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Well... Now he was pretty much locked into being here, like a small part of the story in an rpg. You usually aren’t able to leave until you’ve completed certain conditions, and his conditions were to reply to the bartender’s question. At the moment, that seemed to be a problem due to them interacting with another visitor. Immediately after said visitor entered the room, everything seemed to be louder and dramatic, like somehow their presence and voice alone could start a party. Quite an interesting group of people here... He turned his head to investigate the bar, hoping to find confirmation in whether this place was safe. The more he looked around, the more he realized this place didn’t fit the “bar” description, it seemed more like a hotel... Well, a building is a building, doesn’t matter as long as you do something with it. He turned his head to face the bartender once again, thinking on the question that was asked. “I’ll take a water please.” He gave a smile as he spoke.

Turning, Barron grabbed a glass and filled it with water, then tossed a bit of ice in and set it in front of Geo. Picking his own glass up again, Barron took a long sip, then set the drink back down. Even if he was missing an arm, he was excellent at keeping a bar. He doubted that would ever change. Unless he lost his other arm, of course. Then he might have a small problem.

Kendall suddenly jumped up out of his seat at the sound of the door slamming open followed quickly by a boisterous individual making a very unnecessary entrance in his opinion. "Jesus Christ..." he muttered. With his arms still at his side, he extended his fingers on his right hand, telekinetically closing the door behind the person who'd kicked it open. "Some of these people are nuts..." he muttered, sitting back down finishing the rest of his drink shortly afterwards before pulling his phone out and sending a text his mother. 'Please hurry the hell up.' it read.

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꧁𓊈𒆜🅷🆈🅳🅴𒆜𓊉꧂


Taking a swig of the drink set before him, Hyde made a pleasant noise of surprise. "You never disappoint, do you." he crackled, knocking it back in one go. A pleasant burn slid down his throat and he smacked his lips satisfied with what Barron had mixed this time around. "The clients this time didn't even make it halfway through the contract before bailing on me, but I at least got paid upfront." He stuck his bottom lip out petulantly, clicking his tongue in disappointment. Swirling the last dredges of the drink around in his glass, Hyde polished it off before setting it down with a smirk. "But enough about my poor sob story, how'ya doing? Need another hand?" Snickering at his own poor joke, Hyde was already feeling the pleasant buzz of being tipsy despite the light amount of liquor consumed. He raised one hand in thanks to the man who closed the door after him, grateful with no remorse showing over his bright face.

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"Hyde, I tell you what, if I had my second hand I'd strangle you." He chuckled at Hyde's poor joke, then leaned back and rested his weight on the far side of the bar. Staring Hyde down for a moment, he asked, "You haven't already had anything to drink have you? You're already looking pretty tipsy after that one. And, unless there's a doppelganger of you roaming this town, I know you don't fall that easy." He chuckled at his own joke, then finished off his drink and set the glass down.

꧁𓊈𒆜🅷🆈🅳🅴𒆜𓊉꧂


"Kinky." He snorted, tracing the rim of the glass with his finger. "Ah, but you've caught me red-handed. It's true darling, I've been cheating on you, supplying patronage to other bars. Oh, what a crime it is." Dramatically spinning around in his seat, Hyde sprawled himself over the counter, one hand resting on his forehead as he heaved out an exaggerated sigh. Staying prone for a few seconds, a ruby eye peeked out from under the wire frames of his dusty glasses, the smirk dancing across his lips again. "Don't be mad at me, honey~ It was for the job, I promise."

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"Dammit Hyde, that tongue of yours is gonna get you in trouble, you know?" Barron grabbed the glasses off Hyde's nose. Grabbing a clean cloth, he held the glasses up and started to wipe the grime off of them. "And it's likely gonna be soon, with all that's going on." Holding the glasses up to the light, he made sure they were clean. Putting them on himself, he tsked quietly. "I don't know where you get all that drama from, Hyde. But it's not the glasses." Taking them off, he folded them up and set them on the bar. "Don't crush those when you spin around again."

Kendall sat silently listening to the bartender Barron and the boisterous person who'd been referred to as Hyde go back and forth taking shots at one another. Mentally, he'd been disturbed but tried his best not visibly to show any signs of it. "Well, just a question; if you don't mind me asking that is, Barron. What happened to your arm?" he asked, deciding to bring it up while the two were on the subject.

A woman began descending a nearby staircase, the sound of her high heels clicking with every step. "I see we're still waiting on a few others to arrive. Kendall, don't have too many drinks." she commented. At the sound of his name, Kendall's neck snapped towards the direction of the woman, immediately recognizing her as his mother. "Mom, I'm literally twenty-three..." he mumbled, hiding his nose in his empty glass trying to prevent everyone around him from noticing he'd now been blushing.

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"Evening Missus." Barron nodded to Kendall's mother, then looked back to Kendall. "My ability is what happened. Took it clean off, burnt the wound shut. Took me a second to understand what happened, since I didn't actually feel much pain. Nerves were cut off instantly, they didn't get a chance to react." He nodded slowly, gazed up at the ceiling. "They was a hell of a foe, I'll say it proudly now." Shaking his head, he sighed.

He gave a slight nod to Barron as a thanks for the glass, then raised it up to his mouth and began to drink it. He didn’t realize how thirsty he was... Guess that’s what an entire day of working does to you. He set the glass down and decided to listen in on the loud visitor and the bartender’s conversation. They seemed to know each other very well, seeing as how they talked to each other so casually. The sound of the door closing caught his attention, causing him to turn his head towards the sound. Wait... there was no one there? Did someone leave? No, everyone seemed to still be here. He didn’t hear any footsteps outside either. What the hell? Did that mean... Oh no... What did he get himself into? The water he had drank previously somehow turned sour in his throat, causing him to nearly gag. Now it was an entire play for him, having to keep up an act, moving with everyone else to make the show seem more natural... Hiding his discomfort, he looked towards the older lady that had appeared on the scene. She was apparently one of the other visitor’s mother, which surprised him a bit. Why would a drinking man’s mother come here, wouldn’t that be a bit awkward? Unexpectedly, no one seemed very fazed about her appearance, leading Geo to think she was someone who came her often or someone with authority...

꧁𓊈𒆜🅷🆈🅳🅴𒆜𓊉꧂


"Awww you care~ I'm so touched, and I bet you look absolutely adorable with my glasses. Too bad I can't see how adorable you are without them." He teased, rolling back up to feel around the table. What a curse it was to be practically blind without his glasses. Finally plucking the aforementioned accessory off the counter, he slid it back onto his face and blinked once, twice, before his grin returned. "Ah, the boss lady has arrived." He cooed, eyes flickering between her and the patron who had helped close the door behind him. He could see the resemblance somewhat and leaned forward to delight in Kendall's embarrassment. Ah, what a precious scene, a child still being doted upon by his mother despite his age.

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Barron watched as Hyde fumbled for his glasses, then managed to slip them on without jabbing himself in the eyes. Raising an eyebrow as the intoxicated man leaned forwards to delight in Kendall and his embarrassment, Barron snickered. "That's about far enough forwards. You're tipsy, and we don't need you tipping too." Setting his cloth down, he made to grab for the collar of Hyde's shirt.

"Twenty-three or not, you're still my baby boy." she teased, pinching his cheek though immediately had her hand swatted away by Kendall, causing her to smile some finding some enjoyment in this. "Oh my God..." Kendall mumbled, noticing how Hyde had began leaning forward some, assuming it was merely to see his embarrassment worn on his face at the moment. He immediately rose from his seat at the bar and retreated back to his initial spot near the bookcase without mentioning what Barron had revealed on how he lost one of his arms.

"I appreciate the formality, Barron, but I'd much rather if you just called me Kayleigh." she smiled, pulling up the end of one of her gloves up to rest near her elbow once again. She turned to scan the room, immediately recognizing everyone. Not by their faces, but by their magic. "Ken, Barron, Geo, Rey, Marlin, Hyde..." she muttered to herself, identifying each of the individuals in the room. "We're only missing a few people. I suppose once they decide to show up, we can get down to business." she announced, rather annoyed that not everyone had gathered quite yet.

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꧁𓊈𒆜🅷🆈🅳🅴𒆜𓊉꧂


Giggling as he was hauled back by the back of his shirt, Hyde steadied himself back on the countertop, giving Barron a dazzling smile. "Thank you, darling~" He sang, finding the pun endlessly amusing. Patting his own cheeks a few times, Hyde's eyes regained a bit of their vigour as they swept across the room taking stock of who was in it. Hearing his name called, the slightly buzzed man perked up, throwing up a hand as if this was a classroom and Kayleigh was a teacher doing roll call. "Yup yup, the lawless no good trash of a good guy, the one and only Hyde right here, not quite sober but ready to work!" Came the energetic cheer, and he smiled easily. "Want me to go lookin' for the straglers? I can do that in a jiffy!"

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Camille had never been one to succumb to the alluring call of late-night drinking and early-morning hangovers, nor would she ever, she hoped; her job was simple, in and out, gather information she deemed worthy of gathering before making a quick exit, and perhaps sneak a drink or two along the way. For research purposes, obviously.
It wasn't like she was doing anything illegal or dangerous. She simply enjoyed knowing how far the rebellion was going, as she herself never particularly enjoyed being ruled by said 'Assassins'. Of course, she had not yet decided which side of the war she would aid; she was annoying in the way that she would make people wait enough that their patience would near enough burst, before finally making a decision that infuriated them more.
She had easily learned of their meeting from several sources which she was not at all willing to mention, but she hadn't managed to catch wind of exactly where; she knew it was a hotel-bar, but which one she knew not. She had visited three of seven, to find each one either abandoned or packed with rather tipsy, large men.
As she arrived at the fourth one, however, she saw a man rather dramatically boot open the door, which, thankfully, remained open. Marching towards it, she felt a certain power hidden within this bar - this had to be the one. A grin crossed her face as she neared the doorframe, and as she was about to walk through, the door rather abruptly slammed shut, making her hesitate. She was sure there hadn't been anyone behind it, which mean that someone inside.. could control doors. Telekinesis, most likely.
This gave her further pause. Was she going to walk into a bar filled with people that could probably kill her in an instant?
Yes. Yes, she was.
She pushed open the door to see a room much more grand than the bar had appeared from the outside, as she had expected. Several people were dotted around, including one that looked rather like a cat. Each of them had an unmistakable and slightly intimidating aura about them. She shouldn't walk amidst them unarmed, she realised, so spread her mind out towards the area, and, luckily, the knife that was stuck in a chopping board. By simply glancing at it, the blade flew towards her, before spinning in midair, allowing her to grasp the handle. She spun it around her fingers, not once cutting herself.
"Monsieur!" She called to the bartender, to get his attention, whilst taking a seat somewhat near Hyde. "An Old Fashioned, s'il vous plaît," she ordered, accidentally slipping into French.

So Kayleigh is her name... Depending on how the situation goes, he might have to remember that. As the interaction went on, his discomfort and nervousness grew little by little. A sip of water every now and then helped to temporarily calm his nerves, but it didn’t last forever. Within a minute his glass was empty, and all that remained was the small chunks of ice that had been put in the water. The door had opened and closed again, even though it seemed like something had already started. Then again, he heard someone mention that there was more on the way, more that they were waiting for. He sighed, only to perk up once he heard his name. The event momentarily frightened him, as he hadn’t told anyone here his name. Ignoring those thoughts, his mouth instinctively spoke as a reply to hearing his name. “Yes ma’am?”

This was terrible idea.

You'd think Lauri would've learned his lesson the first time but no. Here he was again, being roped into something way over his head after being too careless at the wrong place at the wrong time. Why couldn't he just not use his powers again? He shouldn't do this.

But he also should do this because it's the right thing to do. Well, and besides, this assassin business sounds like the kind of bad business that'd screw up his less than glamorous life sooner or later anyway. So it should be wiser to help people capable of stopping it before things get worse.

So he had accepted the invitation and spent a generous amount of time trying to research what exactly he was getting himself into this time. Unfortunately, the information on these people didn't seem to be readily available, which was probably wise to be fair. But not knowing what he would be walking into in that bar was making him nervous to say the least. So he had wasted his time weighing the merits of different introductions and how to greet his new allies in some misguided attempt to compensate. So now he was late.

This is a disaster!

Pacing back and forth close to the bar trying to get his bearings, Lauri rolled his shoulders in an attempt to relax. Which only made him aware of how he slightly regretted throwing on his grey denim jacket over his black T-shirt. Why had he thought trying to appear at least a bit presentable was important? It was all a waste now anyway! Everything ruined by his tardiness!

He just has to do this now. Somehow. He was capable of walking into a bar.

Wiping his sweaty palms on the fronts of his black cargo pants, Lauri squared up and bravely strolled over to the Hero Den or whatever they called their own hideout. Quietly entering, he hovered by the entrance for a moment after closing the door to take in the scene inside the establishment. Plenty of young people it seemed and... someone who looks like a person-sized cat? That was... unusual.

But it's rude to stare! Lauri quick reminded himself and snapped his gaze away from the poor girl. Instead, he focused his attention on Kayleigh Roman, the person running this show. He was tempted to just hang back but that didn't seem like a great strategy to be on decently good terms with important people. So he continued onward into the bowels of the bar and came to a stop a respectable distance away from Kayleigh.

"I'm sorry, I would've arrived sooner but I, uh... had a delay," He tried to explain but somehow it just sounded like a very flimsy excuse, which might be worse than not apologizing. Shoot! Lauri tensed up as he did his best to keep a neutral expression, weighing it best not to say anything more for now.

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Barron hesitated a moment as Camille slipped into French. He knew what an Old Fashioned was, but the other bit confused him. "Bourbon or whiskey?" He had quickly grabbed a glass and set it down, and had collected the everything else he needed in breakneck pace. Sugar, Bitters, an orange, a jar of cherries, and there was ice in the cup. Now, however, his hand hesitated between two bottles. One read 'Woodford Reserve,' while the other read 'Glen Moray.'

Marlin was happily drinking her water abs reading a book she thought was cool from the shelves upon shelves of books.She ignored the others and looked at the pages and title and other parts of the book as she wandered back to her place at the bar in the far left corner. She sat down with the book in her paws/hands and opened it up.

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Kayleigh chuckled some at the not-completely-sobered Hyde and his comment, leaning her head to the side a bit and her hair falling in the same direction with the motion. "Not now, but I appreciate the enthusiasm." she answered, smiling afterwards. She noticed the arrival of another individual who she could make out to be Camille, intrigued as she magically called a knife to herself and broke out into French with an accompanied French accent with her English.

At the sight of the blade seemingly being magically whisked away into the hands of Camille, Kendall rose from his seat with his fists raised as he assumed she would attack the group of people in the den before lowering his guard once she approached the bar in a different manner. His eyes didn't trail off of the woman though, feeling somewhat uneasy about her for some reason. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he didn't get a positive sense from her.

Kayleigh turned at the sound of a "Yes Ma'am?" coming from Geo and she once again smiled, ignoring the male otherwise. After hearing Lauri's voice and an apology, she turned her attention towards him. "Better later than never, no?" she winked, stepping towards the center of the room considering she'd already gained most of their attention. She cleared her throat some to make sure everyone would turn towards her as she spoke, sighing afterwards.

"I'm sure everyone's aware that the world has turned to darkness," she started, though was interrupted by Kendall as he commented "Unless you've been living under a rock." prompting the male's mother to glare at him. "Luckily, the collective power of the assassins still allow some sunlight in, though only for three hours a day; we may as well be living in Alaska. Most of the powerful leaders have either been killed, held hostage or under control by them as well. You should have noticed an increase of chaos; raiding, looting, violence, robbery, brutality, murder even."

She paused to take a few steps and relieve her feet of some soreness from her heels. "This group is lead by my eldest son and he won't be easy to overpower. I'm sure he's been able to tell some sort of increase in good magic in the few of you and will stop at nothing to kill each and every one of you to prevent the world from being reverted, even his own brother." At the sound of Kayleigh mentioning Koda would kill him, Kendall lowered his head, saddened at the fact that he couldn't deny.

"This is why we can't waltz into battle with any one of the assassins without some sort of gameplan. Individually, every one of you is powerful, but when you all work together, you have the potential to be an unstoppable force of good; exactly what the Earth needs right now." Kayleigh explained. She looked back at Kendall, whose head had still been lowered in sorrow.

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