64 Coffee Shop Meet

The girls traveled to the city next to theirs where Frisk and Tank lived. From the information they gathered so far, Tank and Frisk were office mates before they moved to Aries. They worked for a medium sized software company at a business district where their desks were side by side. Sometimes they would secretly play games on their mobile devices when there was no work to do.

The coffee shop they were meeting at was one of their favorite after-work hang out spots. Frisk missed the coffee, as well as flirting with the office ladies on break there. Tank just liked the place because they gave out free newspapers and chips for every order of a large cup of coffee.

When they arrived, Frisk was already sitting down having coffee. He was wearing office clothes, which made him look more like a dependable adult than a mage who flirts a lot. His hair was nothing like the slightly disheveled hair he had back in Aries. He dabbed on some fantastic smelling pomade, keeping his hair at its neatest state. A faint smell of cologne rose from his collar, the scent of wealth and power.

"Hello, ladies. Fancy meeting you in real life. You all look much younger in casual clothes," Frisk greeted them. When he noticed Epsilon, he nearly fell out of his chair. "Lady Epsilon! The Jupiter mages and I have missed your presence!"

Epsilon pushed her hair behind her shoulder with the back of her hand in a gesture of dominance. "Then enjoy my presence while you still can."

"Where's Tank?" Luna asked.

Frisk looked a bit uncomfortable. "He's out finishing some business right now."

"Will he be catching up later?"

"I can't say for sure."

Luna was a bit disappointed.

"Come on, let's order some coffee," Lyria said and walked to the counter. Astrid and Epsilon followed behind her.

When it was just Luna and Frisk left at the table, Frisk leaned forward and lowered his voice, "Don't look so sad, Luna. To tell you the truth, Tank is out settling things with his ex-wife."

"Ex-wife...?" Luna's eyes widened.

"Aye. When he escaped from Aries and arrived back at his house, he discovered divorce papers on his desk. Apparently, it had been left untouched for months. He's getting them filed as we speak."

Luna imagined how terrible Tank must've been feeling about that.

Frisk continued, "Their relationship has been bad for a long time already. I'm sure he saw this coming, but didn't face it until now. It's probably one of the reasons why he didn't want to come back to the real world." He saw the other girls returning to the table and hurriedly leaned back.

"What are you two whispering about?" Lyria asked curiously.

"Frisk was just trying to flirt with me," said Luna.

"Wait what!?" Frisk was shocked.

The three other girls simply stared at him with disappointed faces. Epsilon had the most disappointed look out of all of them.

"I swear I didn't!" Frisk held up his hands in defense.

Luna laughed. "I was just kidding."

"That wasn't funny!"

The girls took their seats.

Once they all settled down, Astrid began, "Frisk, we're planning to rescue the others and go back to Aries."

Frisk was surprised to hear it. "Are you crazy? We barely made it out alive and you want to go back there? We have no power in that world. Going back in is just asking for death. Better leave this to the experts and proper authorities."

"In the past few days, no authority stood up and took any action to stop this. It's less likely that anyone will. If we just sit here and wait, it will be too late for the people trapped there. We won't be going in without a plan."

Frisk sighed. He knew very well that she was right. "So what's the plan?"

"We create a mod, which will grant us the ability to exceed the power limits so we can go up against the enemy. We'll also create completely new abilities to gain an advantage."

"Is that possible?"

"It's worth a try."

Frisk paused to think. "I'd like to help, but I know nothing about artificial world development."

"What if I teach everyone here?"

"Would that be enough?"

"I can only teach what I know. After that, we need to get whatever references we can to get better at it. If we can be equipped with the knowledge, it could help us get out of a pinch when we go back inside Aries."

Lyria followed, "I can also share first aid techniques, considering the possibility of actually getting hurt physically."

"I'll help train our reflexes with martial art drills!" Luna raised a fist up in the air.

"I'll provide noodles," Epsilon said lazily.

Frisk smiled. "You girls are really serious about this, huh?"

All the girls looked at him. "So, are you with us, Frisk?" asked Luna.

He shrugged. "Aye. I'm in."

***

On the train ride back, Luna was sulking in her seat. She didn't get to see Tank at all that day. Although Frisk gave her Tank's number, she was too shy to send him a message. She continued staring at her phone.

"Cheer up, Luna. You'll get to see him soon," Lyria gave her a pat on the back. "Frisk did say he'd cooperate. Tank might join us as well."

Astrid looked out the window and at the orange stained sky over houses and buildings. "It's going to be dark soon."

"Do you want to sleep over my place?" Luna offered. "Honestly, I'd feel a lot better if I had some company."

Lyria smiled. "You still got drinks at your house?"

"Of course. It's my house. There's always booze."

Astrid raised a hand. "I'll pass on the booze. I'm not really into alcohol."

"Whatever goes with my noodles," replied Epsilon with a shrug.

"Sorry. I just really want to momentarily get this Lyngvi problem out of my head," said Lyria. "As well as getting over what he did to Amelie."

Luna straightened up in her seat. "Let's have fun tonight. Take a break from these preparations and all that tension!"

"If it gives you more positive vibes in the end, I have no objections," said Astrid.