And, thus, the 5 of us, at long last, ate the bloody pizza.

It was pretty good. For a frozen pizza at least.

"Eh, it's not bad."

"Y-yeah, pretty good."

"Right, yeah." 

"Uh-huh."

It seemed that the sentiment was shared amongst everyone.

Kind of a shame that these guy's first experience with pizza was cheapo frozen stuff, but, at least now, if they ever taste the good stuff, the big cheese, if you will, they'll have a base to compare it to. That's worth something, at least. 

I took a sip of my cola. 

Oh.

Oh yeah.

I took another bit of pizza.

AHHHH.

YEAAAH BABY.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ahem.

Forgive my outburst. Pizza and soda is just really, really good, y'know? 

...

Y'know, thinking about it, it's times like this that I'm thankful for my... condition. The face thing, I mean. Because it probably would've been pretty weird for me to just randomly enter a visible state of bliss at the dinner table. 

I noticed S look at me a little funny, for a moment. 

...

Probably just my imagination.

"So," Charollete began, in between bites. "it's kind a like a sandwich, but without the top bread. And baked in an oven."

 I went to say something, but... Yeah, that's true, isn't it? I mean, I can't think of a reason it wouldn't be... But... Man, that just feels wrong. 

"I guess that's true, but this much of tomato sauce would be a little weird on a sandwich." Zramazos said, looking thoughtful.

Aha! Yes! That's true! Okay. That's better. Entire perception of reality is still intact. 

That was a close one. 

"Yeah. I kinda wanna try that, actually." Charolette said. 

Why? Why would you want that?

"I think it tastes good!" Michaus added.

Groundbreaking.

"Could use meat." S thought aloud.

Shocker. 

I took a sip of my drink. Silently making oh-so clever retorts is hard work, you know. 

Oh, crap, I forgot I currently have 3 open drinks. 2 colas and a glass of water. 

That's not inherently a bad thing, but it just feels weird. Alright, here's the plan. 

Find the smaller cola. Rather, the less full cola. Optimism. Finish that quickly, place the remains in pocket. 

Then, (this is the important part, I'll need to be careful about this.)

Drink actual water. Like, finish the glass. 

Oh, man, almost gagged. 

But, sometimes you've gotta follow the silly societal conventions of 'not dying of dehydration'. 

After that, I'll be back to my usual 1 drink. The standard. 

Alright, now to execute.

I raised both cola cans to my ears. 

And then... WIGGLE.

Hmmm...

I looked down and closed my eyes to sharpen my hearing. Precision is a must, obviously.  

Hmmmmmmm... 

Yes, indubitably, the one to my right is the less full one. Seems a little under half full. That'll be easy enough to chug. 

It was a far easier feat than my earlier chug, back upstairs. This much is mere child's play. 

...

Wait a minute... Which one of these was the one S drank out of? 

Uh... At this point... I've forgotten.

So, either, I just chugged the one he touched, or I'll be sipping it throughout the day...

...

....

Well, best not to think about it. Y'know, my face is getting a little hot, guess I'll get to the water now. Yep. Next thing, next thing...

Next, I chugged the water. Partially because I was embarrassed about the last thing, and partially because I wanted to get back to drinking cola. And probably another part the dehydration I've been so skillfully ignoring up until now. 

And, it wasn't until I put the glass back on the table that I realize how ridiculous that whole event probably looked.

S chuckled. 

"Right, heck was that about?" S said.

I just shrugged, and began to laugh a little, myself, recognizing the absurdity of it all. 

"That was weird!" Michaus said.

Oh, crap, we're in public. Forgot. 

...

Anyways, the rest of the lunch went by pretty uneventfully, as lunches do. 

Everyone seemed to enjoy their pizza. No one was raving about it, but it seemed that everyone was happy, which was good. 

For the rest of the time, we just chatted about nothing, thanked Charolette for the food, all that stuff. 

After that, we... Sat around the table, and, for the first time, weren't waiting for something to happen.

Now what?

See, this time, we were waiting for something to stop happening.

I've never really done this sort of thing before. Except for that thing with the duke yesterday, but that was interrupted by what I'm pretty sure counts as a terrorist attack, so things came to a pretty natural conclusion. But, in this case, how do you like... Leave? Are they supposed to tell us when the leave? Or would that be rude? We've been intruding for some time now, we should probably head out sooner rather than later... But, like, how do you-

"Right," S began. He looked around the table and then at me with some, weird, foreign look in his eyes, and then back towards everyone else.

What?

S continued, "Well, it's been fun, thanks for having us over, but we really ought to be heading out now."

Why are you talking like that?

He looked over to me. What? Do I... uh...

"Uh... yeah." I said, affirming what S said. 

"Really?" Charolette began, also starting to talk weird, and with that same odd look in her eyes. "Well, thanks for coming over," 

"Thanks for having us over." S said.

What? You already said that!

S got up out of his seat, and began heading towards the door. I guess I should follow, probably. I made sure to grab my cola first, though. Naturally. 

"You're very welcome. Well, we won't keep you holed up here any longer." 

"It was a pleasure." 

Why are they talking weird?

"Well, have a good day now."

"Yep, thanks, have a good day."

With each phrase we inched closer and closer to the door.

"Yep, bye."

"Bye."

Well, whatever's happening, it's getting us out of the door, so I guess I'll just keep rolling with it for now???????

"OOOH! I gotta leave now, too! I gotta check the thing!" Michaus shouted, not even slightly acknowledging this incredibly uncomfortable atmosphere. 

For the first time, everyone seemed genuinely irritated at one of Michaus's outbursts. But it was weird, it looked as if they really didn't want to show it, but they also REALLY wanted to show it. Like, they were smiling, but they were still plainly, like, pissed.

"The things at the old ruins might be back at this point! Anyone else wanna come?" Michaus said, paying no mind to whatever was going on here. 

S quickly stopped making that weird pseudo aggravated face after Michaus mentioned that. "Right, actually, yeah. That sounds like a good idea." He said. Oh, looks like we're checking out the ruins. Michaus mentioned those earlier, along with... Golems, or something, right? That sounds pretty cool, actually. Everyone's dreamed of dungeon delving before, right? Though, Michaus did also mention that he met giant acid spitting owls there, which is... A little unnerving, to say the least. 

"I'll pass. I've gotta clean up here and... stuff." Charolette said, also seeming less aggravated. 

"Oh, uh, I-I'll help with that." Zramazos said.

"Would you? Thanks." Charolette said. 

"Alright! Let's head out! Bye Zram' and Charolette!" Michaus said, running out the door. 

Oh, shoot. Guess we gotta follow him. 

"Right, uhyeahthanksforhavingusoveritwasfunbye..." S shouted as he also ran out the door. 

"Bye." I said, heading out the door at a normal pace. I'd have run, too, but given the current state of my legs and arms... Think I'll just take a leisurely stroll. I'll be able to catch up, so long as they remain in my sight, anyways. 

---

And thus, Zramazos and Charolette were alone once more. They spent some time cleaning up the table and washing up the cups and the plates together. 

Naturally, they decided to chat a little bit as they did this, because if they didn't it'd be pretty awkward, and nobody wants that.

"Man, kids their age, fighting golems... Think they'll be alright?" Charolette began.

"W-Well, Michaus can take them by himself, though he usually comes back a little..." Zramazos couldn't help but wince as he recalled his brothers various injuries over the years.

"Yeah, that's true." Charolette said, putting down a plate and grabbing another from Zramazos. "Wonder how they fight?" 

"Well, that tan kid's some sort of earth user, right? That'll be a good fit." Zramazos said, imagining S smashing a golem back into the earth with a giant rock. How little he knows.

"Yeah, yeah... What about the other kid? Beyes was his name, right?" Charolette said, drying a plate.

"Oh, I have no idea. From the look of 'em, I'd say he's a mage of some sort, but I couldn't guess what kind for the life of me." 

"Somethin' about him screams 'water' to me." Charolette said, over the sound of running water from the sink. 

"Yeah, yeah, I could see that. Or, maybe he's one of them martial artists from out east." Zramazos said, scrubbing up and down with the sponge. It's all in the wrist. 

"Hah. Wouldn't surprise me, though he certainly doesn't look it. Ooh, maybe he's one of those guys that uses a comically oversized sword." Charolette said, though she noted to herself that Beyes doesn't quite have the hair for it. 

"Then he and Michaus would get along swell. How'd he carry his weapon, I wonder?" 

"Probably fit in his pockets." She jokingly suggested.

"Heh, probably." 

"Or maybe he just uses that weird coal drink of his." 

The two of them chuckled at their ideas for a few moments, while they finished up their cleaning, until Charolette recalled something peculiar. 

"Hey, speaking of, remember when he gave Michaus and I those things?" She said. 

"Yeah, why?" 

"He already had the things when Michaus and I asked, right?" 

"Oh yeah, that's right, he didn't have to get up again... That's... Weird..." 

"Did he... know we were gonna ask that?" 

"W-well, he could have just bought 4, r-right?" 

"I guess..."

The both of  them began to feel just a little unnerved by this. 

"Odd guy." Charolette concluded. 

"Yeah..." Zramazos said.

'Though...' Zramazos thought to himself, 'I think he's a good guy. At the very least, I'm sure of that much.'