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[sup][@Surtr]  [@Junkmail] [@FernStone] [@Grim] [/sup][/center]
[b][code]Cafe Sucre.[/code][/b][hr]


After that meeting with Claire going so swell, there was something else on Britney's mind. She thought of asking everyone in town until she found out where her missing cousin was, but that would take forever. Instead, she had another idea. There was something strange about the people here. She could feel it. 

Britney leisurely walked over to the front counter, and smiled at Kimberly, "Heya, Kim," Britney said, "Can I have another caramel latte?" She asked.

"Sure thing!" Kimberly cheerfully said as she put the order in, and slid it to the person in the back, but Britney stuck around. Kimberly kept that smile on her face. Britney pulled another photograph of Cindy, and placed it on the counter. Kimberly leaned over, before she asked, "Oh, who's this?"

"My cousin, Cindy," Britney replied, "She's gone missing, and I wanted to know if you've seen her in here?"

"Oh, that's a shame..." Kimberly trailed off, "But, I haven't seen anyone like that in here..." She said as she grabbed the photograph, "But I'll keep this in case I do. I'll be sure to tell you!" She chipperly said.

Britney smiled and nodded her head as she turned away. Immediately, Britney sighed. She needed to find Cindy as soon as possible, before Scott or [i]somebody else[/i] got their hands on her. But, Farmer Hill wasn't exactly a small place - everyone loved to throw around that label of "small town," but yet she couldn't help but remember that Farmer Hill was still easy to get lost in. Especially with all the mountains, woods, farmlands... and so on. She needed to do everything she could to locate her. The cafe was filling up, and Britney figured that she'd ask the first person that stuck out to her.

There was some guy or girl... Britney couldn't tell. Either they were a really effeminate guy, or a really masculine girl - Britney couldn't care to tell either. What they did notice was the sigil on her shoulder of a paintbrush... so, they were an Awakened. They'd probably be a bit more inclined to the supernatural side of things. Though, she didn't recognize the person, and wondered how far she'd get with her reputation. Either way, she walked over to the table with a friendly smile and... kind of lost her line of thought. It'd probably come off as awkward or something, but Britney didn't care.

"Hey there, I'm Britney, I'm looking for someone," Britney said as she reached into her purse and pulled out [i]another[/i] photograph. "I'm looking for a missing person... have you seen her?"

"Oh, uh, hi," Rien looked up after taking a moment process the fact that someone was talking to them. What could they say, they'd drank a lot last night (without much reason to). They took the picture and held it up to their face so they could scrutinise it. "I don't think I have, sorry. Though I'm not the best with faces! I can definitely keep a look out, or whatever, though."

Rien was actually been nicer than normal - well acting less like they didn't give a fuck about anything. Losing someone close struck close. "Sorry someone you know's gone missing, though."

"It's okay," Britney quickly answered, before she looked at the sigil again. She didn't want to leave without pressing on her about being an Awakened, but she didn't want to be obvious. "It'd help me a lot if you kept her eye out for her, because she's my cousin... out of city, that's probably why a whole lot of people don't know about her." Britney turned her head as she looked at her shoulder.

"... That's a nice tattoo by the way," Britney just shot it out there, "It's refreshing to see a tattoo that isn't a flower, or fire."

"Tattoo?" Rien was confused by the fact that Britney was looking at their shoulder. They were pretty sure the only visible tattoo they had right now was the circuit board down their arm. Though it wasn't like they'd look at their back for a long time. "I don't have a tattoo on my shoulder..."

They craned their neck to try and see where Britney had looked and froze. "Well, I swear I didn't. What the fuck? Where did that come from?"

Britney chuckled.

"What? Have you been drinking?" She playfully said.

"I mean, yes, but I'd remember getting a tattoo," Rien frowned slightly before shrugging. They were horribly confused, but honestly - whatever. It was just another tattoo, right? Maybe they had been smashed enough to get another. "Thanks I guess, then? Glad you think the tattoo I didn't know about is nice."

Britney smiled... she knew that the girl had Awakened, but she didn't. That meant that she should either leave it alone, or be a little bit more indirect. She went with the former, "You should be a little bit more careful with the alcohol," She said as she turned up her palms until the sigils on her palms were visible, "There's weird shit going on."

"I'm assuming those aren't just some tattoos that you got," Rien tilted their head as they stared at the sigils on Britney's palms. No one got tattoos on their palms. "Maybe I should stop drinking... So, uh, what's going on? I'm assuming you know something about this weird shit."

"Well..." Britney trailed off as she took a chance. Those sigils of hers glowed brightly as she manifested a wheat colored light in her palms. She didn't create any plants, but only an Awakened can see the light. She rolled her eyes from one side to her head to the other, looking off to the side, as she said, "I wouldn't say they're tattoos."

"Oh, wow," was all Rien said as they stared at Britney's hand. Huh. Well, that would explain that weird dream they'd had last night - something they'd just put down to being drunk when going to sleep. They were a bit miffed but was taking things in their stride. No point in stressing about it. "Would mine be able to do that?"

"Hmph, who knows," Britney replied flatly, she leaned forward as she whispered. "It's something that reflects a part of you..." She said, "... So think of something you're passionate about, and start there." She gave her the advice. "Mine was gardening, and..." She simply dispelled the light.

"Thanks," Rien responded with a thoughtful hum. Where to start? Well, there weren't many things Rien was passionate about so they were sure they'd figure it out easily enough. "Guess I better test stuff out at some point."

"Ha!" Britney said with a playful smirk. "You're in a real rush to discover your superpower."

"There's not very much I'm passionate about, so I don't have many options to try," Rien gave an easy shrug. "Easier to be laid back about it."

"C'mon now," Britney said. "Everyone's passionate about [i]something.[/i]"

"I'm pretty passionate about alcohol," Rien laughed, not entirely joking about that. They figured they might as well say more - what did they have to lose if Britney knew the whole two things they liked. "It's probably something to do with art or computers, anyway."

"I'd start looking. Fast as possible." With the comment about being passionate about alcohol... Britney didn't think much of Rien. Probably another alcohol abusing loser. "... There's weird things going on out there."

"Sure, I'll get onto it then," Rien gave a slight nod. Wasn't like they had much else to do. "Hopefully it'll be useful with all the weird shit."

"Good," Britney said with a nod of her head... deciding not to warn her about the threats to them as an Awakened. They didn't seem that they were taking Britney all that seriously - and for that, Britney hoped that her abstraction would keep her alive. Because she definitely didn't have the wits. Britney merely got up and said, "I'll ask around some more, but it was great meeting you." She said politely as possible, before she got up, and walked away.


[hr]

On his short walk to the cafe, a certain half Korean and entirely alcoholic mass just about collided with Dexter. It was Ryu - who looking more disheveled than usual. He couldn't tell if this was some sort of return prank for his text earlier or not, but it was a rare sight to see Ryu awake this early in the morning. [color=gold]"Holy- good morning to you as well!"[/color] Dexter said, throwing his arm around his just about brother's shoulders.

[color=#598865]"Yeah, not-so-good this morning. I had a weird-ass dream, man, and I'm so fucking hungover. I'll explain everything but I need to get the cure first,"[/color] Ryu responded, groaning a little and holding his head. The cure in question was his usual coffee - a popcorn cappuccino that he swore could heal any hangover.

Dexter took note of how Ryu mentioned the dream. So he had the dream as well. [color=gold]"No, dude, I was talking to Claire and Samson. I think everyone had this dream."[/color]

[color=#598865]"Everyone had the same dream? Yeah, right. You've probably been drinking more than I fucking have,"[/color] he said, laughing a little.

[color=gold]"Dead dog, deer monster attacks the kids, battled with the cast of a Kingdom Hearts game? Ring a bell?"[/color] Dexter was far more comfortable conversing openly about the subject with Ryu. They knew each other well. There was a brief moment of silence as Ryu stood, mouth agape.

[color=#598865]"..Oh."[/color]

[color=gold]"Yeah."[/color] Dexter said. [color=gold]"There's also a missing girl right now. Claire told me that Britney is in here and knows more. You know Britney, right? It's her cousin. You're going to help me help Britney find her."[/color]

[color=#598865]"Only if you help me find my sanity after all the shit that's been going on,"[/color] he quipped, rubbing at the weird tattoo on his neck slightly.

Dexter opened the door for Ryu and the two walked into the cafe. It was only around 9:00AM, and it was as busy as he would expect for a breakfast and brunch place like this. He was looking for Britney, but he didn't have to look for long. He caught sight of her, and she had a light brown glow around her person. She was one of them. It seems a notable population of Farmer Hill was one of them.

[color=gold]"Dude, you know how I said I can see that glow around people?"[/color]

[color=#598865]"You mean how you were hallucinating that night? Yeah, I remember."[/color]

[color=gold]"It's not a hallucination. I can... tell when people are like us. Whatever we are."[/color] Dexter rubbed the back of his neck, unconsciously rubbing his sigil. [color=gold]"I know Samson has a ring. He can do something related to fire."[/color]

[color=#598865]"Like us? Nonono, what happened was just some freak incident. A lot of crazy shit was going on. I'm [i]normal[/i], Dex, c'mon, I don't make fucking black holes with my mind!"[/color] he hissed, getting frustrated now. Dexter grabbed Ryu by the shirt as the boy yelped and dragged him into the men's bathroom, which was unoccupied, by some grace of god. Dexter let go of him as they entered. He locked the door and turned off the light. His hand began to glow, illuminating the whole room.

[color=gold]"Ryu, you have a marking on your throat, and I am literally a walking and talking light bulb. I shot a laser earlier. [i]A laser."[/i][/color]

Dexter turned the lights back on, and motioned at the mirror. [color=gold]"Tell me that you don't see that!"[/color]

Ryu stammered. [color=#598865]"Wha- How- Look, listen to me, whatever is going on, we need to get it fixed! This is fucking weird, dude!"[/color] he threw his hands in the air. [color=#598865]"I just wanna be a normal person!"[/color]

What Ryu was saying made sense. Dexter had been dealing with it over the past several days, but from the look of Ryu's appearance he probably hadn't looked in a mirror in over a week. Almost as if he had been purposefully avoiding it. Dexter kinda didn't blame him for that. He sighed and rubbed his forehead, which was now not as pained as it had been earlier. [color=gold]"We do, but no one I've talked to has any clue what's going on or what's happened. Dude, right now we just have to roll with it."[/color]

[color=#598865]"So- So what? We're like that kid in the dream? Awakened?"[/color] he scoffed. [color=#598865]"God, that sounds pretentious. I'm some 'Awakened', shooting black holes out of my  hands and sucking axes into them. Just fucking great."[/color]

[color=gold]"I don't know man, just... I guess try not to give anyone the succ unless they deserve it?"[/color] Dexter said, motioning to his throat. He wasn't sure how Ryu manifested his powers. He'd let his friend figure that one out. He sighed and looked back towards the bathroom door and decided that it was time that he resume his quest to question Britney more on the matter.

[color=gold]"I'm going to go and talk to Britney, could you grab us a table? I'll join you in just a bit,"[/color] Dexter said, looking Ryu over. [color=gold]"...then we're going to my house and getting you cleaned up. You look like you haven't showered since the mill."[/color]

[color=#598865]"Aw, you think I showered [i]before[/i] the party?"[/color] Ryu snorted, smirking at his friend. [color=#598865]"But I guess being at your place is better than being all alone in the dark back at my dorm. Especially since I actually checked the news and apparently that Scott dude didn't die in the fire."[/color] His face went slightly pale as the words came out of his mouth. [color=#598865]"Do you think he'll come after us? You kind of did hit him with a shovel."[/color]

[color=gold]"If he does, I want to be ready for it."[/color] Dexter said, saluting Ryu as he exited the bathroom with a glowing hand and a smirk. Ryu shook his head, deciding to actually piss before he left.

[color=#598865]"Dex the superhero,"[/color] he murmured to himself.

[dex does stuff here and I'll put in a passing comment about Ryu sitting down at a table]

[hr]

Finding Britney wasn't exactly difficult amongst the crowd- with her size and hairstyle, she kinda popped out in the crowd. Britney was speaking to an androgynous fellow who went by Rein. Many referred to them as a fruitcake, but Dexter had never been one to subscribe to that line of judgement. He had yet to really interact with them, and as such he just didn't care. Dexter moved through the busy cafe in an attempt to catch up with her before she got caught up with someone else. Ryu, Claire, and Samson were relying on him getting some form of information and he had watched enough Criminal Minds to have an idea of what kind of questions he should ask.

[color=gold]"Brit, hey!"[/color] Dexter said, placing his hand on her shoulder gently. [color=gold]"Do you have a moment?"[/color]

Britney would had shuddered if it had been anybody [i]but[/i] Dexter. When she heard his voice, saw his face, she smiled like a fool. She laughed a little bit as she said, "Deeeeeex!" She said, "Of course, there was something I wanted to talk to you about anyway." She looked around.

"So, wanna do it here, or find somewhere to sit?"

[color=gold]"If you can find us a table-"[/color] Dexter said, trailing off as he turned around to face the busy cafe. [color=gold]"But, if you can, lead the way."[/color]

"'Course," Britney said as she found one by the very back... near the door to the kitchen. She sat herself down on the chair, and smiled, before she asked, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Dexter slid into his seat and looked around. [color=gold]"Well, um, two things. First, your cousin and two, which we'll probably have to step outside for."[/color] Dexter said, fidgeting nervously with his hands under the table. He collected himself and began again. [color=gold]"I've heard that Cindy is missing. I want to know how I can help."[/color]

"... So Claire told you?" Britney asked, wishing that she hadn't after the words had left her mouth. She felt stupid for telling Claire before Dexter, but she was in such a rush that she didn't even give it any thought. "And to answer your question... I'm not even sure how you can help."

Britney worriedly leaned forward with her hands forward, and put her elbows on the table. She looked to the side to the moment, closing her eyes, "All I can really ask from you is to keep an eye open for her - I don't think it'd be right if I asked you to take time out of your day to look for [i]my[/i] family."

Dexter reached over to Britney and put his hand on her arm in an attempt to comfort her. [color=gold]"Brit, you [i]would[/i] do the same for me."[/color] he declared. His conviction was just, due to their history, and how much Britney's family had helped his in their time of need. [color=gold]"Where did you see her last? And did she seem to be acting strangely at all before she disappeared?"[/color]

"Monday," Britney said as that worried expression turned into a faint smile. "And she seemed a bit... hasty. Like she was in a rush to do something." She shrugged. 

"Then she went to bed, and wasn't there."

Dexter leaned back in his seat and rubbed his temple. [color=gold]"Brit, uh, some really weird things have been happening to a few people since the accident at the lumber mill-"[/color] Dexter explained, trying to get his words out in a way that wouldn't raise suspicion to anyone that overheard. [color=gold]"What I'm trying to say is, I've been... able to see those of us who have been experiencing them. I can... see you. Was Cindy one of those people?"[color]

Now this was certainly a twist... Britney didn't even bring up the subject of the Awakened (or even think of the prospect of Dexter being one of them). There were quite a few Awakened appearing... where they really shouldn't appear. She wondered what kind of abstraction Dexter was packing, but there were more pressing matters. She opened one palm, and turned it towards him. The symbol of an orb, and a leaf. "I can't say that she is or not," Britney said, "I would have known...." She trailed off, looking off to the side at Rien.

"... but with all the people awakening lately..." Britney said.

[color=gold]"I have a hypothesis,"[/color] Dexter began. He picked up a yellow packet of sugar and a handful of white packets and put them on the table. [color=gold]"This yellow one is the sheriff's son,"[/color] he explained, then pointed to the white packets. [color=gold]"The white ones are... us."[/color] Britney listened to Dex's "hypothesis" with an open mind.

Dexter moved the yellow packet close to the other white packets left it there. [color=gold]"All of the people I've met have experienced changes since being at tat lumber mill. I think that it's reasonable to assume that if she was at the lumber mill, then she might be... one of us."[/color] Dexter explained. He looked back up to Britney. [color=gold]"Was Cindy at the lumber mill eleven days ago?"[/color]

"... She wasn't even in Farmer Hill at the time," Britney answered. "She got here a few days after, and disappeared within the day."

Dexter sighed at the thought. That was out of the equation now. [color=gold]"Do you have her phone? A diary or journal of hers?"[/color]

"I wish." Britney said, as she shook her head. "There's not a single lead. She didn't leave any clues. I have nothing to track her by. And worst of all, not a soul has seen her. It feels like this is hopeless." Britney said, as a tear ran down her eye.

[color]"Have you tried looking on the mountain at all?"[/color] Dexter suggested. It would make sense, from what Cindy had told him in the past, she was an athlete and a mountain climber. He often saw people hiking or jogging up the mountain on his trek up to his normal spot. [color=gold]"She's told me that she's a climber in the past. Might be worth looking."[/color]

"... I haven't," Britney said, looking off to the side, worried. "But, it's dangerous up there.... really dangerous." She said, wondering if she should let Dexter in on something that she knows.... he wouldn't understand. Not now. 

"But, if I were to go up there... would you accompany me?" Britney asked.

[color=gold]"Right now, I dont want anyone who's one of us going anywhere alone if I can help it. I can get the others. The more eyes, the more likely we'll be to find her."[/color]

"And who are the others?"

Dexter shifted apprehensively. [color=gold]"Well, the guy who set fire to the lumber mill, on accident. Ryu, and myself. Claire knows. She'd probably be more than willing to help. I heard the new waitress here in the cafe was a hiker. I'll probably see if I can get her too. A whole search party."[/color]

Claire was the only person that Britney trusted out of that group. She didn't know Ryu, and she sure as hell didn't know the waitress girl. Part of Britney didn't want to drag more people into this. Then there was the thing about the mountain. Dexter sensed her apprehension, and thought he understood the concern. There was a lot of things that could go wrong on the mountain and they would be far away from help if they needed it. [color=gold]"10AM to 6PM, they can leave if they want, buddy system and everything."[/color] Dexter stated. [color=gold]"I can even rent a plane and overfly if weather is good enough."[/color]

"No, it's not that, Dex, it's something el-" Britney tried to explain to Dexter, but that was when a pulse of a bright white light of inverted colors overcame them. She jolted for a moment, as she looked around and time slowed down to a halt. Before completely stopping. Nothing moved - save for a handful of people. She looked a bit surprised, before she glanced at a girl with a sigil that glowed brightly through her jacket. She narrowed her eyes, as she casually created a vine out of the palm of her hand, and let it fall to the ground... before it stopped in midair.

[color=gold]"Oh, so that's what you do."[/color]

Dexter didn't really react to everything freezing around him. At this point, so much weird shit had occurred that he didn't even think to question the unexplainable. He followed Britney's gaze to see Jordan. He didn't know her well, but he [i]did[/i] recall seeing her outline earlier even if she wasn't his direct objective. [color=gold]"A challenger approaches!"[/color] Dexter said, spinning his finger lazily.

Oy vey.

That comment made Britney smile, as she realized that there was a time based Awakened among them. They were apparently rare... and they had one among them. Britney put a hand on her chin as she looked at the girl. A grin formed on her face. Britney had seen her around the cafe a few times - and Grand Ridge - and she was friends with one of the baristas. Now she was going to be Britney's new friend because she'll be [i]very[/i] useful.

"... Useful indeed." Britney said to herself.