[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/hNYWbM0.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/qsCZpOI.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/u14R554.png[/img][img]https://imgur.com/f0LpjEE.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/KtzwmfI.png[/img] [img]https://imgur.com/jOGqB7c[/img] [img]http://txt-dynamic.cdn.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjcyLjEwOTZiMS5VR1YwWlhJZ1IzSmxlUSwsLjAAAAAA/land-speed-record.regular.png[/img] [color=darkgray]""We're all pretty new to this, just... trying to figure it out ourselves too."[/color][sub][sub][sub][hr][/sub][/sub][/sub][/center][right][indent][indent][color=#598865][b][code]The Cafe Sucre[/code][/b][/color] [color=dimgray]│[/color] A collab with [@Surtr][@Majoras End][@Drag][/indent][/indent][/right][center][sup][hr][/sup][/center] It was a busy morning at the Sucre, not quite the Sunday morning church crowd rush level of busy, but definitely more than normal. The regular hustle and bustle of the cafe was just about lost to Miriam as she ran from table to table either taking orders or picking up checks. She was not allowed in the back much anymore, not after the [i]incident[/i] as Kim liked to call it, and she was alright with that. In a way, she enjoyed the fast paced lifestyle that being a waitress entailed. Or at least, fast-er paced compared to being a cook or a hostess. Her next stop was table 17, which hardly a table in her opinion with just two seats, but she didn't get to put titles on anything yet. Her mind wandered as she walked towards [i]table[/i] 17. What was the title for a piece of furniture between a table and a booth? There was a single young man, likely around her age, at the table. Slightly taller than her, blonde hair, had an odd sense of style with his silver shoes but she was one to appreciate eighties rock, so she chose not to judge. She put on her best smile and slid over to him as smoothly as she could. [color=9e0b0f]"Heya cutie,"[/color] she said, with a twinge of unintentional southern drawl in her voice that just came with where she was from. The man wasn't unattractive in her eyes, but she would normally not be such a flirt, but she's a waitress, she's gotta work for tips. [color=9e0b0f]"What can I interest you in today?"[/color] Peter squinted his eyes and with a frown rubbed his hand drowsily against his drooping eyelids once more. He'd always been impatient as hell but ever since he got this new.... Ability, for lack of a better word, the world seemed to have slowed to a crawl in instances like these. He looked over at Kimberly who seemed to be talking about something most likely trivial for what felt like hours, god he needed coffee, or meth or something that was going to keep him from collapsing on the questionably clean floor of the Sucre. Even though he'd been previously about to fall into a dreamy slumber in front of his peers his eyes snapped open as he stared up at the sudden appearance of the waitress. Peter's people skills were questionable even at his 'peak' but the suprise he got flustered him even more, he internally cursed as he stuttered slightly before forming a coherent sentence. "Coffee." he said simply, he then paused and realized there was more coffee than founding fathers "Er, one with a lot of sugar in it.... Coffee and sugar" he added with a wane smile. He tried placing this girl but couldn't really be certain, he'd heard there was a new person in Farmer's Hill and decided that probably made the most sense, what with her odd accent, unless they made her put that on to attract customers. Who was Peter to judge? [color=9e0b0f]"Coffee and a whole lotta sugar. I'll be right back-"[/color] Miriam began. She lifted her wrist and moved her various bracelets to take a peek at her watch, which she wore backwards as most athletes do. It was almost 9:30, time for break! [color=9e0b0f]"You wouldn't mind if I sat down for breakfast with you, would ya?"[/color] she said, looking back to Pete. [color=9e0b0f]"Am about to go on break, and it seems like you could use a wake-up."[/color] Peter shrugged "Be my guest" he said, before managing to muster a weak but passable smile "Can't imagine I'll be very good company though, I just ordered a diabetic's nightmare." he added. Miriam laughed. [color=9e0b0f]"Seem like good company to me. I'll be right back with you're food."[/color] About ten minutes passed before Miriam returned, with a coffee and a few packets of sugar in one hand and the five star special platter being held with the other hand, with the sides of bacon and hash browns being held under her chin against her collarbone. "You want a hand with all that?" Peter asked removing his headphones as he saw Miriam approach, the faint sound of Electric Light Orchestra escaping his device before he switched it off. [color=9e0b0f]"I think I'm alright-"[/color] she said, almost dropping the platter under her chin as soon as Pete looked away to switch his phone off. She collected herself and placed Pete's coffee in front of him, and now with another free hand she set [i]her[/i] food on the mini-table-booth thing. She took up most of the table all on her own with the size of her platter, but she knew what she was about. Almost as soon as she sat down she dug in, but still somehow managed to speak regularly in between bites. [color=9e0b0f]"My name's Miriam, what's yours?"[/color] Peter couldn't help but smile with a mixture of bemusement and a hint of admiration as he picked up his coffee and took it off the table, lest it get knocked off by the ever approaching wall of breakfast foods. "It's er, Peter. Peter Gay," he said, still suppressing a chuckle "I do music over at Grand Ridge, that big eyesore the town's known for." [color=9e0b0f]"Similar last names. My last name is 'Grant'. Wonder what the chances of that are."[/color] Miriam commented offhandedly. She listened intently to Pete's explanation of where he spent most of his time and smile. [color=9e0b0f]"Yeesh, I wish I could do music. Never understood music theory and that kinda put a hamper on things. I graduated high school and hiked the Appalachian Trail. Was makin' my way to the PCT but got sucked into Farmer Hill. Gonna be here a little while- reminds me of home. Nice and cozy."[/color] "If you think that then you haven't been here long enough" he said flashing a grin before taking a sip of his drink. "There's worse places than Farmer's Hill but er..." Peter looked out the window at the near dead town-life and saw an old man attempting to take a newspaper out from one of the machines without paying. "Not by much" he said, opening up a pack of the sugar Miriam had brought and dumping the entirety of it into his coffee. "Normally, it's pretty inoffensive to be perfectly honest. Actually it's quite boring." His expression changed, slightly but still noticeable "It's... Well, it's been a weird week or so. You hear about the Mill?" Miriam nodded. [color=9e0b0f]"It's hard to think people like that exist... It's why I keep a shotgun in my car. Never too careful in today's world."[/color] Miriam shook her her and sighed. [color=9e0b0f]"If you don't like it so much, why don't you just leave?"[/color] "I guess you and I are in the same boat." Peter said matter-of-factly "I'm not exactly wealthy. And, despite my hopes, my grades seem to point to me not being a secretly gifted mind. Unless some strange case of happenstance arises I kind of get the feeling I'm stuck here. It's not so bad I suppose but, well you get pretty tired of it all when you're as out of place as I am." Peter paused slightly and released what he was doing, he shook his head slightly and took another drink of his coffee. "That said, I hardly do myself any favors." He added with a slight laugh. "Where are you from then? The accent's kind of a giveaway but humor me." [color=9e0b0f]"Texas,"[/color] Miriam began. [color=9e0b0f]"My family were horse breeders, I've spent most of my life helping out my parents around the ranch."[/color] She answered, finishing her entire meal in what had to be a record time for Farmer Hill, Montana. She hit her chest lightly a few times, prompting a belch that she muffled with her hand. She was certainly no stranger to unladylike behavior, it seemed. Peter was hardly a modest person, in fact given his disheveled look he was probably the last person to throw stones in that area, never the less he was taken aback with the ferocity with which Miriam attacked her meal, seems she wasn't lying when she called herself a farm girl. "That's uh, quite a trek" Peter said, ignoring Miriam's etiquette, or lack thereof. "Always wondered what Texas was like myself, only ever seen it in spaghetti westerns and shit." He laughed at his own joke, now managing to more easily slip into his easygoing persona with enough sugar in his system to state a five year old. Miriam released a hearty laugh, the kind that came from deep within her chest. The conversation would've continued, but everything, including the people in the Sucre, suddenly froze in place, almost as if time had stopped. [hr] "... C'mon, SuperDex..." Claire said to herself as she impatiently glanced at her cellphone, hoping for a response from Dexter. So far, none. She hissed a swear through her teeth as she looked ahead. Claire was getting a bit antsy... and needed a cigarette. She reached into her pocket, and slid one in between her lips. Before she paused for a second to get a light. "Is this really the time, Claire?" Samson asked, as he came to a stop to look back at Claire. He was annoyed that she wanted to smoke now of all time when they had to get back to Dexter and the others soon as possible. If Maddie's right; they're a target. Everyone's a target until they bring Scott down. "We gotta go." He threw a thumb in the direction of the cafe. "Just gimme a second-" Claire said as she lit her cigarette... and that was when the pulse of inverted light immersed them. She dropped the cigarette out of surprise but, to her surprise, it came to a slow halt. Before it froze in mid-air. She gasped as she looked around - not a thing moved other than Samson, Maddie, and... herself. People were frozen mid-stride, cars were immobile, and the birds were hovering in midair. What a strange... occurrence. She looked at her hand and moved it around. "... Are you two seein' this?" Claire asked. "Yeah...this is geting weird."Madeline replied to Claire with a nod. She walked up and tapped one of the immobile birds to check if time was actually frozen. "So, think one of us did this?" She asked the other two. "What if I did it...?" Claire said as she grabbed her cigarette, and noticed that the smoke was suspended in mid-air. "... It was a wave..." Samson mused, as he put a hand on his chin, and pointed off in the distance. "That looked like it came from the Sucre." "...Okay, anyone else think we should hurry?" Maddie spoke up, turning to look at Claire and Samson. "Agreed," Samson said as he broke off into a sprint straight for the cafe. Unintentionally leaving his two companions behind "... Not if we wanna miss the weird shit," Claire said with a grin on her face as she followed after Samson. "Hey, wait for me!!" Maddie yelled out, sprinting after the other two. Eventually the trio made it to the Sucre, before Samson and Claire looked inside at the others confused at the frozen time. Samson quickly glanced behind him, and saw a woman with a stroller frozen, before looking to Claire. "Okay..." Samson trailed off, as he produced a flame and looked at his hand. "... We can safely say that they're something like us?" "That's a partialy rhetorical question. With people getting these strange powers here and there, it's sorta expected to have a time user." Maddie explained, walking around the cafe. "But what could've caused this...?" "I don't know," Claire said, "But I'm about to find out." She spoke as she stormed inside of the cafe, looking around for Dexter - with both Samson and Maddie (?) behind her. She walked through the cafe until she caught sight of Brit... with Dexter right with her. She walked over to Dexter, and... didn't know where to start. "Jesus Christ," Claire hissed, "I have [i]something[/i] to tell you, Dex - but I'm not even sure where to start with time randomly stopping..." "Scott is still alive." Madeline spoke up, appearing from behind Claire. "Didn't you get her text?" She asked Dexter. Dex was happy to see his friends, as mussed up and bloody as some of them were. He stood up to greet them. [color=gold]"I'm glad you all are alright-"[/color] he said, looking over Madeline. [color=gold]"Salt water, toothpaste, and meat tenderizer will get that out."[/color] he commented, pointing at the splatters on Madeline's shirt. He pulled out his seat for Claire to sit in and pulled another two over for Samson and Maddie. [color=gold]"So, Scott is still alive, I missed a few texts,"[/color] he said, and then looked Claire over again. [color=gold]"And it looks like Claire is one of us, now."[/color] Dexter pulled his phone out of his pocket, which had several snapchats from various people as his life simply was, a text from his mother, and two texts from Claire. With the amount of notifications, it was no surprise that he hadn't checked. [color=gold]"Sorry about that- it was loud in here up until a moment ago. Britney is going to speak to our resident time lord."[/color] "Yeah... it's fine." Claire said, as she looked at Dexter, putting a hand on her hip. With that cigarette hanging from her lip. "... But, it's more than that... Maddie, can you tell Dex about... whatever the hell it was that you saw, 'pparrently?" "Right." Madeline said, before taking a quick breath to tell about the flashback. "Apparently, Scott isn't just going after us. He's going after these," She pulled her sleave up to shown the sigil on her wrist. "Whatever these tattoos are, he's harvesting them." Dexter would remember this. [color=gold]"So he's going after markings? Do we all have one? Does [i]he[/i] know if we have one?"[/color] Dexter questioned, and the thought of the conversation made Britney's skin crawl... for now, she was going to do what Dex said she was, and talk to that girl. Before she slips out something she wasn't supposed to. "I guess? It would explain why he found me easily." Madeline replied. "But I was able to sense him too, how much he was burnt from the massacre." "And if he's..." Claire trailed off, only because, at this moment, time resumed. Everyone who was frozen continued as normal - except for a few that were confused by the sudden changes. "... If he's coming after people like us, you know what that means, Dex?" Samson crossed his arms. [color=gold]"Means all of us are going to be getting to know each other a whole lot better. Safety in numbers."[/color] "... It means we have to take the bastard out," Claire said, crossing her arms to match Samson. "He's a tough bastard, and if he's comin' after us, removing that threat should be priority...." Dexter was beginning to feel like he was one of the protagonists in a video game of some sort. [color=gold]"So we gotta find Cindy, and we have to... axe Scott. Do we know where or how we can find him? How are we even going to do it? Murder isn't something we should take lightly here."[/color] "Well, he wasn't taking morals into account while swinging that axe, now was he?" Claire said to Dexter. "We'll have to figure something out... but, what about Brit? What did she say?" [color=gold]"The mountain, Cindy was a hiker and a climber. She was apparently very upset when she left so she might've gone there."[/color] Dexter explained. He looked between the few of them. [color=gold]"Britney's apprehensive, but would you all be willing to help? At least then, we'll be close by one another, in case Scott comes back. We've all escaped him alone. We can probably beat him together."[/color] For a moment, the two thought about it. "... I'm in." Samson offered a hand. "... If it means getting to the bottom of this, yeah." Claire also extended her hand. "I can't do much, but I'm in too!" Madeline spoke up, following suite. Peter had been waiting for what felt like minutes though was rally a few seconds, for Miriam to continue on, she had been laughing then just.... Stopped. He cdlicked his fingers in front of her before looking across the cafe and seeing that almost everyone else was either playing a ridiculously elaborate practical joke or had suddenly stopped moving. Not just moving either, thinking, breathing. They were fucking frozen. Peter was about to get out of his booth and investigate or do.... Something, before the doors swung open and in walked Claire, Samson and someone Peter didn't recognize, looking far more worse for wear than he'd seen them last with their clothes now housing fashionable splatters of blood on them. But, somehow, that wasn't what piqued Peter's curiosity. They started talking about powers. Peter left his booth as the group spoke about Scott, Peter by this point knew it was Scott who'd caused that massacre at the mill but that was about all he knew. From what Peter gleaned however he was going after these.... people. Who could move while everyone else was frozen, who were apparently capable of superhuman feats, he was now one of them. "I... I couldn't help but overhear... I mean, no one else in here is very talkative anyway." Peter said gesturing to the frozen patrons, suddenly he shook his head and removed his wristband, revealing the jagged sigil wrapped around his wrist. "I don't.... I don't know what the hell is going on here but.... If what you guys are saying is true, about-.... About Scott and- and powers and everything then.. I wanna join this group you're all talking about." It only then dawned on Peter that he'd spoken to the majority of people here at best maybe three times, but regardless of past history he could now run faster than a speeding bullet or however that statement went, so it seemed anything that was the case before was off the table. Dexter, who had previously been contemplating how to go about shaking the three hands in front of him when Peter approached the group. If he was moving, it meant he was another one of them, and when he exposed his sigil to the group, it dissipated any of Dexter's worries or suspicions. With his attention fully on Peter, Dexter extended his hand to the speedster and shook hands with him. Dexter recognized his face, but hadn't seen much of the guy around until just now. [color=gold]"I'm Dexter. This is Claire, Samson, Madeline, and Britney just walked off that way-"[/color] Dexter said, motioning to each of the people around him respectively (Samson sarcastically waving at Peter), and in the direction where Britney had moved off to. [color=gold]"Who are you, again? I haven't seen you around much."[/color] "I have a pretty packed schedule of getting high and falling behind on my studies," Peter said with a smile as he returned Dexter's handshake "It's Peter. Peter Grey. I'll level with you Dex, I'm... not too sure what exactly is going on around here, in fact it's only right now I've found out other people have these.... 'powers' but, if that son of a bitch is still out there then we gotta stop him somehow." Peter added, his friendly tone giving way to a much more determined one with the mention of Scott. Dexter grinned at Peter's 'packed schedule, getting high, and falling behind' line. [color=gold]"We're all pretty new to this, just... trying to figure it out ourselves too. With Scott hunting us or whatever, we gotta look out for one another. Britney's cousin is missing, she's one of us, and I figure maybe we can do something good with this."[/color] "I agree with Peter," Claire said, as she crossed her arms. "Me and Sammy ran him off by ourselves, who knows what all of us together can do." Claire didn't like the idea of a psychotic murderer after her - especially if they're going to find Cindy in one piece... if he didn't get to her first. Claire took a puff of her cigarette - realizing that it was indoors, and she was about to get an angry barista on her, so she dropped it on the floor without a care, and crushed it underneath her boot. Peter raised his eyebrow at the mention of Claire and Samson only being able to run Scott off, to Peter's knowledge Scott was a pretty averagely built guy, certainly nothing against people who could pull off things like his speed. but if people like Claire and Samson could only hold him off.... Things were about to get much more interesting. "I'm not sure just [i]what[/i] Scott is now but even with all of us if we fight his game it probably won't work.We need to find a way to catch him off guard, really confuse him and take him down with all of us. I don't know what the rest of you can do but if we're only able to stalemate Scott then that'll get us nowhere and probably killed." Peter said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, it was more a lesson he'd learned playing video games but at this point he felt like he was in a video game. "I mean," Samson said, crossing his arms. "He can teleport, or make portals, or whatever the hell you wanna call it." "That's possible?" Peter thought about what he said "Nevermind." He rubbed his eyes in annoyance "Well we can still try stack the deck, throw sand in his face, what have you. Maybe we could try trap him somehow? Rain down on him so quick that he doesn't have a chance to retaliate or hightail it?" Samson created that white fire in both of his hands. "Give me a chance, and [i]maybe[/i] I can burn him to a crisp." Dexter remained in silent agreement with the group. He wasn't entirely sold on the concept of casual murder and wasn't comfortable talking about it openly or taking it lightly like this. It worried him that the others were so quick to jump on the bandwagon. Dexter would remember this. While they were talking about bringing Scott down, Madeline was silent in thought. They had powers that could be used as offense, but her's only made her a walking shield, so what could she do? "...W-Wait, before we head to the mountain, is it okay if I get one of my hunting rifles? If Scott comes back for revenge, of course." Maddie asked, nervously chuckling. Dexter shrugged. [color=gold]"That's a good idea. If you have something, bring it. Even if it's just a tool. Cant hurt. Bring lots of water too, we'll probably be out all day."[/color] The hunt was on.