Arielle looks in awe and disbelief at the amount of food that Ephebe and her mom can eat.
"And I thought I had a big appetite...."
"Yeah.." Canis says, shaking his head. "I've got a wolfish appetite and I don't think there's anyway I could keep up!"
"I'm not even sure where it's all going..." she added in horrified fascination.
Tam chuckles at the stunned, slack-jawed teenagers.
"Looks like we're drawing a crowd again. Whoops - DIBS!" he shouts as he risks life and limb to grab a plate of ribs before his wife can get to them. He quickly takes a rack and puts it on a vacant plate, then sets it on the ground next to Rune.
"Better eat it quick, boy - they're not taking any prisoners tonight." ;)
Tam chuckles at the stunned, slack-jawed teenagers.
"Looks like we're drawing a crowd again. Whoops - DIBS!" he shouts as he risks life and limb to grab a plate of ribs before his wife can get to them. He quickly takes a rack and puts it on a vacant plate, then sets it on the ground next to Rune.
"Better eat it quick, boy - they're not taking any prisoners tonight." ;)
Rune gives an affirmative 'woof' and proceeds to make the ribs disappear. :)
"They eat like my dad's family drinks," she whispered to Canis.
"I'm pretty sure your dad can't drink like that..."
"I'm pretty sure your dad can't drink like that..."
"Well, not since he started exploring his human side....but Uncle Callous....maybe not.....that's just....so you said something about reunions?"
"Um, yeah.. I tried to get a hold of all our friends. They should be around here somewhere. Probably wondering where all the food's going..."
She laughed.
"Well, I'm sure Rosie is making more as fast as she possibly can. Hopefully her circuits can hold up against this."
[We are at DEFCOOK One..........I repeat, we are at DEFCOOK One]
Ephebe seemed unusually quiet during dinner. She finally couldn't take it any more and blurted out what was on her mind.
"Do I have to go back to Uncle Ryo's school?" she asked plaintively.
"Yes." How Ryo got a seat at the table and a full plate of food without anyone noticing is a mystery that shall forever be unsolved... "Pass the mashed potatoes please."
Ephebe seemed unusually quiet during dinner. She finally couldn't take it any more and blurted out what was on her mind.
"Do I have to go back to Uncle Ryo's school?" she asked plaintively.
"Why - what's wrong?" Tam asks, shooting Ryo a sideways glance as about a quarter of the mashed potatoes heading his way actually make it past the ladies to his plate.
"It's...look, I don't mind staying at Uncle Ryo's house and all, but school.....isn't going very well for me."
She grimaced and pushed the food around on her plate, appetite suddenly gone.
"Even Taron's made more friends than I have. Even when I can remember not to peek into next week I just don't relate. And every time I turn around that weird kid is watching me like he thinks I'm gonna go crazy and attack something."
"Ah, well, that's a bit different. I thought perhaps you didn't want to go because you believe Taron and Kam no longer had to go, which they do. Which kid is watching you?"
"Ah, well, that's a bit different. I thought perhaps you didn't want to go because you believe Taron and Kam no longer had to go, which they do. Which kid is watching you?"
"I don't know his name. He takes off every time I try to talk to him, or even acknowledge his existence."
"Which is still better than I get from most of the others."
"I know you mean well, Uncle Ryo, but do you have any idea what it's like to be singled out as too freaky at a school for freaks? Yeah, I know, poor choice of words."
Her shoulders slumped.
"Can I at least get a different roommate?"
"I don't see why not. The school has as many rooms as needed after all, and you could always bunk with you youngest brother. Jiminy's roommates keep moving into other rooms for some reason..."
"So, does he just look away when he's pretending you don't exist?"
"I don't see why not. The school has as many rooms as needed after all, and you could always bunk with you youngest brother. Jiminy's roommates keep moving into other rooms for some reason..."
"So, does he just look away when he's pretending you don't exist?"
"Yeah, Jimmy's popular, but not to live with. At least if I were rooming with him people might say hi to me once in a while," she said, brightening a little.
"You mean the guy who's following me? No, it's not the kind of following you do when you secretly like someone. I mean, he's following me, like he thinks I'm a threat. I catch him glaring at me at least a couple times a day, and there are a few more when I feel like I'm being watched. But he's got a real talent for disappearing because every time I try to catch him and ask him what's up he just isn't there. I feel like I'm losing my mind."
"I don't see why not. The school has as many rooms as needed after all, and you could always bunk with you youngest brother. Jiminy's roommates keep moving into other rooms for some reason..."
"So, does he just look away when he's pretending you don't exist?"
"Yeah, Jimmy's popular, but not to live with. At least if I were rooming with him people might say hi to me once in a while," she said, brightening a little.
"You mean the guy who's following me? No, it's not the kind of following you do when you secretly like someone. I mean, he's following me, like he thinks I'm a threat. I catch him glaring at me at least a couple times a day, and there are a few more when I feel like I'm being watched. But he's got a real talent for disappearing because every time I try to catch him and ask him what's up he just isn't there. I feel like I'm losing my mind."
Tam's eyes narrow a bit.
"Could this guy be yet another time-traveller? Somebody who got caught in the crossfire of everything we've had to do with the demon? That could generate a powerful hate in someone. Kind of like stalking someone's daughter could...."
She shuddered.
"I don't know. It seems likely. Otherwise how is he always getting away from me? All I know is he has the most horrible eyes, cold and black, no whites at all. Not even any reflected light. Just black."
"Hm.. completely black eyes..."
"I can look into it. If he's registered in the student files and I can give you a name to work with. For investigation purposes only Tamrin. If he does something drastic the school itself will step in until one of us can get there."
"The eyes though.. I'll have to do a pretty wide search. There are several things that could do that. Two of which none of us will like..."
"Thanks, Uncle Ryo. But don't put too much faith in the school's defenses. Not that I'm condoning any drastic action from you either, Daddy," she added hastily. "Look, maybe it will help if I try to spend more time around other people. I'll change rooms and at least make another effort even if that does mean I get to be Jimmy's tag-along sister," she added with a grimace.
Ephebe was surprised by the sudden hug from her mom.
"I'm sorry it's been rough, sweetie. I know it's been a lot of pressure, with the time demon and all, but that's over now, and maybe without that hanging over your head you can have a real chance to start over. You're not responsible for the whole world you know," she added giving her daughter a brief kiss on the forehead before sliding back to her seat and going back to her dinner.
"That's grown-up code for go away for a few minutes so we can talk about how to annihilate the problem isn't it?"
"She's right, you know" Tam says to his daughter with a warm smile. "It's high time you got to try out 'normal' for a while. And if anybody or anything tries to get in the way of you doing that....well, they won't."
;P
"You always were a perceptive child. Didn't make a word of it less true, but yes, essentially. I think maybe this would be a good time to go dance or say hello to friends or something."
She smiled and patted her daughter on the hand.
"This seems like a good place to practice normal for a bit before heading back to the school anyways."
He looks around at the myriad beings present at the Club, then chuckles.
"Yeah - about as normal as it comes without being boring." :)
"I think it's a bit more normal than being a lunch guest for a beholder on a completely different planet..." Ryo mumbles under his breath.
"Well, about as normal as it gets for us anyways," Ephebe said standing up from the table right before her wrist was grabbed by a waitress running past the table at full tilt and she was pulled along.
"You know what you're doing right?" a very distraught Danae asked, dragging Ephebe along with her as she ran for her life.
"What exactly is the right protocol for appeasing an angry devil after kind of accidentally picking it's pocket?"
"How do you accidentally pick a pocket?" she said, trying to keep up as an ominous crashing increased behind them.
Danae shrugged as she dodged customers and leaped over a small table, dragging Ephebe behind her.
"Same way he accidentally forgot to pay his bill."
Irv gets up and walks over to the other table, "Excuse me, I am Irv, surveyor for land, and part time time storm chaser, Did you mention Time travel? and if you did, I have surreal estate here in my bag that may interest you, right now my assistant and I have been using it as extra dimensional storage space and trash compactor. As long as what ever put in it has some kind of anchor to this side of it, we can pull on its cord and get it back, if a small enough being goes through, and can see its way back, it can come back on its own; if the line of sight or the physical connection is lost, the item or being is lost. A time storm separated my crew and I from each other, I managed to catch part of it in the containment satchel the institute gave me, Pedro was able to say with me because he climbed in before the storm hit.
I have no clue how to get back where were, no idea where we are, but because we have literally tons of cool stuff and our skills and knowledge, as they exist, to barter with, I don't really care, but it might be nice to go back to my own time, because I feel like an outsider here, and I might be making a botchery other people's time just by wasting it, I'll leave you do your dinner and I'll go back to my Irish Highball, Thank you for listening.
Oh, and just if you do decide to go poking around in there, do NOT startle Pedro Rattus Sapiens, it is the quickest way to the hospital. I can also tell you this, from what Pedro tells me, going through the storm seems to enter some world named Walmart.
Quirks an eyebrow.
"The worst part is that most of that would probably make sense to EPhebe if she weren't being dragged about by that other young girl...do you think we should step in or let her sort it out for herself?"
"Oh, never mind," she said, as Ephebe time-stopped the angry pursuer long enough for security to catch up. "It seems to be under control now."
She turned to Ryo. "Do you think Ephebe's stalker is related to the other attacks, or is this a separate issue?"
Ephebe stopped to catch her breath as she watched the security guards dragging away the irate devil.
"So, how much trouble are you gonna be in for this?"
Danae winced as she looked at the mess, broken dishes, and broken tables and chairs that littered the club.
"So, so, so much."
"Right. So, let's see what we can do about that, huh?"
Many of the tables and dishes began to repair themselves, but not in the normal way of mending. In fact, the whole scene was rewinding. Rewinding back about five minutes in fact. Danae was just about to pick the devil's pocket. Ephebe shoved Danae towards her past self.
"This time just call security to start with instead of trying to solve it yourself."
And she stepped back into the present.
A bewildered Danae came wandering towards Ephebe as a protesting devil was being escorted off the premises by security.
"How did you do that?" she demanded.
Ephebe shrugged.
"It's a talent."
She turned to Ryo. "Do you think Ephebe's stalker is related to the other attacks, or is this a separate issue?"
"The attacks on the students?" He replies "It's possible. The fact a 'monster' behind the attacks means this boy may be a sha[eshifter of some sort. I don't think there have been any incidents for a while now though."
She turned to Ryo. "Do you think Ephebe's stalker is related to the other attacks, or is this a separate issue?""The attacks on the students?" He replies "It's possible. The fact a 'monster' behind the attacks means this boy may be a sha[eshifter of some sort. I don't think there have been any incidents for a while now though."
"Well, let's hope it continues that way. For all we know they could be totally unrelated, but we should at least consider the possibility that they're not."
"I think maybe this stalker is doing more than just observing. I don't know if you've noticed, but she's been having a lot of issues with self confidence lately. Perhaps some sort of mood-affecting aura? It would be a very effective way of wearing down an opponent before an attack."
"Hm... lack eyes and possibly an empath? I hate to say, but I may have inadvertantly let a Hunter into the school by mistake. They were supposed to have died out completely in their war with your ancestors, so I admit my screening process was.. lacking."
She shuddered.
"My mother slaughtered the last of them, and their pawns, to the best of her knowledge. But Ephebe's travels through time may have attracted their attention, and given them the knowledge they needed to follow. If even one Hunter survives all of the children are in danger."
"If I didn't notice it when he was first enrolled, it's possible he has no training at all and may not even know what he is. That increases our chances of dealing with this in a peaceful way, or at least a non-peaceful one that does't last more than a minute."
He takes a large gulp of his drink before continuing.
"Are biggest problem is his empathy. He could sap our will to do anything about him..."
"If he knows how to use it. This kid has been stalking Ephebe for some time now, and she's still holding up. But you can see she's close to cracking. If he hasn't got full control of his abilities then the empathy isn't currently a problem. If he has learned to control it though, then we're in trouble. Best I can do is develop something to cause psychic interference, keep our heads clear. But of course that takes time, the one thing we can't afford. I don't like that he's targeting Ephebe first. It shows appallingly good strategy."
"Maybe not strategy. Think about it, James is usually with a large group of students much like himself and Taron(until recently) avoided bringing attention to himself. Ephebe just stood out more than the others."
"I can run interference. Disruption's not easy for me, but I can still do it for a while."