World Tree MUSH

    Kian had finally managed to get home. Well, mostly. Instead of being back in the States where he started, he ends up outside of London of all places. The young man is giving a bit of a groan as he head-bikes the handlebars of his motorcycle after coming out of the Vine Portal. Nearby, a heavily armored truck is setup with people apparently asking questions of the Rider. Who is answering them as best as he can.

    The young man looks a bit annoyed that he's being mostly detained, but otherwise at least trying to not just drive off right now. Especially as that portal is still open, and he's hoping nothing really followed him through. Or went in it. Or whatever.

    But, otherwise, welcome to Rider World, London, England, which has a pretty dense amount of fog drifting all over the place a good ways out from the resident portal!

Serrah comes out of the vine with Luke. She's looking slightly sleepy, as if she just woke up, but she doesn't do anything like stretch and yawn because her muscles and her lungs are, in the strictest technical sense, dead.

She pauses at the sight of the armored car. "... huhhhhhh," she says, looking around and frowning. She glances at Luke. "Did this world just recently Blossom or something?" A slight pause. "... If so, I'm gonna just ... hang back with you. In case vampires are a surprise," she adds under her breath. Or, y'know, worse than 'a surprise'; Serrah is very touchy about people getting scared of her.

    Luke seems a bit unsure, "Well, I don't know... I mean, I don't recall hearing about... armoured cars checking people near the vine so, maybe we got dumped on a different place?" he asks softly. Luke glances back next to him, where his pokemon were standing, one being a tall, pink and black 'bear' that looks more like a guy in a theme park mascot outfit than an animal... and the other is a very round looking tiger. "Don't worry Serrah, if someone ask, we can say you are just feeling unwell, but nothing contagious, I mean.. what are hte odds someone can tell you are... a vampire just on a single glance?" he says softly. For some reason, he doesn't consider that maybe having two overpowered elemental monsters besides him might draw attention.

Not everyone is worried about surprising the locals. The strange pale bird that flies in with a horned figured armoured in black is likely to be the opposite of reassuring. Temulin's head turns when she notices some familiar faces, and she directs the bird to land. Unfortunately, she doesn't recognize the armoured car as a vehicle, and so decides to land right on top of it.

    Yeah, landing on the armored car wasn't the best idea. It startled the locals. Who are now radioing for back up. Let alone the sight of the pokemon has them calling in for 'Rider Support' from the sounds of it. And trying to get the hell out of dodge.

    Kian looks up at the bird landing, then back to see what monsters they were seeing. And well... the cowboy Rider does a facepalm. "... why me?" He looks to the locals, and calls, "I'm a Rider. Check the international database. Kian Armstrong, Kamen Rider Steed, New York based. Cancel that call."

    Of course, now there's guns trained on all the extra dimensional types. From like 20 feet away. Kian looks to the others that came out of the portal, "Um... welcome to my world... they probably think the bird's a monster and the pokemon?" He pauses, then looks at Temulin, "And her." He shrugs. "You're like the first ones to pop out."

Serrah blinks, and nods to Luke. "Oh. Right, uh, that's fair --" The the sudden bird lands on the car while she's not looking. Suddenly, as abruptly as if she was a video that had skipped ahead a few seconds, she's facing the armored car and looking up at Temulin. She slow-facepalms. "Okay, this could've been less ridiculous," she says flatly.

She slowly starts to raise her hands. "You know this guy?" she adds, glancing between Kian and Luke. "Or ... is he just being friendly? I need coffee." She inches forward to put herself between the guns and Luke; most likely, these guns don't have the tools necessary to permanently kill her, but Luke is -- she catches herself thinking of him as 'just a squishy human', and looks off to the side with a grimace.

    That IS quite a sight. Another here is more worried about scaring the locals, if only to avoid trouble. That's why, in a nearby alleyway, a giant snake lurks, watching this with a single eye. But that isn't the one people should worry about...

    "Oh my!" A tiny, shrill voice squeaks out, as some of the fog drifts away to reveal a petite girl, perhaps thirteen or fourteen, with long blonde hair. Her appearance is a little odd though, with her clothing showing an elaborate, fantastical style of a short skirt and stockings with way too many lapels and fringes. It's not that it looks bad... it actually goes quite well with her hair and face. It's just not a modern style. "Is there going to be a big battle?" Her hand goes to her forehead in a... distressingly fake-looking near-swoon.

     Luke was about to say somethign else, when Serrah does something, "Seerah!... subtle!" he tries to call, even if his pokemon also run ahead of him to check on the bird lady, followed by Luke moments later. He doesn't have much time to react, he waves at the panicking people and the startled officers, "We are not dangerous!" he tries. 

    At least Kian is a familiar face, even if it takes him a moment "I met him at hte tournament." he tells Serrah, "He seemed like a nice guy." he says. Of course, aiming guns at Luke doesn't help with his attempt to seem peaceful. The Bewear simply moves around adn picks Luke up, turning away from the guns, while the large round feline is growling atthe guards and... is it actually sparking?. It takes several calls of "Dynamo!, no!" for the cat to stop doign that.

Temulin jumps off her bird, on top of the armoured car and looks at the guns aimed at her; reaching for the giant sword on her back. "I don't want to hurt anyone, but if you fire one of those peashooters at me, I will kill you." She warns with the calm confidence of a professional. She glances to Serrah and Kian, "Hey Delany. Rider-dude." She pauses, then answers Serrah's question. "Met him on a pest extermination job, he's not bad." Then to Kian, "Pray tell these idiots to lower their guns?"

    Kian shrugs, "They're not exactly ones to listen to me despite my being a Rider. Technically, no authority over 'em." He sighs, then calls to the officers, "Get your superior out here. I'll explain it to him."

    The officers look concerned, then move back as the radio chatter continue. They make a respectful, decently sized perimeter. Way back. Like seriously way back. They do still keep the guns drawn, but they aren't firing at least.

    Kian looks a bit annoyed before he looks up at Temulin, "Get the bird off their truck, and maybe they'll stop thinking you're hostile? Listen, you're not the first ones to come to this world, but a majority of them? Super hostile. Like enslaving local population hostile."

    Then he turns at the new arrival. And just stares. Then he looks around, then to the officers before back at the girl. He reaches to his coat pocket as he eyes said little girl. "So... I know the bird lady, I know the pokemon guy, and the uh... other girl's with him... who are you?"

Serrah looks sidelong at the newcomer. "What in the world ..." She shakes her head at Luke. "Sorry. Dotharl's bird just startled me enough that I stopped time for a second there. Uh ..."

At Temulin's comment, she facepalms with her other hand. She lets out a sigh -- more for the purpose of expressing than a need for breathing -- and looks over at Kian. "I'm Serrah Delany," she says. She rolls her eyes. "Technically 'Countess Serrah Delany of House D'Ambrosio', but let's not go there." In a rainbow skort and a black shirt with cut off sleeves, she certainly doesn't look like nobility, especially with black hair with a single red streak and tufts that look sort of like ears. "Luke here is sort of being my bodyguard," she adds with a thin-lipped smile (because she's pretty sure she knows how frightened peacekeeping officers will react to someone with fangs).

    The boy manages to coax the Bewear to let him down, and calms down Dynamo, who still is a bit... staticy, but not actively snarling. "It's fine, I am a bit... nervous, I am not very good against bullets..." he mumbles, before facing up at the bird lady, facepalming, "Still... maybe we shouldn't... taunr them? they might have something bigger on hand." he says outloud, before waving to poor Kian. "Hah, I don't know how much of a bodyguard I can be, but... happy to help I figure, Bewear likes the idea.". He patsthe big fluffy bear.

    The girl peeks out from between fingers when it's clear that most aren't buying her act. Pooh. She pouts, but continues anyway. "Me? Just a passing little girl, lost and curious about the ensuing carnage. Or not carnage?" Her attitude gets a little less fake-innocent, "It doesn't look like there will be carnage." She doesn't seem disappointed, just mildly surprised. "If shots haven't been fired yet, it's probably fine."

"Temulin, of the Dotharl Tribe. Adventurer, or Mercenary, whichever term you prefer." Temulin introduces herself for clarity, hopping down from the vehicle and drawing her weapon. She's not making any movements to attack anyone, but she does shoot the men with their still raised guns a glare. "So, what's going on here?" She asks Kian while her bird takes to the skies, and she makes sure to shout, "If even one of you considers shooting at Denhes, you're dead. Got it?" She glances to Cagliostro, "Well if you're a lost little girl who don't you ask one of these fine heroes" She glances to Kian, Serrah and Luke in turn," To take you home?"

    Kian raises an eyebrow at Cagliostro, "Miss, I'll have you know I've been protecting this world for a year. Your fashion's not exactly of this world, near as I can tell. So please, stop acting like you're some battle crazed girl like that one," The cowboy Rider thumbs at Temulin, "and just tell me where you're from. Like I said, we've had contact with other dimensions before. And they weren't nice. Ask her if you don't believe me." He turns his head to look at Temulin, "The wasp-scorpion thing was from here."

    Meanwhile those officers look confused on seeing the 'monsters' actions. Very confused, some even lower their guns. At least there's not any pointing right now as they seem to be trying to figure out what's going on. Could be worse!

    Kian looks to Serrah, then tips his hat with the hand not in his coat. "Ma'am. Nice to meet you if you're a friend of Luke's. I'm Kian Armstrong."

Serrah slowly starts to settle down. "Eh, more seriously, it's more about not being alone while Vinny's looking for me," she tells Luke. "And like I said right before those 'R'-goons showed up in your world, it feels a lot better than the alternative."

She narrows her eyes, peering down her nose at the little girl, but she gigglesnorts at Temulin's 'heroes' comment. "Not a hero," she says. "Definitely not a hero." She hesitates. "It's not like I want to keep finding myself in these situations, jeez ..."

She shakes her head at Kian. "Just call me 'Serrah'," she says, running her hand through her hair and briefly exposing the heart-shaped mark on her forehead. "Like I said, let's not go there. But, uh, yeah." She shrugs. "Nice to meet you too."

    Cagliostro stomps her foot when nobody humors her, pouting deeply, but she gets over it very quickly. She's pretty bad at the innocent little girl act, so it's doubtful that this is the first group that's seen right through her. "You wouldn't know my homeland, it doesn't exist any more. It's part of the Erste Empire now and I have no real desire to go back."

    She shrugs, stepping forward and... the snakelike beast floats behind her, revealing itself and curling into an 'S' above her, like a watchdog. Cagliostro pats the scaly hide and explains, "I just wanted to see some offworld weapons in action. Some of this is lost technology in my world."

    Luke's attention is drawn to Cagliostro when it is looking like they might not shoot him!. He blinks as he sees the snake, and his pokemon seem to get more uneasy about it, than the guns and soldiers/policemen nearby. "I can help, if you do need someone to keep you company going somewhere..." he begins and pauses when he hears about 'wanting to see the guns'. He nods to Kian, "Seems a reasonable reaction... at least they are not shooting and... waiting to see what happens." he says, "I have seen... very bad stuff in other worlds myself..."

"That was a fun looking opponent. If your people ever need some help dealing with monsters like that, they should hire me." Temulin answers Kian with a smile and proverbial gil signs in her eyes. As some of the officers lower there guns, Temulin relaxes her grip on her blade. Still not putting it back, but less battle ready. "Serrah, stop lying to yourself." One 'definitely not a hero' tells the other. She eyes the snake, clearly not intimidated but distrustful. "So what's your name, little one from a homeland that no longer exists." A pause, "Pray tell me it ain't Paragon or something like that."

    Kian, seeing the snake, pulls out something that definitely looks different to the revolvers the security/peace officers are using. A belt materializes around his waist as he eyes the snake, looking perfectly ready to use said gun on said snake thing it seems. At least those officers are out of the way for the moment!

    "Offworld weapons in action?" Kian asks the girl. "Just who are you? You're not from any of the Invaders if you're asking about weaponry from here."

    Kian glances to Temulin, "I don't know if they would hire you or anything. I mean, most of the time they call us Riders to deal with it. Kinda what we do. Along with making sure to turn them back to human when we can. Doesn't always work, but still worth a shot half the time."

Serrah looks at the giant snake, and reaches for the sports bag at her hips. "All I've got is baseballs," she says flatly. (Of course, when you can stop time and throw a baseball at a hundred miles per hour without breaking a sweat, that's plenty weapony.) Her posture is generally casual, but clearly tense; she's not making the first move, but it is abundantly clear that she's ready to throw down if this turns into that sort of situation.

At Temulin's comment, she just sputters and shakes her head. "N ... no!" she says. "I mean ... I'm not lying to myself!" Somehow, she's looking slightly flustered. She lets out an annoyed grumble under her breath. "So there's monsters that can be changed back here, too, huh?" she adds in Kian's general direction. "How's that work?"

    When the gun is pointed that way, the snake immediately coils loosely around Cagliostro in a protective barrier, though the blonde herself looks unconcerned. Several have asked her name, but she was a little distracted looking at Luke's pokemon, and only now that she's been accosted twice does she actually realize she never introduced herself.

    "Invader? Perish the thought, I am a seeker of knowledge! The great and powerful Cagliostro, the most amazing, talented, adorable, and of course humble alchemist in the islands of the sky~!" She threads her fingers under her chin and flutters eyelids.

    Then, in a less cheery voice, "Shoot my Ouroboros and you will eat that pistol. The parts to fix him are hard to come by the last few worlds."

    Luke is admitedly intrigued on the snake, staring at it, adn so are his pokemon. At least no one seems to be hitting eachother, but it does look tense. The teen rubs the back of his head, "all I have are my pokemon..." of course, he fails to explain things like, his Bewear might be able to pick up adn throw a pickup, or that the tiger might summon thunderstorms and other fun stuff like that. Seems his pokemon feel similarly to Serrah since they inch against Luke once again, but make no aggressive move, just yet. 
    "Alchemist? what's an alchemist?" asks, as Cagliostro finally introduces herself. Then the mention of 'monsters into humans', "Wait.. back?, there are... things here turning people into monsters?" he asks to Kian.

"An alchemist is someone who makes aether-induced products, like healing potions, special oils to improve armour, or special inks that can be used in the formation of magical constructs." Temulin answers Luke's question, though from her world's perspective. "Well, miss Cagliostro." She answers the alchemist, "You forgot one adverb there. I'm sure you'd be pleased to know which one it is, just ask and I can tell you." She shrugs towards Serrah. "Are you sure about that?" She keeps her hands on her blade a bit more firmly but doesn't act, "You know, if you want to see my weapons in action. My adventuring services are available for reasonable prices." She nods to Kian, "Their loss."

    The alchemist bit has Kian confused before he looks at Cagliostro, "Lady, if you can break this gun, you're making me a new one. Seriously. It's a mystic revolver that I got from a Theta-Wave Empire attack on me."

    Then comes the question about curing people and Kian looks to Serrah, "Well, I don't know really. Most I know is sometimes the ATP goons or Demon possessed types just change back to human after you beat 'em. Sometimes. There's others where they just explode and don't come back. Some of the tech heads could probably explain it better, I guess."

Serrah chortles at the 'humble' comment. "'Humble'?" she says. "Really?" She taps her chin thoughtfully. "An alchemist, huh? Hm ..." She glances at Luke. "Wait, you don't have alchemy in your wo--?" She groans. "... of course you don't have alchemy in your world. It's, uh ... you make ... potions?" It sounds not so much like she doesn't understand the concept, so much as she takes it for granted so much that she can't actually figure out what to say. It's like explaining what water is to someone who's never heard of it before.

She looks sidelong at Temulin. "Oh, it's one of those concepts, that's completely different from one world to the next," she says flatly. She sighs, and glances at Kian. "Oh. Oh well," she says. No easier cure for vampirism here than she has at home ... "Uh ... should I ask what 'ATP' is, or is this going down a rabbit hole?"

    "Curious what word, mmhmm," Cagliostro says, but she doesn't seem surprised at Luke's confusion. "Actually, alchemy on my world is much more complex than mere potions. Ouroborus here is an alchemical creation." She flutters her fingers at the chin of the snake. "I made him myself~ Isn't he a beauty?" The snake appears to have a spike shoved through its neck, which is a little odd, but it doesn't look to be causing discomfort.

    "It sounds like this world has quite a lot of trouble with invasions," Cagliostro observes. "That would explain the not so warm welcome. I have no interest in harming this world, it would do nothing to further my research."

    Luke seems fairly interested in the description of what Alchemy is, and takes a step closer, to his pokemon displeasure, both of them trying to get ahead again to 'protect' the boy, "That sounds amazing!, so you can make all sorts of things then!, Ouroboros seems really cool." he praises the 'snake'. He of course turns back to his fiends and the others, "That sounds so... weird." he muses, "So they just... sometimes turn into people..." he says, before moving to pat Serrah's side, "I am sure we will find something to help you, somewhere." he offers. "This world seems like it is in a lot of problems... don't hesitate to ask me for help if you ever need it, Kian."

"Least." Temulin offers cheerfully, "That'll be 50 gil or an equivalent sum." She smiles and relaxes, finally bothering to put the sword back on her back, and glancing to the others. "What world doesn't have problems?" She asks Luke.

    Kian shakes his head, "Well, that's kinda a weird thing to say about here." He shrugs, then looks over at Luke. "Not a problem. Thing is, they tend to be pretty violent, and most of us Riders are just the lucky ones that can fight back usually... ah..."

    He looks over at Serrah, "Well... see, there's three types of Invaders before the whole portal thing. ATP stands for ATP Foundation. Near as we can tell, they're some sort of science type of invader. They like to use cybernetics and biological mutations. A lot." He shrugs, "The others are Theta-Wave Empire that seem to be some sort of mental thing going on, maybe even metaphysical, and the Demon Armies, which are actual demons that go around possessing people. I think I read on the forums somewhere that they were trying to form an army of possessed humans or something."

    Looking over at Cagliostro, Kian sighs, "So, question for you is are you here to make trouble, or do you come in peace?" He rubs the back of his head, trying to figure out the whole situation is definitely looking very puzzling now. "... where's that government guy at when you need one to sort this sorta thing out?"

Serrah nods. "Yeah I know it's not just potions, I was just trying to figure out how to explain the, the easy-to-understand parts." She looks the snake up and down. "Well, anyway, nice work! I hate to admit it, but you are pretty skilled." She pauses when Cagliostro says the word 'research', and nods in understanding. "Okay, I 100% percent get your entire deal now," she says earnestly.

She smiles faintly at Luke. "Hey, yeah, I know, I know," she says. "I mean, we got a way out of this, we just need to dust Vincent first. It's just, y'know." She shrugs.

She nods to Kian. "Okay, I think I get all that," she says. She shrugs. "Well, uh." She makes a face, and shrugs again. "Good luck, I guess?" ... She makes a point of not looking in Temulin's direction as she says that. She then focuses on Cagliostro to see what her answer will be to Kian's question.

    "Hmm?" Temulin's comment is noted, but... Cagliostro brushes it off for now, because something related to her interests is mentioned. "I see, I see..." She nods firmly, then looks surprised at Kian's question. "Little old me~?"

    Honest surprise, it would seem! "Just passing through, right now, but I have no intention of causing trouble. If anything I'd be more likely to cause trouble for this Theta-Wave group than anyone here. Those sorts HATE competition~" Serrah gets winked at, since the girl seems to 'get' her.

    She giggles at Luke, "Now there's a polite boy. You could learn a thing or two from this one, miss grumpy-dumpy." Nodding to Temulin.

The boy nods to Serrah, sometime you have to tell me more about... how we would do that." he says, chuckling, "Maybe there is some angle we are missing on it." he says, "I mean, perhaps we can find something back at my home that can help with that task." he says, before nodding to Cagliostro, "Well I mean, no point being all antagonistic, it IS a very cool... beast?"he asks. 
    The boy's focus turns to Kian's explanation of the...issues there, "That's just horrible... I mean yes, other worlds have trouble sbut... mine are stupid compared to this, between demons adn monsters and posessions and..." of course, he is a boy that might not know how messed up things are at home but.

Temulin just stares at Cagliostro. "Just because you're playing him like a fiddle doesn't mean I can learn anything from him." She answers, and then blows a whistle. The bird comes swooping back down, and Temulin leaps upwards and onto its back. "I'm gonna go explore this world." She informs the others, "Any of you have anything to say, anything you want from me, or want to come with before I leave?"

    Kian shakes his head, "Not on the giant bird, please. I don't mean any offense, but the last giant bird monster was shot that I know of, and that's in the States."

    That's obviously directed towards Temulin. "Not to mention we have radars and the like, so if you're going over a certain height, expect missiles and other not so nice stuff. Let alone any Riders that can shoot that good... trust me, exploring's fine, but well..." He shrugs.

    Then he looks at Cagliostro, "... well, long as you don't cause trouble for the civilians, I guess that's okay?"

    Then he turns to look at Luke and Serrah, "What was that about having to dust someone?"

Serrah chortles at Cagliostro's antics. Her earnestness has suddenly vanished. "Oh yeah, I really get you," she says, shooting Luke a sidelong grin, but it starts to fade when she sees his concern regarding the issues.

She shrugs to Temulin. "Have fun, I guess?" she says, before turning back to Kian. "Oh. Uh, short version, vampire jerk-butt nobleman wants a Delany minion, he needs to get put permanently six feet under ..." She hesitates, as if suddenly remembering that this isn't the only option, and her shoulders slump. "... o-or a magic scepter needs to get destroyed, so that he does not have a Delany minion anymore, before a Delany doesn't have any essence of humanity left." She runs a hand through her hair, deliberately showing the heart-shaped mark on her forehead, and she doesn't close her mouth all the way. Yep, she's definitely got fangs.

    "Hmmm?" Staring at Serrah for a moment, Cagliostro considers... then giggles at Temulin, "Ah, but it's fun~!" It is! She is preoccupied now, almost purring, "A curse, hmm? Now, that isn't my normal ballpark but it sounds interesting, and I'd certainly prefer not having someone's humanity drained. Or whatever you are," she corrects.

    A quick glance at Kian, "Oh, no. I am a researcher! And my specific specialty is ~creation~ alchemy, not destruction. I'm sure it will be fine~" Singsonging. "Come, Ouroboros." Looks like she's going to explore London a bit more.

"We're not going anywhere without eachother, and if they hurt even a single feather of Denhes I will kill the people responsible." Temulin answers Kian with eyes that are suddenly glowing red, "And string their corpses up as a warning to others." There's a visible darkness gathering around her, the notion clearly rather angers her. "Make sure they know that by the time I come here again." The darkness around her fades as she flies through the vine and leaves.

    Kian rubs the back of his head, then sighs as he puts the revolver away. He looks to Luke and Serrah since they're the only ones that haven't vanished. He whistles to the officers, "Hey. Put out an APB with a do not engage order for that one." He points at where Cagliostro was.

    Then he looks to Luke and Serrah again. "So, vampire that needs killing? Shoot, which way and when do you need me for it?"

    He shrugs, "I might not look like much, but fighting monsters? Kinda what us Riders do." He smiles at Serrah and Luke. "Well, once I get done explaining this whole thing. Why do I get this bad feeling that she's going to make the Theta-Wave madder than they already are?"

Serrah sighs softly. "Vampire," she mutters, not caring if it's loud enough for the retreating Cagliostro to hear. "He turned me, and I need to get resurrected before I -- What in the world --" She stares at the departing Temulin, and once again reaches for the sports bag at her hip. "... uhhhh ... she hasn't done that before ... even though I've only seen her twice before, I think ..."

She chortles at Kian's enthusiasm. "I'm still ... sorta ... figuring out the details," she says. "But, uh. I'll pencil you into the list. If you know a vampire slayer called 'D', she's the best one for getting in touch with me, most of the time." She shrugs. "And if you ever meet a vampire dude with a beard who's just this overconfident jerk, and he has a maid in red and black with a Stepford smile that creeps out even other vampires? That's His Grace Duke Vincent D'Ambriso. Bring a wooden stake."

    Luke tilts his head and watches the others just slip around, seeming more concerned on the alchemist, "I hope she won't cause trouble." he mumbles, before focusing a bit more on Serrah and his other 'friend', leaning onto Dynamo, poor pokemon relegated to resting surface. "You should tell me more about vampires and stuff, perhaps some grass pokemon might help, if wood is a weakness." he muses. Then chuckles, "You should come fight on some pokemon at the tournament for a bit, just as a spar." he says with a grin, "Can't hurt figuring out what we eachother can do, if we end together in a team." he muses. "Still, glad to have your help."

    Kian nods, "In the mean time... guess I just wait around. They should have some government official or another Rider coming around soon. Wish I could type as good on my phone as a good old computer. Sticking this on the Network's gonna be a doozy."

    He considers, then looks at the two, "You two want a cup of coffee? Or... uhh..." He looks at Serrah, "Can you even still have coffee? I think there's some in this truck, and they won't mind a bit of hospitality."

    Kian calls over to the officers, "Hey! One of you get us some coffee when you get the chance! And some donuts or something, please? We're gonna be in the truck just chilling."

Serrah smiles faintly. "Stuff that works on biology, like caffeine?" she says. "Not very effective. But I can still drink it, and it's still sort of a comfort food, so let's go for it!" She can tell him about her old job at the Early Latte once they're settled down.