(2018-03-17) They're Back
They're Back
Summary: Some of the Coral Springs students overhear/oversee a snippet of a conversation that adds some interesting implications to the recent draug attacks.
Date: IC Date (2018-03-17)
Related: TBD
NPCs: Mug Shot Coffee Shop customers, a couple of local agents of the Taksian Society
Scene Runner: Gabrielle
Players:
schuyler..bryce..ronan..

Mug Shot Coffee Shop, Shady Cove
The barista is generally busy with orders, but most times still manages a wave of welcome. A large sign serves as the menu and orders are taken just beneath it. It's as lovely inside as it is on the outside. Rounded, wooden beams support the upper floor. The walls are packed with all sorts of travel memorabilia, most likely all collected by the owner. Tourists seem to be some of the more catered to clientele here, the drinks and atmosphere with the added food as a bonus.. Several small tables dot the area with a few larger ones thrown in for bigger groups.

Its Saturday afternoon. Enough of the snow from the last storm has been cleared to allow some travel but its still not at all nice outside for most people so the Mug Shot Coffee Shop finds itself with only a few people in it, rather than being as busy as it would normally be on a cold, weekend afternoon.

Schuyler wasn't thrilled about going out in this weather but he had to run a couple of errands. Stopping in at the coffee shop seemed to be the logical thing to do and he's ordered a large, fancy, coffee drink and has taken a seat to enjoy it and warm up before returning back to the Estate. On the way out, he may remember to pick up teas for Besa and Rain.

One of the newest students of Coral Springs has been out exploring on this cold day. Thankfully the temperature has warmed up some so that with a thin sweater over his school uniform seems enough to keep him mostly warm. Seeing a coffee shop, he opens the door and steps inside. He takes a step to the side to get out of the way of foot traffic. Looking around at the various people here, he then shift to look at the large menu sign. He slips into the back of the line and weights.

There's not a thing wrong with the cold if you asked Ronan. He was perfectly ok with the frigid temperatures. Since it's not a school day and it is St Patrick's day the blond teen decided to dress in a dark emerald green t-shirt, tight black jeans and flat cap. He was perfectly ok with the cold but he was getting a little bit thirsty. What does one do when you're thirsty and a teenager, you check out the local coffee shop. Now in Ronan's case he's looking for some nice cold teas. Something that they're probably not selling much of in the icy tundra that is the city right now. For once, he doesn't have any ice on his body although his hair is a little damp and he's radiating a nice pleasant temperature several degrees warmer than it was outside.

The line moves fairly quickly, considering there are only two ccustomers in front of Bryce and Ronan. The well dressed couple orders some hot drinks and once they've been delivered they move on to sit at a table directly across from Schuyler's chosen seat. Once they're seated they start a conversation in low, hushed tones, making their words easily lost among the conversations of the few other people in the shop.

Grey eyes lift as the couple sits at a table across from him…more like acknowledging that they're there. Sky lifts the large, ceramic mug to his lips to take a sip even as he glances around the nearly-empty coffee shop to see who else is there. If students are acknowledged, they get a brief nod before he goes back to his observation.

As Schuyler looks over at the couple he's able to read the woman's lips as she asks her companion, "Didn't work the way the Board expected, did it?"

Bryce moves to the front of the line and orders a hot chocolate. He didn't want anything expensive or complicated. It isn't like he has a lot of experience with such drinks. He steps to the side so that he can get out of Ronan's way. When he notices Schuyler's nod, he heads over to him. He only knows one person so far at the school but figures finding another student is better than a stranger. Of course, he could just sit by himself. "Um, mind if I join you?"

Since he's utterly unfamiliar with the menu here, Ronan just sort of stares up at the menu as he tries to decide what he wants before ordered some ice sweet tea. It'll do. It will be an experience for him since he's never tried it before. That being said he doesn't move to join the other students right away. Instead sort of lingers there while waiting for his drink. His cap was adjusted a couple times and he muttered something in gaelic as a couple people are wearing orange.

As he stands to the side Ronan ends up close enough to overhear snippets of conversation from the couple Schuyler is watching. He's not able to hear everything thanks to the background noise but he does catch snippets from the man's part of the conversation, "Why… Board think… inducing… possession… idea. … predict… drowned…"

Schuyler gestures for Bryce to take a seat if he wants. His eyes go back towards the couple at the table across and seems to be watching them. If they turn to look his way, he'll look to his coffee. His phone is also pulled out in case he needs to hold a conversation. He's wearing his usual out-of-uniform Black Goth style and has a knit cap over his longish hair. At least the long hair helps keep him warm!

Bryce looks a bit surprised when Schuyler lets him sit down with him. He does find it odd that he doesn't say anything though. He places his mug down and then slowly sits down. He takes a sip of the hot chocolate and then looks up to notice Ronan. He gives him a little wave and then looks to Schuyler and says, "My, my name is Bryce. I go to the, well, I guess that is obvious with my uniform. I hope I'm not interrupting you."

As he takes a sip of the 'sweet tea', Ronan makes a face at the taste. He'd heard the stuff was supposed to be good but this tasted like sugar flavored garbage. He wrinkles his nose a little bit but he's bound and determined to finish his drink since it was paid for. The couple at a nearby table are given a strange look. "Dia daoibh." He says smiling at Sky and Bryce as he approaches and then pauses for a moment,"I mean, hello. It does be Saint Patrick's Day, blessings on both of ye today." He says the words being odd on his tongue. It was still taking getting used to.

Unable to see the man's lips, Schuyler manage to continue following the woman's side of the conversation as she answers her companion, "I think the official term they're using at HQ is draug. But you're right, the Society's mission is using technology to improve human being. What the hell were they thinking, playing around with mysticism?"

Grey eyes blink at the other for a moment before Sky begins to tap at his phone. It's eventually held up and shown to Bryce, the screen reading, 'I'm Schuyler, call me Sky. I'm deaf. You do know that you don't need to wear the uniform on the weekend, right?' There's another glance to Ronan as he approaches and he types some more before showing the screen, 'I'm not Irish. Or religious.' There's another flicker to the man and woman at the next table, pale brows drawing down some.

When Sky starts typing, Bryce tilts his head up to try and see what he is doing. After reading what he typed, Bryce set his mug down and started using ASL: "Oh, I know sign language if that makes this easier for you?" His head turns to start to look at the couple since Sky looks at them, but instead his attention is drawn to Ronan. "Hello, thank you for, for the blessing. Was that Gaelic? My mom is Irish." He blinks a couple times and then says, "Oh, sorry. I'm Bryce."

"Me name's Ronan and was she Irish or of Irish descent?" Ronan asks curiously, his thick accent makes it clear that he is very definitely Irish. He smiles a bit at Sky,"That's ok, I'm only the former. However, the blessing does be more from habit than anything. Besides, as I figure ne'er hurts to offer it. Now if I was tryin' ta say something more intense I'd be an idiot for it." He says with a smile towards Sky. He was trying to relax the muscles in his shoulders though. "Well… in a fashion it was Gaelic. Gaelic applies to a certain branch of Celtic languages. Scottish and Irish being the most prominent in the branch but there are a couple others that are holding on." He says seriously.

At the couple's table the woman looks around her, noting where the other people in the room are at the moment. Once she's determined that no one is close enough to their table to comfortably see anything she puts on it she reaches into her purse and pulls out a folder from it. Opening the folder up on the table she she opens it and start sliding pictures from it across the table to her companion. As she spreads out the picture's Schuyler can also see her saying, "Well, regardless, they are not sure that the explosion took care of the demon. So they want us to keep an eye out for them showing up again. Sent us some images of the kind of things the demon pulled up out of the water."

'Holy Sh*t!' is signed at Bryce's revelation. 'Yeah, that makes it a lot easier!' Sky signs and puts the phone down since he doesn't need it for communication at the table. 'How did you learn Sign?' There's a glance to Ronan and he signs to Bryce, 'Ask him why it matters if she's directly from Ireland or of that descent?' His eyes flickers back to the table with the man and woman who are now looking at photos.

Bryce smiles a bit at the reaction from Sky. He signs, "I had a lot of time, well, alone when I was young. One of my … nurses knew sign language so she taught. I learn things." He shrugs at that comment and looks back to Ronan. "Irish model. She was born in Dalkey. My dad got her because she was, I mean, is pretty." He sighs a bit when he brings up his dad. He lifts his mug up to his lips and takes a sip from it.

The blond teen nods a bit,"Then yer ma does be from a lovely area. I've been to Dalkey and Killney. I'm from Ballybriggan meself." Ronan says pleasantly,"Irish women do tend to be pretty, but be warned. Datin' an Irish lass can be quite hazardous for yer health. Most of the girls I knew back home would have no problem with punching a man in the soft bits if he made them angry." He runs fingers through his hair as he does try relax his body a bit.

'His -mother- is Irish. I would hope that the dating is done! And it's not just Irish girls who would do that.' Sky signs and shakes his head. But he looks back to Bryce, 'Yeah? Most people don't tend to learn Sign, but it's easier for me, certainly…' outside of the school, that is. He then stands briefly to tuck his phone back into his pocket. His increased height this year helps him see over to the table where the man and woman are talking over papers and pictures briefly before he sits back down.

Signing to Sky, Bryce says, "I had a lot of free time." He shrugs again. Bryce then closes his eyes for a brief moment and starts to say and sign, "Ballybriggan. 32 kilometers north of Dublin City Center. Name means either Town of Small Trout or Town of Small Hills. Tourists enjoying going to…" He sounds like he is reading as he says all this, but he suddenly stops. "Sorry. I sometimes do that. My mom and dad aren't together." Whatever happened sounds painful. When Sky looks over at the pictures, Bryce turns his head to look too. When he sees the pictures, he quickly turns his head back to look at Sky. His eyes are wide. "What-what is that?" he signs close to his chest.

"It's a lovely little town. I was mostly in a gaeilge group, which is an oddity there. I mean I did be learning English but sometimes it's easier to speak as gaeilge than in English." Ronan says before frowning a touch,"I do be being sorry for that." He pauses as Bryce signs something and doesn't actually speak for once,"<What did you just say?>" He asks in Irish seeming confused by the hand motions. He never learned sign language so it was disconcerting to him.

The man does take a moment to look at the picture the woman has put on the table but then he seems to realize what he's doing. While saying something to the woman in a low, hurried voice he gathers the pictures up and stuffs them back in the folder. She rolls her eyes at him and responds with "No one is looking, what's the big deal? And no, they haven't said anything yet about when the next test might be happening. But its been over a year since they've run one here, so I wouldn't be surprised if it happens soon." in the same low voice but takes the folder and puts it back into her purse.

Schuyler shrugs at Bryce's question and signs back, 'Looked like some sort of sea creature. They were talking about some sort of testing…probably they're with some Mad Scientist Group or something.' He doesn't seem to be too worried, in all honesty. 'As long as they aren't rampaging, well…this stuff happens. How do you think most of us came to be?' At the school, that is. Maybe they weren't all products of Mad Scientists but surely some may be.

Bryce keeps his eyes straight as he is worried about giving a bad facial reaction. Why would they be showing those things in public? Is this normal coffee shop talk here in this city? Are they watching them or making them? Fighting them? His mind is going a thousand different directions. He signs, "I don't know." He then says and signs, "I haven't actually met a lot of people before." He doesn't add anything to that before and just leaves it hanging then. He glances back Ronan when he speaks Irish. He knows the sound, but he has to admit. "I never got a chance to learn it. I'm sorry. I, I wanted to."

"It is not an easy language ta be learnin'. If ye want lessons I shall be happy to share what I know." Ronan says smiling a bit at Bryce. He likes speaking his native tongue and having a chance to teach it was something that actually did excite him a bit. "However, it is a bit rude ta do a conversation in a language someone doesn't know when ye've been talking to them." He points out. Of course he's guilty of slipping into Irish in conversations but it was usually flipping back and forth as his brain processed. So to him that's different.

Once the pictures are put back away the couple's conversation fades on to more mundane topics, like grocery lists, chores to be done when they get home, and other such topics. Not that anyone but Sky would know since they continue to speak in the low, private voices they've used since they sat down.

Schuyler seems about ready to answer Bryce, but Ronan's little comment has him narrowing his eyes some. To Bryce, he offers, in sign, 'Come find me at the school later.' In response to Ronan's comment, he shrugs and quickly finishes his coffee. Then, without saying anything else, he gets up, busses his coffee cup, and goes to leave the two so that they can speak aloud to each other. He has some tea to bring back to the school anyhow.

Bryce nods to Schuyler when he signs to him once more. He does look guilty about signing without speaking to Ronan. "I'm sorry. I, I know what it is like to be, well, left out of things." Bryce guiltily drinks the last of his hot chocolate. He thinks about how to tell Ronan why he signed without letting the couple hear him. He then thinks about how Sky used the phone and pulled a pen from his pocket. He writes on the back of his receipt. "Saw something. Didn't think they should know I saw." He draws a little arrow pointing to the couple with the photos. He then slides the receipt towards Ronan.

"Ye do not have ta go. It's just… When people hold conversations excluding a third person, I've found it's usually been someone insultin' the others." Ronan says explaining himself. He nods a little bit and takes his phone and types the word Draugr on the screen for Bryce to see."That be the nature of things." He says before closing his phone. Yes. He knows exactly what they were looking at and he's so going to have to let the staff know. He does try to discretely take a picture of the pair.

Schuyler glances back over at the other two boys, but turns back to pay the cashier for the teas. He's not going to get into any sort of conversation in public…since apparently signing isn't being accepted as an appropriate mode of conversation. There's a brief scowl before he just moves to head back outside.

Bryce really wishes he had a phone now. Did everyone at the school have one? He closes his eyes like he did with the town of Ballybriggan. He opens his mouth and starts to say something, but he quickly shuts his mouth and opens his eyes. "Um. Okay." He wipes his brow thankful that he caught himself though barely. He waves to Schuyler as he departs figuring that really didn't count as signing. "I, I just got here at the school." He tries to uncomfortably change the conversation.

As he made an attempt to take his photos, Ronan wasn't very good at being stealthy. He says,"It is different. I think he took things the wrong way again." He doesn't think Sky was really listening to what he was saying right now. He began running fingers through his hair again, tiny little flakes of ice forming on his hands.

Yep. Forgetting to turn the flash off when you take a picture usually makes for it being pretty obvious that you're doing it. As soon as the flash goes off the man sighs and gets up, quickly followed by the woman. Without wasting time but also not in a rush the couple start making their way out of the coffee shop. When they reach the door the man shakes his head slightly and presses what looks like a car's alarm fob. Instantly every phone in the room pops and starts to smoke, much to the alarm and consternation of every other customer. Taking advantage of the confusion the couple disappears into the night.

Bryce's forehead furrow a bit when he sees the ice forming as Ronan runs his hand through his hair. "Is that - " Then all the phones pop and start to smoke. Okay, maybe it was a good thing he didn't have a phone. At least he didn't have something smoking in his pockets. He did jump up from his seat though and look around. "What, what was that?"

As his phone begins smoking, Ronan lets out a squeak and begins cursing in gaeilge,"If I had to be guessing it would be an electromagnetic pulse. That's the only thing I can be thinking of that would cause this sort of thing." He knows science,"Me skin tends to be colder than the normal skin." He says casually to Bryce. Flexing his fingers as he yawned a little bit.

Bryce looks from the angry crowd to Ronan as he explains his power. "So I guess that means the cold spell didn't, well, bother you much at all." He shrugs and wondered what that power would be and what would be the annoying part of it. He is starting wonder if other people's powers have annoying parts to them like his did. "Should we report what happened to someone? Oh, you said that. Who do we report it to?"

"Nil e. Cold doesn't bother me. But we can discuss that from inside the school. I believe we'll need ta report this to the staff. If someone can generate an emp that can work that fast, it canna be good." Ronan says frowning as he considers all of this. He's never really encountered this level of technology. It was impressive and the fact it wasn't a big item, that made it even scarier. Good thing there were no pacemakers here.

As he starts to walk out towards the door, Bryce takes a detour to put his mug away on a little shelf. When he does so, he glances over to see if any other technology was affected by the - whatever they did. He looks up at the television and then the cash registers to see if they were affected as well. He says, "See you back at the school."

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