[L-Money]

* DING *
The door rang for the all you can eat breakfast place and the team of hunters in training waltz in.

It had been a long flight back from Atlas to Vale, with only a palm-sized bag of hard pretzels and half a can ginger ale to stave off hunger and thirst.

Billy has been having this fluttering in her stomach the whole ride back and then some. She first thought it was because of her food, but after this much time without it, she was starting to think it had nothing to do with food at all. She hated this feeling. She felt this way a few times before but it always ended badly. Not like bathroom wise, but heart-wise. Not that she had a preexisting condition- Man this was hard to explain for her. Basically, she had a crush.

As the team claimed their seats and started off their 'all you can eat' breakfast, Billy ordered some flapjacks, bacon, and hash browns, but stayed relatively quiet and averting her eyes away from the group.

[mylies43]

As Serin and the rest walked through the doors of Georges Breakfast Paloza he had a twinge of nervousness inside him as he looked around his team, he had packed some food and drinks for the trip back but far as he was aware he was only the one in BSSM to do so. The rest of them seemed absolutely famished since all they had were the disturbingly tough pretzels and ginger ale that somehow made you even thirstier to satisfy their needs on the long journey. So now walking into the all you can eat breakfast they sounded like a pack of wolfs growling as they close in on their prey, not to say that Serin was not hungry for he was, but to a much more manageable amount then his peers.

Sitting down he quickly glanced through the menu and decided to go with a stack of pancakes with bacon on the side, one of his favorite meals that was difficult to mess up making it a great measuring stick for new restaurants. Once the meals had been ordered and menus swept away by the bored looking waiter he looked over the team while thinking about their satisfactory performance in the festival. It had not been without blind spots and issues but those would be an easy fix with some adjustments to their training, but for now it was time to enjoy themselves and have a well earned breakfast!
While looking over his team he did not miss Billys strange behavior, usually she would be one to start a conversation in a rare moment like this but instead she seemed to be shying away and purposely averting her gaze from the rest. Maybe she’s just tired, the flight was long. Serin thought as he ran through other possible conclusion to this mystery.

”Hey Billy, what’s up? You’re acting a little aloof today.” Serin said before taking a sip of his coffee in a attempt to stir up some morning conversation. 

[ReaperJoe]

”Food,” is the only word Smokey could muster as he shuffled hunched over into the restaurant.  This boy was starving.  He knew the flight would be long, and he tried to get his team up early enough to grab something before they left, because he knew they wouldn’t get anything during the trip.

Of course, Smokey’s point of view doesn’t really tell the full story.  See, he did indeed want to get up early.  Three-hours-before-dawn early, to be precise.  See, Smokey’s not the type to pack the night before a trip, he’s the type to pack hours before the trip.  It’s the way he grew up.  Because his father was constantly working, the few vacations he could afford to go on were dependent on how much work he could force into a day.  Most of the time, that meant purchasing a ticket early, then working as hard as he can to make sure there’s no backlog when he comes back, and then frantically packing both his and his son’s baggage as fast as he could and hauling ass to the docks. 

So, honestly, the rest of the team can’t really be blamed for not wanting to follow Smokey’s itinerary.  At least Serin was smart enough to prepare snacks.

Fortunately, all of that could now be water under the bridge, as the all-you-can-eat restaurant promised to fill his hungry belly.  As he sat down at the table, he could barely hold back from salivating as the waiter finally came to take their order.  When it was his turn, Smokey just turned the menu towards the poor employee and said, ”All of it.”  The ravenous look in his eye was all the waiter needed to see to know the gunslinger was serious. 

When the food finally arrived, there were pancakes, waffles, omelets, eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits with gravy, biscuits with ham, pigs-in-blankets, a breakfast burrito…let’s just say the Immovable Object had sat down, and he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.  He’s currently too busy stuffing his face to take part in the conversation.

[DEXES]

At a noticeable distance, Mikado followed the rest of the team through the streets of the city and finally through the door of the restaurant. He only glanced briefly at the large white sign next to the front door. It showed the silhouette of a dog and the words "We must stay outside" and "No pets allowed" were written in capital letters below. Say what you want but in this regard, Kiro belonged in the category 'pet'.

It wouldn't be much of an effort to deactivate his semblance and make the dragon disappear from the scene, but it wasn't the effort that made Mikado never 'turn off' Kiro. There was more to it. He got used to him.
Semblance or not, he had a stronger bond to Kiro than to any of his teammates. However, when they entered the restaurant, the dragon was nowhere to be found. Mikado had put him in his backpack on their way back to Vale, mainly to alleviate the weight on his head during the long flight. In there, between some thin books and a water bottle, the rabbit size creature had enough space to... Lay and wait, it's not like he can get bored anyway.

He placed the half-opened backpack next to his chair and sat down at the same table as the rest of the team BSSM. Silently, he turned the menu on its back and opened the first page. And immediately closed it again after reading through the first three rows of the beverage section. When the waiter finally came and asked for their order, he answered with a terse "The caramel latte" and handed him the menu. He didn't even look at the listed food!
 

[L-Money]

“Hm? Oh. Yeah it just… me thinking about the Vital Festival.” She said as nonchalantly as possible, which wasn’t as nonchalant as she wanted. Her eyes kept darting from Serin to Smokey. Thankfully for her the waiter came back with the drinks and food to momentarily distract her from the conversation. Billy greeted the coffee brought to them and took a deep sip of the black gold before continuing.

“Did you, by chance, catch Smokey and mines 2v2?” she asked as she slowly took a bite of her flapjack. “Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to try to drown himself and I freaked out a bit. I guess I haven’t been the same ever since, for whatever reason.” Her eyes were now glued to Smokey judging his reaction with a hint of sas in her tone of voice.

[mylies43]

The truth about Billy’s and Smokey’s performance was that Serin was very proud of the out of the box thinking that they exhibited but was disappointed by several key actions that Smokey and Billy performed. Billy  would have to practice fighting against speedier foes(where was he going to get one of those?) along with some swimming lessons while Smokey needed to practice with his team more and maybe more some ethics class for him as well…

Serin snapped too after realizing that in a rare moment of self-control he had withheld all the negatives he was thinking and instead had just been blankly stared at Billy. ”Yeah you guys did great! I almost had a heart attack when you both went under so please never do that again. “ Serin said transitioning his gaze to focus onto Smokey as well who was inhaling his food to make sure they both understood but it appeared that the veil of food might be too thick to pierce. ”Also we’re going to have to take swimming lessons when we get back, even if doesn’t ever come up I don’t want anyone to have issues in water” He said while cutting the pancake that had arrived.

Now that all the overflowing amount of food was delivered to the table it appeared to any outsider that the team was waiting for another person, or two, or maybe even three due to Smokey’s food overflowing all over the table. It was only when Serin was half through his stack of pancakes that he realized Mikado had not gotten any food with the only thing that was in his area(that was his) was a coffee of some sort, even Krio was not out.”Are you not hungry Mikado? Do you want some of my pancakes?” Serin asked holding out his plate with the 2 remaining pancakes.

[ReaperJoe]

As Smokey was stuffing his face, he only heard bits and pieces of the conversation happening next to him, and was mostly content to just devour the sustenance placed before him.  Unfortunately, the subject of conversation seemed to include him, so he was obligated to put the fork down for a minute to respond.

”’ah’ are ya’ ‘alkin’ a’out?” he says with his mouth full, only bothering to swallow once he realizes no one can understand him.  ”What are you talking about?  I was fine!  No one was drowning anybody,” he continues somewhat indignantly.  And it was true, he wasn’t intending to drown his opponent.  He was just going to beat the stuffing out of him until his the buzzer went off, then let him go or drag him to the surface if the little whelp passed out.  No one was going to die, and that about sums up how he feels about the subject.

But, as he goes to continue his ravenous spree of food destruction, another thought pops into his head.  Did Serin say both of them went under?  Smokey pauses, his fork in mid-air as he contemplates the events of the bout. 

”WAIT, YOU WERE IN THE WATER?!” Smokey shouts incredulously, more than likely disturbing other guests of the restaurant.  He had no idea what Billy was doing while he was battling Calen under the ice lake.  He couldn’t see very well underwater, his head was pointed down towards his opponent, and he was doing his best not to get stabbed.  There was no way he would have seen or even noticed Billy falling in as well.  Quite frankly, he only remembers her being wet for some reason at the end of the fight before he knocked himself out.

[DEXES]

Mikado wrinkled his nose in disgust when he first heard and then saw Smokey devouring his food. Devouring was probably a too harmless term compared to the way he stuffed his face. With a barely perceptible sigh, he turned to his order, the caramel latte, whose cup he holds with both hands to absorb the heat of the faintly steaming hot drink.

He didn't really take part in the conversation, he just listened. Yeah, right, Smokey broke the ice and went underwater with Calen, Billy and Setsuna went down shortly after, too. Probably the highlight of the fight and one couldn't see anything because everyone was in the water. The crowd cheered and at the same time was worried about the duration Smokey and Calen spent underwater. At least Billy quickly came up again. Yes, he had watched the fight. On his scroll. In the library. With an opened book, which he almost paid more attention to than the fight.

It would be a lie to say that the fight hadn't interested him, if that had been the case he wouldn't have had the live broadcast played on his scroll. It was rather because he didn't want to be in the stadium. The yelling, the tight-spaced seats and the disputes that came up here and there when someone lost a bet to someone else because that person had bet on the losing team. He didn't need all that just to watch a fight. And he had already read the book he had with him, it served more as a distraction for the interruptions between the fights or the less interesting parts of a fight, like the underwater part.

Mikado looked up from his still slightly steaming coffee, releasing a hand from the cup and pushed the plate that Serin held out with a, "I don't want anything," away. Like the rest of the team, he didn't really pack anything decent to eat for the flight, but he didn't feel hungry anyway. Yet.

[L-Money]

What Serin said was noted, though it was what Smokey’s reaction that she was waiting for. And Smokey’s reaction was unsatisfactory in Billy’s eyes. She had a moment of looking hurt, just a moment thought. Her face started to turn a dark red as her eyes started to well with tears.

“I was the one drowning you dunderhead! You know maybe if you thought and had map awareness, maybe we could have switched opponents and, oh, you know, won? Anyways it’s not like I cared that you weren’t coming out of the water or anything, idiot. It’s not like I the opponent knew that I needed y- to get you two out of there!” 

She grabbed her pancakes and started stuffing them down her mouth. Little streams of tears started to appear. She hated to feel this way. She hated for people to see her this way. She was also very hungry. The combination of these things made it so she wasn’t thinking straight.

 “Ash shoon ash I’m Fimished.”  GULP “I’ll meet you guys at Beacon.”

[mylies43]

Serin was concerned for Mikados lack of appetite after he refused his pancakes since Serin couldn’t recall him eating at all in the trip over and that is not a healthy habit. But his concern over the spontaneously full teammate was quickly paved over by the drama between Billy and Smokey that had resulted in Billy tearfully walking away from the table.  So far a typical Blossom breakfast. 

Focusing on his semblance Serin made one of his puppets appear in front of Billys path, ” Billy please stay, Im sure it was really murky down there while fighting and he just couldn’t see you. He probably had some reason for not knowing after Im sure!” He and his puppet simultaneously said while the real one gave Smokey a look that said ‘really?’.  The unfolding drama was also attracting lots of both subtle and not so subtle attention from the rest of patrons and staff at the restaurant, with the staff seeming agitated at the noise the young hunters were creating.

[ReaperJoe]

Wait, what’s going on?  Why is Billy crying?  Why is Serin looking at me like that?  Did I do something?  Why is everything always my fault?  These and many other questions swam through Smokey’s head as he tries to assess the situation in front of him.  Unfortunately, thinking through delicate situations is not one of his strong suits, as he tends to handle matters like these with the grace of a bull in a china shop. 

Fortunately, Smokey is very much aware of his bad temper, and immediately clamps his mouth shut before he snaps at his teammate.  Of course, that does mean he doesn’t get to explain his side of the story:  he was unconscious at the end of the fight, and while he had learned of the results, he had not heard the full details of what happened after he had went underwater.  No one had told him until now. 

Still, he did want to respond to Billy’s accusations of poor map awareness and teamplay.  He did remember some parts of the fight, mostly how both of the opponents fought.  Both Setsuna and Calen relied on speedy melee to overwhelm their opponents, meaning Billy wasn’t going to fair well against either one.  To be blunt, from Smokey’s point of view, the two would have had a better chance if he had stepped into the arena alone.  But Smokey doesn’t say that.  He keeps his mouth shut, only opening it to shove another bite into his gullet.

[DEXES]

Mikado looked barely perceptible back and forth between Smokey and Billy. That escalated quickly... His gaze then wandered to the other customers to the restaurant, all of whom cast similar glances to their table, looks that, above all, he knew very well. The waitress didn't look amused by their drama show either. He could see them standing by the side, all in a group, talking quietly with each other while their eyes kept wandering to the table of the four Hunters-in-training.

Picking up his cup, Mikado took a long swig of the still-hot coffee and turned back to his teammates, but decided not to interfere in their affairs, after all, it was not his problem.

[L-Money]

Billy jumped when the Serin clone appeared in front of her as she made her way to the exit, and listened to what the pair of them had to say. She found that it was strange that he sent out a clone to fetch her even though he didn’t get up from the table. Then again, she did leave in a hurry.

“It’s not really about that.” she wofully admitted. “It’s really about… wait.” She grabbed the Serin clone and pulled it just outside the exit of Georges Breakfast Paloza and away from prying ears and stares. “Can you keep a secret?” She asked almost pleadingly.

She took a deep breath and told him her secret any ways. “I think I have a major crush on Smokey and I don’t think he even likes me back, and this happens with all my crushes, or the relationship goes bad within the week and I don’t want to screw it up but I think I already did and I don’t know what to do...”

[mylies43]

The situation at the table had thankfully normalized for now as Smokey began just angrily eating his food instead of getting angry, the atmosphere that was created was heavy but as long as they stayed calm and quiet they had a good chance of not being kicked out. The expressions of the staff appeared to confirm this theory which was great! The less restaurants the team were banned from the better as far as Serin was concerned.

But little did BSSMs leader know then that Billy was about to drop an absolute bombshell after she took their conversation outside away from prying ears. In order to control his clone and have it move to the new conversation spot he had to transfer full control over to it, leaving his real body at the table staring glass eyed into space. ”Of course I can keep a secret, long as its not harmful to anyone that is.” Serin said with a tint of worry in his voice seeing as secrets don’t often lead to pleasant things outside of parties and gifts, which he doubted was what Billy had bottled up. Instead she shared the news of her having a crush on Smokey which was such a mental shock that he momentarily lost control of the clone causing it to go stiff bodied and glass eyed while the real Serins body jumped in surprise, knocking over the table with all the food on it right onto the floor.

   The practical buffet of food all slid off the table in a cacophony of sounds that could easily be heard outside causing the rest of the poor restaurant to once again look at the 3/4ths of BSSM that were still at the table. Serins face quickly turned a vibrant shade of red as he realized just what happened plus the fact that they would likely be kicked out because of this disruption. He slowly sat down putting his beet red face into his hands and transferred control back into his clone. ”That’s uh, quite the news. How long has this been a….thing…for you? I assume you haven’t ,um….” His train of thoughts was evacuated as through the large front window he watched what appeared to be the manager of the restaurant dressed dapperly with two other waiters walking up to BSSMs table. 

[ReaperJoe]

Smokey didn’t look up from his plate as he chewed a piece of waffle.  He’s currently just trying to do his best not to snap at someone, and he can’t say something he’ll regret if his mouth is full of food.  He does catch Billy dragging Serin’s clone outside, which is a little odd if he thinks about it:  weren’t Serin’s clones intangible?  Well, he’s never interacted with them outside of training or a hostile situation, so it’s possible they’re just easily destroyed…

Smokey leans back in his chair and stares up at the ceiling as he contemplates Serin’s semblance, which is unfortunate, because at the exact same time Serin decides for whatever reason to flip the table and knock all of the hungry gunslinger’s food onto the floor.  Smokey just sits and stares at the wasted food, part of him wondering if five seconds have passed, the other just sitting silently as his eyebrow twitches dangerously. 

Slowly, Smokey’s head turns towards his team leader.  He doesn’t say anything, but the look on his face and the slowly bending fork in his hand are definitely giveaways to how Smokey feels about the current situation.