"You're not late, we just got here Guardok, Mei is here but went to the restroom, don't know about Knap but I'm sure he'll be here soon." Malvyn says with a smile to greet the carefree genasi. "Mae and Aurora was just about to order something to drink before we eat."

The air genasi looks at Mei a bit confused. "Strange? No, I don't think so. We're just getting things going for the night really."  She takes a step as though to resume on her way but pauses. "Are you sure you're ok?" 

At the table Aurora had looked to the waitress and just says, "The usual." She is sitting with Malvyn when Mae arrives. She gives her a smile. "Glad you were able to make it tonight."  About the same time the waitress returns with a glass of a dark red wine for Aurora. She asks Mae, "Anything I can get for you?" 

As Guardok enters he runs into Cadoras who had been looking about the place but had missed seeing Mei. He does spot the others at the table though. "Hey, looks like those are you roommates over there right?"  He walks over to join Malvyn, Aurora, and Mae. "Hello. Hello.  Is Mei about somewhere? She'd invited me to join you all." 

Mae nodded once at Aurora but didn't really make eye contact before she turned her attention to the server and pulled her chair up. "Oh, I think just some herbal tea and stew is fine." She looked at Cadoras as he came over and shrugged, but having no idea about what was going on with anyone, kept her mouth shut.

"N-No, sorry! Just... strange things have been happening on campus lately--like the frog attack yesterday? And... well--" I had a Dream there was an evil soup of darkness in the kitchen here "--it's... good to be vigilante, right?" she swerves to say instead. Dipping her head in a little bow, Mei apologizes, "Sorry to keep you! Hope you have a good shift tonight," and hurries back to the group. 

Lips caught in a pensive frown, their edges soften as she approaches the table and sees who's there. "You came," she says, bright-eyed, to Cadoras, rocking forward on her toes to smile up at him. Her pleasant surprise grows at sight of Mae. "And Mae! Hi!" She's seen so little of the Aasimar of late, its impossible to hide how happy she is that she's joined them.

"Do you--oh, have you all met yet?" Just in case they haven't, the oracle gives a quick round of introductions, but notices a certain furry satyr is missing. "And then there's... Knap? Is he--" she leans right and left around Cadoras to see if he, too, is elsewhere in the tavern. 

The waitress takes Mae's order. "Yes, I'll have that for you right away."  She then hurries off. 

Cadoras bows deeply to Mei when she arrives and greets him. "Of course I came! I'm sure this will be a fabulous evening!" As he sees her looking about, he asks, "Is someone missing? Knap?"  He too starts to glance about to see if he can spot the satyr. 

Aurora gives a nod to the elf as Mei introduces him. "Greetings."  Otherwise she sits a bit quietly, sipping at her wine. 

Seeing Cadoras and Aurora as well as the majority of his floor mates, Guardok smiles.

"Quite the party this has become".

He motions to the server, "I'll have the same as Mae...except, apple cider not herbal tea. And make it a braised beef and potatoes instead of the stew. Thanks".

"Yes, our--you remember? With the..." Mei motions atop her head to signify his signature top hat. "Knap. I'm sure he'll turn up soon," she smiles, then looks at the table for where they can sit. She picks a spot next to Mae, noticing her outfit with a whispered, 'you look nice!' then pushes out the chair next to her own for Cadoras. "What do you usually get here?" she asks the elf.

As Guardok mentions the size of their group, she shoots him an apologetic look and hopes it was okay she invited someone too. As that look lingers, her eyes widen in realization he's still in uniform. "Oh, did you not get to go back to the dorms?" she asks. 

Knap comes trotting in the tavern, a couple of books under his arm, with numerous scrap pieces of paper with various sketches of animated shrubs. 
“hi hi, sorry I’m late…. And I’ll have the tea and braised beef, thank you.”

Knap, pauses a moment, smiles and takes a seat. He feels like he’s been lost in the books and the book garden for weeks. He takes seat. 

The purple-skinned Tiefling smiles and nods as everyone arrives and takes a seat, ordering some sort of bloody steak from the menu to put his sharp teeth into, sipping his red wine. He notices Mae not making eye contact and glances over at Aurora to gauge how she feels about this. As Mei mentions Guardok being in uniform he realizes he too didn't think about changing, being caught up in writing the piece for the Star. He was pleased to realize the uniform had grown on him though and he didn't feel awkward wearing it any longer, not even here, but he hoped the raven-haired performer at his side wasn't disppointed with what could be percieved as negligence on his part, not havign dressed up for the evening with her. "So everyone is here then? Thanks Guardok for suggesting this, it's not often we all meet up together like this I feel, and now with Cadoras and Aurora too." He says, a bit overly formal sounding perhaps, smiling politely at the others around the table while raising his glass to them all. "So, when will we hear you perform together? Tonight?" He asks, looking between Mae and Aurora with a curious smile.

Mae gave Mei a quick nod and quiet "thank you" back, but then sat there for a long moment between the two couples, not really looking at anyone. She quickly got lost in her thoughts and barely registered what others were saying before realizing Mal had directed a question at her and Aurora. "No," she said quickly. "Another time maybe." She pulled her satchel around and laid it in her lap, slipping her hand inside, feeling the familiar contours of her small hand drum against her fingers, and closed her eyes, beginning to gently rock in place slowly.

"Are you alright Mae?" The purple-skinned Tiefling asks with a concerned look, not sure if it was proper to ask but he felt compelled to do something.

It took a long moment before Mae stopped, took a deep breath and nodded. "I'll be fine, thank you." She said politely and then looked out to see if the server was coming back yet.

Concern immediately grips Mei’s heart. She’s seen Mae seek her drum like this before, in the same way Malvyn reaches for the tome in his bag and she her cards. For comfort and reassurance. And it doesn’t take a particularly insightful person to intuit that Mae doesn’t want to be here with them.

Hit by an idea, Mei twists towards Cadoras so her face is out of view of the table, though he can easily see what she’s doing. She flashes him a shy smile then haphazardly applies a bit of rouge to her lips that she then purposefully smears outward with her thumb.

Turning back, she makes a bit of small talk with the group before gently touching Mae’s elbow. “Did I smudge my lip color?” she asks. “Should I go to the bathroom to fix it? Maybe you could help me?” It’s an offer that—should Mae not feel like talking or not need a break—she could easily turn down by just telling her where to wipe. 

"I just got caught up practicing is all, my floor routine is coming along nicely now", Guardok replies to Mei.

He feigns embarrassment when Mal thanks him for suggesting they all meet up, "I just thought it was a good chance to catch up on what has been going on, and maybe decide what to do next".

He hasn't quite cottoned on to the tensions in the group.

"Maybe when Mei is sorted", he suggests as she mentions going to the bathroom with Mae.

The purple-skinned Tiefling gives the, for the moment not so radiant, Aasimar another concerned look, but he lets on a relieved smile as the petite oracle seems to attend to Mae's miserable mood. "So, what have you been up to this afternoon then, impressing people at the intramural gymnastics club again?" Malvyn asks the short genasi with a friendly smile.

"Not sure about impressing people, Mal", Guardok replies. "Just practicing, and getting some pointers from Zanther. You remember Zanther right, the Fire Genasi? He's very good, and really knows his stuff".

He tries to remember where Mal was going when last he saw him.

"Did you go to the Star in the end?", he asks the Tiefling.

"Oh yes, I remember Zanther, impressive man, and charming too, quite popular I would expect." Malvyn says with a nod, thinking back on his visit to the central campus gymnasium. "And you are too modest Guardok, I'm guessing the two of you could make quite a team." He says respectfully to the earth genasi. 

"Yes, Mei came along too and we went to the Star offices and then to the Firejolt cafe to speak with Mina Lee who recruited me to the Star. Long story short we can have access to the Star's archives to search for news on earlier incidents of the same kind or other interesting news that could be linked to our investigation. It could be time consuming I assume and I don't expect everyone to help out with this, also it is something that should probably wait until after next weeks Slaadi exam." The purple-skinned Tiefling answers, although seeming more excited than he would want to admit over the ongoing investigation. 

"What about you Knap, did you have a nice afternoon?" Malvyn then turns to ask his room mate, still not sure how the satyr felt about the comment about the wild earlier.

Mae almost jumps a little as Mei bumps her elbow a bit. She looked over at the smaller woman with a rather vacant expression and stares for a brief moment. "Oh...oh! Umm, I don't know, Mei. I think maybe just a little there. You look beautiful already, Mei." She smiled a bit forcefully although she meant no unkindness, appreciating the gesture despite declining the offer currently. She pulled her hand back out of her bag, settling it to the side again and sat quietly, hands clasped together in her lap.

Mei reddens at Maeleve's compliment--she herself truly the beautiful one--and drags her thumb slowly across her lips, rubbing the entirety of the rouge away. "My older sister gave me some of her makeup before I left, but... I don't think it suits me," she says with a little chuckle. She watches her friend a moment longer before turning her focus back to the conversation at the table. 

Whenever that conversation turns back to the goings-on at the moment, she'd share with the group the Dream she had after falling asleep on that bench. She's likely mentioned the Dreaming and cards to both Cadoras and Nora Ann during their cafe meetings, but likely not the extent to which she's been having them since arriving. Nor their nature. 

The waitress gets Guardok's order and is about to leave as Knap comes in.  She pauses to get his order then heads off to the kitchen.  She returns fairly quickly with the drinks and a short time after than with the food dishes.  

Aurora nods at Mae's response when Malvyn asked about the two playing together tonight. "We plan to get together tomorrow to put something together perhaps. We'll have to find a time to perform after that."  She sounds excited about the plan. 

Everyone seems to quiet a bit to focus on listening to the dream that Mei describes. At the end Cadoras gives a gasp. "Blackness in the kitchen here! Please don't tell me that our dinners have all been ruined!  They've not been charred to a crisp, have they?"  With the grin on his face it is obvious he is joking.