Brooks had been glancing out the window when Kaylee talked to him once more. He immediately returns his attention to her and he grins when he notices her genuine smile. "My name is Brooks. Brooks Hedge. And what you did was generous, I was just returning the favor." He says with a shrug.

Cameron noticed Mysli's looks and ze immediately stops and starts walking slowly after Ariel, who is unfazed as still running up to Mysli and Tanja. The energetic young kid smiles at both of them, stops near them, and taps the table. At the tap, a message places itself onto the surface in bold, bright, blue letters, "Hey you guys! How have you been doing? Do you wanna play a card game? I brought Uno!" As if to prove his point, Ariel pulls a deck of cards out of his pocket.

She writes down the name in a little notebook she had in her pocket. She then reaches into some sort of shelf behind the counter and hands him a small slip of paper. "Here."

Tanja smiles, seeming genuinely interested. But, Mysli downright shoves Ariel away from the table. "Leave us alone." He huffs dismissively.

Brooks raises an eyebrow, twirls his pen, and accepts the paper. He checks it, wondering what it says, if anything at all. If it had been tucked away and adhered to the logic Brooks follows, the slip had to be mysterious and cool.

"Hey," Cameron says to Mysli in zir always calm, serious, and quiet tone of voice, "Don't hurt him. He's just a kid." Ze have finished walking up to Ariel by the time the boy has picked himself back up.
Ariel takes a moment to pick himself back up and give Mysli a wounded look. Since Mysli is being mean and Tanja seems to be in a better mood, Ariel then taps the table in front of her. The words scrawl onto the table in the font of a child, " Do you want to play Uno? Mysli doesn't have to if he doesn't want to. You don't either." The last sentence was delayed, an afterthought.

It's a coupon of sorts; a voucher for a free coffee. It also has Kay's full name on it in a corner.

"It'll get you another free coffee if I'm the one who makes it." Kay explains. "We get some extra commision every time somebody uses one. Technically they're supposed to be only given to long-term customers, but," she smiles and winks, "you've been coming here since 1982. Crazy how many 20-ish year olds were here 40 years ago!"




Tanja smiles warmly. "I'd love t-"


"She's busy." Mysli interjects sharply.

Brooks skims over it, memorizes her name and face face later reference, and laughs at her comment, appreciating what she said about being here 40 years ago. "Well," he's speechless for a while, "Thank you. You made my day. Um, if there's anything else I can do to help you or otherwise pay you back for all this, just let me know." He probably shouldn't be too surprised about how he had gotten along well with another person.

Ariel frowns up at Mysli, erases the previous messages with a motion before he taps the table again. A new message came, this time in a vibrant red: "Yeah, busy agreeing that she wants to play. Like I said, you don't have to play if you've got apparently more important things to do, like being angry at life and everyone." He underlines 'being angry' as though to prove a point; the point he's trying to make is not clear.
"Come on, Ariel. Stop using your magic; it's not safe around here. Mysli doesn't want to be around you right now, so we can respect his wishes and go play at the park or something else. Didn't you want a corn dog?" Cam says, putting Ariel's arm back to his side. Ariel reaches to tap the table again with his other hand, but Cameron holds his hand so he won't use it again.

She shrugs. "I can give you my number if you'd like. I'm pretty busy most of the time, but you seem like you'd be fun to chat with outside of work hours!" She offers him another smile- another genuine one. She seems to be quite smiley overall, even outside of the expectation of service workers acting friendly. "I unfortunately can't get you any snacks for free, but I might 'accidentally' forget that free coffee is supposed to be only once per year."



Mysli calmly stands, takes out his phone, and takes a picture of Ariel.

"Mysli!" Tanja exclaims in protest.

"What?"

"You can't just take pictures of people! That's rude!" Tanja sighs in frustration.

"I can if it's for photo evidence." He smirks, staring right at the young child. "I'm sure the force would be very interested in," he pauses, glancing at Cameron, "what did you say his name was? Ariel?"

Brooks smiles back, used to matching a person's energy/vibe/moods to achieve a more convincing act - and morph. "I would love it if you're willing to give it," he holds out his pen, offering it for her to use, and a ripped piece of paper that he had in his pocket. "And, like I said before, I won't say no to free coffee. I wouldn't mind getting to know you better either; I lack friends here but I enjoy this beautiful place."
He starts when his phone 'meep, meep's at him when he receives a message from Kai. Brooks grins slightly. "I have a feeling that Kai wants to know what I've been up to. Thank you again and have a good day."

Ariel notices the phone being taken out to catch a picture so he strikes a pose, makes a goofy face, and sticks his tongue out at Mysli. He then crowds around Mysli's legs, wanting to see the picture of himself. The message on the table now flashes in green, "Can I see it? Can I see it?"
"No, Ariel, you don't need to see it." Ze pauses here, face flushing with how flustered and scared for Ariel's safety Cameron is. "And you won't show it to The Force. He's harmless; I don't want him disappearing under the pretense of being dangerous or being known at all by The Force." Though ze does well to cover up their panic, it still shows.

She writes her name neatly on the paper as he chats. Her handwriting is quite nice- easily readable and in cursive. "Well, I've got quite a few friends. If you need people to talk to I can help you meet them."


Mysli sneers. "Do you think I won't? You two are being annoying- the Force would get rid of you for good."

Tanja has gone quiet, staring at Mysli in a mix of horror and humiliation at being associated with this guy.

"I think I'll have to take you up on that offer as well." Brooks muses. "I'm afraid I can't really return that favor as of yet." He admires her handwriting, making mental note to practice it later, get a list of her friends, and have that for safe keeping in case needed for something. He didn't know why he would need it, but he liked to have many points of contacts for many different situations.

Cameron keeps silent, collecting the cards Ariel has left on the table. "I'm sorry we're being annoying. I haven't done anything magic, so The Force can't get rid of me. You can't blame him, though; he's been cooped up for a while." He shoots a glance towards Ariel.
The child pauses a moment and Cameron's vexation to his actions now makes some sense. Magic wasn't appreciated out here. He trudged to Cameron's side and almost hides behind him after he waves a half-hearted goodbye to Tanja.

She smiles at him again, then pauses, glances at the entrance, and hurries off to presumably go greet customers.


Mysli rolls his eyes and smirks at them. "Whatever. Go get your free coffee so you stop annoying me."

Tanja glances at him, confused.