Downtown The World's Best Coffee Shop

Alyssa was walking through the streets of Megalopolis, with her friend and companion, Lucky, her trusty seeing eye dog. She heard the sound of police cars racing past her, blasting her senses. It was a common occurrence within the city, there seemed to be crime everywhere. Her glasses rested on her face as she fidgeted with them with her free hand. The sound of footsteps and chatter were all over the side walk, and she could hear people stepping out of her way as she walked past. Suddenly Lucky stopped, and so did she. She learned to trust her companion, plenty. Few moments past, and the traffic slowed down to a halt, and then her and lucky continued their walk.

She could hear a conversation a man was having on his phone. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I didn’t get your text, I don’t know my service has been screwy recently.” It was a lie, she could tell. Eventually she was lead off her path into a building by Lucky, it was a place she frequented often, a small coffee shop, one that tolerated her and her dog.

As she came to the counter she ordered her usual coffee, and handed the person a twenty dollar bill. They gave her back four ones instead of her actual change, trying to swindle her of her money. “$17.43 is your change, enjoy.”

“It is, but this isn’t 17.43, now how about my proper change?” The person had a slight gasp, but apologised and said it was a mistake. She took her change and placed it he her pocket. She sat down at a corner table, with Lucky laying down at her feet. She pulled out a small recorder filled with various music. Hitting the play button, it went off through the attached headphones. Gently she put them on and sipped her coffee. She was a little tense, as Lucky has a very slight growl, there was someone here that Lucky did not like, and someone she probably wouldn’t like either.

Alyssa - "The Best Coffee in the World" was proclaimed in yellow letters on the neon sign facing towards the window. Adeline had stepped through the doors, causing the little silver bell attach to its metal frame to ring. It was a sound she had come to be familiar with, but it still surprised her every time. She came her frequently but more recently because she decided to work later hours down in the office.

The police were active tonight, she could hear them rush around town on her walk here from her office. She still had her nice blouse on, but her right arm was decked out in colors. Her last client of the day decided she wanted to paint a picture, and got a little bit carried away.

Entering into the Coffee Shop, she saw that the place was packed. Every table was occupied by someone, and there were no more seats at the tiny bar where she usually sat. She immediately got a little headache stepping into the room, but instead of leaving she decided she really wanted that damn coffee and pound cake, and examined the room for a seat that was closer to the edge of the cafe.

When she found a seat, she realized it was across from a girl she could only figure had some disability, as a Guide dog sat besides her. As she got closer she grew hesitant that the seat was available as an unfinished deli sandwich occupied the table space in front of the chair.

Not trying to be rude, she tapped lightly on the girls arm, as she was listening to music and asked: "Excuse me, is this seat next to you taken?"

Alyssa - "The Best Coffee in the World" was proclaimed in yellow letters on the neon sign facing towards the window. Adeline had stepped through the doors, causing the little silver bell attach to its metal frame to ring. It was a sound she had come to be familiar with, but it still surprised her every time. She came her frequently but more recently because she decided to work later hours down in the office.

The police were active tonight, she could hear them rush around town on her walk here from her office. She still had her nice blouse on, but her right arm was decked out in colors. Her last client of the day decided she wanted to paint a picture, and got a little bit carried away.

Entering into the Coffee Shop, she saw that the place was packed. Every table was occupied by someone, and there were no more seats at the tiny bar where she usually sat. She immediately got a little headache stepping into the room, but instead of leaving she decided she really wanted that damn coffee and pound cake, and examined the room for a seat that was closer to the edge of the cafe.

When she found a seat, she realized it was across from a girl she could only figure had some disability, as a Guide dog sat besides her. As she got closer she grew hesitant that the seat was available as an unfinished deli sandwich occupied the table space in front of the chair.

Not trying to be rude, she tapped lightly on the girls arm, as she was listening to music and asked: "Excuse me, is this seat next to you taken?"

A minute or so past while she listened to her music with lucky beside her, but soon she felt a light tap on her arm, startled, she turned to face the direction off the tap, while taking the headphones off. "Excuse me, is this seat next to you taken?"

Her voice was soft and, obviously female. “Oh, no, it’s open; you can have it if you want.” The entire place was filled with chatter, and the sound of coffee cups hitting table, and the sound of people gulping their drinks filled her ears. “It’s busy today. I wonder why.” She took a sip of her coffee, while Lucky laid there; at easy, well, compared to when they first arrived, he was no longer growling. The shop was filled with the smell of pastries, cakes, and other food objects, more so than coffee which was a little odd, though, within it all, there was the stinging smells of… paint? She wasn’t sure; it would be unlikely that there would be pain in this place.

Adeline pushed the plate with uneaten food to the side. Immediately after she sat down, a familiar waitress came up to her. Her name was Marissa, and she was a very two-faced type of person. To many customers she came off as extremely nice, but Adeline also knew that she was a very hotty and jealous personality, and was known to spit in food the most of out of any worker. Though she would never tell that to her face. She remained as friendly as ever, even if she knew Marissa's friendliness was just a facade.

"Good Evening Doctor!" Marissa said with her upbeat "personality", fixing her spunky purple leopard print glasses, she brought out her notepad. "Can I get you your usual?"

"Oh not today Marissa", she said immediately "I am in the mood for something a little stronger, the kids were pretty rough today."

"So something like an Expresso Cappuccino?" Marissa responded eagerly, she was always like that though, she loved telling people what they didn't know, and while coffee was limited field, she nevertheless wanted to share her knowledge.

"Yeah sure, that sounds fine" Adeline responded, while she went to this restaurant almost every day she never really knew much about Coffee, so as long as this was strong, she really didn't care. "I also would like a yellow pound cake, and I think a crumb cake for my friend across the table."

Marissa immediately turned to the woman behind her. While she was obviously someone with poor sight, wearing sunglasses inside and having a seeing-eye dog, Marissa clearly didn't want to be heard by the woman and Adeline picked up that she was extremely nervous around her. Though maybe she was just a customer that angered by Marissa's actions or maybe the woman found out Marissa spat in her food?

The woman took the invitation and took the seat across from her, the chain creaked as she sat down, either it was a poor chair, or she was more on the heavy side. A scratching sound occurred from the table; she had no idea something was there, though, that’s not surprising. That was probably why she asked if they seat was taken? It looked like it was taken.

A woman came to the table to take the order of the woman who now sat opposite her. With each step she took, there was a sharp tapping noise, from a high-heel no doubt. She could assume this girl was vain, covered in make-up, trendy and brand name clothes. It would be far to annoying to wear high-heels at a job such as this, she clearly cared too much about her looks. The voice was oh, so familiar. It’s the same girl who tried to rip her off.

"Good Evening Doctor!" What was that? Doctor? Strange, was she actually a doctor? Hmmm… but she was clearly a regular around this shop. Lucky, her companion began to stir, he was moving a little more than normal.

"I am in the mood for something a little stronger, the kids were pretty rough today." The kids? Perhaps she worked at the children’s hospital. Alyssa found her self at the least intrigued with this woman.

“Crum Cake? Oh, no thanks, that’s going to go strait to my hips.” Alyssa raised an eyebrow as she talked. She wanted to test this girl, learn how she talks, how she responds, or behaves.

Lucky stood up at this point, his tail low, and he crawled under the table, giving off a few bark. “Lucky? What is it? What’s wrong?” most of the café went silent, and a few people yelled for the dog to shut up. Soon, the ground started to give off a few vibrations, before it goes off into a large, full scale earthquake. She could feel the vibrations; she could hear the sound of everything shaking. Liquid, most likely coffee splashed onto the floor, onto the tables, she could hear the shattering of plates falling off the tables as well.

Chairs screeched and thudded as they fell over, people were screaming, the screams came from all over; perhaps some of them were lower than others, most likely crawling under their tables.

But, as quickly as the quake came on, it was gone, over the course of around 10 to 15 seconds, all this chaos. The entire time, Alyssa sat there, holding Lucky. Then, just as everyone grew silent, she could hear a flickering noise that eventually ended. “What was that…”

Her sunglasses slipped off her face durring the quake, and she hadn't bothered to put them back on, she was too busy and occupied holding her friend and companion, Lucky.

As Adeline ordered several things from Marissa, she looked over at her blind friend from across the table. She didn't get much of a response from the woman, until she ordered her a Crum Cake, at which point the girl told her the generic concern about her weight and her hips. Adeline looked at Marissa and then back at the girl, it was a quiet gesture by the girl, but she had raised her eyebrow as if to look curious when stating her concern. Adeline couldn't entirely tell if the woman genuinely felt that way or not, but she nevertheless didn't change the order.

As Marissa finished writing the order, Adeline looked back at the girl, something about her changed slightly, something that most people would have missed. Her mood seemed to have changed, or at least Adeline thought it did, from one of probably quiet frustration, to a more serious attitude, but that isn't just it, there was also some mistrust and contempt in there as well.
Adeline didn't say much in response to that, she had no intention for causing suspicion, but she was sure this wasn't the first time somebody tried to get on this woman's good side to possibly take advantage of her blindness, or perhaps she thought Adeline was looking down on her. Regardless, she meant to apologize somewhat, but decided to backdown, no normal person could have noticed these small fluctuations in mood.

Their stare off ended, when the Dog next to the table began to bark. While Adeline didn't entirely understand Dog emotions, she could assume he was afraid or distracted by something in the room. Many didn't take kindly to the Dog's presence there but most tried to ignore it. However a few men told the girl next to her to shut up "the damn mutt". Adeline, knowing some of these men, met with a menacing glare back at them. However, not entirely out of kindness or for friendship with the girl, but Adeline feared that this much commotion would change something in the girl's mood towards becoming embarassed instead of this contempt, an emotion Adeline was far more interested on sensing.

Immediately after the Dog was silenced, the room began to shake and rumble. The glass and china around the store began to make a symphony of sounds. Plates, silverware and glasses all fell onto the floor. The brown tile floor became covered with a brown soup of coffees as some of the less secure tables and chairs fell over in this unusual event. The light flickered some as the lamps swung around in the air.

"Um, stay calm everyone! I think its all over!" Marissa tried to say to the customers in attempt to calm them down after the few seconds of mayhem was over. "Hey Fred!" she yelled across the restaurant to a man behind the counter. "Would you turn on that damn Television, so we can watch the ne...." Marissa said as she got cut off by something, Adeline wasn't sure what though. Adeline, who now bent over onto the ground, was reaching for her purse that had fallen onto the floor and gotten a mixture of coffees poured onto it. When all of the sudden she felt a change in not only Marissa's but the man behind her's emotions. They seemed to have shifted from Marissa's egotism and the man's disgruntled feelings to becoming interested, no it was the same feeling Teenager couples had, but towards who? Each-other? Adeline doubted that much, the man wasn't Marissa's type, and Marissa was too upbeat for a man so constantly stressed out at his job.

She tried looking up at Marissa, who she realized was facing the girl from across the table. Adeline looked back down to the ground now, seeing her purse, as it had slid about 5 yards across the room. With a sigh she got up and walked towards it.

“Lucky, Lucky, are you ok?” Alyssa was feeling about to stand up when she unconsciously went to play with her glasses, and they weren’t there. “Oh no. oh no, OH NO.” As she spoke more and more people were cut off mid sentence, and before long, the entire café was silent. She closed her eyes as tight as she could, and dropped to the floor feeling around for her glasses. where are they? Where are they? She was flustered, she wasn’t even thinking about what people around her were doing, she just wanted her glasses.

She could hear the sound of foot steps, and was a little disgusted when she reached into a puddle of coffee on the ground Oh god that’s so gross a few people came over to her, a couple of patrons of the coffee shop, but the one that peaked her interest the most was the girl named Marissa. They were all asking what she was looking for. “My glasses. I dropped them around here.” And, almost in unison all the people dropped to the ground and started shuffling around looking for her glasses. Oh god, that’s not normal… They saw my eyes didn’t they? Oh god, how many are there? 10? 20? soon the girl called Marissa screamed out.

“I found them! I found them!” Alyssa felt a tug on her arm while something hard and plastic was shoved into her. “Your glasses! Here take them!” She grabbed at them carefully, making sure to feel it for damage, and upon deciding that they were ok, she put them back on. She could finally let her eyes lids relax.

“Oh, thank you, I. I really should go..” just like before, the entire café seemed to respond in unison.

“Oh please, don’t leave us yet. Is there anything else you need?” this wasn’t going as well as she would have hoped it would go. Regardless, she had to leave, but she found herself held back, Marissa wasn’t letting go of her. “Don’t I get a reward for my help?” Before Alyssa had a chance to respond, Marrisa spun her around and pulled her in, forcing a kiss onto Alyssa.

It lasted a few seconds before she broke free. “No! That’s enough, you can all just go back to your coffee and leave me alone! All of you!” just like before, everyone responded in unison, as chairs squeaked across the floor, and they creaked as they sat in them. “Lucky! Lucky! We’re leaving. Now!” And, in an instant he was beside her, she could feel her fur on her hand and she grabbed him, without missing a beat, she was on a quick walk out of the café, with the sound of people drinking coffee, and quite a few sounds of slurping, most likely people drinking coffee that had spilled.

The screams of panic, from the girl she sat across, drove others to look at her with curiosity. Adeline, even had the temptation to look, though her view was blocked as she crawled under the table looking for some of her belongings that had fallen and scattered on the ground. There it happened, again, Adeline could sense it, so many people, their emotions changing.

How is that possible? Adeline thought, with almost a gasp for air. Her head was going crazy. They all, all of the sudden, its impossible, unless... Her thoughts were cut off, as all the patrons to the coffee shop got on their knees to search on the ground for her glasses. In their mad dash to please the girl, they made of a mess, knocking over other dishes and fine china, coffee pots and turning over chairs. Chaos, that is all it could be described as.

Adeline was shocked when another man grabbed her pink purse, soaked in coffee by this point, and started going through it, looking for the girl's glasses. She tried to get back her purse, but it was no use. She could only gather her wallet and few other things that fell to the ground. The man, already rushing back to the girl trying to give her the purse in place of her glasses. In all this disarray, a loud voice screamed out with success, like one does after hitting a bulleyes, or getting lucky at an arcade game. Adeline got up to her feet, and faced the woman who had her eyes closed and her hand shielding her face. All of the patrons were surrounding her like a horde of zombie. The voice came from Marissa whose head exploded with fulfillment. She was yelling “I found them!" repetitively and the others immediately took notice, and glared at her with jealously, and hostility. Like bobcats staring down a rabbit. The other patrons started moving towards Marissa, but all of the sudden stopped as the blind girl, accepted the glasses and thanked her. The others now seemed to fall into a state of disappointment. The challenge was over.

The calm didn't last for long, as the girl hinted that she was going to leave overwhelming panic began to fill the other customers. There we gasps similar to ones a person would have if they had lost a relative, or rather a lover. Marissa even spun the girl around, and started caressing her breast and attempting to kiss her on the lips. Though she was blatantly rejected, all of the patrons were rejected. She ordered them, like a queen speaking to her subjects, to go back and drink their coffee. Which they gladly did, they got on their knees, and began sipping the spilled coffee that covered the tables and even the floors.

Amazing, Adeline thought, simply amazing, Not even she could preform something as remarkable as that. Though how is it that they were infected with such emotions? Was it the girl, or somebody else? Adeline wondered in her head. No it had to be her, or at least connected to her.

The bell rang again, as the door closed behind the girl. Adeline would follow her, but first, she wanted that damn pound cake. Walking pass the sipping customers, she idly strolled by one of the tables. While a lot was broken, a piece of cake still stood untouched on a plate. Orange Wedge flavor, not her favorite, but it would do. Taking it in her hand, she walked right out the door. The customers still drinking their spilled coffee.

The bell rang when she ran outside to chase her friend. Looking to her right, she saw the girl walking with her dog. "Hey, stop. I need to talk to!" Adeline yelled to the girl.

PRE-ARC EDITING
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Alyssa -
Adeline closed the door behind her, seeing the coffee patrons still absorbed in their spilled coffee drinking. Looking to her right, she saw the girl collaspe onto the grey concrete sidewalks. Her legs were bleeding slightly from the fall, or something or another. Her dog began to look at her and lick her face. Immediately Adeline felt overflowing emotions of guilt and sadness. It became obvious to her, that the girl was crying, as she moaned uncontrollably. While the glasses blocked Adeline from seeing her eyes, she could clearly see the streaks of tear along the girl's face.

She must have heard the bell ring and her footsteps approaching her, as the girl immediately shouted in somewhat incoherent sentences. It was a mixture of self-justification and an apology to Adeline. Trying to formulate a response, to the girls remarks that she can not control her ability to do, well whatever that was, the girl got up and tried to push Adeline to the side. She seemed insistent on heading off, as if she needed to get away. Feeling some sort of pity, guilt and sadness herself (must have been a backfire of detecting her emotions), Adeline felt compelled to do something for the girl. After all who knows what she could learn from the girl, if she could prevent her from leaving right now. Running a bit to catch up to the girl, she took her hand immediately, and began to try to relieve the girl of her emotions. While physical contact was not necessary, she couldn't let her walk off in the middle of the process. The effects weren't as good then, and the girl obviously needed to be calmed down.

It was like as if Adeline gave her a psychoactive drug, the girl felt great euphoria after Adeline had grasped her hand and concentrated greatly on her. The girls worries and troubles temporarily left her body, like butterflies, they took off and she felt at ease, or as much as she could speaking the circumstances.

Alyssa smashed through the front doors of the coffee shop. She was flustered, with rage, sadness, maybe even depression. She could barely get a hold of her emotions, she was muttering, crying. She broke down, right there, collapsing on the side of the wall, Lucky beside her, sitting patiently. Tears streaked her face as she sobbed uncontrollably. People all over the side walk avoided her, no one wanted to get too close to talk to her, ask if she was ok, and that just made her increasingly sad.

A bell rang; the bell on the coffee shop, and the woman who sat across from her in the café came out, calling to her. Wait. Why is she here? She should be drinking coffee… unless, did she not get controlled? Wait; was she immune to her gaze? She had no idea…

“What?! What do you want?!” Alyssa lowered along the wall, down to sitting onto the side walk. “This isn’t the first time this happened! It’s not as good as you think it would be you know! Maybe if I could actually see I would better control it! I can’t just snap my fingers to turn it on and off, I can’t control when it comes when it goes!” Alyssa was overcome with emotion, she just snapped out at this girl, she didn’t know why.

“I… I need to go…” Alyssa pulled herself up, not waiting for a response from this girl, she walked off, back through the streets towards her home.

PRE-ARC EDITING
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(Miz Post)

Alyssa - The woman seemed delighted with your response, and asked you to follow her to her office. Where she knew she would have extra room to house you. Stating that her apartment existed above the office complex. She took your hand, as you walked down the street. Lucky was by your side also excited, as he seemed to not be suspicious of the woman, and not being overprotective as he usually was.

Adeline - Exiting to Dr. Lowell's Office & Apartment

Alyssa began walking away, when she felt a hard grab her and tug at her. Suddenly, everything started to change. She didn’t care about what happened at the café anymore, she was becoming calm and… at peace. As she stopped her walk, she placed her hand on the hand gripping her arm, and started to feel even better. Alyssa slowly turned around to face this woman. “I… I..” She had no idea what to say, she just felt… fine. She didn’t have a worry in her, she just felt better.

She wasn’t sure what it was, but she didn’t want it to end. “Are you… free tonight? Maybe you would like to… talk some more?” She hand a smile on her face as she spoke, and her tears stopped flowing.

Exiting to Dr. Lowell's office & Apartment

Entering from Dr. Lowell's Office & Appartment

Alyssa could hear the ding of the bell as she opened the front door, Lucky leading the way in as she made her way to the counter. As she reached it, she could hear a gasp followed by the piercing sound of glass shattering against the shops floor. “Damnit Marrisa! Coffee pots don’t just grow on trees!” A deep masculine voice yelled from off in the distance, probably back behind the counter, than even further into the kitchen. Alyssa could hear a woman in front of her utter an apology before asking Alyssa for her order.

Alyssa recognized the voice, it was the same girl from before, the one who tried to swindle her money, the one who tried to force herself onto Alyssa; though that was while she was allured by Alyssa’s power. “Oh… can I get a medium coffee? And do you have any apple muffins? I think I want an apple muffin.” Alyssa could hear a few beeps before the girl proclaimed her total.

“$5.02 please.” Alyssa pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to the girl before she started to dig around her pockets for a few coins. “Oh… it’s ok, really, just… just take it.” The girl seemed to be very awkward, her voice varied from normal to quiet and he had a few hiccups and stalls in her voice. Alyssa could understand why.

“I’m going to go grab a seat, come join me when you are done, alright Adeline?” Smiling towards the cashier, Alyssa grabbed her things and let lucky leader her through to an open seat. The place seemed quite. Either everyone was super careful not to make noise or the place was fairly empty. However, as she walked towards a table, a man stood up and approached her.

“Oh… Miss. You can have my seat… I was just going.” Alyssa spun to face where she thought he was to respond to the man. “What’s your name?” The man asked her, but all Alyssa could think of was the smell of his breath pounding against her face. The man must have be only inches away from her.

“Oh... Thank you but I think there are other seats.” Alyssa said rather nervously. “I’m Alyssa by the way.” She motioned to walk away, but the man moved with her to continue talking.

“Alyssa… that’s a pretty name. I like pretty names.” The man sniffed the air; she could hear the large inhaling he was doing. “You smell nice. Like flowers.” As he finished his sentence, Alyssa stood there in an awkward silence. “Oh, you’re blind right? Here, let me help you.”

Alyssa gasped a little at first. “Oh, no, no, it’s o-” before she could finish he had grabbed her by the upper arm and pulled her towards his seat, practically forcing her down. She could feel something in the seat that felt wet, but it was thick, too thick to be coffee or water. Oh god, this is disgusting! “Oh… thank you… really.” The man have a triumphant huff before Alyssa heard a buzzing noise.

“Oh… my phone. My brothers want to see me… Here, let me give you my phone number. Maybe we can do this again?” He scribbled quickly on a napkin before shoving it into Alyssa’s face. She gave a nervous chuckle and could hear he step away; letting loose a sigh of relief as the door opened and closed. She was about to stand up, but she heard a thud, like something whacking into the window of the shop. At the same time she felt a pinch on her butt.

“Oh, oww!” She got up quickly, and oddly enough, the strange thick liquid was gone. She felt the chair and it was definitely not there. Slowing taking her seat again, she had a mixture of fear, confusion, and nervousness about everything, and this just added confusion to it all.

It was delectable. The waitress's reaction to Alyssa, the sting of fear in her eyes and the panic that shook through her hands. A quiet smile to try to nudge off - futile - no use, it was obvious to everyone except those who might be blind, she was scared. Perhaps it was a form of embarrassment, because she grew pink and fluster, as Alyssa shuffle through her change, spilling the various coins on the counter top. The reaction was simply priceless, her hesitant nod, and her readjusting those purple glasses and the brushing through her pony tails. “Oh… it’s ok, really, just… just take it.” The meek words she spoke, stuttering and... and... with a sigh the high stake emotions were gone.

Adeline didn't know how much time had passed. It was rare regression by Adeline. She almost had to make a sigh herself, for a few seconds, she was, almost - she assumed that she had taught herself over the years to not get so absorbed by her surroundings, the emotions of others. Precariously delving into others was a dangerous activity if there wasn't a specific cause or intent. Searching without recourse was the easiest way for her power to backfire. For Adeline knew very well that her powers developed one specific weak point. Emotional contamination was hard to avoid, but she hadn't had such a bad experience as she did in many months, possibly even years. Damn regression, its like a drug addict searching for their fix, she complained to herself. She wanted to slap herself back into senses, but she did the appropriate thing, she utilized the methods her own psychologist, that perverted quack, told her to preform.

With was another deep breath, Adeline began the pressure in her chest to decompress, and now the waitress spoke up again, shyly, it was possible she remembered Adeline too. "Ma'am, can I take your order?" she asked of Adeline, trying her best to make a smile.

The woman's name was Rosaline, Damn, it was a problem, why did she have to subconsciously delved so far. Pinching the arch of her nose, she seemed to mostly be annoyed or having a sort of headache. "I am sorry," she said to her in a voice that twinge with some fear and anguish. "I will have a cappuccino and a slice of some delicious pound-cake." She then took a double-take at Yui who stood beside her. As the waitress turned around to go prepare the order, Yui began to apologize for her strange behavior before. Perhaps its some sort of relapse, Adeline thought to herself taking another mental note. "Ah its alright Yui, you just take a seat with Alyssa, I get you something." she replied to Yui with a forced smile. Her head was killing her.

"Also could you get me a cup of water or juice, she can't probably couldn't take decaf and I rather not risk it." Adeline asked the Waitress. Her head was truly killing her. Stop, stop, stop! Adeline protested in her head, the woman, she was too easily read and her well of feelings. By the time it came to pay, Adeline could little than to show the woman's true feelings on the outside, becoming both afraid and aggressive. Taking the tray from the waitress rather prematurely, leaving the bills, not wanting change, not wanting to wait another minute there and approached the table Alyssa and Yui were sitting at.

Though, who is that? The man there... Adeline thought, as a strange man, extremely tall, perhaps 6 foot 8, stood next to Alyssa. His head almost touched the ceiling, his forehead was parallel to the light fixture. The man simply looked strong, almost every muscle on him seemed to be displayed proudly, his physique was impressive. He wore black almost leather like pants, with huge boots, they had to be tailored to fit his feet. His shirt however was Brown, and it may have been a good thing he decided to wear such a color, for it hid the portions of dirt that covered his body. He was covered in fine sediments all over, its like he came back from the beach, or fell into a sandbox, and then a flower-box broke on top of him. His phone beeped and he picked up and stated he had to get going. As he shuffled away, so awkwardly he did so, Adeline could see a cloud of dust trail behind him. The man was a strange sight, but more importantly why was he talking to Alyssa... A question Adeline pondered most as she sat down in the table greeting Yui and Alyssa.

Man's Appearance

View attachment 1163

(Note - he has a Brown Shirt & does not have the shield)

Detective Gremon's Shade......

It had watched intently, observing every detail and action of the group. The way they talked, acted, listened, watched, no detail was spared. It had recorded many notable actions to deliver to it source; but that would take time. For now; it watched Alyssa and her group in the only shadow within the coffee shop, - the only dark one anyway - remaining invisible from within. The room itself mattered little, it was all a blur of grey and more grey, unfocussed and undetailed, the only thing that mattered was Alyssa and her followers. It watched intently as she took a seat, trying to feel it. Her face screwed together slightly, her jaw lowered a little. Confusion. She curled her lip, as if she would bite it. Nervousness. It continued to stalk her.

As Alyssa was sitting there, sipping her coffee she could hear Adeline and Yui sitting down with her, well, she assumed it was them, who else would it be? A shiver crawled down her spine thinking about what just happened to her. She bit her lip for a second then pushed the napkin towards Adeline and Yui. “Did you see that guy? He... was extremely creepy and then he shoved that in my face…”

Alyssa was clearly perplexed, a little scared. Still she sipped her coffee and thought about it from a moment. “Do I smell like flowers?” Alyssa was thinking about the encounter again and again. He was extremely strong; he pulled her around like nothing. Then again, she wasn’t the strongest of girls. Still, the man was very strange. Taking yet another sip, she was glad to have coffee that wasn’t Adeline’s, and her muffin… it was gone? She put it down on the table and it was gone?

As she listened intently she could hear Lucky slobbering? Or was he just eating something? It was probably her muffin. That dog had an uncanny knack for getting food out from under her nose. She would just have to do without it, not a big lose at all.

Entering from Operator's Warehouse

Elizabeth walked into the coffee shop and set in a table near a window and ordered a Coffee and a cinnamon roll to go along with it, she relaxed and became
less hostile against humanity as her mood relaxed in her, it was a really relaxing smell and atmosphere, even if it was filled with unworthy normals, she paid the waitress and started sipping her coffee while she surfed the net.

Lucky was a train dog, his blue cape-like coat wrapped around his body, he knew how to act in social situations, but the table they selected was lower to the ground, and the dog didn't get much of a breakfast. He started to whimper, and slobber about, as he eyed Adeline's cake. Adeline only gave a grimace back. Adeline couldn't read the emotions of animals, and well there was that ever-present debate upon whether animals have emotions for starters, she gave some ponder to that topic but refocused, she wanted the cake and was damn well going to eat it.

When the waitress came by again, she refused to make contact with the group, which was a good thing because Adeline didn't want to make eye contact with her ether. She could have altered her mood, making her not want to feel embarrassed, but that would risk another venture into the poor girl's mind, a task Adeline wasn't about to consider again, at least for now. She tried to keep her mind occupied, staring at her coffee. Damn was it good coffee, much better than the crap she had to make for Alyssa.

Sighing, she finally addressed Alyssa's question. "Hm? Weird man? Oh yes, I saw him. He didn't appear to have proper hygiene, and he seemed socially awkward, all of those are a common symptom of a schizophrenic category known as..." Adeline would lecture on, her diatribes usually containing scientific words that mainly flew off the heads of others. Though mind way, the waitress came by again, and elegantly, without giving much eye contact said. "Oh, you forgot to pick up your orange juice." she said setting down the glass at the table and meekly retreating back to the kitchen.

"The orange juice... Yes, that is for you Yui. Enjoy..." she said putting a straw in the glass of icy orange liquid.

"Where were we?" Adeline asked. "The flower smelling, I don't particuluarly know flowers much, my friend Jeri though, if you ever wanted to know botany, she's the girl."

Alyssa listened to Adeline, though it flew right through her mind, she didn’t find Adeline’s psychological rabble interesting in the least; nor was Alyssa particularly keen on talking to, or dealing with, a botanist. She was starting to feel fairly light headed, so she started to drink her coffee quicker, hoping to help knock the headache away. She simply responded to Adeline with head nods and occasional agreeing hums. Her headache didn’t seem to go away, it seemed like it was just getting worse. “I.. I’m going to go freshen up a little. I’ll be right back.” Alyssa spoke to Yui and Adeline before getting up and grabbing onto Lucky.

She let Lucky lead her towards the washroom where she let go of Lucky and opened the door. “Wait here Lucky, I’ll be out in a minute.” She walked through the open door feeling in front of her where she found a wall. Following it to the right, it opened into a larger room, the actual washroom. Placing her right hand on the wall, she followed it towards the sinks, her left hand was on her head as she walked, trying to suppress the headache.

With each step, she could hear a small splashing under her foot step, it seemed to fill the entire floor. Eww… did the toilet overflow? I should tell them… the splashing noise didn’t end even when she finally reached the sink. Her headache was getting even more intense now; Alyssa held onto her head for dear life, letting her right arm leave for only a brief moment to turn on the tap.

Alyssa cupped her hands and splashed some water on her face, trying to break out of whatever seemed to be afflicting her. However, it didn’t help and she soon found herself rather dizzy. Stumbling backwards a little, she backed into the toilet stall, which caught her off guard. She tried to recover as best she could but she found herself falling to the ground, tripping on her own feet and onto the ground. However, the substance all over the floor wasn’t water, it was far too slippery, and a little thicker than she would have expected.

It matted her hair, and stained her clothing, as she rolled from her stomach to her back. Some of it found its way towards and into her mouth. With haste she spat it out, but it definitely had a taste to it. It tasted like… copper? Iron? It tasted like someone shoved a coin into her mouth.

Pulling herself up to a sitting position, Alyssa tried to get her feet underneath her and tried to push herself back up and standing. However, she slipped and fell to the ground. She could hear the tap running, as she quickly drifted off into unconsciousness.

Dreaming in Dream Ambience

Detective Gremon's Shade......

Nothing much was learned. Just flower smelling and the talk of a busy man. Alyssa was biting her lip, perhaps scared? Stuttering in her voice indicated it. The other girl was replying, going into odd detail, though Alyssa appeared to not care much. The question perhaps a distraction from the silence. She mentioned about 'freshening up', a method to detract from her negative feelings. The dog followed her, as well as The Shade, to which nobody noticed the moving faint haze.

The three approached the door. Alyssa went through, whilst the dog waited for her. The Shade slipped through before the door shut, though the dog sitting down stared at his general direction, teeth baring, yet the eyes were looking around aimlessly. Confused, nothing was there to him, though it certainly felt the shade's... presence. The door shut.

The first thing to note was the red liquid on the floor, most likely blood, seeping from the bottom of the bathroom stalls. No body was in view currently. Alyssa's brow shrunk slightly. She noted the oddness of the liquid. Her left hand was on her temple, indicating an ache inside her head. She had not done this prior to entering the stall, it had just occured. Odd. She let go of her hand from the wall, utilizing the sink, washing her face. It didn't appear to help, she became dizzy, backing into the toilet stall, tripping on the blood, slamming into the ground, staining her. She tried to get back up, but she couldn't, her strength appeared to weaken, the dizziness growing stronger. All the shade could do was observe. The flow of water was all that could be heard within the bathroom.