Log:Taxing

Taxing
Participants Cafe Crowd	3 April, 2017 '
Location Crossroads Cafe
The Crossroads Cafe has become the de facto crash-joint of the local Lost. This is a true fact: ever since Ms. Hazel came into town and opened up the joint, it is often littered with Lost of all varieties. Usually because of the pie. Something about changelings and pie. For her part, Sam is not immune. She sits by herself in a booth. A cup of coffee cools, lonely, on the table. A book is open in her hands, and it appears to have her attention. But the paranoid and aware would notice that her eyes lift once too often to look at those in the room -- newcomers, everyone -- to be mere coincidence. Spying? Keeping an eye on the place? Or just reading? All of the above. Tock is chatting with Hazel, seemingly about something to do with April 15. He returns from the kitchen / back room with a large stack of receipts and a ledger and with his wire-rimmed spectacles perched atop the edge of his nose, slightly askew. He fishes a pen and a pocketwatch out of the pocket of his houndstooth coat and waistcoat, respectively, as he heads back out from the kitchen and looks around for a quiet table to work. Rorschach was anything other than the type of clientele that Hazel wanted in her establishment. Odds were good I mean the man looked a bit like a walking health code violation. The wyrd was strong with this one and not really in a flattering way. More of the there's something that needs to be smashed with a big big shoe right now. He was wearing more layers than a goth hobo or...maybe was just some goth hobo, and looked sickly as hell thawing. One arm was in a sling and he looked a bit like he had some bedhead going on. Brother of Silent Nights... meant untrustworthy hobo right? Right? Maybe it was best to not let the radioactive roach near the food. That said he poked his head in as if looking maybe for someone Since he just arrived in the town a few days prior and has literally been to enough places to count on his fingers, Kip ends up returning to what might end up someday soon turning into a haunt for him. Either way, it's a place to get a cup of coffee and be alone while being with people, even if that last part ended up radically going wrong the last time he was there. He slips inside, leaving the slight chill of early spring behind him, held at bay by the door that swings back shut once he's inside. There's a heavy messenger bag slung across his chest diagonally that bumps his hip as he moves. And awkwardly he hovers just a bit inside the doorway and looks around. Oberon comes inside from the town square. As the scene opens in earnest, Sam shuts up the unmarked book in her hands. It is old; it is tattered; it has clearly seen better years. Her eyes -- bold, blue, burning -- fix on Rorschach and his clearly-unsettling presence. But, then, there is Tock: a moment of recognition passes over her features, brief. And then, there is Kip. To him -- in his direction -- Sam lifts up her book, and waves it slowly to get his attention. Because that's what friends do, right? Wave people down. Her other hand grasps the handle of her coffee cup. From it, she takes a long, slow sip, to see whether the skittish Levinquick takes up on her invitation to parley. Perhaps about books. The front door opens calmly and a known face in the Cafe appears. It's Oberon. Though, this time, his hair and beard (now he has a big one) are creamy pink and both covered with tiny flowers. Upon seeing so many Lost scattered around, he grins to no one in particular and heads to the bar counter where he orders a mug of tea. Rorschach hung in the doorway like an inkbleed, his mantle infecting the space immediately around him leeching all colour from it like reality shifted into film noir all a sudden. He looked confused and perhaps uncertain at the peoples milling about and his black eyes hovered on Sam a moment and flinched. A bruised, pasty hand pushed hair and antennae back, the latter bouncing forward after in eh manner of fly-away hairs. But there was... Oberon? who seemed to get a hesitatant upnod. - So, the thing about being a baker at Crossroads is that one can manage to be at the cafe for hours and never seen even once. Ting was in the back on pie duty. Cakes, bread, and pastries are all in the case out front already, but the pies were being a bit unwieldy as it turns out. People eat them too fast. Why do they do that? The Spring Waterborn suddenly emerges from the bowels of the cafe where all the baking magic takes place. It's likely covered in faerie dust and unicorn tears. Just saying. The iridescent water babe is hoisting up a huge tray with six pies on it. It is settled on the back counter then she begins to place the finished pies onto the racks meant for pies. Upon hearing the door open, again, Ting pops up from pie arranging to check on the door. The place is packed - she missed this entirely a moment ago - and her pal Oberon just arrived. "Oberon!" she calls over to him, a huge smile offered in greeting. As the baker of Crossroads she is usually in the back, in the trenches as it were. But when her fellow Spring's tea comes up, she slinks out from behind the counter to deliver it. "I missed you last night. I want to talk about your new /boyfriend/," she says giddily. Because love is cool and all that. The Waterborn is covered in flour and sugar, but it's a good look for her. Cobalt is here a lot. Often for the special pancakes. But the more important he's usually here is to seek out his iridescent water babe of a baker girlfriend in the form of Ting. He hulks on in through the door a few steps after Oberon, frowning at the back of the flower-strewn, pink-haired Oberon's head. It suddenly got a /lot/ hotter in here. He glances around at the others assembled, noting a few familiar faces, and squinting at the weirdness that is Rorschach. I mean, everyone here is pretty weird, but Rorschach is a flavor of weird Cobalt hasn't seen before. His primary attention, though, is all on Ting, and he goes directly to the counter when he sees her there. Lifting things. He grimaces. He still isn't super-thrilled about his lady toiling about like some commoner, or whatever. Elbows are leaned on the counter and he leans across it. "Ting." To Rorschach, Oberon offers a smile and gestures the bug to come over. Then, there is Ting and all her happyness."Hey. I hope the party went well without me." When his tea is deliverd, he whispers something to Ting and smiles before turning around to take a look at the other Lost around. Upon seeing Cobalt just a few inches away from him, Oberon pats the man in the shoulder."Hello, bigman." Kip's gaze that swings across the room in a brief taking-in of people, places and potential threats (the Three Ps if you will) swings back toward Sam and the book-wave is responded to with a lopsided half-smile and a slight upchuck of his chin in greeting. His hair is pushed back from his face with an absent motion as if he's not even aware of doing it and he slinks his way over to Sam's table. In passing, Rorschach gets a wary looking over, but he doesn't seem too overly inspectful of the other scattered Lost that he doesn't know. "Hi," he ventures in a quiet voice as he nears Sam. "Hi," responds Sam to Kip in a quiet voice that matches quiet voice. She puts her hands on her cup, and focuses her attention on him. All on him. "Want to sit and talk?" Her question comes out innocently-enough, but there is something hollow and chilling in her tone. Like she's /trying/ to be nice, but actually sounding like Darth Vader to his peons. If Sam's actually paying attention to anything else? It's hard to tell. No, her eyes are for Kip at the moment. All for him. (Poor bastard.) Rorschach looked entirely uncertain, and for Oberon's sake, far more scattered than he would remember him from last time. Somewhere, inside the layers and the two hoodies and who knows what else, the punk emitted a chirp: melodic like a cricket immitating a viola. Needless to say this was probably not okay behaivour. Ting's words to Oberon got him to arch an eyebrow causing his one hand (not attached to teh arm in teh sling) to sign in question. Presumably on Oberon's relationship status. Oberon got a squeeze on the shoulder for that. His curiosity was short lived. He looked to Kip in literal passing, and gave him a nod eyeing him very curiously, for who knows what reasons. Black eyes driftend back to Sam with curious motes of blue and very quickly looked away from her. At Oberon's bigging he stopped lingering and followed. Tock "hmmmmmHmmmmHmmmhmmHmmms" quietly to himself, parking in the booth next to Sam while she does her soul-eating stare thing and while Tock himself works through Hazel's taxes, adding and subtracting and multiplying and dividing and scribing in his neat, precise, mechanical handwriting, the wire-rimmed spectacles on his nose glinting in the sunlight as he works on Hazel's business accounts. If there was a way to sink further into his slightly baggy jacket, it's possible Kip would do so. But Sam's tone doesn't seem to cause him too much fear. Or at least he doesn't show it if it does. She likes books. How dangerous could she be, right? And so Kip sinks into a seat. Head ducks, messenger bag slid over it, leaving his hair messed up. But he doesn't notice. Because Rorschach is nearby and how can anyone passing him /not/ give him a second, possibly third, look? His voice is lower than usual as he leans across the table toward Sam. "Does-- this place is it part of the local Freehold? Or just a lot of... us here?" Cobalt is not easily ignored. He's big, he's loud, he kind of demands attention by spreading out and dominating space. Ting, on the other hand, is small and accommodating and all sorts of polite. How are these two together, a logical person might ask? "Oh look, it's a Cobalt. What are you doing here? I am off in fifteen minutes." Stupid questions are fun, yeah? Soon the Waterborn looks to Oberon and nods. They will talk, it will be great, boyfriends are swell - all that is conveyed in her sweet expression. "Coby Cat, go sit, be nice, I will get you pancakes." People know Cobalt here. He is always impatient to eat and kind of a jerk about it as it turns out. So, therein lies the logic when Ting places four muffins on a plate and grabs a cup of coffee for him. Wherever he goes to sit there will be a Springy girl behind him. Whichever server is on duty will surely be thrilled to have her handle the demon cat. His order is already being started by the cooks. He's that insane when he is hungry. When he sits, wherever that may be, the plate and cup are set neatly before him. "Eat. Don't get into any fights. Your order is already in." Ting covers all the bases quickly. You have to be swift with this Summer. Then she leans in and kisses his cheek. There. Cranky Summer appeased. Cobalt easily shrugs Oberon's hand off his shoulder. "Don't touch me." Then, minding his manners (mostly because Ting is here, no doubt), he half-cracks a smile at the guy. "Yeah. Hi." Ahhh, so he's already hangry. As has been noted, this can be a dangerous order of business. So he goes and sits and places a big, clawed hand around one of the muffins. That, and the kiss, helps a little. Now he doesn't have to be an asshole. He offers Ting a little smile. "Thanks, babe." Glowing green eyes then scan the cafe once again. Kip, with the social anxiety. Tock, all clockwork. Oberon, fucking pink hair. The others, creepy, whom he doesn't know as well. He's surveying you all as though this were actually his kingdom and you're subjects, and not just a cafe that belongs to Hazel instead of him. Oberon grins to Cobalt and then turns his attention to Rorschach and notes that there is something even more weird about the man. The Fairest pats him in the shoulder and grins to him too."Are you alright, knife thrower? If you need to talk to someone, I'm a good listener, okay?" A second later his cheeks get pinky."I mean, to you I'm a good reader." Rorschach was a very skittish bug. He flinched back from kip looking at him and instead looked at the back of Oberon's shoulder listening very intently to his update. Wow someone is now worried about Kip. This might be new. Being the center of attention usually meant having one's malleability tested. Still though, the southpaw Darkling drew out a notebook which was once orange before spending entirely too much time in his care, was pulled and a pencil from behind his ear. He held hte notebook with the bad hand and scribbled a note to Oeron for him to read. Even more weird he glanced to Cobalt, curious but undeterred and upnodded before actually engaging in any sort of interaction which was looking to Oberon to see if he was done reading yet. Ting moves back to the behind the scenes side of the cafe and finishes up making everything pretty in the pastry cases. It's all a dance. A dance of pie and cake and rolls. There is some side work she is not required to help with, but the Spring is nothing if she is not overly helpful. Always. Just make it look like something needs fixing and she is all over it. The interplay between Oberon and Cobalt is ignored. The Spring can handle himself. She eyes the patrons idly between croissant stacking. Most of them she does not know, but such is the case in any decently sized town. The moment - the very moment - that those pancakes are ready with a ding of that bell, Ting hurries over to fetch them, then does a bit more hurrying to set the plate before Cobalt. And before he can lodge a grumpy complaint, she swings her other hand about and holds out the syrup. Yeah, she remembers everything. Like a firefighter, this one. She sits across from the demon cat and smiles at him. "Did you sleep well?" Cobalt sits down at the first booth. Cobalt sat hunched over those muffins like a predator protecting his kill. It's not until they're all gone and he's licking crumbs off his claws that he straightens up again, lips pursing at Rorschach. But it's Ting (and pancakes) who gets the bulk of his attention. Even as he's already beginning to cut the pancakes into large pieces, he shakes his head at her. "No. Not really." He tears one of the syrup-covered pieces with his fangs. "I don't sleep good when you leave." A beat, and then he asks casually, "There's bacon and sausage coming, right? I really need some meat." Carbs are great, but they only go so far when you are actually part-carnivore. As Kip takes his seat, Sam's eyes drift back to Rorschach. Monster meets monster, and the former -- with the blue eyes and misty skin-- gives the latter -- the Radroach -- a firm, even stare. To the Lost, Sam's form becomes patchy and mottled, and her translucent skin shifts and moves unconsciously, looking more solid here and there for a moment, then shifting. It is an almost-piscene reaction. Like she were telling the other monster: 'go away my food'. Politely thereafter, Sam smiles at Kip. "I guess. We numbered yet few." Shrug. "It is convenient. It is open. These things are rare for the desperate." The blonde andro-thing takes a slow sip from the edge of her cup. Slurk. "Does this place make you uncomfortable?" Beat. "You seem nervous." Oberon nods to let Rorschach know he's done reading."Well. It's nothing like that. I'm just dating him. And it has been weird sometimes." He grins sadly."But yeah, you're right. We need some level of normalcy around us. And thanks." A glance is then cast to Cobalt and Ting, just to check on them. Sam sits down at the third booth. Tock ticks items off of his checklist one-by-one as he moves through the stack of forms in front of him methodically, quickly, and with careful precision. He sips from a mug of steaming cocoa exactly once, for precisely one second, upon completing each page and turning it over, face-down, onto the "done" pile. He "hmmmmHmmmmmhmmmmmmhmmmhmmmm" 's quietly to himself as he works, whirring away in seemingly-contented concentration. Nope. Nopenopenope. Do not gaze upon the Kip. To gaze upon him means that he is being gazed upon and that just makes him more skittish. It's perhaps a tic, maybe a nervous gesture, where his hand rubs against his face, then rakes through his hair. "No," he drawls in response to Sam, even as he shifts uncomfortably, messenger bag slowly lowered to the floor next to him. "I-- don't like being around a lot of... people. I'm used to quiet. Everything seems loud." On cue someone makes some sort of eating noise, perhaps a scrape of fork on plate or something, that causes him to flinch. "I haven't found the uh-- local one yet. Official introductions and all." The others are given another glance, this time Oberon being looked over again just as Rorschach was before. Even Tock is not given a deferment of attention, though it's brief before he looks back to his table-mate, Sam. Kip sits down at the third booth. Rorschach looked from Oberon back to Sam, Sam's plate. His eyes stuck and he winced faintly. So hungry. Soooo hungry. But she was looking. AT. HIM. Must...not lick her plate. Fine. Fine. He took a deep breath and looked towards the kitchen and gives up the longing for now and offered Oberon a faint smile with a nod. The notebook flipped shut and he wandered to the counter to wait for some sign of assistance. Someone was about to draw a short straw. Ting lets out a snorting laugh and grins. "What do you think?" she asks in response to Cobalt's query about meat. She glances to the portal leading into the kitchen and one of the cooks hold up his spatula to signify he needs a moment. Cobalt eats here a lot. Almost daily, and Hazel is a gem of a Wizened who understands and tolerates his brand of madness. Her cooks know how to speed things up to satisfy the Summer. "You know I'll be back after breakfast. You were passed out cold when I left. I was going to bring you something to eat anyway," the Spring says with a grin. Oberon's sad comment about dating gets a fleeting glance. She won't pry, yet. But later, yes! If only Ting noticed that hungry bug boys were looking longingly toward the kitchen... But alas, not this time. Kip's hands raise a mug and he calls out a hopeful quiet-shout of "Coffee?" before he puts it back down before someone other than a waitstaff person notices him. Ting sits down at the first booth. Cobalt mutters something inaudible around a mouthful of pancakes. One big paw moves out to capture one of her hands. Don't even think about helping people right now! Kip receives a glare for his request for coffee, like he thinks he's making the problem worse. He shakes his head and returns his attention to Ting. "I'm never gonna like this damn job. I mean, you seem to like it, okay, that's good. But I wish you didn't." Didn't like it, didn't work? Yes, both, all, every choice. Noting that Rorschach looks to be hungry, Oberon takes the lead and orders the man a plate of pancakes and coffee to the waitress that took Ting's place. He uses all his charm and persuasion on the petit young girl to get it right away and there it is! A full plate of food and hot coffee in front of Rorschach. The Fairest then grins to the bug and sips from his tea. Rorschach waited for someone else and scribbled a noteto the guy behind the counter who gave him a funny look. He pulled out one wallet and rifled through it. Business cards...plastic. Nope. not useful and the other is not wise to use. That got pocketed and he pulled out... another wallet? Hrmm. That one had four dollars in it though. He hrmmmd and hawed about the tea and then debated the bagel. Passed on teh bagel in favour of having something left to leave in the tip jar. He pocketed the second wallet and dipped his head in a thanks. The tea bag was left separate from teh water for now. Darn it! Ting's mouth opens and she looks right at Kip when he calls out for coffee. Yeah, she was about to get right back up to get him coffee. Luckily, there is another server there who is still on the clock. Kip gets coffee! The hand suddenly on hers causes her to stay put and smile at the Summer. Yes, she will acquiesce. "I do like it. I like working and I like this kind of work. Feeding people is like passing out love for their tummies. Never is a long time, Coby," she notes with a sweet, but warning tone. Sam and Kip seem to be talking quietly about ... well, about things. Stuff. Sam seems to be cool, calm, and collected. Talking in an even tone. Being, for lack of a better term, impassive. But, asking questions. Questions, questions, questions. Cobalt's vibrant eyes stare at Ting for a good, long moment. It's a look that suggests...well, maybe he doesn't quite like the fact that she wants to feed other people love. Basically what she said, right? His tongue moves over the edge of one fang as he mutters something to her at their booth. Tock yawns elaborately, blinking a few times to clear his head. He pauses in the midst of adding, subtracting, and multiplying to stare out the windows for a bit at the edges of promising greenery that have begun to decorate the tree branches. He taptaptaptaptaptaptaps the pen against the hard veneer of the tabletop contemplatively as he watches, with grateful eyes, this clear evidence of Spring. Kip says a thank you to the server who brings him his liquid joy. His hands wrap around the mug, curling in to let his fingers seek out the warmth of the ceremic he holds, then resumes giving responses, short and stammered, to his interrogator. Oberon pats Rorschach in the shoulder and grins."Don't eat it all at once, okay?" He jokes before glancing around once more. Specially to Kip and Sam in the corner. But then his emerald eyes trip to Cobalt, that receives a tongue out in a teasing and, finally to Tock, that is the only Lost alone. The Fairest bites his lower lip for a second and elbows Rorschach and gestures to the bug to the two of them to join Tock. A second later, the Spring courtier goes away and picks a seat at the table."Hi. We met before, right? Tock if I'm not mistaken." He then smiles. The cafe has a way of running quite smoothly when all the pieces are in place. One server and two cooks can be magical together. Ting is never usually a server either, to be quite technical about it, but the Spring does pitch in when the need arises. Crossroads has been wildly popular as of late. With her hand still captured by the much larger Summer, the Waterborn smiles up at him, nodding when he speaks. Then suddenly the smile fades into worry. Rorschach looked around to Oberon and the pancakes and then Oberon and looked... worried. The roach bit his lip and wrote in a note looking to the pink-haired man before touching anything. Taking food was one thing but accepting a gift was another process entirely. Finally the skittish insectfollowed the Spring's lead. He was curious, moreso he was in shit shape and starving. Dark, hollow eyes looked up at Tock and moreso his work, TOck, work... pancakes. The plate was set down and the notebook that looked overly thumbed through was lipped to the front page under the bent cover. It read: 'Hi. Most call me Rorschach.' Hesitantly he fingerspelled out T-o-c-k, you? opointing to him at the end of it all. Oberon's tongue gets a frown from Cobalt. More than that, it gets a brief flicker of anger in the light of his green eyes before it dies again. Yes, he might like to punch Oberon in the face. Just once. But no, he does nothing of the sort. He's with Ting. Speaking of Ting, he continues to speak quietly with her at the table. Seems like a serious conversation. Tock nodnodnodnodnods in the affirmative, to Oberon, commenting: Indeed we _have_ met -- you are spot-on correct! Allow me to introduce (now with respect) Myself to your friend who was o'er by the door, And glances betimes at all crumbs on the floor . . . Tock then leans over to write out replies to Rorschach on his own stack of Post-It notes he keeps next to the binder with the chaotic wad of Hazel's purchase orders attempting to escape from it. "Y-e-s" he writes. Then adds "!" Then writes: "Pleased to meet you!" and passes the note over the table to Rorschach. Oberon picks Rorschach's notebook gently after Tock's note delivery and writes something to the man and smiles before turning back to Tock."So. What are all these papers? Are you some sort of businessman?" He asks gently as he glances around the pile of papers scattered around. Ting looks like she was just slapped across the face with a brick. Her expression is nothing short of stunned. Then she looks down at the table and shakes her head, adamant, shaking it far longer than is needed. Serious discussion indeed. The Waterborn does not notice the adorable introduction happening at the other table. A shame, really, she feeds on happiness the way Cobalt feeds on pancakes. With overzealous delight. Cobalt, in turn, seems shocked by this. Shocked, confused, and a little angry. "I don't!" he says, a little too loud, because it's hard for him to be quiet when something upsets him. "I never said that." And then he's speaking rapidly to the Waterborn. Kip is talking. Seriously. /Talking/! It's not a near-whisper quiet version of his usual voice, either. And he says something about Hamlet. Or something that sounds like Hamlet. Even his non-quiet voice is not loud, at least not in these surroundings. Tock nodnodnodnodnods to Oberon, indicating the pile of tax forms, and then, with a sweeping nod of his chin, includes Hazel and Ting and the cooks into the gesture . . . It's -that- time of Spring: when the taxes are due, And Hazel's quite swamped with her work (and theirs too!) So I try to halve the time time taxes will take, And gladly trade Hazel accounting for cake! Tock grins widely, gesturing toward the pile of forms and the progress he's made so far towards helping Hazel with her taxes. Ting suddenly looks very small and pulls her hands into her lap. Her head is bowed and she is shaking her head, trying to clearly, like there are voices and little monsters in there whispering. Cobalt has an outburst and she jumps. Then she looks around the room and rests her hand on his balled up fist. She is speaking so lowly now, it is only meant for him to hear. Oberon was going to say something to Tock but is suddenly interrupted by Cobalt. The Fairest arches a brow to the scene. His eyes look for Ting's to check on her. They carry some worry and a tidbit of panic. But he doesn't say anything, neither move. Rorschach looked to Oberon and furrowed his brow and sat. He took the pencil back and circles his prior note twice. Apparently that equated to insisting. Oh! Dobby received a post-it! Dobby is a taxed...house elf? wait that's not how it works. He glanced the note and made a gesture near his ears nodding to Tock and signed a bit more expecting no one to really pick up what he was throwing down. He did flip to a new page and scribbled: DOn't think I ever did em. Should we? This was an odd curiosity, though one would only wonder what he might put in the form if anyhting and where to have the return address set to? Finally, sonething decided he sipped the coffee and picked up teh pancake to take a bite out of it. Initial bite taken (though his cheeks dis move... very oddly in this process) he put the top one back down and added goodies to the top. Cobalt puts his other hand over Ting's, speaking with an obvious intensity even if his words aren't traveling. His face says it all, though. He's an intense guy. I mean, he's not even eating his food right now. So you know it's gotta be intense. Kip's still chatting away with Sam at their table, but for a moment his attention veers toward Cobalt. Cobalt who is not eating anymore. Cobalt who Kip seems to think is radiating some sort of presence to the room that requires him to be looked at. But hopefully before Kip's gaze is noticed by Cobalt or anyone else, it goes back to staring at the top of his table as he and Sam talk quietly. The Waterborn is close to shutting down. Her jovial sweetness is rather subdued, and though she is certainly not the type to get loud and throw a fit, she looks about as unhappy as a Ting can look. Then suddenly she stands and pulls her hand away from where it was captured between demon cat paws. "I need to get home." It's a half-ass excuse, but a polite one nonetheless. She doesn't look at anyone or even say goodbye to Oberon. Poor Ting. Oberon's eyes narrow at Cobalt when Ting just vanishes. The whole scene made the other Spring courtier to drop on his sweetness too. Even his tiny flowers understand that and all of them close."I'll be right back." He murmurs to those at the table with him as he stands up and heads to Cobalt's table. There, he stands by the man's side. He takes a deep breath and offers the man a smile."Can we chat or you're going to punch me in the face too?" And Cobalt is on his feet next. "Ting, wait." He is definitely going to be on her heels, should she start to flee. And if anyone looks at them, they are going to get a glare from hell. "I'm not gonna...do that. Would you wait? Let's go home and talk about this." So rational, for the likes of Cobalt. But he looks rattled. Oberon is there, when he stands, aaaaaaand yep. There's the death glare. "I'm busy." Cobalt stands and leaves the first booth. Ting is making a beeline to leave. She isn't running or openly freaking out. She just looks like a girl on a mission to get the hell out of there. She is off work, after all, likely up since the dark wee hours baking here. Cobalt can follow her, of course he will, she is not making any grand overtures to stop him. But if Oberon slows him down, great. Maybe she just needs fresh air. Ting goes out of the cafe to the Town Square. "What do I think?" Kip muses in a quiet voice to Sam. "I-- don't know," he starts to say, though the words get cut off as Cobalt and Oberon have their encounter. With his usual demeanor, one would think that when it came to any sort of potential confrontation, he'd flee or curl up into himself and wait for it to pass. So it might be mildly surprising when he straightens up in his seat a little, clears his throat a bit and calls over, "Everything alright?" He must have noticed Ting's fleeing when he looked up. Rorschach was sitting looking wrecked and famished desaturating Tock's table, the contents, and even teh plate of pancakes he was nomming on. There was a bunch of movement there and the roach perked up one antenna that seemed to follow Ting like a periscope. Seriously does he get reception with those? The strung out bug looked up and blinked at Tock and then turned in the direction of the door. Those haunting eyes blinked and his head tilted curiously. Seriously someone needs to introduce him to those little forest spirits that rattle when their heads move. He might have people out there, or a costume idea. Damion comes in through the front door of the restaurant, wearing a standard tee and jeans. The dragon scans the room, noting the abundance of Lost. He glances behind him at the departing Ting. It felt a little... tense in the room, to him. "Hey all. What's going on?" His bass voice cautiously neutral as he tries to get a better handle on what's going on. His eyes eventually settle on Cobalt, who seems to be the most obviously upset one there. Sam's eyes do not move. They remain on Kip. One of her eyebrows rises when Kip's attention is drawn away, but she makes her comments in a low voice at their table. Oberon stares at Cobalt for a little longer with his angry emerald eyes."We will have a chat, Cobalt. You willing or not." He says very seriously as the huge Summer warrior departs to chese the delicate waterborn. Than, he takes a deep breath and looks at Kip."They're always doing this. Don't worry." He says before heading back to his table."I'm really sorry. Again." He says and when he was going to take a seat, Damion appears."Hi, you. Just a discussion between two lovers, I think. Why don't you come a sit with us?" He says pulling a chair to the Dragon. The Fairest then offers him a big, shiny grin. It's a good thing Cobalt is so focused on Ting, or he might actually throw a punch at Oberon right now. But Cobalt would likely kick over chairs, tables, and various people to follow Ting. It's possible that he's never more dangerous than he is in situations involving her. He turns his eyes on Damion for a moment. "Damion," he greets, but it's also a warning -- don't get in my way. Then he's slamming right out the door. Cobalt goes out of the cafe to the Town Square. Kip sinks back into his seat, staying deep within its confines as much as he can. Other than his eyes landing on Damion and staying there for several moments, he tries to blend in again. Damion follows Cobalt out of the room with his eyes, frowning. "Discussion between lovers, huh." He doesn't sound certain about just letting them go, but eventually moves towards the table Oberon is sitting at. He takes the offered chair, settling down in it and leaning back. His eyes settle on Rorschach, and a brow quirks towards the roachman. "You feeling okay, Ror?" Then he says to Oberon, "I guess I came in at a bad moment." He gives the others there a look took. Several Lost he doesn't recognize. Rorschach looked to Damion and it took a moment. WOah, his battle brother took a moment to recognize. Yeah he was off. There was a chunk of pancake about to hit his face but what was on the fork was offered to Damion. Hey, sharing is caring yo. Though given his nature that might not be a great idea. After the carniverous behemouth declined to join them the tension went out of the roach's neck. Though to be helpful he flipped over to where he asked Tock's name and pointed to the page and then Tock. Apparently one of them had a name. He scribbled on the page and slid it, with eraser over to Damion while kicking a chair out to him. Finally he answered the question and wrote a tiny note at the bottom of the page for Damion and gave him a nod. Coffee was drank. "Bad moment is just another world to a very common day in our lives, right?" Oberon comments as he too takes a seat."Oh. You know Rorschach. Nice." He comments and sips from his tea that, at this point, is cold. Tock looks up in bewilderment at all of the sudden noise and consternation, pushing his spectacles higher up onto the bridge of his nose to survey the spectacle of Ting and Cobalt's interaction . . . a bit worriedly, it could be said. Monday: A taxing day for many people, it would seem . . .