Catch-up Coffee

[Madrigus]

Madrigus walked slowly into the AAA Diner, bleary eyes and shuffling feet showing he had wasted another long weekend in study.

He ordered a large mug of coffee and discreetly poured a large dose from a flask into it. His first sip hit him hard and he coughed long and hard.

Finally feeling more awake, he smoothed back his rumpled hair and looked for people he knew. He felt he had missed something important, again, and he cursed himself for his ill-timed study break.

Hopefully someone, or some people, could fill him in.

[Henry Gondorf]

"Morning there, Madrigus." Henry said before taking in the man deportment. Once he did he smiled broadly. "I say those books you've been hitting got in a few good swings on you there. Mind if I take a seat? Maybe save a few seats for the others seeking caffeination?"

[vVv]

victor plops herself down at the table, a cup of shitty coffee cradled reverently in her hand. is she wearing a dress? and not just any dress, but a style one could only describe as renaissance casual, mandatory combat boots and knit cat-ear hat notwithstanding. she is clutching a little white cat plushie, which is also wearing a dress, though slightly less fancy.

"JEEZ, GMARROK, WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?? IT'S ONLY BEEN, LIKE, THE CRAZIEST WEEKEND EVER!! I TOLD YOU THAT THING WAS COMING UP AND YOU GOTTA CHOOSE THIS WEEKEND TO GO OFF AND DO THAT BORING BOOK STUFF? JUST.. ..JEEZ!!"

her expression softened into one of begrudging affection, an alien tinge of ice and patterns scrolling across her forehead and cheeks.

"well, it looks like you're still taking advantage of my excellent fashion advice, at least.. good job, good job."

[Madrigus]

Madrigus/Gmarrok smiled at Henry, gestured to a seat, and opened his mouth to reply when Victor began her enthusiastic yelling. Compared to the silence he had been in it felt like a train colliding with a gas tanker in his skull.

When the (thankfully short) tantrum was over, he turned to look at her and was forced to question just how much Southern Comfort he had put in his coffee. He blinked a few times just to make sure he wasn't actually seeing things and realized his mouth was hanging open. When he did speak he couldn't stop himself from stammering. Victor looked... Well, she looked like his fantasies made reality.

"Well- uh- I was doing research on those, uh, eyeball aliens, and while I was doing that, uh, I- I- uh, I realized something else about a different topic and I sort of, uh, got... absorbed..." He trailed off, hating how he sounded like a tongue-tied adolescent.

He gesticulated wildly for Henry to take a seat and managed to force his next statement without tripping, though a little rushed. "Why don't you fill me in on what I missed, alright?" One heavy slug on his coffee/SoCo helped steady him from the shock.

[vVv]

victor cocked her head, and the violet markings across her forehead raised on one side, "what the hell, gmarrok, you've been, like, improving your intellect all weekend? you sound even stupider than sally before he quit drinkin'.."

she sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes, "whatever. anyway, henry let me borrow his trenchcoat and then me and mason and leslie and levi (he's new in town, just a human but pretty fun) tricked like the entire town, it was awesome. i didn't even know mason COULD have fun. he's probably gonna, like, keel over and die from the strain of it..

and then there was the whole investiture ceremony thing, i can see how it slipped your mind, though. sally painted the lawn with my sister's champion, and then king donn touched me," here she blushed a very deep shade of violet, "and anyway now i'm not a stupid half-human anymore. i promised corvus i'd still remember i had human friends though. they can't help it.

..oh, and some giant bugs came and laid their larvas in some people and then they turned into bugs and we had to kill them but they got new bodies so they're okay now."

[kimp]

:: Liberty came into the diner, saw Madrigus there, and headed over his way. She unslung her backpack and dropped it on a stool, then dropped herself into one next to it ::

Madrigus
:: She nodded slightly ::
Bob is dead. At least, I am fairly certain Bob is dead.

:: She eyeballs his cup, then opens her backpack and pulls out a cup, what looks like another cup, a bag of small filters, a bag of coffee and a spoon before looking back at him ::
I want coffee.

[vVv]

victor, who had surreptitiously reached over to rummage through sally's bag, sitting unattended a table over, as liberty's approach had the others' attention, now choked on the inhumanly giant quantity of trail mix she had just stuffed into her mouth.

"OHHH 'EH!! I' WA'N'D BUHS 'OUGH, 'E 'URNED INNOO A.." here she swallowed mightily, coughed a little, "A DARKNESS!!"

in a quieter voice, "y'know, i'm sure flo will give you some coffee, already made and everything, if you ask nice. she's a real good human."

[Madrigus]

"Now I'm more confused than before. Bob turned into a darkness and died? Bugs? Just what the hell happened? Henry, help me out."

He leveled a steady gaze at Victor. "If you can't tell a story straight I don't know how you're going to pass your creative writing class. You need to start at the beginning."

[Henry Gondorf]

Henry waited for Victory to run out of steam. And maybe contact the Guiness Book of world record about a contender for greatest Lung Capacity.

"Well, now that the waters have been chummed. Lets begin with Friday evening. First and foremost: We have a new bug problem. Where once we need only worry about those Lovely Little Moths from the Loony Bin, we now have these...hybrids of everyone's worst nightmare. They seem to be focused on two things: Expansion and Infiltration. Those they get their mitts on are in for one hell of a rough night. These things enjoy a certain pervasiveness that Ridley Scott never dare dream of. The medics did their best to save those they could. Some made it, others not so much."

Henry reached for his flask when he thought better of it. It seemed fitting to be sober these days. "Second, I need to ask if you have every helped that typist that stopped in from time to time looking for his 'muse.' A life may be at stake."

[Madrigus]

Madrigus frowned. "The whacko with the typewriter? Yeah I fed him a line way back when he first showed up. Why?"

As he spoke he half-turned to signal for a second coffee, and to briefly ogle Victor as she innocently munched trail mix.