?" Nathan makes a legitimately worried noise for a moment, still utterly oncongruous with that weird tonal shift at the end that seems artificially enforced. He looks at Haruno and then feels at his head. "/Is/ something about to burst out of my head again~?" He mutters, and then makes that worried noise again.
Duet Fortuna     Duet holds out her hand. "Duet Fortuna, new hire." That was to Sakura, of course. And Nathan's comment gets a nod, "Oh, right right. That makes sense. Sorry, I've found her nothing but accomodating, if a little cold." She shrugs. Then to Psyber, "Sure, I can take a look later this weekend or something." And finally, Ezio gets a warm smile, "A pleasure to see you again, Mister Auditore."

    Elliana mns, "We've spoken a few times. Operating in Terra Majora, she wisely chose not to try anything without at least giving me a heads up." She tries not to snicker at what's going on with Mordred and Nathan, giving her Servant an amused look but nothing more for now. "Ah, Sir Auditore, yes... I do come by from time to time, but expect this will be my last non-business visit in a while. I will be rather busy."
Rebecca Chambers     "I used to be a member of the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team with the Raccoon Police Department. Keyword being, 'used to.'" Rebecca bites her lower lip as she looks to Xiaomu. "After the Umbrella incident at the Arklay Mansion, Chief Irons disbanded the S.T.A.R.S. unit, while blaming us for the explosion at the mansion and the losses of most of the team." She sighs. "Turns out he was taking bribes from Umbrella, and so the remaining S.T.A.R.S. resigned from the RPD and went underground to try to expose the conspiracy."

    She pauses as tears seem to form in her eyes a little before she shakes her head. "By the time we were able to get solid evidence, it was too late for Raccoon City. The T-Virus leaked into the city, and despite Umbrella's efforts to contain it, the United States government was forced to destroy Raccoon City with a missile strike."

    She smiles a little. "But enough of that. I'm a field medic, yes, so if you need to be patched up, come find me. Just don't expect me to do any major surgery as I'm not there yet!" She grins. "At any rate, it's nice to meet you Konoe."
Crys Gattz Crys Gattz says "Crys Gattz, I'm a newman uit's good to eat you."

She listens to the growl and her own stomach does the same.

"Food, one of live's enjoyable pleasures that not even an uptight prude would likely say no to!"

She accounts some people would but right now she's lo9oking to have a good time. She looks to Konoe for a moment grinning at her as she does so.

"Ah I heard of Gensokyo but I have never been there before myself."

She now is looking to get some burgers and heaping helping of alien meats. Well pork, chiken and beef are alien to her after all!
Kaname Madoka     Have you ever had one of those moments where you mindblank so hard that you can't even /know/ that you're missing something important? Like, you're so derp, you're so absolutely, positively carefree that you're just minding your own business, probably humming to yourself as you sketch something stupid, swaying back and forth in your seat as if you had died and gone to wonderland alltogether.

    Yeah, those sorts of moments. I mean, honestly? They aren't that bad! No, they really aren't... until you finally realize that there was somewhere you were supposed to -BE-. It may have been some after school assignment that you forgot about, or a makeup test you had scheduled, or maybe even just dinner with somebody! Whatever the case, in that moment, you're forced to wake up. Adrenaline rushes. Your cheeks flare up. Then, finally, you take off, arms and legs on automatic, entirely too focused on getting to that place to remember whatever other dumb thing it is you had been doing before.

    That was absolutely Madoka a few seconds ago. She was just minding her own business, probably drawing Homura in a snazzy Western-style business suit, or Sayaka if she had gotten to be a bit older so that she could look like an honest-to-goodness knight of the round table, or even Psyber in one of those frilly 'kiss the cook' aprons. In the present, though, she (very meekly and quietly) bashes the metaphorical door in, shuffling off to one side in the faint hope that no one will notice that she hadn't been here before. It seems like this is a REALLY big party, after all, so who knows? Maybe no one DID notice! She crosses a pair of her fingers and holds them against her back before taking a deep, deeeeep breath, bowing her head, and making her way into the crowd properly.

    ... but it's not very long afterwards when she realizes, she's really too short to see over the crowd. She quite literally bounces up and down for a while in some vain attempt to locate Psyber, but her resolve to do so only lasts as long as it takes her to spot the food table. Then, I'm afraid, it's only a few moments before she's lost to the world again.

    Well, at least she has an alibi now. It seems pretty easy to believe that she's been here the whole time.
Guest Psyber     "Yeah well, if we're quoting our Era-specific hospitality laws, Lot told me I should offer you my daughters. But I'm not, so there we go," Psyber says to Mordred in a vague tone, waving the tongs in his hand a bit as he counterpoints her, "I'll be sure to remember my shortcomings when the building and all present turn to salt."

    "Nathan, why the hell are you talking like that?" Psyber asks in regards to the lilt in his voice that crops up every once in a while. He squints at the man a bit and then shakes his head and then says, "And no, there's no problem with the tone, I just want you to seem less tired all the time. Take your time on it, though. Hit me up if you need to talk..." A long pause, "Save for the narrow field of topics we've established are no-fly zones."

    Spotting the hopping Madoka, Psyber waves his hand to her, trying to get her attention. This lasts only the fleeting moments before she goes to eat some food. He figures she'll eventually think to follow the smoke signals.

    "Right. I'll get you cards made and all. If you're done on Terra Majora, did you want me to prepare a room, too?" He asks as he tilts his head, "I think I've got one free one, with a moveout happening in the near future," He considers for a moment or two and rubs his chin, "Anyway, either way, yeah. Good to know you two at least are acquainted. Truth told, I was worried how to introduce you do Duet," He says that last part to Elliana.
Nathan Hall     "Experiences with her have a certain sort of range, a certain sort of... Variety~." Nathan says. With a heavy sigh, he adds, as if a disclaimer, "No need to apologize. I don't expect you to make the assumptions Haruno does, don't expect anything like that. I'm sure she's accommodating for you~." It's like he's keeping his exhausted monotone until right at the very last second, and then suddenly there's an adjustment on the end. Nathan seems to remain unaware.
Kongou     "A large unknown contact is approaching." a voice announces from immediately behind Psyber. Soft, hard to notice above the noise of the barbecue and its occupants. One would have to turn around to locate the source-- Jesus Christ when did Hayashimo get so close?!

    "...Speed of thirty-one knots." The girl turns slightly and points across the park, towards Chestnut Street.

    What looms there, approaching fast, is a large and hulking shape. Gray and black, with glimmers of silvery metallic colors, it heaves from side to side in a high speed approach. Could it possibly be that enormous parasite that's been seen with the Battleship Princess, Samar?

    No, no it is not.

    "Expedition complete~!" Kongou announces as she bursts into the park proper. On her back, stacked up on her rigging, is a number of large fresh fish. At least two salmon and a full on yellowfin tuna-- How she got what is ostensibly a Pacific Ocean fish in an Atlantic coastal city is a mystery. Buckets of sloshing water, four hanging from each hand, teem with live shrimp and at least one full of clams.

    "<Sea Food> is best when it's fresh~! Kongou has brought the freshest for Admiral's barbecue~!"

    Elsewhere in the grounds, Isuzu slowly, slowly raises her hand until she palms her face and lets out a long, slow sigh.
Riva Banari Riva was just chilling. when Kyra amuches her, however, Riva laughs and gives Kyra a big hug. "Kyra! I'm so glad to see you! and you're intact too, that's great!" She chuckles. "Help yourself to whatever, this is going to get super chaotic." Riva shakes her head. "It's best to just try to focus in a couple people and chill out. Generally, the fun stuff will find you in a party like this."

Advice given, Riva promptly breaks it. "I'll be right back, though!" She waves to Kyra and Bertram, sliding by the White Mage. "Heya big guy, nice to see you at the party! I'll be right back." Riva whips by, plunging into the chaos of the party proper.

She appears next to Kay, waving to her brightly. "Hi there!" She calls out to the girl. "Riva Banari. You might have heard me on the radio a few times." She offers a hand in greeting, smiling. "You should come over to our table once you've got your stuff." She adds. "I've been wanting to talk to you for a while, after all. Bring your friend!" She says, looking over at the little demon-girl. "It's all good!"
Ezio Auditore     Ezio can't help but stare at Nathan for a brief moment, as the General begins...speaking very much unlike him. Were he younger he'd be asking about it a LOT more, but he's used to this weirdness by now. "Good to hear you've been getting rest more often as of recent, General." He nods his head, before taking another bite of burger. Nomf. Delicious barbaric hand-eaten American beef...sho gud.

    Right. Anyway. Elliana and Duet both get a bow of Ezio's head, and the banker/assassin smiles. "It is good to go out and talk with people, and meet with faces I've otherwise had to imagine over radio. I can understand a busy schedule myself, I know the feeling. Our lives as Elites are often hectic, especially when you have a bank to manage, among other activities." muses the older gentleman, shrugging a shoulder. He can't help but arch a brow to Psyber, before glancing to Mordred. "I cannot help but imagine how that would go." He dryly muses, he knows /enough/ about mordred to know she's unpredictable. And dangerous to be around when she's moody. Best not to taunt Happy Fun Mordred while she's in Happy Fun mode.
Mordred     "Something something I'm a knight so I couldn't accept anyway. How'd Gawain's story go again, never accept anything but kisses from the king's daughter? He had a pretty important lesson from that. Pretty sure that's what it was about, anyway." It's been so long, Mordred doesn't quite recall the details.

    Something about a green sash, though.
    And not lying?
    Eh.

    The Saber shrugs at Psyber, still smiling.
Nathan Hall     "Talking like what~?" Nathan says, turning to Psyber. "The tiredness? I apologize, I've had a sort of loss of focus, I suppose, a certain kind of difficulty maintaining it the way I used to. Can't be a lack of sleep, though, can't be. Getting plenty of it, plenty. Keep sleeping more than most people do, really. I'll try to re-focus, try to... Restore my particular focus on that, if you need~." He does seem utterly unaware of that nonsense with his voice, and goes back to nibbling on his burger.
Reiji Arisu --TWO HOURS AGO, SHINRA HEADQUARTERS--

There is a pile of paperwork on Reiji's desk. It squats there like a particularly lazy cat, one that has eaten perhaps a dozen too many rats. Except this cat is angular, and bristles with the potential for the dread PAPERCUT.

It was not there a minute ago. He was sure of that. The desk was clear. He'd turned in the last form after lunch. He was free! There was TIME now!

But then, what explains this?

Reiji wanders over to pluck the first page off the top of the pile. There's a little, pastel-pink post-it note that reads:

Got a few last minute things for the new prototype~ You'll finish these up quick for me, won't you~?

Dr. U

Reiji looks from the note to the papers, then from the papers again to the note, and slowly sinks his face into his hands with the gutteral groan of a salaryman who's not being paid for his overtime.

--NOW--

    Reiji appears next in the Meat Line as if he had always been there. Wasn't he? It's hard to tell exactly what happened to bring him there, or if he had been conjured by the smell of cooking meat like some kind of phantom from the aether. He conveniently pops up behind Konoe and Xiaomu, looking like he'd pulled yet series of long hours. "Everyone," he greets, his plate already at the ready. "It's a good day for this, isn't it?
Kyra Hyral     "I know, right? Nobody's talked about what happened in that dimension but I'm guessing it was pretty wild for everyone based off of what I saw, Riva." Kyra says, obliquely referencing the group effort against Therion and his mad plan to destroy a universe.

    "I need some of those chocolates you brought." Kyra announces to Bertram. "Uh, maybe some of the other non-candy things too but probably not. Maybe. Hehehehe-be back!" Kyra leans away and ambles over to the table with the various sides placed out, helping herself to the chocolates. She does take a Miquo'bab despite the name sort of suggesting that it might be made from real Miquo'tes. She looks at the potatoes that Elliana brought with confusion, "...she called these potatoes, right...?" she asks no one in particular, taking one after a bit of staring.

    As she steps away, she veers over to Psyber to snag one of the bratwursts he'd just finished grilling. The paranormal detective boss gets a brief wave from the white mage just before she notices Madoka hopping and flailing before veering off to the food table. Her thoughts drift back to a prior conversation with Psyber and she makes a thoughtful noise.

    Kyra follows, weaving between people with ease like a snake through the grass. Despite knowing that the girl was a bit on the shy side, Kyra calls out to her. "Hey Madoka!" If only to warn her that she has incoming interaction. As she gets closer, she speaks a little more normally, just loud enough to be heard over the tilde-filled chatter of the others here. "How've you been? Haven't seen you since we visited Scarlet's school."
Xiaomu Meanwhile, Xiaomu is lurking by the grill, an empty plate in hand, waiting until such time as her steak is ready.

Which one is hers? She's still making up her mind, but Psyber would notice she seems to be looking at one of the larger, juicier steaks in particular. She's sparing enough attention to wave in Kongou's direction when the shipgirl brings her cargo of fish into sight, *and* she has an ear perked in the direction of Konoe, Becky, and Crys as if continuing to listen in while she's waiting for her steak.

If Reiji's sudden presence surprises her, she doesn't show any sign of it ... but she's well-acquainted with his mastery of the bays of 'Barbe-Queue'.

(Who do you think taught him?)
Konoe Kanno      Rebecca and Crys are given nods of understanding, and then she bounds off towards the nearest table, giving Reiji a quick 'hello'. Then she was gone. Food was evidently more important right now. She plopped down with her plate, which happened to be right next to Nathan, before proceeding to dig into her steak. No fork, no knife, no utensils at all. Just her bare hands.

     Konoe had amazing table manners.

     While she ate, she looked about, staring at the veritable crowd of people here. "......" She could swear there were more than when she last looked. Were all of these people part of this organization? She couldn't tell. They didn't have uniforms or anything. Not that they'd wear them on a day off...
Bertram Silent "Feel free, it's why I brought them." Bertram looks like he is taking NOTE of this preference of Kyra's. Like he's making sure to remember it. "Miss Binary, correct?" Bertram asks, trying to recall Riva's name. "Pray forgive me if I got it wrong. I must needs memorize so many names, in such a short timeframe. It can be hard at times."
Kay     Truthfully, gatherings like this are not one of Kay's greatest strengths.

    The young summoner drums her fingers on the wall, thinking about everyone and watching the group. She knows a few, that isn't a problem. What she isn't sure of is who she should approach? She'll pick... someone who looks prectical and no-nonsense, that should work out well for her.

    "So. You're Mordred?"

    Yeah, this will work out great.
Sakura Haruno     Sakura will offer a sigh, pressing the back of her hand gently against Nathan's forehead if he allows her to. "Look, you need to take better care of yourself. If you start talking weird, it's going to have a bad effect on the people who respect you and your leadership." Which is to say, not really her, but she'll shake her head and look around. "You know that there's already high tension at this sort of event, and all it takes is one monster bursting out of someone's forehead to trigger it and we'll have a real mess. Hey! Is that chicken done yet?" She'll interrupt herself to ask, even though it's only been a couple of minutes and there's no chance the chicken is at all done yet.
Nozomi Houken     Oh hey, there's people here!

    There's... there's a lot of people here. Wow, that's... that's way more people than Nozomi was expecting.

    Right about now she is probably rethinking her life choices.

    The girl is here because Kuroyama urged her to - as did Psyber. She's still getting the hang of this 'being around people' thing, so she decided it wasn't too bad an idea. But that decision is looking a little hasty with all these people she doesn't know. So of course, she immediately makes a beeline to the safest person here - the angel running the grill. He is big. He is trustworthy. He is, above all, not that kinda angry-looking blonde girl. "Ah, hey," she greets Psyber as she approaches the grill, a touch uncertain. "There's... there's a lot of people here, isn't there?"

    To be fair, seeing Madoka looking equally out of sorts is, in its own way, kind of comforting. At least she knows she's not alone in being uncomfortable in such a big crowd.
Riva Banari Riva appears back at the table with a platter of deliciousness, Bertram's own donations featuring as part of it. It's not every say that you see someone serving lentils and chestnuts in red wine sauce, after all. "Not quite! Close! Banari!" She laughs. "Don't worry, you're not the first person to make that mistake. Just call me Riva, it's easier!"
Kaname Madoka     Madoka has never had barbecue before. Ever.

    And she can't say that it doesn't take her somewhat by surprise. I mean, there's just so much sauce on it! And it's all... meat! It's not like she's always the most polite eater herself or anything, but she earnestly has no idea what to do with the food she finds on the table. That doesn't really look like something you can eat with chopsticks, and she's pretty sure that European utensils won't work either, so what are you supposed to do? Eat it with your /hands/? ... naaaah. She thinks better of that, electing instead to take a few of whatever dessert-type items might be on the other end of the table to nibble on before she has the opportunity to ask someone what you're supposed to do with these things. As good as that stuff smells (and probably tastes), she really doesn't wanna just blatantly pick something up unless she's absolutely sure that's what you're supposed to do. And if it is what you're supposed to do? That's... kinda really weird!

    It's in one of these moments of hesitancy and flustering that Madoka happens to look up and see Psyber's waving hand. At first, she raises her own hand to wave back in a wide, exuberant gesture, but in another, she realizes that that... almost certainly means that he had noticed she wasn't here before. That resurrects her blush, even if only for a few seconds, calming her wave until it loses steam completely. When she finally begins to make her way over to the half-angel, she's probably got one hand nervously clamped around her wrist, feet and legs kind close together. For comfort, you know? She's still kinda embarrassed, now that food is over with for the moment.

    When she arrives, though, she does her absolute best to stifle that feeling. She trades her uncertain grin for a far more warm, full smile. She tries once to greet Psyber, probably muttering some facsimile of 'Hello', but her voice is probably entirely lost in the murmur of the crowd the first time around. The next time, she tries again a bit more loudly: "Hiii, Psyber!" Much better that time, but it makes her throat tingle a bit to be that loud. "S-Sorry I was a little late. I got kinda distracted, ehehe..." That giggle, as always, is accompanied by a tiny, awkward cant of the head. "T-There are a lot of other people here, too, though! I don't think I've seen this many people in one place for a really, really long time, actually. You must be really popular!" She has just enough time before another voice calls her name from behind: Kyra's.

    She might jump a little! She glances to both of her sides a moment before finally thinking to look behind herself, at which point her eyes widen a bit. It's a happy widening this time, though! Maybe even a little relieved. "Oh, Kyra! Hi! It's been forever!" She accompanies that with a small series of nods. "Yeah, I remember that place... mostly because it had a really, really cool name that sounded like something out of a Sci-Fi movie. Heliosanctus, or something? It was amazing! ... maybe a little intimidating though. I don't feel like the people there liked us very much. Except for that one girl, but..." She trails off a little after that, glancing a few times to either side. Her hands eventually meet at her center of gravity, clasping together for that little extra bit of comfort.

    ... s-still so many people...
Nathan Hall     Nathan regards Konoe warily. She sits down next to him and just starts tearing into her meat with her bare hands, and so Nathan gives her a... Small amount of additional space, making a soft worried noise. His face remains stoic and his demeanor remains emotionless, but he seems unable to form an opinion on what he's looking at here.
Mordred     Turning away from the Nathan debacle, which she assumes will just continually get funnier until it reaches some sort of critical mass and clowns explode out of Nathan, Mordred sizes Kay up, raising a brow under the baseball cap. "Sir Mordred, I guess, but sure. First time I hear your voice, sup?" She's just been fed, so she's hardly in a bad mood right now. Kay couldn't have picked a better time to randomly approach that particular Servant.
Konoe Kanno      Konoe's ears perked at the sound Nathan made, as well as his slightly moving aside.

     "....?"

     Pausing in her utterly uncivilized manner of dining, the bakeneko turned to give Nathan a curious look. Silence followed as she looked at him, then down to her partially eaten steak, then back to Nathan.

     Oh!

     Apparently having an idea, she smiled and tore off a section of the steak and held it out to Nathan. "Want some?" Yes. A chunk of barely cooked meat. Hand slimy with grease and trace amounts of blood.
Ezio Auditore     Ezio can't help but smirk a bit at Nathan being...Nathan, if only due to it rapidly approaching CRITICAL MASS of hilarity. He doesn't even flinch as suddenly BOTE BRIGADE shows up, and Psyber's pet boat people show up with fish. He'll snag something else while it cooks, in this case a bottled soda he pops open with a deft motion of a hidden blade...only in this case, it looks more like a hooked device of some sort, and it makes a damn good bottle opener while it's at it.

    "Agent Arisu, good evening." He offers Reiji a hand to shake firmly, as manly man professional types are oft to do. "It's good to meet you as well, though I suppose that applies to everyone here tonight." Ezio says in a friendly if cool manner. Siiiiiiip. "Care to have a drink? They're still cold." He says, motioning to the cooler, with that hook-blade-thingy still out.
Nathan Hall     Nathan seems baffled by Haruno's laying hands on this sort of thing. He remains still and his face doesn't shift expression, but he makes a confused sound. "I am unsure of what you are referring to. 'Talking weird'? What do you mean~?" He makes a faltering noise and sort of looks down at his food. "Yes, I'm aware. Believe me, I'd much rather avoid the embarrassment of exposing that issue in company like this~." He seems to remain utterly oblivious to the verbal tilde being appended there.
Crys Gattz Crys Gattz is now focused on food for the moment and gives both Xia and konoe a grin but now she's pouncing upon her oan meal and she's starting to eat and watch the party with her one functional ey
Nathan Hall     Nathan regards the steak as if Konoe just offered him a severed head. Which is to say, in his usual way, of vaguely concerned stoicism. The worried noise is makes this time is a little more intimidated, and he scratches the back of his head awkwardly. "That is... No, thank you, I appreciate the offer but I think that may be slightly too rare for me~." That lilty bit on the end is a weird addition since the rest of his statement is completely monotoned, albeit in an exhausted monotone.
Kyra Hyral     "It has...what have you been up to since then? Busy with school?" At least Kyra assumes that Madoka is still in school since she looks a little bit younger than she herself does. Plus she comes from Homura's type of worlds, from what little she understands about that, but more importantly it was a "modern" world where children like the two of them were expected to attend school until adults (and a little bit beyond!). "That's right, it was named Heliosanctus. The whole place really did look impressive though I'm betting that is completely intentional."

    She taps a chin, "Not that I don't doubt Heliosanctus is a elite school meant for the few rare magi of that world. I bet there's a showmanship thing too." Her cheer dims a little, replaced with slight disappointment.

    "I think you're right, Madoka. None of them seemed terribly interested or impressed with offworlds. It was kind of unwelcoming. Didn't really help that I flubbed my demonstration at the lecture either." Kyra winces at the embarassing memory. "Scarlet hasn't said anything about her school since then so I doubt we're getting invited back at all. Anyway, why don't you grab something to eat and we can sit somewhere."

    Kyra holds up her plate, which has a bunch of Bertram's chocolates on it. She points to them. "I highly recommend these, by the way."
Reiji Arisu     Konoe's sudden disappearance and brief greeting doesn't get... that strong of a look from the Exorcist. He can understand completely. Hunger is a powerful motivator.

    Reiji is presently eying a particularly fresh looking steak, himself. Does he like his bloody, too!? Probably not as bloody as the cat, but certainly at least medium rare.

    Then, an assassin. Reiji gives the man an appraising look, before reaching out to give him a firm handshake. There are a few bandages along his fingers. Injuries!? "Yes. Good evening. A drink would be welcome. Maybe once I get some food in me, though." He sighs, "It's been a long day. Calories first, then alcohol."
Guest Psyber     "Something something... an ancient series of laws only applicable to a narrow subset of lands," Psyber replies to Mordred boredly, not putting that much effort into arguing their joking back and forth as he reaches into an ice chest and grabs a beer. He pulls the tab on the can and drinks it.

    "No. Ten more minutes. Have some chips and dip," Psyber says to Haruno as he drinks his beer and and then jumps a bit as Hayashimo sneaks up on him. He turns towards the contact, knowing that Hayashimo only ever warns him about one incoming threat. And it's Kongou. The half-angel quirks an eyebrow, "Apparently we have a lot more fish now. I better get fileting."

    He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a chef's knife, which he then slips into his apron. First, though, he has to be the borderline prescient grillmaster he is. In a flash of deliveries, Psyber drops off a thick porterhouse to Xiaomu, followed by a bratwurst to Kay. Kay's delivery is accompanied by a, "You need to eat more!" He knows about her lifestyle.

    After that, though, Psyber is taking out a chef's knife again and a honing rod, which he drags the knife over, "Right. Fish." He takes one of the tuna and sets it on a picnic table before expertly beginning to cut and peel a huge chunk off the side, which he promptly cuts into steak-sized pieces, "If we had some vinegar rice, this'd make good sushi. Instead, we'll rub some Old Bay on the outside, sear it, and leave it rare in the middle."

    He's saying most of this to Nozomi and Madoka, showing off his chef knife work for them as he filets a fish with all the precision and speed one would expect from a centuries-resident member of a sea-side city, "You two ladies got any requests while I'm here working? Fish? Chicken? Some burgers? What's on the menu for you two?" With people like Madoka and Nozomi, rather than push them to leave their comfort zone, Psyber uses the fact that he supplies a safe space to sort of lead them around to various social points and help them relax to meet other people.
Sakura Haruno     "You know what I mean! Talking with your voice going up high near the end. It sounds like you might have a concussion, really. Have you hit your head recently?" Sakura will ask, even though she's fairly certain he hasn't.

    She'll turn away for a moment and back towards Duet, wanting to at least keep up her end of the conversation, even though the conversation may have drifted past. "Anyway, it's always good to meet a new hire. If you get injured at all, my services are included in the job benefits; just call for me over the radio or turn up at the office, and I'll see you. Or if I'm not available, Kyra will probably see you. Or Laine will lick you." Sakura won't explain the last one, naturally. People usually figure it out eventually.
Nathan Hall     "No, I really don't know, don't know at all what you mean~." Nathan says, making a helpless gesture at Haruno. "I am fairly sure, really, I feel like I'd know if I'd suffered a head injury recently. I haven't, as far as I recall~."
Konoe Kanno      "Huh? Rare?" A tilt of the head followed. "...Oh! That's that...thing. The..." Konoe tried to come up with the right way to say it. "...The thing when you cook something longer or shorter!" She nodded to herself, proud that she kind of remembered. And then she withdrew her hand, gobbling down the chunk she'd offered Nathan.

     A pause followed. And then-

     "Oh, are you sick?" She asked suddenly, staring at the man. "Your voice sounded weird at the end. Like she-" She gestured to Sakura. "-said."
Bertram Silent "Ah thank you, miss Banari." Bertram doesn't go for Riva, but then he doesn't call Kyra Kyra either. "I hope you enjoy it, I always love cooking for others. It's one of my hobbies." And he's actually good at it. Most of this food is good enough to serve in an upscale restaurant. He's got good teachers. He also eats what others have made, not as much his own cooking.
Kaname Madoka     Madoka's expression suddenly sobers when Kyra brings up 'school'. Come to think of it, she had asked Psyber about possibly enrolling in an art academy in the vicinity of the university where he works, but... well, she hadn't acted on that yet. She -is- probably old enough to be going into college in another year or so, but she hasn't been going to school for a few years at this point. That in itself isn't really what causes the suddenly dull expression, but rather the... the reason why she hasn't been. It brings back a lot of wistful thoughts and feelings that had been conveniently buried under layers of embarrassment before, which leaves her... uncharacteristically silent for a few seconds. When she does finally respond, though, she only shakes her head. "No... I don't go to school. I've mostly just been helping to fight off these evil things around a place called Higurekawa. Hehe, it's kind of like my job, I guess."

    Sigh. A part of her really doesn't want to explain 'witches' and the specifics of why she frequents that city at the moment. It's... it's kinda too depressing for a party, honestly. Not that she would say any of that out loud.

    Thankfully, though, the conversation naturally moves on to other subjects. She nods along as Kyra verbally reviews the particulars of their visit to Heliosanctus some months back, frowning herself when she confirms what she had been thinking... kind of the whole time they were there. "Yeah, it was a lot like, um... it was a lot like a university for rich people. It might sound a little mean, but most of the people there seemed really... self-absorbed? I've seen people like that before, but I had never seen a place where there were -so many- people like that gathered in one place until then. I kinda... don't ever want to have to go there again. Unless there's some vacation period and no one's there! The campus was really pretty, and I would like to see that again at least. It was like a huuuuge Western mansion, or maybe even a castle. Nooo, definitely more like a castle."

    But... but, food! Madoka vigorously bobs her head at that offer by Kyra, her smile finally starting to return in earnest. But, this is her chance! She gestures to a rack of spare ribs, asking, "Oh, um! Do you know how to eat these? I didn't see any utensils, and I /really/ don't think that looks like something you're supposed to eat with your hands, so... are there some special tools somewhere? Or is there some trick to it?" Though a lot of her interest in that would fade at the mention of -chocolate-. Ohmygod, how had she missed that before?? Her mouth opens in a small ':o', her eyes darting back up to Kyra's as if to nonverbally ask if she can have one.

    She might be drooling a little.

    And the only thing that can break her out of a food trance is the mention of MORE FOOD. Psyber asks if she has any special requests, and that was his last mistake. "Oh! Ohohoh!" She looks to him, bouncing on her heels just slightly. "I've /reeeaaalllyyy/ been craving salmon sushi for a while! Do you know how to make some? My dad used to make that all the time, so I can probably help if you need me to!"

    And before you ask: no, she can't cook, do not ask her to cook, so help you God.
Xiaomu "Thank you very much!!" Xiaomu exclaims as Psyber serves up her steak. She bows quickly but politely, then -

Pauses at the mention of vinegar rice. "Hey Reiji, do we have any rice left from making all that inarizushi?" she calls out as she's on her way over to the side-dishes table. What room is left on her plate with the steak taking up much of it is quickly buried under more inarizushi, some vegetables that don't look like they'll try to turn the tables and eat her (or anyone else) when sliced, chicken salad ... if somebody brought corn on the cob, she'll help herself to an ear; otherwise, she'll make do with fruit salad or something.

And then she makes her way back towards the dining tables, casually depositing a fork and a knife next to Konoe's plate. The two younger* girls heading towards the grill, or at least towards the head chef, seem to catch her eye as well ... but dagnabbit, Xiaomu is *HUNGRY*. So she plants herself somewhere (maybe next to Konoe, maybe elsewhere) and digs in with a ravenous appetite.

(* - Okay, so technically, almost every girl is younger than Xiaomu, at least if they're confined to a human life expectancy. Nozomi and Madoka are still fairly young even by human standards, though, aren't they?)
Kay     "Sir Mordred, then," Kay shrugs. "Hi, I'm Kay. I barely know anyone here so I'm just picking someone. I'm not really a socializer." And also, it would seem, extremely blunt. "New girl, all that. Pretty sure I've heard your name somewhere."
Rebecca Chambers     Meanwhile, Rebecca has found her way to where the food is and is gathering some foodstuffs to eat. She's not recognizing anyone else at the moment and is hoping someone will come up to her and try to socialize.
Nozomi Houken     Is that... oh wow. That's fish. And it smells good.

    Psyber now has Nozomi's absolute, undivided attention. She watches the knife and grillwork with quiet fascination, hands folded in front of herself, almost mesmerized; being addressed by the half-angel actually startles her a little, though only to the extent of a very mild twitch. "-ah? Oh, um... fish is fine, I think." She pauses, glancing back at the fish again. "That... actually looks pretty good," she admits quietly.

    And Madoka is just as excited. No, way more excited. Nozomi actually takes a step or two back in surprise. Well, at least they share a common taste in food! And... wait, did that fox woman just mention having some rice on hand? ...wait, /fox woman/?

    Nozomi is now quietly staring at Xiaomu in surprise.
Kongou     While Psyber sets about preparing a tuna, Kongou offloads her buckets of shrimp beside it, than hauls the salmon off her rigging as well. Only when the cargo is totally unloaded (and still moving a bit) does the battleship's distinctive equipment disappear in silvery light. With one hand, she pushes up her billowy sleeve, than repeats it on the other side, "Tuna and Salmon Steak is also good~! Sushi would go bad too quickly, I think."

    The girl then produces a large box of wooden skewers, slamming it down, "But please also cut some cubes for seafood kebabs, Admiral~!" With practiced precision she jabs a shrimp out of a bucket, then holds it up triumphantly, "So fresh~!"

    Beside Kongou, Hayashimo acquires the bucket of clams and just carries it over to the grill in both hands, lifting and placing it suitably far from the carefully prepared meats and such already cooking. Boiled clams are also apparently on the menu.
Kaname Madoka     In a rare moment of situational awareness, Madoka actually manages to notice as Nozomi recoils in response to her, um... food-induced zeal. She promptly stops bouncing before giving her a tiny bow of apology. She doesn't speak - she really doesn't want to obligate her to any kind of response! - but she did want her to know that she hadn't meant any harm.
Konoe Kanno      Konoe was distracted from bothering Nathan at the clink of a pair utensils next to her plate. ".....?" She stopped and looked at them. ...White...not metal...seemed structurally weak...

     Loading....loading...loading...

     ERROR. OBJECT NOT FOUND IN MENTAL DATABASE.

     Konoe looked towards Xiaomu with a confused sort of frown on her face. "What are these for?" She asked, holding up the pair of eating tools with one hand.
Kyra Hyral     The school talk, in turn, does remind Kyra that she needs to do the application paperwork for Miskatonic University. Psyber gave her a heads up about that a few days ago. This thought is buried at the back of her head because Madoka's silence on this subject strikes her as odd until she finally speaks up to explain. "Oh." she says, sounding embarassed, "I guess I kind of assumed you did since you're sort of my age." Her embarassment is quick to pass, though, the faux pas forgotten moments later so she can inadvertantly commit another one: "So you get to be a full-time superhero, basically. Sounds kind of nice."

    But like the embarassment, the comment isn't really ruminated on any further as they turn the topic back to Heliosanctus. "I'd have to agree with that. Unfortunately, the social structure of magi in that world seems to bais the money in favor of the magi. Add that to the fact that the place apparently only has...what, a hundred students at the time?-" Kyra can't remember the exact number but she knew it was very, very, very low, especially when she compares it to her own moon-sized school. "-I guess that super-selects for the most snottiest of snots. Well, except for Scarlet and whoever that other girl was. Scarlet's pretty cool. I agree though, if we ever go back, I definitely don't want to be around the other students again."

    Madoka springs an odd question on her and Kyra muffles a giggle. "Well most people actually do eat those with their hands and get all messy in the process! But you can cut them with a knife and fork and eat it that way. It'll take longer because of the bones." As if to demonstrate both methods, she cuts a about four ribs off of the rack with a knife and adds the ribs to her plate. Then she picks up the ribs with one hand, eating the meat right off the bones and smearing barbeque sauce all over her face in the process. After stripping the meat clean off of one bone she puts it back on her plate.

    As Madoka eyes the chocolate, she holds her plate out a little further, a silent affirmative to her silent question.
Duet Fortuna     Duet smiles to Psyber, "Yes, I'll be done soon enough. Don't rush on my account, but something eventually would be nice to come back to." She's going to leave the rest to Elliana for now, so she can talk to Flowers. Sakura's comments get a small twitch, but the eyes are hidden, so anything more is hard to say. "I see. I'm rather durable, but it's good to know that medical care is here. 'Rather durable' doesn't count for much with the things I've faced of late."

    Elliana makes a dismissive gesture, "It is no real bother. Lady Fortuna has been... well, to be honest her recent actions might make my own more difficult, but we reached an agreement concerning that. I have a favor or three to call in now."
Nathan Hall     Nathan's dry look to Konoe is almost amusing. "Yes. That's the thing when you cook something longer or shorter. Yours appears to be a bit fresh for me to consume safely~." He says. Then he tilts his head. "Sick~?" It takes a while for him to put things together in his mind. The descriptions others have stated of his issue seem to resolve in his mind, and eventually, he begins examining his own body, as if in search of something in particular. Psyber and co will, at last, get a chance to see the gleam of duct tape on his back while Nathan searches is body for the offending punctuation mark that's afflicted him.
Mordred     "Kay, huh? I used to know someone named Kay. Wasn't a pretty lady though. He was kind of an asshole actually. Heart of gold but a huge, huge pain in the rear. Guy pretty much invented the concept of walking on the line between what's cool and what isn't." Mordred laughs to herself, if only for a fraction of a second. She and Sir Kay never did get along very well back then, but maybe they would now. Ah well!

    "I'm Fairchild's Servant, that's probably why you heard of me. So, new girl, what do you do? Psyber doesn't usually hire people for no reason I bet." Then again, look at how many people are present.
Xiaomu Xiaomu's steak is already about a quarter of the way gone when the sage fox holds up her fork and knife, swallowing her latest bite of food. "Western-style eating utensils. Humans can be kinda persnickety about good table manners," she observes, inclining her head briefly towards Nathan.

If she's still got Konoe's attention, Xiaomu then demonstrates the proper usage of fork (spearing a corner of her steak) and knife (cutting that corner free of the rest of it), followed by using the fork to pop the succulently-roasted bite of meat into her mouth for chewing and eventual swallowing. "Mmmmmmm ..."

That should keep hunger at bay for a while. Xiaomu did notice Nozomi staring at her, and after finishing that bite, she smiles at the other girl. "Hi! I'm Xiaomu; I work for an organization called Shinra in my native world, and I got recruited into Heaven or Hell - sort of as a liaison, but I haven't done any real 'liaising' yet. Not sure if my partner Reiji has. I didn't catch your names yet?"

Names, plural. She may be including Nozomi's companion Madoka in that question.
Ezio Auditore     If it's any consolation, Ezio is at the least a polite sort. He nods, grabbing a second bottle before he gives Reiji a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "I can relate, I've had some long work myself lately." He says, before eyeing the grill himself. Mmm, delicious American hand-eaten-like-barbarians beef. /Delicious./

    "I can attest the beer is quite good, so you will be in good hands there." He says, taking another sip. "So, is it the office or the field that's been wearing you down?" He asks Reiji conversationally.
Theo Morrison Theo was hired for having a solid resume and excellent references, thank you.

Theo has done his share of people-watching and snack-eating. Kickotron and the other myr are now wandering around in a line, a group of four three-foot bird-robots marching in a row, all identical save the lead in a baseball cap. They appear to be fishing around for things to fix, and then going to it with gusto.

Peeling himself out of a lounge chair, Theo starts across the courtyard. He heads over to where Reiji and Ezio are hanging out, nodding to the two of them in turn. Reiji gets a, "'sup. Don't mean to butt in, but, uh..." Theo turns to Ezio. "Can I... talk to you about something? It's kind of..." He rolls his wrist, hunting for a word. "...sensitive. I guess."
Guest Psyber     Now with a plate of Tuna steaks, Psyber is bustling around. He leaves about half the tuna in fileted and saves it for later, heading back towards the grill, "I could maybe do some cuts if we had the rice and some wasabi. It's not that hard, but I've never done it before personally," He admits to the girl, laughing a bit.

    Another tray of cooked meat is removed from the grill, this one piled with mostly ribs and burgers. It does, however, contain a few of the much-coveted steaks that people have been drooling over on and off all night. Most of them lean towards medium rare, but if Reiji pokes around, he can find one on the rare side.

    "Alright. If it's kabobs, I'm going to need you girls to help me," Psyber says with a wide grin as he takes a couple filets off the plate and then motions to Madoka and Nozomi, "You two are going to need to take the tuna I'm cubing here," And to his credit, he's carrying on this conversation while cutting with a professional set of movements that are pretty impressive. Years of hunting monsters means he can cut things and do pretty much any other activity at the same time that doesn't require his hands, "And then put them on skewers with peppers, shrimp, and some onions." He's trying to get Madoka and Nozomi distracted by helping so they both get over the awkward teenage derp they seem to have, "Kyra, you just... uh... hand them skewers." He knows about Kyra's cooking. HE KNOWS.

    "You know..." Psyber says to the three, "Kyra's going to college in the fall, Homura's starting her second year, and there's an Arts college here in Boston that I think Madoka should look into. When Homura learns to drive, you should get a carpool thing going. You can all ride together and sing the One Direction or whatever," He notes as he starts tossing Tuna steaks on the grill. He'll be fileting salmon shortly.

    His attention goes back to Duet, "Gotcha. One employee key, one key to a bedroom. Not a big deal," Psyber says to the woman with a smile.

    One Tuna Steak gets a special treatment: Psyber wraps it in foil and pours some of his beer in before shutting it, tossing it onto the grill to let it steam that way.
Konoe Kanno      "...Huh?"

     A flat sound of confusion was uttered as Konoe listened to Xiaomu's explanation. And then she looked down at the set in her hands. "...." Silence fell as she watched the example the sage fox was giving on the subject. "So..." She put the knife in one hand, and the fork in another. "...Like this?"

     STAB.

     CRACK.

     Apparently she used too much force as the knife cracked clean in half after piercing her steak. "........." The bakeneko stared irritatedly at the broken bottom half of the knife she'd attempted to use.

     And then she set the broken thing back down, removing the upper half from her steak before proceeding to continue eating with her hands. This one was going to take some work. As she chewed, she stared at Nathan as he searched himself for any offending objects that may have been attached to his person. Where she was sitting, she couldn't see anything wrong at least. "...Awr uu ohk-" Pause. Swallow. "-Are you looking for something?" She asked, tilting her head a bit.
Nozomi Houken     Hey, at least Madoka wasn't doing it on purpose! And also isn't unapologetic about it. Those two things are quite enough to sooth Nozomi about the whole thing, and she gives a little bow of her head in reply.

    However, Nozomi has been caught staring at the fox woman. And suddenly, profusion of info! The girl jumps a tiny little jump of surprise, immediately ducking her head slightly in reflexive shyness, but being asked her name demands some sort of response. "Ah, I'm... I'm Nozomi. Nozomi Houken." Madoka is quite capable of giving her own name, and Nozomi still only knows her in passing, so she doesn't go that far.

    Though that could be blamed on the tuna being transferred to the grill. And... apparently Nozomi is going to be helping! "O-oh, right, ah... peppers, shrimp, onions..." Wait, what? "...One Direction...?" That... it sounds like some kind of band, but the look on the poor girls face says she's never heard of it.
Kay     Kay just laughs at the mention of Sir Kay. "Really? Well, it's short for something, but I never learned what. So, just Kay. No Sir or Ma'am there." She loosens up a little. "Servant... that's a little like a Familiar, from what I understand. Like Levi over there?" She nods to the earth demon that's perched nearby. "She doesn't talk much, even though she can."

    Anyway. "I don't know exactly what a Servant is, but that seems to be the thing. I'm a summoner and wanderer. I basically wander around and get into trouble. Which sounds a lot like a less directed version of him anyway."
Kaname Madoka     Full time superhero? Geez, how long has it been since she thought of it that way? At that, she can only awkwardly sway in place and nod, her eyes likely meandering to the floor in some effort to avoid further conversation about it. Kyra... Kyra seems pretty astute, so she assumes that she'll get the message. Yeah. A part of her feels bad for being so evasive about the subject at all, but she just really, really does not like to talk about this particular thing. For the longest time, she only did what she did because she didn't know what else to do or where else to go, and even now she hasn't made great strides in finding alternatives. But she should really take her own advice! The more she turns this idea around in her head, the more sad she makes herself about it. Stoppit, Madoka!

    As if to catalyze her own change in thoughts, she pats her cheeks twice. This coincides with another conversational switch back to Heliosanctus, after which she resumes her regular nods. She doesn't really wanna keep talking about how snobby those students were, either, so she may let that be another conversational dead end. As much as she agrees, and as much as she could keep agreeing, speaking negatively about others while they aren't around is something that Madoka has been taught not to do, and to feel very awkward about doing. Especially when that sort of conversation drags on, she starts to get little 'no' butterflies in her chest that help move things along. So instead of agreeing to Kyra's agreement, she just offers: "It was kind of nice, though, being in an atmosphere like that. Even if they weren't that nice, it seemed like being there might be sort of personally rewarding to go to school there. I mean, I used to love seeing my teachers smile, and if I could do that with magic, it would be a lot nicer than what I usually do with it." Uh-oh. Accidentally trailing back to the other thing again.

    Though Kyra's description of how one can eat barbecue with forks and knives is, unsurprisingly, an incredibly engrossing subject for her. She has only a few seconds to be appalled by the fact that 'most' people apparently do eat this stuff with their hands before she becomes entirely lost in imagining the process Kyra describes. She nods along with her descriptions, keeping her eyes glued on that plateful of ribs all the while, maybe licking her lips a little. I mean, okay, it does /look/ kind of gross, but but... sometimes things that are covered in that much sauce are super good! She'll just have to try and see. And, again, it at least -smells- like heaven on Earth, and she's never been very discriminatory in affairs of culinary delight.

    Oh, and regarding the chocolate, she greedily snatches one as soon as Kyra holds the plate out to her. She undoes the wrapper like someone who hasn't eaten in a whole decade, then proceeds to take the most hilariously petite bite imaginable. She allows her wide smile and rosy cheeks to serve as a thank you for Kyra since, of course, it's impolite to talk with your mouth full.

    Needless to say, she's entirely forgotten about finding a seat. Kyra may have to drag her.

    ... orrrr maybe not. She seems to have been drafted into the monolithic tuna operation, and so help her, she will not disappoint! She responds to Psyber's request with an immediate series of nods. "Okay! I'll get the peppers and the onions!" Looking to Nozomi, she adds, "Would you mind getting the shrimp for us? I'm gueessiiinngg that the veggies are in the same place, so the shrimp are probably somewhere else." As for the skewers? She'll leave Kyra to that. So for now she departs with a single, happy nod more, skipping her way over to wherever Psyber usually keeps his veggies. How would she know where? Because she has been WATCHING. Never underestimate her attentiveness in that vein, ever.
Kyra Hyral     "Ah. Yeah, at least they were enjoying the place." Kyra says, shrugging. She could go on about how uncomfortable the place was to her but it doesn't seem like Madoka's too interested in keeping that up either. Tricky. Fortunately, there is a distraction or two. Such as 'how to eat ribs with your hands' and 'chocolate' and...

    "Help cooking?" Kyra says, suddenly very eager as she licks barbeque sauce off of her hands. She's curious, would Psyber actually-ah. Handing skewers. Yes. Psyber does know. "Sure, I can do that. Lemme go grab a napkin real fast." She sets her plate aside and scoots over to the food table briefly, coming back with a napkin and...more chocolates.

    Kyra makes a face. "Ugh, I've listened to those One Direction guys. Not impressed. I think they autotune. Plus they don't have nearly enough zippers and belts to be a /real/ boy band." With that random insight into Galiandan boy bands delivered, she wipes the barbeque sauce off of her face. "My current non-dorm apartment is in Nojrun. If that's not too out of the way for Homura, I'd be alright with carpooling." She takes up the skewers and starts passing them over. Madoka and Nozomi will still need to be vigilant about them because she passes one over with one of Bertram's chocolates impaled on it. "Oh yeah, and they'll accept Miskatonic University course credits at Alexander Academy. I went and checked."
Mordred     "Yeah I guess that was his job definition too. Uh... without the magic stuff. Sir Kay had weird powers he talked about all the time but nothing really concrete like summoning stuff." A cursory glance towards Kay's 'familiar', as Mordred quickly gauges the quality of it by eye alone. "Dunno if I'd say it's the same thing. You from Earth? This'll be damn easier to explain if you are."

    Well, either way...

    "S'more like... over the course of history, history ends up writing about big, impressive heroes. Maybe they end up in fiction, maybe in actual history books, but the important part is, most of 'em really did exist to inspire the legends in the first place. So, when we died, we just kind of... went to a special afterlife. For heroes. And using really powerful ritual magic, humans that are still alive, even a long time in the future, can summon us from there, and stuff us in magical bodies."

    One can tell her vocabulary is very simplified, not to account for Kay, but because she isn't a magician herself. She's a Saber. She swords shit. That's the extent of her knowledge. "My master got ahold of an artifact that... 'belonged' to me in life. She used it to summon a Servant, and I came out. Normally Servants get summoned to fight to the death over the Holy Grail and the last one standing gets a free wish. Ours is stalled though. Grail's gone missing, how about that? So, years later, and the summoning phase isn't even over yet. Ain't no fighting going on."

    Mordred chomps on a hot dog, speaking with her mouth full. "By the way, calling a Servant a familiar is super offendin'. That's like calling a war veteran just a soldier." She shrugs it off though, because FOOD. "Why'd'ya need to know?"
Guest Psyber     Psyber twirls the knife in his hand a bit and then starts unloading more stuff from the grill while the tuna sears and the girls work on kabobs. First order of business: Feed Haruno, she's been grumpy about food. That's why the chicken quarter comes off the grill and is delivered to her on a plate, "Here. There's fish coming too," He notes hastily as he drops it off. He takes his cookouts pretty seriously, so his bustling is largely due to wanting to make sure everyone can eat plenty.

    "By the way! If anyone wants to take home leftovers, you can. You're welcome to," Psyber notes aloud as he walks back to his grill, "Alright, salmon. Lemme see what we've got here," Psyber says as he looks at the salmon in front of him and thinks. He takes a batch of the honey-soy rib glaze and starts to mix that up again. As he does so, wisking a bowl, he chats to Kyra, "I was never much of a new music fan myself. Classic rock, fifties to late seventies. That's the sweet spot." He comments before setting the bowl down. Just like with the tuna, his fileting is fast and precise.

    "Geez Kongou," He notes, noticing the bucket of shrimp nearby and the clams, "You really went all out with the seafood. This is kinda nuts, I feel like if Mordred weren't here I could start an entire second barbecue," He muses as he starts cutting the salmon into filets. He starts wiping his hands with a towel and then takes a ball cap out of his back pocket, putting it on his head to keep the sweat out of his face.
Reiji Arisu "Just paperwork," Reiji replies to the assassin as Psyber refills THE MEAT TABLE. "It's what it is. Sometimes you just need to... Work, I suppse." Reiji takes a moment to shovel a steak onto his plate, along with a heaping helping full of fries. He may not have had much to eat over lunch in anticipation of the night's festivities.

    "I'll grab something to drink quick, then," he nods, and does exactly that as Theo ANNOUNCES HIS INTENTIONS. The two men get a quick, curious glance, before the exorcist heaves a slight shrug, "I'll let you two talk. I should get some of this meat in me."

Delicious, delicious meat.

    Reiji finds his way over towards... XIAOMU'S TABLE, of course. She and Nate and Konoe are all there, so it's probably not a bad place to sit. Except that Konoe is apparenly learning how to eat with plasticware. "I haven't used all the rice just yet," he asides to the fox before sinking into one of the chairs. A large trio of fries vanishes into his mouth before he continues, "Why, what's up?"
Kaname Madoka     It doesn't take Madoka too terribly long to return with a plateful of peppers and onions, as requested, in addition to a selection of seasonings (garlic and wine is probably among them, because of course those would be a few of the only English words she can read). She sets all of these at a convenient distance from Psyber before looking to Kyra and declaring, bold as you please, "Hikawa Kiyoshi -is- the best boy band, but I... don't really know what One Direction is either." She sticks out her tongue just a teensy bit, playfully, giving Nozomi a sort of 'I have no idea what they're going on about either' look of understanding, just to provide what help she can.

    Oh, and as for carpooling? "Ehehe... I dunno if I would be good enough to get into an art academy for real, but if I am, then I would really like that. Going to school with Homura again would be a lot of fun! Even if we're... just going to school together instead of -going- to school together." Wow, the wording on that got a bit awkward. Shrug!
Ezio Auditore DELICIOUS MEAT INDEED, as Ezio is quick to join Reiji in grabbing some steak first. Aumf nomf nomf. "That indeed. If my father were still alive I'm sure he'd be amused at my current 'official' job, more or less." He says with a wistful look for a second.

    As Theo arrives, Ezio glances back at Reiji for a second between bites of steak, then he swallows before nodding. "Of course, what is troubling you, Mr. Morrison?" He asks, all politelike even as he snags some fries.

    He doesn't remember much interaction with Theo befgore, but if the lad is approaching Ezio Auditore for something it must be serious indeed.
Kay     "Eh... not an Earth like most, but close enough," Kay offers. And when the explanation tumbles out, she seems to follow it well enough anyway! She's nodding her head at least... and ends with a light laugh.

    "Sorry, I didn't mean any offense! A Familiar in my world is pretty strong. Levi there is a demon that's agreed to be bound to me." She jerks her thumb to Levi, who is just staring back. Levi /is/ pretty strong though... about on par with an 'average' Servant. "There are nastier things, but none that work with a summoner like me. Most demons are a fair bit weaker than her."

    She takes a bite of her burger, and then realizes there was a question there. "Nothing really. Just curious. When you said Servant, I figured it'd be something I could understand. If we could do something like that, the war we're fighting might go a little easier. Sounds like you have some pretty specific requirements though. Contagions and stuff."
Nozomi Houken     Oh, hey, stuff with which to work on kabobs. Nozomi quickly picks up the shrimp as asked, and is now working quickly and smoothly; she's surprisingly dextrous with her hands, and actually pretty good at making a kabob that /looks/ delicious, once she's figured out how she wants to lay it out. To those who know her fairly well, it might not be too much of a surprise. She's a dedicated model builder as a hobby. While she works, she pauses to look up at Madoka and... is that a faint, tiny smile? It very well may be. Bonding over cultural confusion is still bonding.
Kongou     In between spearing cubes of fishmeat and shrimp and vegetables, Kongou raises a hand to tap herself on the head, sticking out her tongue playfully, "I'm not a very good cargo ship~! I always overdo it, you know that!" She turns, placing two fistfulls of kebabs in Hayashimo's hands, the smaller of the two shipgirls dutifully trots them over to set them out on the grill to cook.

    "Some of the girls at Hikari like to sing. Others sing but don't like to do it in front of others~." Pausing, she clenches a fist and glowers to the sky, "Some day I will find the source of that angelic voice in the night that spirited away when I called out!" Ran away? Must not be Naka.

    "...It's not me," Hayashimo mutters, "...I only recite haiku ...in the dark." The smaller girl turns slightly in place, casting a one-eyed gaze across the mass of meats, poultry, and seafood. "...Salmon steaks. ...If I had thought to, I would have brought rice." Turning more, she bows slightly, "...I'm sorry."
Kyra Hyral     "Ahh, rock, not bad. I can't say it's my favorite. Though you already know what my favorite is so I'm clearly pretty biased!" Kyra answers Psyber cheerfully, all too happy to not agree with his music tastes. "Some new stuff is good. For sampling. Hehehe." she passes over more skewers. These do not have chocolates on them.

    "I haven't heard of Hikawa Kiyoshi either." she actually pauses for a moment to pull out her phone so she can look this up.
Xiaomu "Glad you could join us, Reiji," Xiaomu greets her partner with a teasing grin. And Nozomi and Madoka seem to be otherwise-occupied, but at least she got a name off of one of them. "Anyway, Psyber said something about sushi, so if the leftover rice is handy I thought I'd let him know ..."

On which note. "Hey Psyber? If you need some vinegar rice, Reiji or I can dash up and grab what's left from the inarizushi!" Yes, they did their cooking (such as it was) in the Heaven or Hell kitchen. You didn't expect either of them to tote platters all the way from their world's Tokyo, through warpgates and whatnot, to get here, did you?

And then the sage fox offers more of her wisdom to Konoe: "Yeah, plastic flatware isn't that good for steak ... you have to be gentle with it. Metal would be better, but I guess Psyber didn't want anyone walking off with his good silver."
Theo Morrison Theo raises a hand in a quick wave in Reiji bails. He's a little relieved at it. He's not sure if this is the kind of thing he'd really talk about with a bunch of other people around, but Ezio seems like he's kind of the go-to guy for this. "Uh... Theo's fine, if you don't mind." He hooks a thumb on his pants pocket, chewing over what he wants to say.

"I was hoping to talk to you about a friend of mine. She, um... kind of crossed a line, I think, and I get the impression she's in with you guys. I mean, I've seen the, uh, the hood, and something about a Brotherhood...?" He mimes pulling a hood up, tracing the outline of a beaklike rim used in true Assassin tradition.
Kaname Madoka     "Just look up 'Prince of Enka' if you can't spell his name." Madoka couldn't help but notice as Kyra whipped out her phone, after all. "He'll be the first result~." She ties her hands behind her back and rocks a little in place.

    Never before has she looked so pleased with herself in the presence of others.
Ezio Auditore     Munch munch munch. Ezio seems to muse over this, before without a further second pauses and looks at Theo intently. "I see," He says, chewing both this information AND the delicious steak. "Can you give a description? I know a few Multiversal Elites were recruited by Altair, my predecessor to Mentorhood, but my memory fails me unless..."

    Wait. He can't mean-

    Holy shit. Ezio suddenly gets a little grin, proud of what's finally been accomplished. "Actually. I think I know exactly who you're talking about. I'll discuss it with her soon, do not worry." He pats Theo on the arm, before nabbing a few fries to munch.
Mordred     "Why? Your world got super powerful heroes you'd like to bring back to fight yer wars for you?" Mordred questions, before explaining (this time briefly, for real): "As for specific, eh. Modern magi gotta use this super rare ritual to summon Servants because power is diluted across the world. If you had some super powerful sorcerer from when power was still found only in a handful o' people, they could probably summon a Servant without needing the Holy Grail ritual at all. They'd just need a catalyst to summon the right Servant, and enough power to keep it fed."

    Another glance at Levi. "Yeah, I guess it's close enough then. Just a wording thing. In the world Servants are from familiars are just... y'know. Pets. Machines. Sentries. I guess some really rare ones might be full-fledged people but that'd be rare."
Kyra Hyral     "Oh, thanks, that helps a lot. I definitely wasn't getting the spelling right on that one." Kyra murmurs, poking at her phone a little bit more. A few moments later, she digs into her hoodie and pulls out the expensive-looking headphones that were sitting around her neck. She plugs them into her phone.
Guest Psyber     "Sure, Xiaomu. You can go ahead and get the rice," Psyber replies, starting to wipe his hands off a fresh towel, "Grab some wasabi too," He notes, starting to mill around. He's mostly cleaning off his hands at the moment, "Kongou, you and the girls can take over the grill for a while, just be sure to turn stuff often and take it off when you can," Psyber comments as he works at wiping his hands and getting some good pieces of both salmon and tuna for when the rice arrives.

    He's NOT a Sushi chef, but he knows the basics and is able to make due while he waits. He's carefully slicing up the fish at an angle, though, trying to trim it into clean slices while he waits.
Konoe Kanno      "This is annoying. I'd rather just eat with my hands." Konoe grumbled, her ears flattening against her head in the process. She and plastic cutlery were already on the long road of rivalry. Alas. She had devoured what was left of her steak and sighed in satisfaction after. She'd pat her stomach, but her hands were a mess.

     Oh well, there was an easy way to solve this problem.

     "Ahhhh..." Stretching her arms above her head, the bakeneko yawned openly for a moment, and then closed her eyes. In the blink of an eye, where there was a person, there was suddenly a cat. All trace of the person sitting there previously had vanished. That cat, brown furred and twin tailed, hopped onto the table and then leapt into Xiaomu's lap, curling up to nap.

     ...Once a cat, always a cat.
Reiji Arisu "Sushi, huh?" Reiji murmurs, rubbing at his chin. That... Would be pretty good, honestly. He hasn't had any in a little while. Maybe after he's done with the steak. "Yeah, we should have enough leftover to make some. I put it in the fridge, in one of those keep-fresh bags." Because dry rice is kind of terrible, honestly.

Like eating popcorn seeds.

And then there's a... Not even a puff. More like a flicker of reality or something, and Konoe has turned into a cat and claimed Xiaomu's lap for herself. Reiji pauses, and then stares forlornly at his steak. "...Should I head up and grab the rice, then?"
Theo Morrison Theo looks like he's about to offer a description (the words 'wears weird cosplay' was going to come up) when Ezio seems to make a leap in logic himself. He falters for a second, but recovers. This guy is some kind of ridiculous killing machine with an Italian accent, yeah, but Theo has straight-up had an angel shiv an eldritch horror-bot with a possessed knife so a terror-demon could leap out and maul someone. He doesn't need to worry about disapproval from differing opinions in this case.

"Look, I think you're taking my meaning in the wrong way," Theo says. "She -- Sakura -- she /killed/ a guy. It was a heated moment, and he was the definition of scum, yeah, but that doesn't mean she had the right to make that choice on a whim. And the fact that she seemed to think it was a grand gesture, that she /thought/ about it and /decided/ that --"

Theo takes a breath. His hands balled into fists at some point. "All I'm saying is, that... that doesn't seem right to me."
Ayako Hasekawa     "Aahh..." Ayako sinks further and further into the cooler as time goes on. Currently, only her amber eyes are above the level of the ice-which has stayed ice all this time. Summer is always hard on Ayako, and so for her, there's nothing wrong with staying in the cooler and keeping all the drinks cold. It's not like she eats either!

    Whenever someone comes to get a drink, a hand comes out of the ice and cheerfully offers the drink they were about to get. Nevermind that there are multiple coolers and Ayako seems to only be in one of them.
Xiaomu Xiaomu isn't even done eating when she suddenly has a cat in her lap. A cat who happens to be her co-worker, yet. That's slightly awkward.

She continues eating for a few moments, finishing off her steak (and slipping another bite or so to Konoe, if she appreciates meat that's been cooked thoroughly enough for seasonings to add flavor). "Yeah, you might wanna go grab the rice, if Psyber can still use it," she comments to her partner.

And now that she only really needs one hand to eat with, she can start petting Konoe with her free hand.
Kay     "We have legends, of course. Times of demons and wizards and knights and dragons..." Kay stops to think. "No dragons these days though. Not real ones. Plenty of wyverns though." She shakes her head and shrugs, "Well... maybe there's something to that. Magic is kind of new in my world, maybe we just haven't found a way to do what you're talking about."

    Kay jerks a thumb back toward Levi. "Levi's a person. So are most of my summons, sort of. She's just special. Er... anyway, I guess I'll let you be, but if you're interested I could take you around my world sometime. Plenty of stuff to do there if you're itching for a fight."
Ezio Auditore     Were Ezio capable of hearing thoughts, he'd be awful flattered and amused by the Ridiculous Italian Murder Machine comment. Of course, he may be very sharp but he's not psychic. In any case, he doesn't seem to challenge anything Theo says. Everything is permitted, after all. In fact

    "I'm going to tell you something I once learned when I was barely your age, my friend." He puts a hand on Theo's shoulder. "Nothing is True. Now, in this case, it is to mean that there isn't simply /one/ definition of right and wrong." He says cooly. "Whether it is or isn't is up to you, I will never begrudge that, however, you must understand...she had been training under a man far colder than I. Do not mistake that. Were I Altair, I would not be having this discussion with you."

    "However, I understand your concern perfectly. You needn't worry further, I intend on tempering that urge within the girl. Sakura deserves a chance to live a normal life, but it is her choice whether or not she follows the Order's teachings." He honestly has no idea why Theo is going up to him regarding this. Ezio's just the guy at the door with this sort of thing.
Mordred     "Yeah I get ya," Mordred answers, before saying, "Pretty sure it only works on our world 'cuz we have the Throne of Heroes collectin' dead heroes. Then again, I've met at least two really powerful necromancers who could bring the dead back, so. Y'know. Always another way to get what y'want out there. Magic, it just ain't my thing. I sword things."

    Then to the invitation, she grins. "Itchin' for a fight is my default state of being. Might take you up on that sometime."
Konoe Kanno      Konoe refuses the additional food, turning her head away, but doesn't seem to be averse to petting. A low purr soon sounds from her, and she doesn't bother to move at all. She was quite done today. She'd eaten enough to satisfy her, and she stayed in humanoid form long enough to talk to a few people.

     That was a new record for her, quite frankly.
Reiji Arisu Reiji siiiighs at his steak. So juicy, cooked just perfectly. But... Duty calls, and so he must answer. The exorcist lifts his plate and trudges back into the offices to fetch that rice. Cats, why must they occupy the laps of people who have already eaten, to leave those who still hunger to toil longer than they aught to?

Because they're mean, that's why!!
Theo Morrison Well, Theo doesn't know anyone else with a hood like that and rather well-stated fighting prowess. He figured he'd gamble on there being a uniform for whoever it is Ezio is the doorman for. It's worked out so far.

Theo glances at the hand. He shrugs that shoulder, brushing it off with a free hand. "If 'nothing is true,' then neither is your argument," Theo counters with a distinct hint of irritation. "There's a certain morality inherent in human beings that makes us work together in times of crisis and peace. Sometimes people react differently, but those're outliers instead of the norm. Because of that /very thing/, /every/ life is important."

"And that means," Theo says flatly, "that it isn't up to you people to decide that sometimes," he shrugs in a deliberately exaggerated manner, his entire attitude turning parodic, "lives are pretty much chump change, y'know? No big deal. Just one guy. Who's gonna miss him?"

Theo's demeanor goes right back to serious and, now, honestly bothered. He's clearly speaking past it rather than letting his unease overtake him, or trying to, anyway. "She's a kid. She must've been even /younger/ when this colder guy, this 'Altair' asshat, decided he needed to teach her how to /kill/. In what way is that, is training /child soldiers/ even /remotely/ okay?!" His temper's up. "This isn't the fucking dark ages! She isn't going to be abducted by some aristocrat tomorrow and need to know how to cut his throat in the night!"

It's about this time that he realizes that he's shaking. Theo half-turns away from Ezio. "Maybe /now/ you understand my concern perfectly. And maybe you tell this Altair guy that if he shows his face around here, I've got an eight-foot friend made of thorns and anger that's gonna rearrange it. But hey!" He throws his hands in the air and starts to storm off. "Nothing is true, right? Maybe I'll throw him a fucking /tea party/ instead! Who knows!!"

Ezio is probably /slightly/ confused right about now. Theo does not have the wherewithal to figure out of he should be heaping vaguely-aimed fury at this Italian guy or not, and it apparently means he isn't in the mood to try and explain it more calmly.

At least the steak's good.
Ezio Auditore     Ezio hasn't gotten this for the first time. No, he's used to having been shouted at by hiw own mother regarding the matter, or Leonardo chewing him out for a hot-headed decision, or even the times he and Corvo had conversed.

    This is definitely the first time he's been castigated over the whole assassin thing publically.

    A deep sigh escapes Ezio, and he just has a final swig of his beer before he shoves it to Theo, the bottle still half-full. "You are clearly in no condition to have this discussion. I will any day any place have this with you, but only with under much more peaceful pretenses. I will not be harassed for things that were not at all my decision to make, as this was. I may take responsibility for Sakura's training, but do not mistake my calm demeanor for passivity, Theo."

    Munch. Munch. Narrowing his eyes, Ezio makes it clear he is /not/ the person to verbally assault, whether or not he is in the wrong. He has to admire Theo's nerve for speaking his mind, but all the same, the Mentor's blood runs hot for a brief moment. It's very faint, however, but Ezio shoots Theo a look of daggers. 'Boy, don't you dare bring this up right now.' There is no backing down, no meek apology. Ezio is not that kind of man.