Welcome to Gaia! ::

"It was a dark and stormy night," Rick got as near as he could sneakily manage before he abruptly sprang these words on Caely.

Part one of his spooky mission was successful, he noted according to his friend's gasp upon being taken by surprise while her rummaging through her bag stuttered to a halt as she her gazed snapped toward him with momentarily widened eyes just before recognition set in.

Rick was on the verge of laughter then, amused by Caely's briefly unmasked reaction in contrast to her usual calm. He saw his grin mirrored on her features next as she punched him on the shoulder soundly, effective enough to pull a small wince out of him since he knew that she knew that she could let go of more control of her punches when she aimed them at him even jokingly.

"Rick, would you mind explaining what's currently going on in your mind? And, I guess I have to remind you that it isn't evening yet, the afternoon sun's still up and right now, the weather is sunny with clouds, but clearly not stormy."

As he took a seat beside her at one of the outdoor tables of the restaurant serving as their meeting spot, Rick tacitly accepted the pamphlet menu Caely slid toward him as he went on with his plan. "I'm warning you now, Caely, about the impending future. What's happening right now is all part of their plan."

"And whose plan are you talking about right now?" From her tone, Caely decided to play a long a little apparently.

"I'm talking about little space invaders with mind control powers," Rick mock-whispered.

"Are you trying to be scary in the spirit of us presently meeting up for group activities with themes of late October? Because, you aren't being scary from my vantage point, Rick."

"Caely, Caely, this is me talking and yet not," Rick went on to say, "I'm being mind-controlled to confuse you into thinking this is all absurd. Well, aside from us ordering take-out; food is never absurd."

"You, sir, are definitely the definition of absurd since how many minutes ago," Caely chuckled and then went on to ask, "Are you ready to order?"

"Yeah," Rick grinned, "let's get in line." He stood first and then opened the door to the restaurant for Caely to enter first.

Rick behaved himself more normally as they ordered for themselves as well as included the preferences Elysha and Lyselle had texted them.

"Where do you want to wait for Elysha and Lyselle?" Rick asked as he was picking up packets of wet wipes while moving his gaze to pinpoint where Caely was at the moment.

And Caely had exacted revenge successfully. She had dangled an empty drink cup at Rick's eye level with a hungry, seemingly bipedal wolf showcased by the waist-up cartoon art as its design; so, when Rick's vision landed on it, he jumped a bit at the unexpected prank and lifted more than the intended number of packet of wet wipes followed by unintentionally sending some airborne.

Caely chuckled cheerily as she filled said cup with one of their beverages next. While Rick acknowledge the trick as well-played, he didn't comment aloud though as he meanwhile picked up the few packets that had situated themselves on the floor and decidedly pocketed them rather than include them in their take-out bags.

They ended up back outside to wait for the arrival of the expected two aforementioned additions to their party.

And Rick decided that the intermission was over. "Caely, they've given me orders to transport their magic. You should throw these away, throw them away right now even," he unzipped the side pocket of her bag after the idea that came to him when he saw it and placed the packets of wet wipes from the restaurant that he had pocketed into that compartment before zipping it closed again. "Those space invaders want to mind control you. It's futile to resist them once the enchantment on the stuff I've just planted in your bag has gotten a hold of you long enough like an infection."

"Rick, at this point, I still think your scariness level is questionable, but I'd say your creative weirdness is fairly high," Caely said before her smile turned from him to Lyselle and Elysha upon hearing their greetings as they approached.

"Hey, I tried," Rick replied smilingly in kind as his wave followed Caely's as the group of four moved to close the distance between them, "so, Caely, don't say I didn't warn you. They've got something sinister up their sleeves that they won't let slip to those not yet under mind control until it's too late to be able to fight the hold they gain on their targets."