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The past few weeks had been wonderful. Naois had never before made a friend like Indigo. He felt like he could talk to her about anything and not be judged. He had played her game and grown very fond of it. He had become so fond in fact that he had visited a used book store and purchased one of the guides so he could study the rules on his own time. Since then he had also been slowly pulling away from some of his volunteer work. Not all of it of course. He still did what he could to help, but now he was making more time just for himself....himself and Indigo.

On top of that, there was his secret. The thing that had happened to him. The thing he had gently felt Indigo out about. Her answers had made a great deal of sense, and so Naois had fully embraced the gift he'd been given. However, there was only so much he could falter through before he decided, he needed help.

So he had called Indigo. Sure, it was past 7 at night, but he figured she would not mind. He invited her over to the apartment under the guise of wanting to cook her a thankful dinner for all the times she brought snacks over for them to share. Naois nervously poked a wooden spoon into a pot of sauce and slowly spun it around. As he did so he peered at a recipe on the counter. In the oven he could hear and smell the soft crackling of the breaded chicken baking. He hoped he wasn't going overboard with all this but...he wanted to make this a little special. So Indigo would feel more open to what he would share with her tonight.

Naois heard the buzzer and glanced up at the clock on the stove. Crap... he laid the spoon down in a bowl and quickly walked over to buzz Indigo inside. he called through the speaker in the wall. "Come on up Indigo, doors unlocked." He instructed her before hurrying back to the oven. Naois tugged on some oven mitts and quickly removed the chicken from the oven. He glanced over his shoulder to look at the door. She would be here any minute now...did she like chicken? He should have asked! Well it was too late now.

As he waited for Indigo to arrive and let herself in, Naois began to mentally go over his plans for the evening. First, dinner. They would eat, talk about gaming or something. Then he'd ask her to stay a bit later. it was a little after seven now, so he figured it would be about eight. He would invite her to sit on the couch...it seemed a bit more comfortable there, and then he'd just come clean. he'd tell her...what? He had not managed to come up with the exact words yet and it made his stomach twist uneasily. Naois placed the breaded chickens on their plates and carefully drizzled the marinara sauce over them. Tossing the pot in the sink, he started to fuss with some green beans . he didn't want them to leak wet bean juice all over the plate and get the chicken wet. Tapping them out, he only added a few, then placed them on the small kitchen table. Okay...now...drinks... Where did he put the glasses damn it?

She was here... Naois turned as Indigo walked into the apartment. The glasses he had found were mismatched unfortunately. A green plastic tumbler and what appeared to be a glass budwiser mug. Carrying the glasses to the table he set them down and attempted to not blush. Okay...she was here. Wait? He's already had that run through his head. Squeezing his eyes shut tightly for a moment, Naois tried to keep his nerves calmed. "Oh..uhm... y-yeah." He replied with a small smile. "My uncle said I could have you over if I cleaned the place up. He was sort of disappointed that I was having a girl over without cleaning up first. I was too embarrassed to tell him that I had tried to clean up already....so...I hope your still hungry?" He said then gestured to the table. Naois began to set the table in a hurried fashion. "I am...so...so glad you came over Indigo." Naois glanced over at her and nodded his head. "Your shirt is cute. Is it from a game or something?"

One of her favorites? He would have to keep an eye out for any game references that had smiley stars now. It would make him a better friend if he could determine what things Indigo would or would not like. Naois stepped over to the oven and started to open the front. As he did, he glanced over at Indigo. "What? Oh no. I couldn't do that! Your my guest! I would never be able to accept such a nice offer from you. But I appreciate the gesture." He stated with a small smile.

The small joke that Inigo would make afterwords caused Naois to laugh, which was good. He felt like the tension about what he was about to do was melting away. Just having her here reminded him why he wanted to share this with her."You of all people should know I don't have enough money to do that, as much as you'd deserve a nice restaurant made meal." He replies with another laugh. "Unfortunately you'll have to try this. Chicken Parmesan. I followed a recipe I found in the home economics cook book." He explained as he slid the slices of breaded chicken from the pan and onto the pair of blue plates waiting on the counter.

"I hope your dad isn't upset over me stealing you off." He replied as he moved on to finish preparing the dish. It looked a little messy to him, but he hoped that it tasted good enough to make up for that. Naois carried the plates to the table and nodded for his friend to seat herself. "I have soda even. Grape and cola, which do you want?"

Chicken plated. Check...dish of corn set aside. Check. Biscuits cooling... Naois turned to a small toaster oven and hurriedly popped the door open. "Okay okay, you've proved our point." He said with a small laugh. "You've certainly fulfilled all your friend obligations too." Naois spoke to Indigo as he used a fork to pull four slightly burned biscuits from the oven. Maybe it had been on too high? he scraped some of the charred carbon off the top and bottom, then set them in a small bowl on the table.

It was about then that his cheek's would turn a strange sort of red. Magic man? "Oh...you've no clue." Yet, he mentally added as he hurried to the fridge. That tense and anxious feeling was now coming back. Naois took two grape soda's from the interior door, then carried them over to the table. Setting one by Indigo's plate, he sat himself down and snapped the top open of his own can. "I'm glad your dad is not angry then....and I suppose it would be only right for him to meet me. I'm a stranger his daughter is spending time with. I think any dad would want to know more." Naois's lips curled upwards into a small smile and he motioned to Indigo's plate. "Dig in." He urged her as he followed his own suggestion.

Now the question was...how did he bring up the whole magic thing?

"So...uh...hear anything weird on the news lately?"

Indigo was distracted with her thoughts of family...and Naois struggled with his own distracting thoughts. He cut his chicken up, but only pushed the pieces around in the sauce. His stomach was too tense again and he was afraid if he swallowed anything it may not stay down. Why was it so hard to bring this up to Indigo? It should be easy! As easy as saying 'I got a job at Chicken Hutt' or something similar. it shouldn't be as hard as 'Guess what, I'm moving away forever!'.

When Indigo would bring up the 'wild dogs' he lifted his eyes to peer across the table at her. "Strange? Doesn't it sound a bit suspicious that, wild lap dogs...are being blamed for all the damages and stuff?" He asked her. "Do you really believe that is what is attacking people?" Did she really? Indigo didn't sound too sold on the whole story, what with her last comment and all. Perhaps she'd have a easier time believing him..and not freaking out..when he shared the truth?

At the burst of a tangent, Naois suddenly felt far more at ease. he smiled at Indigo, and did nothing to try suppressing the small laugh that he made. "Yeah..I don't think a wild lot of fru fru dogs could make this much of a mess." Naois folded his fork between his hands, as if he were about to stab the fork down through his plate. What did he think they were?

"Well...they are called Chompahs. And they are the servants of people who have been given a evil magical token." He replied in a swift breath. Naois kept his eyes fixed on his plate, braced for a laugh from Indigo. As a gamer, he assumed she would take this as a joke. A light hearted jest based on the game she loved to play.

Well...there was no laughter. No teasing...aw heck... Naois lifted his eyes up to look at Indigo uneasily. Maybe....maybe she thought he was mental then? He tried to recall if he had told her about his mother, but was pretty positive he had not. He hardly shared that bit of information with anyone. Then again..he probably shouldn't have shared this either. "Well...yeah." His head nodded up and down a little before he glanced back at his plate. "Someone is...giving these tokens out. For whatever reason, and whoever has them...they can make those chompah's appear. They are attacking and hurting people, and looking for others kinda like themselves."