Rooftop Chinese

[Pepper]

Well, there was no way around it. The apartment that the twins rented was too small to comfortably fit six, so Pepper went about persuading the landlord to let her host on the roof.

Major success there, and now Mace was helping her set up while Nous ( Jhet ) went to hit up a Chinese place she swore by. And Pepper was buzzing with excitement as she unfolded chairs, then helped Mace maneuver the table up the stairs.

"This is really cool. I mean, we've already got Nous, and she's a councilor, and Animus is a Sentinel. I'm... really blown away that they both wanted to get in on this. Faye - well you've actually met her already, Madison from the laundry place? It's a stage name. She's really nice, a real sweetheart... Oh, I should grab a box of comics for her to borrow." Because they'd talked about that, right? Might as well have it available. "can you do the settings and stuff? I'm going to grab some comics to lend her!"

Pepper darted down to their apartment to do just that, and was back pretty soon.

roadnottaken Tiffany

[Aurora]

She glanced down at the directions again as she drove to the address provided by Pepper. Her eyes scan the street as she finds a parking space, she grabs her coffee, the bakery box and purse and heads down the side walk. In all honesty, she wasn’t sure what to expect from this get together. It seemed a Cabal was a smart move, and something worth joining, but would she share the ideals and goals of the others?

It weighed heavily on her mind as she took a sip of her coffee and then transferred the coffee to balance on top the pink box and knocked on the door. She was dressed casually for the meeting in jeans and a gray t-shirt.

[Pepper]

It was somewhat fortunate timing that Pepper had headed down to their place when she had. "Faye! Hiya. You're a little early - everything is getting set up on the roof too. Our place is too small for more than like, three people." She wondered if the front door had been left open, some of the kids were prone to do that when they were playing outside.

On the other hand, at least they didn't have to worry too much about letting people in? "I'll be back up in a second. Just grabbing some stuff first. Mace it up there, soo, yeah." Pepper beamed, then nodded up the stairs. She'd just pop in and grab a box of random comics. No time to really sort through and e picky about them if people were already showing.

[Animus]

He could feel the time dragging. More than once the thought had crossed the shaman's mind of shapechanging to a bird form to breeze through the downtown clutter. But the shaman weathers traffic as well as he can, finally arriving at the apartment haggard and weary.

With relief he ducks in behind Faye, glancing peripherally around on his way to the roof. Too many memories, too many similar meetings with friends or acquaintences.

All of whom had vanished, or worse. Would these people be any different?

Forcing a smile and nod, Animus glances between Mace and Faye. But for the moment, the act of speaking is just a bit too much effort.

[Jhet]

Being 'on time' is a burden that Nous doesn't need to worry about. She's there when she's supposed to be there. Her arms are burdened by far too many bags of Chinese food from Shanghai Garden. Sweet and salty scents rise from the bags, and provided you could smell texture, it's enough to nearly cut out of the air and devour. Sure, it's full of things that are 'bad for you', but that's what makes it so pleasurable.

It's why she's carrying four bags of food instead of two. Because leftovers are amazing. Maybe there'll be leftovers. Maybe not. Hopefully.

She makes her way up to the rooftop and sets the bags down and starts pulling out the distinctive white wax paper boxes. It's the west coast, so there aren't any of those little wire handles. Because why would you need handles on the top of a box that you're only going to eat out of? You don't. And so the boxes are pulled out. Rice, and noodles, and pork, and chicken, and beef, and vegetables galore. All in sauces that make tongues dance with pleasure.

She's met everyone there except for Animus, who she knows only by sight from the consilium meeting.

"Hi." She offers a hand in greeting once the plethora of food was set out on the rooftop. "I'm Elle most of the time, but you can call me Nous when we're not in mixed company like tonight. How do you do?"

[Aurora]

She notices the unfamiliar face enter, and offers him a warm smile.

As Nous appears with the food and begins to set it out, she holds up the pink box,

"I brought some cupcakes for later." she says as she puts the box down.

Turning to the unfamiliar face, her smile became friendly, "Hi! I'm Madison in public, but feel free to call me Faye." says the Enchantress.

"Hey Mace, nice to see you again! Nous, good to see you, the food smells amazing!"

[Pepper]

Pepper snagged a box of comics and books, made sure the apartment was closed and locked, then headed up to the roof. "Animus! I'm glad you could make it. Thank you." She grinned, and quickly set the box down just a bit away from the table. "Faye, you can go ahead and browse through this, when you get a moment, let me know what you want more of and I'll set you up."

She turned to Nous then, and the food that she brought. "This smells great. Thanks for bring it, Nous." She crept closer and snagged a box of food, opening it up to see what was inside.

[Animus]

Eyes flicker from person to person, putting names to faces. "Animus, as Pepper said. Or Andrew in mixed company." Hopefully this wouldn't turn out like the Thyrsus meeting, or that time when ... that memory gets firmly pushed back into his subconscious.

"So. Perhaps it would help to know a bit more about each other. For example: Shaman, Arrow. I've been in this city" his gaze goes momentarily distant "perhaps too long. But it's home. And I will give everything I have to protect those within its walls." A meaningful glance between the others present. "Especially friends."