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Here Mouse was, two weeks or so before Halloween, standing at the entrance to the Cafe Jubilee once again. She was looking forward to meeting up with Natsuki, but was also a little pensive about barging in like this - the girl suspected she was up to something due to the upcoming holiday. Not to mention all the stress that must be going on with Chloe's disappearance and Roux. Pessimistic ideas like this kept flooding her thoughts and trying to shake her mood, and that was all thanks to the briefcase she was holding in one hand. The Cloud of Despair within could be heard raining as hard as it could even through the thick casing.

Although one normally had to touch the jar or at least be very close to it, today it was more intent on being depressing than usual. The reasons why this was were really anyone's guess... perhaps something about the pure nature of the eagle's soul next to it was agitating it.

Mitya, probably to what would be Natsuki's disappointment, had been left home on this chilly and cloudy afternoon. The green-haired girl didn't want to turn any heads this time around. At least the noise coming from the case containing her fel essence and soul bottle could be written off as the possibility that it had started raining. The cafe owner had said to bring everything here, right...? Well, only one way to be sure - after moving the case from one gloved hand to another, she carefully opened the cafe door and let herself inside.

"Ah! Hi, Natsuki," Mouse grinned at the cafe owner. "Unless you want to keep it as a professional thing, no need to tack a Ms. on there." The greenhead was clearly a bit relieved not to see the crowds, hustle and bustle that was the cafe at her previous visit here. It felt comfortable enough for her to be a bit informal (as she considered Natsuki her friend), but didn't want to impose too much if it were something for the sake of her job. Her head was more for tinkering around with her car and taking in useless information from obscure books than the ins and outs of business.

With a quick nod, the greenhead followed Natsuki over to said veranda. She was eager to talk to Natsuki again... along with look at the menu, of course. Lunch had been more or less skipped over as she spent the late morning frantically searching for her fel essence: the kikimora in her attic, noticing the distress it had caused, had stashed it away in a bureau that would someday store her future Raevan's... something. Maybe extra clothes for cold weather and to cover the tattered ribbon he or she would have.

Whatever she would end up ordering today, there was one thing for sure. It would not have any chocolate in it whatsoever.

Of course... really, she should have expected the astute businesswoman to give a response like that. It wasn't going to stop her from feeling that awkward sense of giddiness that came from being addressed like that. And there was also the matter that she was getting a sort of VIP treatment just for being affiliated with the Lab- her few other experiences at restaurants usually involved her reservation nearly falling through because some idiot didn't get her name quite right. The experience at Cafe Jubilee was quite a welcome change.

Hearing the lunch special, Mouse was suddenly glad that she had arrived on an empty stomach (but really, how else should she have showed up?). "That sounds just delightful," she enthusiastically responded as she took her seat, all smiles despite being so close to her volatile fel essence. The briefcase containing it and the soul was carefully set on the other provided chair with a quick careful peek to make sure nothing had been broken on the way up... no damage here. Just the familiar tiny dirge of rain. The greenhead could not help but sigh happily knowing she wouldn't have to deal with that awful thing in her house ever again. "I think that sounds like a plan." She had to agree on this one. Even though the act itself had happened in an instant, all the worries churning in her head had made it quite an experience.

Perking up her head suddenly, she had a mind to add "Although I'd like to think that I freed it more than I captured it."

Oooh, iced tea. This was only the second time the two had met, and yet Mouse already found that she's always pleasantly surprised at the good taste that her friend had. So she gave a winning smile and an enthusiastic nod at the suggestion. Clearly, she was looking forward to enjoying a good meal as well as some good conversation.

Chuckling along with the lighthearted mood, Mouse replied, "Don't worry, the house is big enough," noting to herself to continue her furniture hunt later. The attic back home was roomy and clean now, but it still didn't look as homey as she would like. As she watched Natsuki pick up the case, she warned, "Oh- don't get too happy around that thing, the fel essence can really mess you up if you're around it for long enough. It's part of why I came to engorge myself with chocolate here the last time."

Of course, she's also of the sense of humor to enjoy the redhead's pun, giggling at it with as much honest amusement as she was. Then the cafe owner disappeared behind her door, and... well, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she was buzzing with glee right there on her chair. Finally, the rewarding part of the experiment was going to be set into motion! It's all she could do to not start dancing right then and there at the table, with her sense of accomplishment combining with her mood in general lifting now that her fel essence wasn't around to beat it down anymore. She settles with pumping her fist triumphantly in the air a couple of times-- hopefully before the redhead can return to witness Mouse making a bit of a fool out of herself.

The sound of rain intensified to a miniature storm as the Cloud of Despair tried to erase Natsuki's good mood, sounding like a muffled faucet crackling with static electricity from within the confines of the briefcase. However, it was silenced completely behind the solid door of the cafe owner's safe. Good thing the soul resting so nearby it was in too pure a state to be affected by the essence's mood-changing ways, otherwise the result of this Raevan experiment might end up depressingly disastrous! Or was it 'disastrously depressing'...

"Well, then..." the jubilant little lady began, starting a grin that was caving in to her own sense of humor, "with that, it must be safe to assume this leg of the journey is done. I'm sure it'll turn out to be a good... combination." Because if Natsuki wasn't going to make a small string of safe-themed puns, then Mouse would have to do it for her.

She dismissively bobbled her head with a laugh and twirled a fork in her hand, planning her first assault on the salad that had just arrived. "Really, though, I appreciate it," she said after a couple of tentative bites, with a less frivolous tone. "I know the Lab and several of the people involved with it have had a lot to deal with lately, so it's good to see they're finding ways to keep everything together. And with awesome food, to boot.

"It's starting to feel like I'm becoming part of a family with this, or at least moreso than an extensive research project." Which was probably a better way to feel in the grand scheme of things. Regardless of how it was being made and how it would develop, Mouse's Raevan was going to be a sentient being, and that demanded a greater deal of respect and care than some people might realize. After all, she wasn't entrusted into this project simply because she agreed that these creations were pretty.