Welcome to Gaia! ::

The little coffee shop was not the most upscale - it was shady and the wood siding had faded until its original color was almost indistinguishable; it was currently somewhere between 'smudge' and 'brown'. Paint was peeling at the corners of the decade old sign swinging above the door. It read 'The Cosmos Cup' in swirling letters, though bits of them had been blown away with time to leave only the stain underneath.

Inside it was just as shady, though the room was abuzz with a familiar warmth from the patrons. They were all types, from the woman draped in home-knit layers at the corner of a bar to the gamer tucked comfortably into a corner circle booth - it looked like it would fit at least eight people but he was doing a good job of taking up at least half the table top with his laptop. He was vaguely aware of the bell chime that signaled someone walking in but didn't stop whatever he was doing to check. In fact, his attention remained wrapped up in his screen until a girl sporting bright pink pigtails leaned across the counter and called out directly to him.

"Levi, your frap is ready." She nudged the cup at him when his head whipped around, then set it on the counter and went back to her business.

He stood immediately and was taller than he first appeared, crammed into the booth as he was. He'd always been a fairly short kid in comparison with the rest of his grade but shortly before his senior year he'd begun to grow like a weed. His limbs were long and thin, like a stretch Armstrong doll. Slender fingers reached up and pulled a pair of orange headphones down from his head, settling them around his neck and letting his wavy dark green locks spring free.

Despite his awkward height and lankiness, he had a certain fluidity about him when he moved. He'd either practiced after stepping on too many toes, or didn't spend all of his days on his computer like he led people to believe. In truth, being a secret super hero at night (even as part time) meant he had to learn to use his own body. It was hard to be clumsy with some of his.. uh, trainers.

"Thanks DeDe," he called, sipping down the chilling drink. It might've been cold outside but Levi had never been able to drink hot coffee, something about it made him queasy. His mouth was on his straw when he turned around, eyes sweeping past Ian and settling on his booth. One step in that direction, however, and he turned back to Ian with a double glance. Was this..? He brought up his free hand and waved in his direction. He had to assume the only other teenage boy in the room was probably the one that liked video games..

He nodded at his booth then and walked back, tucking himself back in front of his computer but at least had the decency to half-shut the lid so he could see Ian when he sat down. (Hoping, at least, that it was him.)

Levi nodded as Ian sat down, sucking down another gulp of coffee. He loved sugar and caffeine which made coffee shops on the top of his very short list of favorite places. That list also included arcades, candy stores, and his bedroom. He was a pretty simple guy.

Apart from the alter ego in a secret army, of course.

"Yeah, that's me," he answered in turn, following Ian as he sat down in the booth. He wasn't the only one glad that his friend had turned out to be a normal person - Levi was thanking all the video game gods he could think of, happy that he wasn't meeting an old obese man or a 12-year-old girl. "I've got to say I'm pretty relieved you aren't a serial killer."

A pause.

"Unless you are, but I have to warn you that I am craftier than I look." He gave him a pointed eye-narrowing, then smirked as amusement spread over his face instead. "Did you find it okay?" He nodded out at the shop around them and then reached over to pull his laptop a little closer. He pushed the lid up and casually glanced over the screen, staring at an incoming message in a game client. He was listening though, obvious by the way his eyes darted back to Ian every couple of seconds.

"Yeah," he picked up his cup and saluted Ian with it, though he jiggled it until the straw fluttered back and forth for emphasis on the drink itself. He brought the straw to his lips then and spoke halfway around a gulp of coffee-slush. "They've got more than just coffee - teas, smoothies, herbal.. stuff." He shrugged as he set his drink down again.

For a moment he shuffled around under a couple of folders and then produced an old leather-bound menu. He opened it and held it out to Ian. The top of the first page depicted a tea-cup filled with a swirl of colors. "It's a galaxy of flavors," he recited mockingly from the slogan just below the picture, but laughed gently under his breath afterwards.

"It's an old place, I think its proudest moments were in the 80s before I was ever born." He let the menu go once it was securely in his friends' hands and slumped back into the booth behind him.

"It's weird, I've never.. met a person from a game," he glanced at the screen of his laptop, then back at the new guy. It was weird to see someone in person for the first time. "But I figured since we both live in this crazy town, it might be worth it." He scraped at a spot on the table with the nail of his thumb, then reached for his coffee again. He was going to be done with it in the next ten minutes at his rate - but he'd probably just order another.

"Have you been here long?" Small talk. Not his strong suit, but he'd try.

Sleet Tempest Snape

"I guess they do," he shrugged about the loyal customers part, glancing around the cafe to take in everyone. They were old and young, rich and poor, a conglomerate of those that preferred comfort over labels. "It's not starbucks or anything, but that's probably why everyone likes it. If I have to hear one more idiot squealing about it almost being pumpkin spice latte season I will vomit. Really." Another swig of his icy, sugar-filled coffee suggested he wasn't a queasy stomach sort either.

He set his cup back down and focused his eyes on the screen, tapping out a few sentences on a half-written forum post as he listened to Ian in the background. He was good at multi-tasking and when he finally looked up to speak again, he had obviously heard everything the other guy said.

"Cons are a lot of nonsense. It's basically just an excuse for bimbos to dress like sluts on a day other than Halloween." He shrugged his shoulders as he said it, not even batting an eyelash about how he perceived the culture surrounding cons. A day at a con was one less day practicing the game. Sure, he liked the content that they released sometimes, but he could wait a day and find out when someone had posted it online anyway.

As Ian excused himself to go order his drink, Levi focused on his forum post, zoning out the subtle background of the coffee shop. By the time the boy was back and had taken his seat again, he was clicking 'post'.

"Same. My parents lived here, their parents lived here, so on and so forth." He shrugged and pushed his laptop a little to the side, confident that it needed no further proof reading, and reached to hold his chilled coffee between both hands. "I think they were hoping I'd go away to college, but that's not really my thing either."

Levi felt that familiar unease settle over him as Ian began to trail into things that were clearly uncomfortable for him, which meant they were extremely uncomfortable for Levi himself. He shifted in his seat and let his eyes drop down to the contents of his drink, one hand swirling the straw through the icy slush as Ian chose his words carefully.

Awkward.

"That's.. I'm sorry. I am really shitty at condolences, but," he shrugged it off, giving Ian an uncomfortable expression somewhere between a smile and frown. "Did you at least find somewhere decent to live? With internet?" He leaned forward a little and stared at the man through narrowed eyes. "Please tell me that you have stable internet."

For Levi, that was obviously the most important thing about life. Of course, being the only child of a stable middle class family meant he didn't really have much else to worry about. His bad attitude was all himself - no troubled past or worrisome present to bother himself with.

It wasn't something he wanted to do, answering his phone when talking to someone, but when it rang it rang and Ian motioned to the other that he did need to answer it as he'd spied the name on the screen - his mother. Answering it he pressed the phone to his ear.

"Mom, what's up?" Some silence from Ian as the person on the other end presumably started to talk.

"Of course, I'll be right over." Nodding his head quickly, as if she could see the action, and he was hanging up with a quick good bye given to his mother.

Turning back to Levi he flashed an apologetic smile. "I really have to go. She needs some help with moving some things in the house." Things she couldn't move on her own due to weight, and possibly height as well. "We can arrange another meeting here if you'd like...umm...y-yeah if you want to. I enjoyed this." Though he wished he wasn't being pulled away by his mother but he wouldn't deny her anything she asked of him, aside from maybe stepping out of the war going on in the city.

"I'll see you in game." of course. They ran enough together they'd certainly see each other. Grabbing his drink he hurried for the door, slipping his phone into his pocket as he went.