"It went as well as can be expected. She was reticent before, but now seems to know what she wants, at least a little."

"Well that helps. What do you fancy eating? Wildchild gets kinda cranky if he has to decide what we eat."

"I'm allergic to soy... almost fatally so. And MSG. And almost anything artificial... Do you have any organic foods?"

"Not in but I know a couple of places that deliver. Any preference on cuisine?"

"I cook Chinese every day. Anything else is fine."

"Cool I'll call out for real Pizza. Your cool with anchovies right?"

"I am fine with that. I have never eaten that before, and that is all the more reason to eat it."

The two of you are joined by Wildside and after a little while by both the girls. Then pizza arrives and pizza is good. Once you've eaten all of you relax a little, "Do we all drink?" asks Wildside.

"As long as it has not a molecule of soy, I will do so."

The girls nod affirmation and Wildside searches the kitchen for a little while, and seems pleased when he finds a decent drinks cabinet, once he has passed out what people want he settles down and snuggles up to Cheerleader.

Shen raises his glass as a toast. "To closure, personal growth, and pending, well-deserved deaths."

The others join your toast, though the two girls seem slightly confused by the wording. Cheerleader grins at it.

You eat and can relax for an evening, Wildside periodically disappears to check the surrounding area for problems. Cheerleader will tell you to go to bed eventually assuring you that she and Wildside will keep things secure. She also mentions that a teacher for Hannah has been found and that you can escort her their tomorrow or the day after if you want.

Shen tells her that would be perfectly fine, asks her permission to call a bound fire spirit to patrol the area at night, and goes to sleep.

She's cool with that.

Shen falls asleep dreaming of Ai, of their childhoods spent together, with the times they snuck out in the middle of the night and shared stories over a magical mindlink and watched as he played them out with his illusion magic. Perhaps he sheds a tear.

The night passes fairly peacefully for Shen apart from his dreams. In the morning he will awaken to the smell of bacon wafting up from the kitchen.

Shen wakes up and meditates for about 15 minutes, holding the image of a perfect black circle in his mind until it expands to cover his entire vision.

He dresses himself in whatever he took over during his flight from the first safe house and makes his way to the kitchen.

"Good morning. Hmm... bacon. I've been meaning to try that myself. Smells very good."

"Mornin'" says Wildchild who appears to be doing the cooking, sadly he hasn't put on a frilly apron, "Cheerleader's still snoozin you got bout three hours till your flight, private hauler if you get my meaning."

"I do.

"Any word on Kratos?"

"Not at the mo. Barman's going to war with the man. Problem will be solved."

"That's good to hear.

"Where's Hannah?"

"Sleeping still. Rachel is in the shower. How do you like your eggs?"

"Sunny side up. It's as close as I can get to having it raw without losing the fried egg taste."

"You like raw eggs? Freakazoid." Mutters Wildchild.

"That's the only way to keep all the vitamins in the yolk."

"You don't just take supplements? Weird."

"I'm very allergic to all kinds of artificial comestibles. MSG, soy, food coloring, all of them make me gag if I'm lucky."

"Soy must be pissy coming from China an all."

Shen shrugs. "I pretty much assume most people don't actually like soy, anyway, even Chinese people. I find mushrooms are better at filling the 'tasteless foods that absorb flavor' niche."

"Cheerleader likes Soy, but she's got odd tastes."

A bleary eyed Hannah enters the room. She takes one whiff of the food and turns and runs for the downstairs loo. The sound of her vomitting briefly fills the house.

Shen waits for her to return to the kitchen to ask her "What would you prefer to eat? I could run out and get some." if she doesn't return to the kitchen, he follows her to the bathroom door.

Hannah comes back from the bath room. "Just something light please." Wildside nods and starts on scrambled eggs after he places bacon and eggs in front of Shen.

Shen spears the bacon with his fork and nibbles on a corner with it, moving it around on his tongue the way one would wine or a fine dessert. He then hungrily consumes the rest of his food.

"Keep in mind that your instructor may put you on a high-protein diet. Or maybe that's just something I'm assuming based on a martial arts film I watched. Though that may actually be accurate; life is becoming much more like film and trid every day."