[hr][i][h1][color=Blueviolet]Malik Jakane[/color], [color=#ffe0bd]Rhea Harlow[/color], & [color=9e0b0f]Charlie Peterson[/color].[/h1][/i][hr]
[i][u]Havenfield Market, Roseview.[/u][/i]


Heading to the DOVE exhibit was rather hard when there was so many people in the way. Malik himself regretted not buying a costume so he'd blend in... Then again, he'd look ridiculous when he's talking to the badass RAVENS! He could only hope that they know [i]something[/i] about where Marcella is, or he's going to be in trouble. He may have to get a little desperate and talk about this strange "Founding Family" that Marcella spoke of. Honestly, he didn't know much about them other than the fact that they're a threat... and sounded kind of funny.

Though, there was a massive crowd in the way. Huh? Malik was curious, if he had to be honest with himself. He wanted to give it a look, if it was worthy of this crowd, then it had to be great. Who knows, maybe he found the DOVE exhibit!

Casually scrolling through the crowd until the African-man reached the "eye" of the crowd, Malik got a good view of what amassed the crowd, and scratched his head. It was some kid dressed as a discount Mickey Mouse, doing some fancy card tricks. Certainly nothing for the traversed Malik Jakane to write home about, but maybe he needs to take a break.

Every hero needs their rest, after all.

"Next!" Someone shouted, and Malik was "brave" enough to step up.

It wasn't bravery, it was curiosity. Malik was the heart of any crowd.

"Hey now!" Malik shouted as he walked up. "I'll step up to the challenge!" He loudly shouted as he sat down across from Charlie.... then quietly said, "... Whatever you're doing."

Charlie smiled as another person took interest in his hobby.

"Cool, how about this, take this deck." Charlie held out his hand miming him holding a deck of cards. "It's sealed... Oh and invisible." 

Hmph. Sounds interesting. Malik took the cards, and wondered where he was going with this

"Awesome now pretend you are opening the deck, and pulling it out, and shuffling it." 

Right off the bat Malik was less than impressed. All this for a crowd? Malik himself could do the easiest parkour tricks and then gather three times this crowd. But he was going to play along.

"Now fan through and find one you like. Don't tell me, just put it back in the invisible deck upside-down, return it to the box and then toss it to me."

Malik himself, despite all his travels, never really played poker, so he couldn't really tell which card was what. So, while shifting through the deck, he pulled out the three of diamonds.

Charlie caught the invisible deck and with a flick of his wrist a real one emerged in his hands. He rubbed his forearms, warming them to get the nerves under control. 

"What was your card?" Charlie opened the real deck and spread the entire thing out face-up onto the table. One card, was face down in the entire deck. "Flip it..."

There was a part of Malik that knew where this was going. He's seen a lot of interesting things, and this was the least impressive. He flipped the sole card over, and  - surprise - it was the three of diamonds.

"See there is a reason you picked that card, and as many of the crowd know already I don't play fair." Charlie flipped the deck face down in a flourish and handed Malik his card. "What if I told you, you never had a choice." Charlie flipped the deck once more to reveal 51 three of diamond cards.

"Ooooooh...." Malik said, he honestly didn't see this coming. "Well, if you told me [i]that[/i], I'd think you're kinda crazy." Malik playfully said to the boy.

“Invisible decks? That’s a new one.” Said a voice from a crowd. A young woman, dressed in white with a butterfly wing cape moved to the front, offering Charlie a crisp bill. “If you can double this $50, I’ll buy you a drink and let you keep it.”

Charlie snatched the $50 from the woman and, smiled. He smelt it then exclaimed to the crowd 

"This, this was a good year." He then proceeded to shove the bill into his mouth. "One second." He said pushing the rest of the bill into his mouth, he then proceeded to chew. Then he held up one finger as his face twisted sour. He then reached into his mouth with both hands and grabbed the end of the bill, he pulled it out slowly. Revealing one side showing $100. Then he pulled it out of his mouth and snapped it high for the crowd. "Sorry, you never specified how you wanted it done." He said as he handed her the bill trying not to show pain in the fact that he just gave a stranger $50. Oh well he just made a fortune off of that swindler earlier. "And I figured this is quicker than investing in stocks."

Rhea failed to hide the ‘ew’ expression on her face as she was offered a crumpled, wet $100. She shook her head, gesturing he take it back. “I believe you’ve more than earned it, for that trick. Bills are… well, far from sanitary.”

The young lady smiled. “I’m Rhea, by the way. I owe you a drink.”

"Charlie, and you owe me a drink." He smiled and continued on with Rhea in search of relaxation.

"Uh, yeah, doesn't he look a little young for that?" Malik said, scratching his head. He had a limited knowledge of American laws, but he knew that much. But, they seemed to have wandered off, and the crowd was dispersing. Oh well, Malik found this whole encounter strange. It wasn't even a good distraction!

A tent strung with lights had some empty patio seats and the promise of cold drinks. Rhea and Charlie approached the entrance, only to be stopped by a buff, tall bouncer.

"Sorry lady, but your friend doesn't meet the age requirement. I can't let him in." He said.

Rhea rolled her eyes. "I won't buy him any alcoholic drinks. There's no fault in letting him sit here."

The bouncer didn't budge. "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but this is policy."

Rhea raised an eye brow, a wry smile on her face. "How much are they paying you here?" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a wad of bills. "I want you to take this, and my friend and I are gonna bullshit pleasantly in your patio; he won't be drinking."

The man's jaw dropped, and he quickly stashed the bribe. "Please make yourself at home."

A Peach Bellini and a Roy Rogers were ordered for a table for two. Rhea shifted in her seat, happily sipping her drink. Her eyes curiously appraised the magician across the table. “Sorry about that. I gotta say though, you know how to attract a crowd. What got you interested in street magic?"

Charlie relaxed in his seat, finally he was out of the spotlight. "Umm I guess it was the wonder I felt. When you see normal humans do things that mimic meta-humans on a small scale it just makes you think. Maybe I'm not so smart after all." Charlie was having a hard time answering the question,[i] why did he enjoy challenging himself with trivial things?[/i] "How about you? What do you enjoy doing for fun?" 

“Wonder, huh? Sounds like it’s a passion for you. For myself... Well, I study. Always learning this and that. And I enjoy gardening. At this time of the year, however, my garden isn’t near as lush. Lost a strawberry plant last week.” Rhea chuckled. “Not as flashy as wowing people with magic, right?”

"Well maybe if you study aloud to your garden it will grow?" Charlie took a sip of his Roy Rogers. "I mean, strawberries are overrated, they're the only fruit with their own milk flavor." Charlie smiled at himself, he was pretty on top of it today. "Why the butterfly wing?" He asked pointing at Rhea's costume.

"Apparently classical music has the same effect." Rhea smirked. "Not that I try to interfere with the garden too much; it's fun watching life grow without help."

[i]Ugh, he's not going to understand that at all.[/i] The healer chided herself. [i]We're not discussing metahuman-anything here; that's as bad as politics.[/i]

Charlie noted her costume, and she pulled up one of the feather-light pieces. "I think it looks cool without being cumbersome. And white's my lucky colour." She gestured to his hat. "I understand your get-up though, it's perfect for your acts."

Charlie chuckled,and then let out a fake laugh. "Right..." 

[i]What did she mean without help...[/i] 

Charlie was embarrassed "Huh, yeah.. I just kinda like the retro look to be honest." Charlie pushed the hat up out of his eyes despite his slightly red face. "I just like to be able to impress with my human abilities. Even if it doesn't do the job 100% of the time."

Rhea frowned at that. "Human abilities? You couldn't have just said skills? Why define it with...." Her eyes lit up. "Oh... You're a little more than a street magician, Charlie. Aren't you?"

"I umm." Charlie stuttered the entire way through Rhea's thought, getting more embarrassed by the minute and then when she came to he relaxed. "In ways." he said as he pulled a rubik's cube from the inside pocket of his robe. "Do you know what this is?" he asked and before she could even answer he handed it to her and said "Mix it please."

“Ah, one of the most frustrating toys of my childhood.” Rhea winked. She took the cube and mixed it under the table, turning over the pieces countless times. When she offered it back, the cube was a mess of coloured squares.

It was almost too easy for Charlie, he took the cube from her with confidence. "Ready? I am going to toss this," He mimed with the cube in his hand behind the back. "One hand behind my back and you're going to catch it solved." He smiled at her as she got ready. Then he pulled the cube quickly and without hesitating he swung while solving it one handed. Threw it in one motion behind his back and over his far shoulder and towards Rhea's open hands.

It landed in her grasp, perfectly solved. She inspected it, an incredulous look on her face. Not a single facet was out of place, despite her meticulous mixing. "Wow. I couldn't do that in a million lifetimes. Do you have some type of... I don't know, cerebral ability? It would have to be something that lets you calculate exceedingly fast."

He smiled "Sort of. Mostly just memorization of algorithms and a ton of practice but yeah you guessed it. I do have some help." Almost ashamed to admit he was a meta-human. It somehow made it feel less spectacular."You could do it with a little practice I'm sure." Charlie smiled and then asked "I could never watch plants die for fun in a million lifetimes, so you have that on me."

“Practice?” Rhea gave him a look. “That’s unlikely. I’m sure there’s more depth to what you’re capable of, beyond solving a cube quick.”

He mentioned her slip-up with the plants and Rhea couldn’t help but laugh. She had said too much. But, from the turn of the conversation, she discovered something about Charlie. He, very likely, was a metahuman. 

“Very perceptive of you. Fine, I think you’ll be able to not hate me for this.” She leaned forward, elbows resting on the table. Her voice was a low whisper. “I’m a meta-healer.”

"Really? Awhhh that explains the whole... Okay we're on the same page now." Charlie sighed. Thankfully she was another meta-human he was beginning to worry she was just a bit off, though that's still not out of the question. "Well, my umm, power. Is on the bottom of your napkin." Charlie pointed to her drink.

Rhea's eyebrows knitted as she gave Charlie a confused look, then glanced at her napkin. Flipping it over, she read aloud, "Brewsters, everything tastes better with— hey..." She facepalmed, a blush to her cheeks. "Apparently, I take you too seriously."

"I know but that would've been like mind blowing right?" Charlie chuckled, he loved doing that. "I'll put it bluntly," he said as he leaned in and gazed at Rhea. "Premonition." And just as Charlie finished he felt it. A sudden shift, danger, from the left of him. He wasn't concentrated enough to know what, but it was too soon to leave so he braced for the worst.

"Hey punk, what the fuck do you think you're doing?!" A enormous bouncer grabbed Charlie by the collar and pulled him out of his chair. Sadly this friendly drink couldn't last forever. 

"I was just enjoying a soda with a friend, mister bouncer sir." Charlie fumbled with his words, embarrassed he was making a scene.

"Really? I can smell the alcohol on you." The bouncer sneered, spit all over Charlie's face. The bald brute didn't know who he was dealing with, but it's hard to be intimidating in a fantasia outfit. Charlie nudged the hat out of his eyes and scowled.

[i]Ugh, a new one. Great timing for a shift change. Really.[/i] Rhea pursed her lips, leaving a few bills on the table to cover the drinks. She glanced at the new staff, tapping Charlie's shoulder. "Relax. We were just leav—" 

"No listen here dollface, I deal with pieces of shit like you two every god damned night. You think just because there is a festival I let my guard down? No fucking way." With every syllable more spit flew from the guards mouth, and more rage built up in Charlie. 

"Look just because you have a tiny dick doesn't give you the right to blame everyone else." Charlie mouthed off to the man who was ruining what was going to be a wonderful evening. Without hesitation the guard lifted struggling Charlie off of his feet and headbutted him. Charlie went limp, dazed and concussed. The guard then proceeded to, despite the jeers from the room, carry the man out of the tent and into the busy street.

Rhea followed them out, leveling a cold gaze as the bouncer stomped back into his bar. "Yeah, I'll see you in court, buddy."

"I'll be a witness!" Said a voice in the amassing crowd.

Charlie lay in the grass, mumbling. Rhea glanced around before gently pulling Charlie's arm over her shoulder. "Let's get you to the First Aid tent."

They walked away from the crowd at a slow pace. Rhea shot another quick glance before moving them to a small area between two tents. "Kidding, I'm the best first aid around. Just sit here, kay?" Rhea said, moving her hands over Charlie's head. Small sparks of light jumped from her fingers. 40 seconds later, Rhea checked in. "How's your head?"

"Good, but swallowing is $5 extra." Charlie said relieved as the pain and confusion dissipated. "Thank you... Sorry I got us into that mess back there." He smiled at Rhea and stood up slowly. 

Rhea's brows shot up. "Well, you got hit harder than I thought." She stood, pulling out a phone. "It's fine, really. That was, to be honest, quite messed up. But I enjoyed the drinks. Can we keep in touch?" She offered Charlie her phone, a new contact page open.

Charlie smiled at her as he took the phone. "Well only if it doesn't end the same way." He said smirking as he plugged his info into her phone and then texted himself 'Rhea'. "Alright it's all set up, have a good one, i'll see you around." Charlie waved and smirked as he walked out from between the tents.

Rhea nodded, leaving to walk in the opposite direction. "Yep, I'm off to complain about that jackass. Enjoy the festival!"