Adopt-a-Family Today!

[Avis]

The stage was set! Err, well, the dining table, any ways. Besides, even though it was going to be a presentation of sorts, it was also more than that. More than just an illusion. Unlike with the Southern Witnesses, Avis was willing to be more open with the Night Panthers. She trusted two of them more than she did anyone else, Star aside, and that was something she needed. 'Cause, as much as she liked Star, and liked having the Theatre all to themselves, she'd begun to notice just how much space they actually occupied in the building. It wasn't a lot. They were like a migrating herd on the plains, a flock throughout the year, drifting according to the whims of water and warmth. At night they'd share a room, during some mealtimes they'd cook and eat, but other times they'd retreat to their separate areas, he to work on that which must be kept secret, and she to work on herself. It was at those times when they'd drifted apart that she recognized the gulfs of space between her skin and the ceiling, the walls with themselves, her feet and the floor, again and again and again as she moved amongst it all. At those times she felt what all artists feel, and what all children fear. It made her want people.

Thankfully, there would be people here tonight. They'd be arriving soon, actually, and she and Star had gotten everything prepared in the meantime. The table was not only set, but decorated too. The paper incarnations of a little zoo had been set loose in the center of the table, arranged not in pens but as though they'd been set free to run wild, and towering above them were five tapered candles, as of yet unlit. From the kitchen came the smell of delicious meat, and some concoction of vegetables too. It was the meat that Avis was most looking forward to though. Heart was surprisingly good. Better than steak, in her opinion. Hopefully the Night Panthers liked it.

[Star]

Home is where the heart is.

The concession stand slash booths that was their kitchen slash dining room was filled with the lingering smell of cooked meat, overlaid with the sharp tang of citrus and freshly sliced green leaves. Bowls were prepared, with a generous side salad prepared in case there were vegetarians coming. Which would be funny, because panthers aren't vegetarian, right? Bottles of various drinks lined the counter, along with an errant scrap of trash from the Snoopy band-aid which was now wrapped around a magical finger. Knives are sharp, yo. It wasn't that long ago words about nourishment had been exchanged. Nourishment isn't just about We.

There's a difference between inviting someone into your home for a meal, and making them meet in public.

Accuracy by volume? Totally valid. But that doesn't mean no one's aiming. And sometimes, you're the spotter. You may not be the one aiming, but you're still on the same team.

[Pepper]

Pepper had a new car. She was getting a little sick of needing taxis, buses, and sore feet to get everywhere. It had room for four, technically, but it was a good thing that she only needed to worry about offering rides to Faye and Mace today.

Still, of all the things she was expecting when she pulled up to the address the remnants of the Veiled Threats had given her... A partially abandoned Cinema Complex was not one of them. "Whoa. I guess Avis wasn't kidding when she said it was big." The acanthus got out of the car and pushed her sunglasses up her nose a bit more before looking to her sister, then to her pathmate. "Well, I guess it's time for talks." She smoothed a hand down the lapels of her zippered Blazer, then set off for the main door.

If she looked a little grim, it was only the mental math trying to figure out what to do with the three locations they'd have to worry about, and Avis and - How much did Star want this? She hadn't passed on what Avis had told her about the kid - it wasn't her thing to tell... and Animus was dead. Dead. That was hard to take in. She'd liked him, well enough, but it was also one less thing to worry about, perhaps. And - Pepper shook those thoughts off, relaxing enough to little a smile form as she knocked on the Sanctum's Door.

[Aurora]

She was looking forward to this meeting, but wasn’t sure what to expect. She hadn’t really talked to Star in a while, and Avis was still a mystery to her. But tonight was about getting to know them both better, and any opinions she held previously would be put aside.

A nod was offered to Pepper as she made the comment about it being big. An abandoned theater, talk about roomy, and how the heck did they manage to land it? If this meeting went well, would they keep the theater, or abandon it? She moves the thought to the back of her mind and follows Pepper and Mace. Today she wore a new pair of leather pants with a long sleeved shirt with her hair down.

[Avis]

"I got it," Avis blurted out, head snapping up, away from the last bits of fidgeting she'd been doing to the centerpiece before the retort of the knock. She straightened, hands shooting down to the hem of her blouse, uselessly pulling at it rather than doing any sort of meaningful repositioning, and then strode towards the door. Her breathing had accelerated, she noted, as each footstep brought her closer to the barrier blocking the Sanctum from all outside it, thus she took a moment to completely fill her lungs with air, with power, and then opened the door.

"Hey," she said simply, a limp hand raising in greeting. "Um. Come on in. Foods ready." With that she stepped out of the way so that they could enter, and once the last Panther had stepped through Avis shut the door and resealed it.

"Gotta be careful," she muttered, then stepped around them and lead the way down the thinly carpeted hallway, past the four rooms that had once been theaters, and towards the dining area. Not much had been done to the theater's decor, but it was in good repair, each light changed, every surface dusted, every fiber of carpet of vacuumed. It looked sterile, almost, the clinical maintenance broken only by the aroma of deliciousness which lurked ahead of them, its source soon becoming apparent as they neared the table.

"Feel free to have a seat anywhere and I'll fetch us some drinks. Any requests? We've got basically everything. Except Alcohol." A certain flatness in that last word signaled that danger dwelled therein.

[Pepper]

Pepper smiled, her eyes crinkling just a bit at Avis's greeting. She almost offered the Mastigos a hug, but figured that Avis wasn't that into hugs, and settled on a simple "Thanks, it's good to see you."

She gave a wave to Star as she approached, and spoke to both member of the former Veiled Threats, "Oh man, that smells amazing. Who cooked?" And then she saw the centerpiece of origami animals and remembering her first meeting with Avis - Dez, fished out her wallet and added a dollar bill folded into a turtle next to the place she chose to sit. "Seriously, this smells great - one question though, do I need to worry about taking some lactaid? I so do not want to end up loosing it later."

[Star]

"O... kay."

A grin twitched at the corner of lips as he watched the Warlock GoGoGo. "You know, I don't think you were that..."

Welp. And there she went. Finish that later. Long fingers wiped themselves clean on a dish towel. He glanced downward, eyeing the dark flecks of lime spritz gone awry on his t-shirt. No one would see. Like the old blank sheet of paper joke, with the polar bear in the snow storm. It's the magic of dark clothing, yo.

A hand raised and splayed outward into the Vulcan three pronged greeting. It's an homage. Because Shin.

"Hey! Hi, Mace, Faye. Oh. Ummm, I did, is it okay? There's a salad if you're a vegetarian. We, like, I dunno, kind of got a taste for, uh. Meat. Maybe it's from eating a lot of Ramen. You know, pendulum swinging the other way? And you know, taste buds change. But, yeah. If the salad isn't okay, I can, hmmm. Make crepes?" Oh, right. She'd said it smelled great. "Ummm. Yeah. There's no, well, wait. Yeaaaaaaah..."

Eyes fell.

"I used... some butter."

I am Jack's Guilty Spatula.

[Aurora]

A warm smile was offered to Avis as she let them in, "Hey Avis, good to see you." she replies, making sure she pronounced her name right. She didn't want to offend or anything.

"It does smell wonderful!" she agreed with Pepper.

"Hey Star." she said with a smile. There was Star, being awkward.

[Avis]

"Good to see you, too, Faye. Been a while, and we didn't really talk last time," the Warlock agreed with a half smile, her eyes flicking away a second later. The presence of the word 'loosing' kind had a way of tugging at the attention. Especially after what Asp had done, done at their request, and how abruptly things had happened afterwards. Yeah, definitely was hard to do small talk after hearing that. Was hard not to just...retreat, but she'd already made the decision to stop self pitying, to stop dwelling in dark solitude, and to move towards embracing the crucible of all that was inside her.

"Bathrooms are that way," she offered a second later, gesturing towards the unmentionable realm of tile and porcelain which had known a funeral. They didn't need to know that, though.

"Um, until then, though, drinks? Or shall we tuck in? And yeah, it's all Star's work. He's...was, the hearthmaster. I was doorwarden, but honestly I never really understood why I got that job instead of farseeker. I guess maybe because I can ward and ban. How about y'all? What're your roles?"