Zachary, Justin, and Levi share a meal

Characters in this scene: Zachary, Justin, Levi

Setting Location: Sanctuary

Swaygze07

"Got it!" Zachary calls from his position further into the Main Lounge, near a series of tables placed by each other. "There's a whole bunch of ports in here!" He whoops and pumps his fist into the air. For a moment, he had been worried that this trip to Sanctuary would be more like Purgatory instead of a safe haven. Zachary has experience going without consistent internet before, but never in a place this fancy. "I think I can set my laptop down here to play," he tells Justin. "It won't be ideal, but at least the connection will be better than in my room."

Sage (Inkstainer)

"Great - I'm glad you found it! Although, wouldn't you be bothered by people walking past? There are a few other people staying here right now, so..." He shrugs. "Maybe it's just projection and *I'm* the one who hates people looking over my shoulder."

Swaygze07

"If other people want to watch me absolutely destroy my enemies, then I'm perfectly good with that," Zachary says with a grin. "Anyways, thanks for helping me with this. I didn't think it would take that long. Is there anything else that we're supposed to do for the official Sanctuary welcoming after this?"

Sage (Inkstainer)

Justin matches Zachary's grin and nods. "Technically yes - we need to have a drink or meal together, after which you might owe me a story from the outside world. Here, let me show you where the cafeteria is." The cafeteria is not far - just past the elevators and down the hall. It's basically deserted at this hour, but Justin still looks around before sitting at a corner booth. "If you aren't hungry, there's also a bar upstairs."

Swaygze07

Zachary takes a seat next to Justin. "No, actually, I should eat. Is there a menu or something similar here?"

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

It's around now that Levi walks into the cafeteria, having rested after her workout, cleaned up, and changed into more casual clothing - in this case, a navy blouse with a floral pattern in yellow and a triangular cutout on the upper back, as well as a pair of black leggings that have clearly seen some use, judging by the many holes dotted across their surface. It looks around for a table to sit at, hemming and hawing for what seems like longer than the nearly-empty cafeteria merits, before spotting Zachary and Justin at their corner table and jogging over. "Heya, guys! Mind if we join you for dinner? We do still have to do the whole 'breaking bread' thing, after all."

Sage (Inkstainer)

Seeing Levi, Justin gives a little wave and scoots over to make room for her across the table from Zachary, so that he's between them. "Hi Levi, take a seat. That's what Zachary and I are doing, too." "So, what usually happens is -" A homunculus wearing a waiter's outfit arrives. *It's not too different from Justin's suit aside from the color and Justin's lack of tie.* "I'll have an ice water with lemon," Justin orders before glancing back at the others.

Swaygze07

Zachary also tries to scoot in to make room for Levi, colliding awkwardly into Justin. His cheeks flare red. "Didn't mean to do that," he mutters. More loudly, he says, "Do you have boba here? Milk tea with boba inside?"

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

Levi's mask doesn't make it especially obvious, but she bites back a smile at Zachary's minor blunder. It takes a seat next to Justin and says to the waiter, "If you've got boba, we'd like a Thai tea with boba, please."

Sage (Inkstainer)

"It's okay," Justin mutters back, entirely drowned out by Zachary's drink order. The waiter nods at the two of them in turn, then walks back into the kitchen area, returning in a minute with a tray of drinks.

Swaygze07

"I mean, I don't want to give you the wrong idea --" Zachary can't figure out exactly how to word it, and gives up.

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

Levi's eyebrows raise at the boys' exchange, but she elects not to comment, and instead sips at her Thai tea, giving a satisfied sigh. "Gods, it's been far too long since we've had Thai tea. Good Thai tea, anyway, not the stuff some places try to serve you. Prepackaged mix, water, and rehydrated boba. Eugh."

Swaygze07

Zachary takes the overly large straw that the waiter gave him, and pokes it into the plastic film covering the tea. He slurps up the tea enthusiastically. "I'm surprised that a place like this has boba at all. It seems kind of old, you know? I thought this was only a thing in Asia and some cities in the US."

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

"I'm pretty sure they've got brownies in the kitchen, right? Apparently they can make whatever you ask for, save for like, pre-packaged sweets and stuff like that."

Sage (Inkstainer)

Justin takes his water and takes a sip, eyeing Zachary with his boba. "Yes, I think so. I haven't found something they won't make yet, at least. And... Zachary, you do know that Sanctuary is run by the Lady of House Lim, right? It's actually fairly new."

Swaygze07

"Oh. Lim, is that a Taiwanese name? Oliver didn't tell me very much about this place when he invited me here. Just told me it was a place I could stay for a bit."

Sage (Inkstainer)

"Yeah, it's Chinese, I think, or Filipino. But regardless, she runs Sanctuary. And that makes her very busy." He sighs. "Hence why I'm greeting new guests. Welcome to Sanctuary!" he says, raising his glass of ice water high.

Swaygze07

Zachary raises his cup, and then takes a deep drink from it.

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

Levi raises her drink as well, and says "Cheers!" before taking a long drink from it.

Sage (Inkstainer)

Justin takes a long drink as they do, before setting his glass down on the table with a small but audible slam. "So - what's the news out in the world these days?" he says, leaning forward with a grin.

Swaygze07

Zachary casts his mind back. What *has* happened in the world these days? He hasn't been keeping the most track of it lately. Too much time spent pitying himself over the thing with Of Deep. "I can't think of very much," he says, slowly. "Honestly, I haven't been paying much attention. You probably know about anything that's been discussed on OMO. There isn't much I can say, unless you want to know the latest balance update to LoL?"

Sage (Inkstainer)

Justin leans back, still smiling. "Sure! Anything you'd like to share. You too, Levi, if you have anything."

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

Levi stops and thinks for a bit. You can practically see the little computer loading circle in her head as she tries to come up with any news and finds nothing in particular. "Uhhh, sorry, we can't really think of anything either. The news is usually too depressing for us, ehehe."

Sage (Inkstainer)

Justin freezes a little as he buffers as well. "Um... are you sure? There must be something?" he asks, a little uncomfortable.

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

"...I mean. Does our reason for visiting Sanctuary count...? It's the only thing that comes to mind, but it's kinda really personal. If you really need something, we can tell you, but we'd rather not if we don't have to."

Sage (Inkstainer)

"I'm not asking you to share anything personal if you don't want to. It's just that, as the rules of hospitality go, now would be when the guest shares news." He looks nervous. "But, um, we can skip it. Talk about something else."

Swaygze07

"What types of Practice do you all do? I'm an Ogre mage. Honestly, before OMO, I thought that was the only type of magic there was."

Sage (Inkstainer)

Justin perks up at the introduction of a topic he can contribute to. "I'm a Warden, but mostly, I just draw diagrams and seals and do the occasional ritual. Is Ogre magic the thunder trick with the staff you did outside?"

Swaygze07

"Yeah, it is." Zachary sneaks a quick peak at Levi, and then draws a knife from his belt. An elongated claw shape extends from the outside end of his fist, with his index finger inserted into a hole on the handle. He lets go of it an flips it, letting the knife spin around his finger. "I can do other things with Ogre magic too. I'm good at fighting."

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

"I'm a Heartless by education, but honestly, I haven't done a lot of Practice lately. Most of what I know isn't really stuff I feel comfortable doing anymore." There's a brief, awkward moment where it's pretty clear Levi's brain has just caught up with her mouth, but she quickly redirects to Zachary's knife tricks. "Damn, that's pretty cool! Where'd you learn how to do that?"

Swaygze07

Zachary smiles, flipping the knife over and under his hands. He tosses it upwards, releasing his hold on the ring on the handle, and then catches it again. "Oh, just some practice here and there. The usual type, not the magic stuff."

Sage (Inkstainer)

Justin's eyes follow the knife, widening as it flips. "It's impressive, though. I wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of that, magic or not. Did you have to defend yourself often? Wherever you were before?"

Swaygze07

How much can Zachary say here, without directly lying? "I've fought more than a few Others. Went to the UK and took on some of Leer's goblin Warrens there. The bodies were *piling* by the end of it," he brags.

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

Levi leans back just a bit, and some of the enthusiasm has audibly drained from its voice. "Oh. Nice." Fortunately, she's saved from further awkwardness by the waiter arriving again to take their orders, which Levi jumps on *just* a bit too quick. "I'll take a burger, please! Rare beef patty, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, blue cheese, and sriracha."

Sage (Inkstainer)

Justin nods along with Zachary, face impassive. "Wow, that sounds like quite the adventure. I don't know what those goblins were thinking, fighting you after what I've seen." He shakes his head. When the waiter arrives, he orders, "I'll have the soup of the day with a protein shake to go."

Swaygze07

"I'll have an Alfredo chicken," Zachary tells the waiter. He turns back to the others. "So, what exactly do you do as a Warden and a Heartless?"

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

"Uhhh... Honestly, not a whole lot, nowadays. I'm not the most active Practitioner around. Oh, but probably the biggest thing we did Practice-wise is this." Levi holds up her hand, back to Zachary and Justin. Her nails are all long, black, and wickedly sharp. "A little while ago, we did a ritual to give our body some, ah... enhancements." To punctuate this, she extends her claws to their full length.

Sage (Inkstainer)

Ink's eyes widen. "Wow, I... know you said you'd done it, but..." He leans in, fascinated. "If you don't mind me asking, how long did it take? Is it reversible?"

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

Levi smiles at Justin's enthusiasm. "The actual ritual didn't take super long, but getting the ingredients together took a fair bit. It *really* fucking hurt though. We don't *think* it's reversible, but honestly, that suits us just fine. It's a weapon that we always have around, y'know? Knives and stuff are cool, but nobody's gonna disarm us unless they, uh, *literally* disarm us." She giggles a bit at her own joke.

Swaygze07

Zachary wants to pay attention to the conversation, he really does, but it feels dead in a way that it didn't back when he was still doing his combat drill. How can he get more of Levi's attention? Maybe it'll go better if he sees who she is on OMO? He surreptitiously takes out his phone as Ink and and Levi talk. Tojin, Tojin, who is Tojin... it doesn't take too long to find that user on OMO, and take a quick look at their post history. As Zachary scrolls down the page, the blood drains from his face.

...for full disclosure, i have gone through several different responses to this, discarding each because they were all ruder than i liked...

*Oh God.* Levi is the user who he almost challenged to a duel. Levi is Tojin. Does she know? Is that why things feel different now? Zachary stands up. "I -- I gotta go now," he says. "Bathroom." To make sure that it's not a lie, he conjures the image of a urinal in his head and tries to make himself believe in an urgent need in it. Then he bolts from the table.

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

"Wh- uh, okay." Levi watches him go, seeming in an awful lot of hurry for someone who was happily doing knife tricks a second ago. She lowers her hand and turns to Justin. "...Okay, either us having claws really weirded him out, or he realized who we are," she says wryly. "D'you think he's coming back, or should we just ask the waiter for a box or something?"

Sage (Inkstainer)

Justin has just opened his mouth to bring Zachary into the conversation when he stands up abruptly and begs off. He closes his mouth. He turns to Levi. "Um. I'm not sure." He looks at the hallway that Zachary disappeared down. "He, um, metaphorically wasn't what I expected and was exactly what I expected, at the same time."

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

"Yeah, he, uh... Was a lot different than we expected in some ways, and was pretty much spot on in others. We kinda feel sorry for him, honestly." Levi's eyes drift down to the table. There's a brief pause, something clicks in her head, and she quickly looks back up at Justin. "Hang on a sec. Did he have a thing for me, d'you think? 'Cause like, earlier he started showing off with his quarterstaff after we showed up, and just now he was all, like, bragging about his body count and doing knife tricks and shit. Did he do any of that when you were giving him a tour?"

Sage (Inkstainer)

"He - uh -" Justin stops and thinks for a moment. "Actually... he did start showing off when you arrived." He sighs. "And he did not do any of that during the tour. It was more - Why isn't there a single Ethernet outlet in this entire room - type of thing." He slumps a little. "Well, at least that clears that up a little." He eyes the food that the homunculus brings, placed in front of Zachary's empty seat. *The Lady will not be happy.*

levi || Seafoam (Tojin)

"...Oh my gods." The words are more laughed than spoken. "Yeah, that sure does clear things up, huh. Shame for him that he's not my type." The meal drags on from there, Justin and Levi making awkward small talk and - eventually - fulfilling the requirements for breaking bread. Zachary doesn't end up coming back, and his food is eventually brought up to his room. The other two part ways after a thoroughly awkward meal.