(1501) The Buffet

[Einstein]

Einstein starts busying herself grabbing food too, piling it up on a plate until it could rival Crowley's. Another advantage of not dressing too nice; you could eat as much as, and how, you want. Who cares about stains, just toss it in with the rest of the crap that needs to get washed. "Yeah, I heard the Consilium is still fairly new, organization-wise. Good time to come in, eh?" She took an extra moment to look around the building, munching on some chips. "Looksh pretty nishe, if a little old. I didn't like that half-brick half-not-brick look though. Kinda silly."

[Crowley]

"Oh I agree," Crowley mumbled loudly. "Fancy a bit of history?" He leaned closer. "I have heard rumours that this place was once the Free Council hang out. We lost it to the Guardians under mysterious circumstances." He leaned away but failed to generate right kind of effect as his action stalled - he had spotted the Hierarch.

The moment gone, the Acanthus looked around for something to occupy the space where conversation should have been. He over Hope Rantifusa instead.

[Star]

"I heard it was a game of HORSE."

Was there anything to drink over here? You know, as in Need A Drink, not Going Swimming. Listless curls swayed as he craned his head around, inspecting plates like a picky swan. Gluten kills, yo. Put those chips down.

"Like, the Syndic was gonna use some Forces and thought the Epopt would be scared to, too? But the Epopt totally made him forget every time he made a basket." True story. Maybe somewhere else, sometime else. Long fingers nabbed a carrot stick. Watch this. Indiscriminate double dipping in the Ranch.

"Sup Crow... uh, Herald. Herald Crowley. And, you. Whoever you are. I'm Star. Cool shirt. You, uh, help in the kitchen?" The joke sailed out and splattered on the ground like a dropped Jell-O mold. See? Need a drink.

Kitchen? Because Cookbook.

[Einstein]

Einstein gave Star a mildly confused look. "Uh, thanks, I'm Einstein. I, uh, don't really cook? I just order in a lot. Don't really have the skills to cook, so when I try it ends up crappy." What was he talking about? She didn't have the slightest clue. She half-turned to Crowley. "I hadn't heard that. That's kinda crappy. But, you know...not unexpected. More surprising that they decided to use this place, knowing that there were Libertines in town who still need to figure out where they stand."

[Star]

Well, Buffet You Too.

It looked like Einstein and Crowley were having A Moment. Or just Bogarting the buffet. Pop Quiz: What happened to the last person that did that? Ask Del Taco. True story, yo. Also, isn't there a rule against wearing shirts like that without knowing about The Book? File under Saltpeter Is Harder To Procure Than You Think.

Because smoke bombs.

He could never go back to his High School. Ever. Perma-banned. There might even still be a warrant.

"Hey, Hope. Cool name. You just missed a Faith. Hope and Faith, like that old tv show? Actually, what would really be great is a third with the s'name Love. Then you could be a Thirteen-Thirteen cabal, right?" Hands fluttered with the scattering of words as he continued to crane around.

"Oh. There's the bar." Over there. Empty. Figures.

"I'm going to get a drink. I'd ask if you want one, but, you know, I don't want you to take it the wrong way. Like, you know, that I'm trying to buy you a drink, or get you drunk. But you can have one, just, uh, I'm not asking you to have one."

He waved. Electric slide time.

[Crowley]

Crowley blinked. Ambushed.

"Star? Oh - Star! Vielded Threat guy! Good to see... you..." Somewhere, somehow, in the space between words, the guy had flowed by and slid over to the bar. He left the Herald staring, holding his plate.

Maybe I need to rewind that moment and play it forward. In slow motion. What. The. Heck?

[Einstein]

Einstein blinked and waved at Star as he departed, then turned her attention to the others. She smiled at Damascus and nodded at Hope. "Heya." Hopefully (har har), Hope wouldn't start something here too. Yelling about the Arrow was all well and good, and even occasionally productive, at Council meetings, but here was not the place for that. Especially not with the co-existence thing. "So, how are you guys? Anything new?"