For a moment and just a moment Ron had a sad look to his face trying to imagine what Grace been through. "Well that changed now. First rule of Titan City is we learned to see beyond looks. About a fourth of the population isn't what you call Normal, and a part of that don't look normal. So we learned to see people by how they act and what they do rather then what they seem to be. Me and Wren are good folk so we behave like it." He chuckled a little "Or to put it another way, we don't care to worry about being Normal, we care about being friendly."

Wren smiles brightly as Grace gives up the safety that the blanket's come to represent. She quickly folds it up, and slips it into the bag.

"Alright, here's how you wear it..." She proceeds to strap the bag across Grace's chest, buckling a smaller strap across her waist and snugging the straps so they lay smoothly. "See? I had some made 'cause I hated having stuff falling out of my pockets all the time!" she laughs quietly, "You can keep this one. It was starting to get a little snug for me."

She pats the girl on the arm, nodding agreement with Ron, "You'll be able to accept it more and more as you live here... you don't have to hide anymore."

((Whew, apologies guys.))

Nick rolls his eyes at Grace's comments, but grins. "And I won't be staying with you in the suite, if that's what you were thinking. No worries about payment, either. I can handle it."

Nick smiles at Wren and Ron's acceptance of Grace. Good to see she was fitting in.

When Ron copies Nick's act, he turns red and scratches the back of his neck in embarrassment. In attempt to change the subject, he looks over at Levi and says, "Hey bud, how bad do you think you could be these two songbirds here in a race?"

Levi responds, "I believe the saying is: it would be a piece of pie."

Nick facepalms. "Cake, Levi. Cake."

Ron passed over his debit card to pay for the bill and then signed for them. "Alright everything paid for. Sure you ladies want to race go right ahead I meet you at the Whitehold." He made a larger portal and stuck his head through then after a few moments he starts passing pizza boxes to someone on the other side.

Grace has reached the stack of pizzas, and takes two of the boxes-- just enough to get her hands around, without the risk of dropping. Even though she'd just eaten, her stomach aches a little at the good smells coming out of the boxes...

She gives Nick an appraising look. "You can race if you want to, but then-- who's going to show /me/ how to get there?"

She has another thought. "Especially if Wren's going to carry you?"

Grace laughs a little, countering, "If you go easy on us, it's not a race, is it? Plus-- If Wren's carrying you and chasing Levi, and I can't keep up-- though I think maybe I could at least stay close enough to see you, hopefully..." She shakes her head amusedly, her chocolate brown ponytail swinging.

"Maybe I better just follow Ron. Though I think it'd be more fun to fly."

"Who said I was riding with Wren?" Nick grins. "Levi, if you please."

"Yes, Master Ridley." Levi kneels and Nick jumps on him, piggy-back style. Levi stands, Nick keeping his balance by hanging on Levi's broad shoulders. "It's not flying, but it beats walking."

Nick seems a little bummed about Grace's choice. He rests his face on one hand, which in turn rests on Levi's shoulder. He'd hoped to see her fly. "Alright, we don't have to race. Levi can go at your pace. Right, Levi?"

"That is impossible to presume if I do not know Miss Grace's pace, Mast--" Nick hits him in the head, albeit gently. "I mean, yes, Master Ridley. Any pace she sets will be my own."

Nick looks at her with hope, like a kid waiting for his mom to say if he can buy a toy or not. "I'll understand if you'd rather not, though." Nick nearly falls off of Levi, but catches himself, grunting to keep himself in place. His words say otherwise, "I totally got this, no worries."

Wren grins, following Grace and exiting after handing the two pizzas back to Ron.

"C'mon, Angel." she laughs happily as she crouches and leaps into the air with a burst of a feeling of pure joy. Her wings cup the air, stroking downward powerfully to take her up to a good hovering height. She beckons to Grace, whistling like her namesake bird.

Nick doesn't register Grace's embarrassment. He's just a big kid with an even bigger friend. Levi exits the the restaurant, more careful with the door this time, and steps out into the night. "Ready, Levi?" Nick whispers in his lifelong friend's ear. Levi replies, "Always."

Cleats ejected from the bottom of Levi's feet, and then he leans forward, getting into a running stance. He then sprints forward at astonishing speed for such a large being, and jumps at an astonishing height, easily reaching the highest building closest to Wren's location.

Grace would grip her own two boxes uncertainly, before shyly holding them out to Nick and Levi in entreaty. If they took them, she would smile with relief and gratitude. If not or they were already away, she would hold them tighter.

Stepping away from everyone, her white wings fan out and begin to flex, slowly at first... then faster... and cupping the air with a rush of endorphins, Grace exerted a particularly powerful downward sweep of the wings, crouching and jumping up at the same moment.

it seems she's sold herself short in the flight department-- she beats rapidly to reach Wren's hovering height, and hovers thete with her. Her face is quite transformed-- peaceful, sure, happy. Something about the contrast of the color of her wings against the sky makes them seem that much brighter...

She looks down at the boys below, happy and amazed anew at the boy and his robot, and quickly wings after Wren.

(Written on a bus, sorry! Home soon! :P)

"It will not inconvience you?" She asked looking at him and lifting an eyebrow

Her voice went slightly flat "I will have six of the largest size of the pizza with the full assortment of meats and vegitables avalible as well as twenty of these chicken wings, plain, and" her voice returned to normal " a diet coke with light ice". She smiled at him from the booth "so what do you do for a living?"

Her skin rippled for a breif moment at the words "prison" . Her face looking like she was fighting for control before she smiled warmly seeming to supress whatever just happened "you were legally release of course?" She then muttered very softly "stop it your ruining this for me"

"That is great news" she said nodding. "So is it hard for a felon to find work i n this country ?"

"you are rather lucky, I gave up everything to move here for research, I am currently working in trade for equipment with some form of artificial life form the fields of study I am in sadly require a great deal more sensitive and expensive equipment then some shovels, a pith hat, plane tickets and a sense of adventure!" Oksana leaned back and sighed slightly "I greatly hope that moving here was not a mistake. but I feel this area is the safest and most apt location to conduct testing"

"oh only a complete bio-chemical lab, a few super computers, possibly some atomic test equipment as well, but I don't want to be targeted by Iranian hit teams for a counter weight or something silly like that....and what do you mean fair amount and more then you can spend? what is the catch and what is it that you want, nothing is ever truthfully free" she said leaning forwards and sipping her drink eyeing him with typical Russian pragmatism.

"I've always liked the pragmatism of the Russian people. In this day and age of people not saying what they really mean or really want to say, unabashed pragmatism is refreshing, to be honest." Rudy admitted, leaning forward as well.

"I'm going to be honest with you, Oksana. It's fairly obvious that you're not completely human. From the amount of food you ordered, that change in your tone of voice when ordering, that oddly dense feeling when I shook your hand, and even the way you move and walk. Judging by the way certain flooring materials compress when you step on them and the denseness of your body, I'd say you probably weigh in the neighborhood of 600 lbs?" he surmised, speaking softer now.

Before she could answer, he continued. "But that's alright, because I'm not completely human either, at least not anymore. I don't know if you've ever studied the history of Titan City's heroes, but there was one that operated in the late 40's and early 50's called Hyperman. Then, in 1955, he just disappeared. That's because, in the spring of 1955, he murdered his friend and arch-rival Josef Wisnowski a.k.a. The Gamesman, and he quietly went to jail for 60 years. As I said earlier, I just got out a few months ago.I could have used the insanity defense and been served a much less severe punishment, but I was so remorseful and full of guilt over killing Josef that, against my lawyer's advice, I pled guilty. The reason I killed him, and the reason I could've used the insanity defense is that, at the time, I was blinded by grief over the death of my wife and child. Josef had nothing to do with their deaths, actually. That was orchestrated by two men who worked for him. He tried to stop them and even killed them, but the act was already done by then. My family was already dead. I arrived to find Josef and the two dead men in front of my burning house, and all I saw was red. I don't remember it, but I grabbed Josef and snapped his neck, even as he begged for me to stop."

At that point, Rudy looked away from her and bowed his head, trying to keep the memories from replaying in his head. After a moment, he looked back up at her, "I'm sure you have questions, but please let me finish. The reason I said that Josef was also my friend is that we use to be allies. Josef started out as a hero called The Gamesman. He used technological devices to fight crime. But Josef was always more pragmatic and believed that there were criminals who should just be killed because there was no hope for redemption. I did not believe in the whole judge, jury, and executioner system and we eventually became rivals. But, we still managed to stay on a friendly basis and even spent time together. And then I killed him. But Josef did something that I never expected. Josef was a rich man, and he willed a large amount of money to me after his death. Since I was already in jail and had no other use for it, I placed the entire sum in a high-yield savings account. You're very smart Oksana, so I'm sure that you can figure out what happens to 25 million dollars when you place it in a savings account at 5.5% interest for 60 years."

Rudy picked up a napkin, produced a pen from his pocket, and wrote something on the napkin, then passed it to Oksana. If she looks at it, there would be written $620,994,261.13. "So, as I said before, far more than I could spend in my lifetime, which is obviously extended since I'm over 80 and look like I'm still in my 30's. As far as catches, there are none. I want to use a portion of that money to help scientific research and I'm curious as to what exactly you're researching, seeing as it prompted you to give up everything you had and move to a new country with no equipment and no funding whatsoever."

Rudy leaned back and sipped at his drink, waiting for her to process all of the information he'd just dumped on her.

“Thank you. I believe I'll grab a table, I always like my meals as fresh as possible.”

Sterk passes by the counter towards the restaurant area and occupies a free table. To keep himself busy, he pulls out his smartphone and taps at the screen, bringing up a map of Titan City and scanning the area around Ray's shop for points of potential interest.

After catering to the tables, Mahala checked the order screen, and saw her delivery was up. "Looks like the Pestorini's done! I'm out on the run," she said and got all the stuff together from the varying kitchens and made her way by Marcus. "I'll call you if it gets hairy," she whispered in his ear before heading out the door, to which he promptly nodded.

She swallowed the half of a slice she had in her mouth and nodded "yes I will need to find a clothing store, as well as pick up a blanket and some pillows, I have one change of clothing and some toiletries in my apartment as it stands right now"

Oksana eyed him again "my parents use to say, when people say they will give you free things, they are communists and should not be trusted" she smiled a bit "but I am not overly worried, the worst that could happen here is you -don't- do as you say." she was nearly finished with her food by this point destroying the full order in about as much time as a normal person would eat two slices. "Thank you for all the help, if you set up a fund, and get me an account number, I will start ordering, I have found a shop already that deals in such things quietly"

The shop bell rings, and a teenager walks slowly in. Hair hair is a dark brown, almost black, and lays straight down to her shoulders. A thick lock sweeps across her brow, partially obscuring what look to be blue eyes.

Her clothing seems a bit the worse for wear, faded patches and a mended tear or two in her dark blue jeans. Her aconverse sneakers are scuffed and well worn, and a black tank top sits just everso slightly askew on her shoulders.

The girl clinks and jingles softly as she walks slowly, carefully to the front podium, pausing yet again to look very carefully around. Wound around her neck and shoulder several times are lengths of thin, dark, and strangely shiny chain-- a length of which she toys with idly while waiting for someone to notice her.

The girl immediately swung her head toward the door at the sound of another person entering. Good, she could use the help, and was not afraid to ask. However, several things happen notably at once.

Firstly, her gaze goes to the boy, but it is obvious at once that something is amiss-- her gaze reaches his face, then slides several inches away, just slightly off... though she seems to sense the smile and returns it gently. As the boy drew close, he would easily be able to tell that though her eyes are a pretty, sky blue-- it is the milky blue of blindness.

Secondly, her gaze had slid from the boy, moving eyes indicating some function, directly to Levi. She is intent, and a smile breaks on her face.

"It's no bother! I love to meet robots, they're so... clear!"

"Allison," the girl said with a smile, pushing the lock of thock hair from her face. She reached confidently and with great accuracy to Levi's hand.

"Great to meet you Levi!"

She then reaches less certainly for Nick's hand, but pretty confident all the same. "And you too, Nick. I was really hoping someone nice like you would come along and tell me what passes for pepperoni here? I can't see the menu." Her clouded eyes twinkle.

The girl smothers a laugh at being told the name of the slice. "Well! I guess I could've figured that out myself... I think I'll have two."

She swung her gaze to Levi. "What are you made out of, Levi? It's a pretty color, but I don't suppose it's the color you really are. ...Did you guys want some company? "

Nick smiles, laughing sheepishly at Allison's comment about the name of the pizza. Nick then speaks to Ray, "I'd like a couple pieces of the original please."

Levi tilts his head to one side, curious about her statement but responds to her question, "I am composed mostly of titanium, carbonsteel, and tungsten carbide."

Nick is also perplexed at her statement. "You said he was a pretty color? And yes, we would love company, if that's okay."

Nick smiles at her humorous retort, following her to a booth. "Levi, be careful getting into the booth. Remember how I showed you?"

Levi nods, sliding into the booth with a little difficulty. He was awkward in small spaces, but eventually he found a position that wouldn't have him breaking anything.

At her next statement, Nick's eyes light up, and Allison would hear the excitement in his voice."Really!? Ah, that's sooo cool! Do you know how you do it? Any of it? And were you born this way? And how much metal can you manipulate at once? And--" Nick catches himself, blushing furiously. He adds shyly,"Sorry...When I get excited I ask questions..."

Nick smiles at her relaxed nature. He says to her last statement, hoping to divert attention from his outburst, "It usually is. Sorry about that. So. Are you from around here? Or are you new?"

Nick nods with interest. "That's cool. I go to Ironport pretty often. It's a shame I didn't see you there before. I like to listen to the ocean sometimes."

Levi speaks, "But you cannot swim, Master Ridley."

"Levi. Seriously? Just gonna say that in front of people now?" Nick isn't mad, but merely embarrassed.

Levi responds. "Am I incorrect in the assumption that it is public information?"

Nick shakes his head. "Yes, it is, but --"

"Then there is not a problem with me stating it?"

"Don't you pull a logical excuse on me. You know I haven't gotten lessons since the incident with the octopus. And it's not like -you- can swim."

"But I have a reasonable excuse. I am too heavy."

Nick waves him off, "Whatever." Nick clears his throat, looking back to Allison, "I don't really mind the face touching cliche. I'd go insane not knowing what people looked like except blobs. But maybe that's just a sighted person problem."

Dressed in a decorative Apokalyptykult band shirt his brown hair spiked his jeans worn blue and he had those way to small to be useful round sunglasses. Thought looking different then when he was at the park Nick might recognize the figure of the Sandman drug dealer Maggie ran across. He headed to the counter "I have some Zio Vincenzo's Fried Mozzarella , followed by two slices of Nonna's Favorite and a soda."

"Well, you sound nice, you don't 'look' shady, and I trust you that you bathe. I mean, if you have enough money to have Levi, you've got enough to take showers," Allison had said, leaning forward and reaching out one hand. "Don't worry-- I'm a little bit poor, but I at least wash my hands--"

She hesitates, pulls back her hand as their pizzas arrive, fragrant and steamy. The distraction of the drug dealer is a bit more to blame, though.

Allison 'looks', turning her head that way, and makes a small face of displeasure. "Ughck, he sure is! He looks... gross, " she finishes lamely in an undertone. She also seems surprised, and no little bit uncomfortable to be asked what they should do.

"Uh... Hmm... there's no fighting in here, right? Well... If he sees you and you guys know each other, I guess it'd be weird but nobody's gonna get hurt." She toys with the chain on the table for a moment, making the weirdly pretty , dark metal clink a bit. "Dealers gotta eat, too," she says lamely, then adds as she 'looks' down at her plate, "but I guess if you wanted to try to 'get him' or something, you'd have to wait til he left?"

He took his drink and headed to a booth pulsing just a moment seeing Levi the shook his head it was a different bot so he relaxed again and settled down sitting so his right leg was stretched out on the booth and his back against the wall.

Nick grins. He was starting to like this girl. He leans forward on the table, enough for her to reach across and touch him. He says with a shy smile, "I'm awkward with everyone, so try not to feel -too- special, okay?"

Allison snorts amusedly, and reaches up both hands this time, abandoning the chain on the table. She moves slowly and predictably, her fingertips finally touching Nick at about his temples. Her gaze seems to follow the path of her fingers with great interest, cloudy blue eyes moving as softly as her touch-- which is so light it's almost negligible.

Her fingertips trace up Nick's forhead, over the brows and between them to the bridge of the nose. Down the length of his nose now, then delicately around the eyes, over cheeks and cheekbones. She tilts her head the other way as she traces both ears, then runs two fingers through his hair, feeling for its length and styling.

"Y'know," Allison says as her fingers trace jawline down to chin, "--this is only partly to make a mental image. I really can actually 'see' your face about as clearly as I can see Levi--" This is usually the awkward part, as she doesnt neglect to run her fingertips lightly but clinically over Nick's mouth. She keeps talking softly as she does, continuing, "--it's more because my field-- the way it vibes-- is close enough to yours now that it interferes with how your field vibes. It's like I can see the way all of that bounces off you.."

Her fingertips slid down his neck, to the hollow between his collarbones, then pulled away. She nestled her shoulders into the seat and considered Nick thoughtfully across her pizza. "...Thanks. "

Allison let her hair slide forward a bit to hide a bit of her own blush. It didn't usually effect her to do that...

She picks a pepperoni off her first slice and pops in into her mouth as distraction from her thoughts-- and immediately sighs with happiness. After a few hefty bites, she considers the chain on the table with a fond smile. "It's Hematite," she says affectionately. "Not the strongest thing around, but it has a lot of color and clarity to it-- it's my favorite stuff to work with so far. Really, anything with a lot of iron in it."

She nudges it toward him with the back of her wrist. "You can check it out if you want to-- even if it broke I could fix it!"

Allison laughs, glad for a reason to, again. "I made it myself," she says with some pride, munching through her first slice, and licking her fingers.

"Like I said, some stuff is clearer than others-- it took a week or so to get enough, but I am a pretty badass miner. Don't have to do much, when I find it. Just oozes up from the ground."

She smiles, holds out one hand to take the chain back. "I don't think we're supposed to use powers in here, or you would've assaulted somebody already. I'll show you what I mean when you're done if you wanna see. I'll take a link off so you can have it."

Allison's expression is sad for a moment, some memory stirring through her face... She shakes her head somewhat, trying to clear away the memory, and nods at Levi with a little attempt at a smile. "It's okay Levi. I guess it must be... if not hard, at least kinda challenging trying to understand human things."

Her appetite seems to have dwindled, but she toys with a pepperoni anyway, saying to Nick, "Really, it's fine about the link. I can always find more--like literally in the ground. Here, lemme show you, if you're sure it's okay..."

Allison takes a loose end of the chain and peers down at it in her way. In a heartbeat the last link turns to liquid, and puddles in her upturned palm. She smiles, but again with a touch of irony, her opposite hand touching the liquid stuff with fingertips. After a quick ovular stir, the Hematite reforms into a chain link, and she holds it out for Nick to take. "See?"

The sandman was now enjoying his own pizza. Allison might note that the metal of his pendant was ultra purified Platinum and the pendant itself had very fine crafted mechanical parts like one would see in a watch. There would be other elements in his coat pockets that would be picked up with magnetic fields more then a normal drug dealer would carry. The man himself was paying them no mind as he ate in peace.

Nick tries to make his tone sound encouraging, noticing her discomfort. "It's alright."

He takes another small bite of his pizza, careful to finish chewing before speaking again, "I'm afraid I don't have any 'super' abilities besides just being smart. I know it's better than nothing, but it's a little discouraging to be left on the sidelines all the time."

Nick speaks quietly for a moment, his voice a little sad, "It's not always as useful at it seems...you realize the world is a lot more unfair than you thought, and it seems as though no one else gets it but you. You feel isolated because even if you're smart, you can't be both smart and sociable." No, he barely knew this girl and he was saying this kind of stuff to her? This wasn't supposed to happen.

He blushes, looking down at his plate. He glances back up at her for a quick moment, saying, "So...I guess I mean you have to be careful what you wish for..."

Eyeing the Sandman carefully within her perepheral vision, and sitting within a two chair table alone was young Titan City Beat Reporter Sabrina Barelli, her attire simply a fully zipped brown leather jacket, blue powder wash jeans, and tan heeled moccasins, complimenting her fair skin and rich lengths of shoulder length caramel hair. Hazel eyes meet Allison's and Nick's as she offers a cordial smile amidst writing with a silver stylus upon a tablet, offering to them quietly...

"Sabrina Barelli, pleasure to meet the both of you...don't mean to interrupt your date." Smiles sheepishly.