Who let the dogs out?

It was a mixture of impossible things as of late. Trying to be Humanity, King of Thrones while balancing being Proxy the extra eyes of this new team of misfits… Bolt, Cypher and this “Slim Shady” dude. Then throw in the fact he was trying to keep find a way to keep ahead of Bloodmoon and this new secret cult of zealots that worshipped Jeremy Axel as a herald of Yamm. Let’s not forget a new Vigilante that arrived on the scene, someone who seems completely capable of keeping up with Bloodmoon adepts and their paranatural capabilities. Samhain too and his mysterious motives...Orwell... His mind had no shortage of issues to figure out.

”Okay uhm. Bolt… Try generating lightning as you run, leaving a trail...but use your control over the electricity to build it up...and try to make it linger. Alright? Slim, when the lightning is lingering, I want you to try and command the shadows that it creates. If we play our cards right, you guys will be able to capture that jackass the next time he shows his ugly ass mug.” Matthew said as he pointed to the dummy in the middle of the room, the one that Slim Shady was all too eager to place a picture of humanity’s mask on the face. He was beginning to feel the wear and tear in whole new ways.


Fuck my life dude… Not literally. He typed the keys into his phone before he sent the message off to Pat. He had enough of this self-deprecating crap. So what better solution than to strike up a good ol’ text conversation with the only person in the world who MIGHT be able to hate themselves more than he hates himself. Though he had to wonder whatever for. Sure Pat’s were like onions, many layers, all of them reeking of an odor that would likely make you cry, in Pat’s case it wasn’t a bad one...but it was strong. He needed a new body spray, or moderation...but enough of his possible Tag-addiction.


Hey, while the Luke’s away the rest of us can still play. Be ready to go at 1800. He sent the message to Pat, then he sent a few more messages out. Meanwhile he completely missed the entire performance for Bolt-Shady vs Dummymanity. It was a total disaster, ending with the dummy getting completely eviscerated, and sliced into 10 thin slices like a Christmas ham. Slim Shady looked up in horror at Proxy, seeing that Cypher was standing there, pulling a strand of hair back as she watched at the destructive force that they had wrecked upon the super-humanly durable dummy.

”Great job guys. That’s exactly the effort we need. That’s actually...I like this tactic. Think of a name for it and we’ll add it to the Stratagem book. I gotta go. Sorry guys, great job though! We’ll get him next time!” Matthew said as he walked out, leaving Cypher to look at the boys and Slim to look between her and Alexander, wondering what exactly was going on,m and if Proxy had even seen what they had just done to the poor mannequin. What made it worse was this was the “Save the citizen” dummy, so it’s otherwise normal female voice screaming words was now a low pitched reverb, sounding rather demonic as it slurred out the words “Rooooh Gooood. Whhhhhhyyyyyy?”

Lately things had gotten a little weird. Not that Pat wasn’t used to things being weird, because they definitely could at times. Way to get my hopes up.

What’s the issue? Like aside from the obvious stuff. Pat licked his lips, frowning slightly when he realized they were woefully chapped. Did people have to deal with the mess that was his dry, flaky lips? Either way he dug what looked to be a small tube of chapstick from the corner of his couch, applying it and knowing that the results wouldn’t be an immediate thing. There had been the desire to do literally anything other than sit around the home, but what that something was he couldn’t tell.

Not that he usually didn’t have something to do, but then again it was those empty days that just felt more...well empty. Either way, Matt texting that he should be ready by some military time that equated to 6 PM sounded fine to him. It would be just the two of them like the old days or so how he remembered them. Nostalgia had a weird way of coloring ones perceptions when they really thought about it. In the end that just meant he had to be dressed, maybe a little clean and not smelling like he had sat on the couch all day eating hot pockets. Which would have been an easy assumption considering the couple of hot pocket wrappings scattered across his couch.

Aye aye captain!

He shot the text back with that usual amount of unspoken snark, springing from the couch and digging through the pile of laundry in the corner. Shorts or pants? It was still summer so he could afford to to dress a little breezy, unless he was feeling a little semi-casual. From there was  a hot shower, changing into a pair of tan cargo shorts and a shirt with the name Lightyear emblazoned across it with a streak of yellow accompanying it. It would have been a lie to say he wasn’t a fan of the meta celebrities on the internet, but like everyone he had to pick a favorite. That just happened to be the light based speedster Lightyear that always seemed to have a live show going on whenever.

It took a few minutes for him to find matching socks and then both of his shoes, though eventually they found their way into his feet and he sprayed himself with a few spritzes of Axe. No matter how well he showered, pat could never feel like he was clean enough to the general public. Looking down at his phone it was ten minutes till he was suppose to be waiting up, switching out his basic bitch hoops for faux-diamond studs. A few minutes went to examining himself in the mirror before he could smile pleased with the result. Last thing was making sure he had everything important on him, which came down to phone and wallet.

Check!

Looking down to his phone, he noticed that someone had sent a message.

Don’t forget the session tomorrow. Smirking, Pat sent back a little confirmation message before stepping out of his house and leaned against the wall while waiting. With two minutes to spare even.

Matthew had quite the distance to cover, of course he still had SOME of his tricks up his sleeve. He arrived at Pat’s house in his old beat up car, poking his head out of the window before he let out a sigh.

”A’ight. Hop in chief. We gots places to be.” He called over to Pat, ushering him towards the car. He would wait for Pat to get in the car before he backed the car up, grimacing only a little from the smell of the body spray. Matthew knew his nose was more sensitive than most normal people’s but he still couldn’t think as to why Pat would need so much? Or was it perhaps the brand he used? It didn’t matter, not really.

”I almost complimented how you look. But of course you’re wearing that ugly-ass shirt.” He said with a bit of a smirk. Then of course it had a small laugh with it, not wanting Pat to think that he hated Lightyear or anything. Well...he did, that wasn’t the point though. He hated all heroes. All villains. Everyone pretty much. He had a vendetta against them all, and he’d make sure they all knew it. One way or another.

”Gonna stop at the Hub real quick. I guess there’s a few other people going, but it’s all good. It’ll get you to see some new and familiar faces.” Matthew said as he pulled off the road a little, parking his car outside the old Fontane Securities facility. It had been closed down for several years, but just of late it became a safehouse in the center of the city. Thus it was called “The Hub”. They had been there before, but last time there wasn’t anyone there to introduce Pat to.

The first door was an old rusted one, the creaking of the hinges was enough to grate the nerves while the darkness in the room was pierced by the light of day behind them. There was a soft air that blew through, the draft creating a whistling echo deeper within the darkness. It was a scene from a horror film to be sure. Without a second thought, Matthew walked in and kicked the door a bit, letting Pat come through too. Maneuvering through the darkness, Matthew would lead him to the same old wooden pallet, slide down through the hole in the ground and then to the old vault-like door. With the door opened, light poured out and there were quite a few people sitting about, dressed in regular clothes, not at all what people would have expected to find in a vigilante base. The door opening had them all looking, though they all seemed to greet the two with a “Heeey!” as Matthew pushed Pat into the base a bit.

”Go, it’s your welcome party. We’ll do Luke’s...later. After he’s done visiting with someone...” He said, urging Pat to put a foot forward and mingle. There were at least eight pairs of eyes on him, though some immediately broke back away into different conversations.

The Hub was actually cleaned up this time. The counter-tops were wiped down and the white tile floors swept and mopped to a pristine shine. The Kitchen area was uncluttered with the alcohol cans, though a small keg sat atop it. Over in the sparring area there was a banner that said “Welcome Charlatan!” between the two dummies, which was a lovely gesture...although a bit concerning as the ends of the banner were suspended between the dummie’s heads, being held up by a throwing star and an arrow to the head.

”Well Charlatan. I’d say welcome to the club but...Half the people you see here...you’ll never see again.” Ashtyn said as he waltzed up to Pat and Matt. He was a very optimistic and jovial person from what anyone could ever gather of him, but now he seemed to be rather morose in his tone.

”Which suits it just fine, less chance of someone figuring out things about you. Remember not to use your name. You’re Charlatan. They know my name, but they know I’ll kill them if they ever give up the name of anyone in this room. If they give up my name? They won’t be the only ones who die.” He said with a little bit of a laugh. It was a joke then? Or wasn’t it. It was...hard for even Matthew to tell. "We're not staying too long. Say your hello's, goodbyes and whatever then we'll move out." He said as he gave his friend a pat on the shoulder. No pun intended.

There was a group of three people over by the training area, all of them seeming to enjoy themselves. There was one younger guy over in the corner, by the areas where they put up their suits and their weapons. Two more were actually in the kitchen and one sat down at the computer, playing tetris.

As soon as Matt’s beaten up little jalopy of a vehicle materialized, he was already on the move. Circling around it and taking the passengers seat, while internally taking in the sensory aspects of things. Texture of the seats, smell and everything else really. That same smell he had come to associate with Matt, or maybe his mind was just making things weird. That was always a possibility, if he knew anything about himself. ”Don’t hate Matt. Only other clean shirt I had was...well didn’t feel like showing anymore skin than I had to.” Muscle shirts after all suggested that he had actual muscles, which he...well didn’t have anything that would impress anyone. Besides, he was actually feeling good about himself so nothing would easily ruin that mood.  The two drove to The Hub, Pat’s eyes seemingly glazing over from boredom as they turned off at the shabby little building.

Not that it didn’t fit the hub of a small group of vigilantes.

He followed his friend, flinching a little as the foot sent the door barreling open with a resounding kick.  It was still a little jarring to see someone he had not so long ago thought of as a passive person being so...well not that. Maybe it was just his own misconceptions, but then again the change was attractive in a sense. Either way this place was just creepy, silent stale air blowing through it while the two moved further into the filth that formed a hideout. Not that he expected everything to be this down. His ankles were already beginning to itch.

The two continued to maneuver until Matt moved aside a wooden palate and opened a vault like door. Beyond was The Hub, a few people sitting around and doing their own thing while he took in all the faces he could. Everyone greeted them with a heeey, leaving him feeling a little awkward when it was stated this was for him. ”Welcome party? That’s a little much isn’t it?” He questioned, looking back to Matt and then back to the people that had welcomed him. Well, there was no need to be awkward when he was supposed to be getting all friendly with these people. There was the chance he would work with them at some point.

Right?

Unless Pat was not understanding how this vigilante thing worked now. At the very least he hoped no ritual murders were involved here. Now that would have been awkward. The hub was clean, banner stretched out that said “Welcome Charlatan”. Well, this was a party just for him. If he were actually capable of doing so, Pat would have even blushed at what could be described at minimal but appreciated effort. Ashtyn walked up to the two, greeting him before saying something he thought was meant to be a joke but the morbid air about it made him wonder. ”Well that’s a shame. Was hoping i’d see more of you around.” Even now he couldn’t help it, formulating flirtatious words when someone caught his interest. Didn’t hurt if they had pretty faces though.

However he was supposed to be using his vigilante name here, something to serve as a paper shield maybe. ”Gotcha, use that name.” He nodded, trying to ingrain that into his brain while trying to pick out who he would actually say hi to. That ended up being the younger guy in the corner where all the suits were. Without prompt he approached, hands buried in his pockets while eyeing the suits and then looking down to him. ”Hi, Charlatan,” He extended a hand like one would when they expected a handshake. ”New around here, so thought I would be social and all that.”

The younger guy nodded and smiled a little, his eyes shooting over to Matthew a moment with a glare before he stuck out his hand to shake Pat’s.

”Citizen Zero. I’ll work with you guys a lot probably. Unlike….well… most of these twats.” He grumbled the last part under his breath a bit. After retracting his hand he folded his arms again. ”I’m also gonna go with you guys when you leave. Separately but, we’re all goin’ to the same place. I think Ash-Ashoo….I sneezed.” He added the last part there before clearing his throat and pretending to sneeze.

”Khaos. Khaos is going too.” He said for a moment before looking around the room. He was obviously not at ease at all as he reached up and ran his hand through his roughly styled hair. Fixing his hair he tucked his arm back down into the fold, and looked over at the mannequins. ”Those have been empty a long time. How do you feel about all this?”


The others in the room continued to carry on. From the nerdy older guy at the computer, to the three causing trouble and mischief over by the training area, all the way up to the makeshift kitchen, where one of them was now walking on the counter-tops like a savage. Then there was the guy twirling a sombrero, while Khaos seemed to be talking to Humanity, and apparently exhausting him as Matthew seemed to stop and sigh every ten seconds.

The two shook hands, Pat doing that thing where he worried if his handshake was a little too firm. A glare had been shot off at either him or someone behind him, though there was no questioning as to why that was the case. Maybe the guy was just in a bad mood from something. It seemed like they would be working together, despite the fact this guy muttered something that he assumed was displeasure about some aspect of that. ”Well I look forward to workin with ya Citizen Zero.” He had to admit it was a pretty cool name. Sorta like patient zero if one were more conscious of zombie media. Either way seemed he would be seeing the guy sometime in the future, recent future even if it involved leaving separately.

Honestly Pat didn’t even think about him nearly saying Ashtyn’s name, even if he already knew that. It came with them meeting when evil ninjas tried to kill him and his friends. Khaos would be going with them, so that made Khaos and CZ as he would now mentally abbreviate things.  ”Sounds like things’ll be fun then, unless all of you are planning some kind of weird hazing ritual i’m unaware of.” He paused and smirked. ”I’m just kidding of course.” He didn’t know Citizen Zero enough to really grasp whether he understood his own humor or not.

”Gotta admit, everything feels pretty weird. Finding out my best friend is Humanity, still takes some getting used to I guess. Guess at least I won’t be going solo any longer, so that’s a plus.” A small shrug, Pat considering the many empty mannequins before turning back to the younger male. ”Well, I guess I better get to know all the people I will probably not be working with. Be seein you around.” Giving an amiable wave and wink he walked off, eyes scanning the room for the most interesting people after the guy he had just talked to. Not that he was by any means Dos Equis guy levels of interesting. That meant making his rounds, trading names and of course flirting with people he found atteactive.

In the end he returned to Matt and Khaos, who seemed to be talking. ”So, I think I did the whole introductions thing. What next? Because I have a feeling we’re doing something mysterious.”

”No, we’re not doing something mysterious. Khaos here is just pestering me about the fact that he found a really cool way to annoy me.” Matthew said before looking from Ashtyn and then towards Pat. ”He feels as though we should try and get everyone to try and actually work together. Everyone here and everyone who couldn’t make it...” Matthew said, the tone in his voice was very matter of fact, but Ashtyn was very quick to defend himself.

”It’s safer that way. Most of the time we go up against something and we don’t have the numbers. We always come out but that doesn’t mean it’s always going to happen that way...Especially now that you’ve got Charlantan and Tokyo with us now too. C’mon. Rally the troops, bring ‘em home. For us.” Ashtyn said as he stepped over and pushed out his lower lip, placing an arm around Pat and frowning. Matthew closed his eyes and shook his head with a sigh.

”Drifter...” He said, though Ash then suddenly realized his mistake.

”Oh...right...sorry heh. Tokyo Drifter.” He said, not actually realizing what he had done wrong. Matthew let out a very long sigh as he tried to mentally regroup from the barrage of stupidity. Ashtyn saw that he was losing his point and attempted to bring it back in before he lost everything he campaigned for. ”Matty, over 85% of rabbits survive five years longer + 2 weeks for every additional rabbit in their burrow. That number is exponential, and with all of the-”

”I DON’T CARE-” He shouted, loud enough for Ashtyn to shut his trap with a slightly dejected look on his face. ”about the survival rates of rabbits. I don’t even care to fact-check that…. Charlatan, you met everyone you want to? Said hi to everyone? Odds are at some point or another you’re gonna cross paths again. If you need more time I can deal with this, otherwise… I’ll deal with it later.” Matthew concluded looking from Ash to Pat then back to Ash.

Pat looked between the two, arcing a brow and overall just looking curious about the whole situation. So Khaos had managed to find a way to annoy Matt? Now this was something that he had to know about. Despite the fact that an angry Matt was scary, a slightly annoyed one was something else entirely. Like this adorably amusing thing that he didn’t mind witnessing so long as someone knew not to push the envelope too far. Hopefully this was not one of those pushing the envelope times, because he did not want to be too close when things went down. Not that Pat expected any kind of literal explosion within the next few seconds, unless that was what actually happened.

Things seemed to be about all of them working together, something about improving their chances. That suggested that some of them were going to die pretty soon? Were they going to die? Not that he would have wanted to die, let alone all these people he had just met. An arm found itself around him, forever cementing Pat to be part of this little argument.

Disagreement?

He looked a little lost as then things went to rabbits. ”Wait...rabbits?” Was all he said as Matt snapped, seemingly shutting up Ashtyn and causing him to shrug the arm slung around him off. All he could do was look around awkwardly then as he was questioned. ”Yeah, talked to all the people that caught my interest. If you want I can stall for time, but i’m pretty much done with the whole meet and greet.”

If Gamer were here, then there would be the floating white words above his head that told him that everyone in the room would remember that. The fact he only wanted to meet Citizen Zero that is. Thankfully the metahuman vigilante was not here, and insisted on playing the latest expansion of the now-revived MMORPG World of Warcraft: Get your Azeroth My Lawn! Which was perfectly fine mind you. Sometimes his power made his actions a little too obvious. Like that time he had the Dragon Age dialogue bar as he thought over how to reply to what was said to him. His flirtatious dialogue was not amusing...for Humanity at least. Humanity retracted his mind back from Gamer’s shameless flirting with his ex and back to the objective at hand. He looked over to Citizen Zero and made a motion with his fingers, crooking them and making half a circular rotation before making a fist.

”Oh yeah. Of course. Totally don’t need to stall for time. For-shame and forbid we think about bringing everyone back together.” Khaos said with a scoff and turning to Pat with an actual smile, before shrugging it off and tugging at his shoulder. ”So then, you have zero idea of where we’re going, do you?” He asked as he tried to walk towards the exit, knowing full well Citizen Zero would end up pulling the car around soon. Humanity was left there for a moment to contemplate his disposition on things. Well, okay that’s not entirely true. He was thinking of how much trouble they were going to get in tonight. The roster was literally the two party-animals of the group, Pat and himself.

….yeah…. They would probably be in jail tonight.

A black car pulled up, the dim lights were on as Citizen Zero began tossing a bunch of Matthew’s gear into the trunk. It would take a minute, but he would finally toss the folders and papers into the trunk with a sigh of satisfaction. With a flip of the button the doors were unlocked and everyone could get in as they wanted to. Despite it being an older car, it was a 2002 and it was kept quite well. There was a faint stain on the rug in the back, but other than that it seemed to be almost perfectly kept.

”Get in bitches. I guess Humanity’s gonna meet us there.” Citizen Zero said as he fixed his seatbelt with a groan, rubbing his arm.

Pat didn’t actually know what he had gotten into. There were vague insinuations of something happening, but nothing really concrete about what that was. Despite knowing his friend for so long he had little knowledge of actually how that brain of his worked. Telepathy probably would have done him no favors, so he just didn’t even wish for that kind of thing. ”Matt tell me what we’re doing? Perish the thought. It’s part of his whole mysterious, sexy thing or something along those lines.” Pat noted with a smirk, offering a wry if somewhat ineffectual wink to Matt himself. Wouldn’t be fun if he couldn’t just be agitating in all the ways he knew how to. Either way he was following Khaos, leaving Humanity to do whatever edgy vigilantes did before a night of fun.

With hands buried into his pockets, he eyed the rather now antique looking car with an arced brow. So that was what Citizen Zero drove? He had only met the guy a few minutes ago, but this spoke a little about him. They would have went off immediately, but  there was a bit of shoving things in the trunk. ”Shotgun!” Without anyone else having time to tell him not to call shotgun, he hopped into the passengers seat. It had a certain nostalgic factor, despite the fact not many people were comfortable with letting him sit there.

Mother dearest excluded of course.

Pulling the seatbelt across his chest, Charlatan swiped a stray bang from his forehead. ”Where are we meeting him again? Like no one has told me anything. Getting a little worried it might be something weird.”

Khaos smiled and shrugged at the mention that Pat was going to ride shotgun. Citizen Zero didn’t say anything, but he gripped his steering wheel and ushered everyone to ”Get the fuck in before I leave on principle.” After everyone was secured in the car, the young man proved that he had quite the lead foot. He didn’t miss a stop sign, but he didn’t exactly coast into them in the most graceful manner. He rushed them around as he could, though Pat had his questions. Citizen Zero seemed to be focused on the road, so if nothing else that was a...comfort. Khaos didn’t have a problem answering any questions though. The first question was about Matthew, though it was more of a comment. That one slid past.

Though after he asked where they were going, Khaos actually shrugged, though Citizen Zero spoke up in response to it. The question if things were weird, to which all he could do was chuckle. “Well there’s going to be a weird vibe in the air, but it’ll be fun either way.” He said as he pulled out through a light and then made it down the street. It was a twenty minute drive, but they finally pulled up to a decent place, though it seemed like a rough and tumble place with large bars all over the side of the building. Oddly thematic as there were neon lights that said “The Dog Pound” on the front of the building.

”The Dog Pound. Let’s roll.” Citizen Zero said as he pulled off his mask, ripping his hood down as he turned the car off and he stepped out. Khaos was right behind him.

Citizen Zero was pretty intense when driving. At least that was his assumption upon seeing the male grasp the wheel as if even letting up would leave them a smoldering pile on the side of the road. Instead of thinking about that he let the sensation of rough fabric press against his chest, seat belt pulled taut against ribcage and keeping him held in place. Each motion, Pat jerked about with sudden stops and starts all more than enough to make him feel apprehensive. His first statement went unheard, maybe even ignored considering how awkward it might have been seen considering who he was. Most of them likely didn’t know how he worked, even down to the inappropriate ways that he conducted himself.

”Weird vibe huh? Sounds like i’ll be right at home.” He smirked, playing along with the idea despite the fact he had no idea what he was getting himself into. Anxiety mounted, leaving him wearing that mask as if there was nothing wrong at all with the situation. Not that he thought there was anything wrong to begin with. Twenty minutes passed, until they came to a slightly shabby looking building with bars around it.

Looked like a prison if you asked him.

”Feels weird already. This some kind of weird S&M club because that both makes so much sense and none at all?” There was no preamble to the statement, Charlatan stepping out once the vehicle had come to a stop with hands buried in his pocket. He was feeling for his phone, wallet and that was about it. Not like he needed anything else with those two things gathered on his person. ”Lead the way I guess. Seems like you two know a bit more about this place than me.” With a motion of the hand, he would follow whoever lead the way.

Ashtyn had little problem leading Pat up to the door, Citizen Zero excused himself a moment before disappearing. Walking into the place was simple enough. It was pretty full actually, and had quite a diverse set of people all walking around. A common theme around the place seemed to be people wearing biker jackets, though with the emblem emblazoned on the back it was an oddly shaped snake wrapped around a motorcycle. They were a common presence, but then there had been everyone else. Some of them looked like they maybe came from some of the more up-beat nightlife locations, and some were just regular people in regular clothes. Immediately at reaching the door, a large man with a shaved head stopped them, a glare behind his sunglasses. Ashtyn sheepishly took out his license and smiled.

”Woof?” He asked, causing the burly man to smirk for a moment before moving onto Pat, wanting his identification as well. Ashtyn immediately cleared his throat and stepped away. The floor was mostly a planked hardwood with decent lighting, though a faint smoke clouded the air from the far back rooms where there seemed to be a looming crowd. A designated smoking half of the building. Then there was the fact Austyn seemed to move through the small crowd to near the restrooms. There, he opened a back door, jimmying the handle and opening it, allowing a young man to step in, grooming his hair slightly as he tried to get it to stick up.

”Can’t get past that bouncer with a bribe.” The familiar voice said as he cleared his throat.

”Yup, yup. Welcome to the Dog Pound.” Ashtyn said with a smirk, pointing out the rosewood bar with the granite counters. Though coming through the front door was a fair skinned young man, hiding behind his glasses and under a beanie as he seemed to scan the area and quickly identify his compatriots.

Overall the place looked pretty chill. Some people dressed in normal clothes like him and others dressed up like bikers, which only reinforced his prior assumption about the place. Honestly it looks like a nice mix of people, just going about their night life while he did his own thing. Which was make quips that found themselves ignored and walking through the front. Immediately encountered by a big, burly looking bouncer type with a shaved head even.  He felt that glare bear down on him despite the fact he was looking beyond tinted glasses, lips turning down into a slight frown as Ashtyn made a wry woof.  All he had to do was show off his identification, which showed he was more than old enough and stepped through to the actual party so to speak. He glanced around for his friend and followed, eventually leading to a back door which was opened easily enough.

Someone stepped through, looking a little younger than he thought but he had pretty sweet hair. ””Can’t bribe em all. he noted with a shrug and slight wink, eyeing the place now that they got past the bald muscle. Overall it was nice, not exactly the best but then again ”The Dog Pound? I’m getting even more bondage vibes. Reeeaally hoping no one tries to put a collar on me here.” A slight turn to the other two, followed by a few seconds of silence and a shrug.

He would have approached the bar but that was when he noticed a familiar person. Without warning he walked up to him, offering a wave of greeting. ”Yo! Never would have expected you to actually come to a place like this. Not that it isn’t great or anything.” With a motion of the head he ended up taking a seat at the bar, preferably by the one with the nice hair. He liked talking to new people, always ended up sticking to them until he got tired of them. ”So now that you got me here, what’s the plan guys?”

Matthew smirked as he heard Pat make his comment about not expecting him to be here. In a place like this. Well actually this place was exactly up to speed. It was a slower night, but busy as Hell. Matthew looked away for a moment and then took a seat. He kept his head down a bit as someone around his age brushed past, delivering drinks. He looked to Pat and shrugged it off a little.

”Well tonight’s not about me.” He commented in an off-handed and matter of fact tone. Of course that just warranted an arched eyebrow from the young man who joined them. ”What?”

”Uh-huh. The fact you got the hots for the straight bartender probably has nothing to do with it.” He just flat out plowed through his friends expectations and unloaded everything. Ashtyn couldn’t stop laughing, and Matthew was stuck there with a small grin, his head shaking left to right ever so slowly, staring off at the ground. His face was red but he didn’t seem to show any conviction of why. Ashtyn started to back away, still squeaking out a few laughs, fearful of the fallout. Cameron had balls, Matthew had to give him that.,,

”Uhm...no. You’d be wrong there.” Matthew stated through his teeth.
”Oh am I now?”
”Yeah. But I can see why you’d see that. Self-projection can really fuck with someone’s perception.”
”Don’t let him fool you. He’s always in this place.” Cameron said as he looked to Pat, a smirk on his face as he hopped up onto a bar stool, sending off a whistle, to get the bartender’s attention. Matthew spun around in his chair, not looking at the person who came over. Cam just smirked, looking from Pat to Matt as and shooting off a look that essentially said “Told ya.” Their argument was over and Pat was left in the fallout.

”What’s up Dogs!?” The man said as he walked over, just beaming a bright smile. Despite the nice and neat area, the bartender themselves had a rather mixed up and messed up look to them. It was sort of like Picasso practiced abstract art on this guy’s clothes. His grey shirt had a fox logo on it, advertising a brand no doubt. But it had different colors of paint splashed on it. Meanwhile he had a button-down overshirt loosely hanging on… quite literally as it had massive claw marks shredded out of it. Honestly he could pass as a victim of a werewolf attack. He even had small streaks of red paint at his neck, looking like scratch marks.

”Not much!” Cam stated as he stood off of his tool a little and reached over the bar, his hand grabbing onto the other’s messy black hair and shaking his head a little. For the added effect he even acted like he was growling for a moment before releasing the worker from his playful grasp.

”Freaky Fritzy!” Ashtyn said lunging forward, almost clearing the countertop to hug the bartender.

”Oh, Yup. There it is!” He said before patting Ashtyn on the back, and looking around silently begging for help from one of the others. When Cam just shrugged it off and looked to Rhyme-Scheme Team. ”Where’s the others? Oh, Hey it’s the beanie! What’s up Mr.Mystery? New guy?” He asked, Ashtyn releasing him finally. Matt only replied by putting two fingers up and tipping them to the side, but he already had moved on to seeing Pat.