A plan - Part 2

I have to search for the name of this place since I have no idea what it actually is. It's called the Cosy Place which I never heard about. But with a quick Google search, I find out that there are multiple Cosy Places in this city. How are there two places of this unnamed franchise I never heard about? I think as I quickly realise that they aren't part of a franchise. They just happen to have the same name. It doesn't make one thing clear though. I don't know which Cosy Place coffee shop I have to be. One seems to be in the city centre where it's very busy at the moment. The other one is actually not too far away from me at the moment. So knowing my luck I will probably have to go to the first one. I quickly shoot Lake a text to ask which one I need to be ad. I also add a screenshot to show that there are two Cosy Places in the city. I just need to know where I'm and when I have to be there. Since if it's the nearby one I can probably go and get changed but if it's the other one I will need to leave soon.

It doesn't take Lake to message me back. In about a minute I get a response with the information I need. And of course, the Cosy Place I need to be at is in the town centre. It couldn't have been the one near me, that would've been too simple. I can't clean up either and will look like I came out of a portal. I probably could use it with the charcoal I used. I hadn't put on any gloves this morning because I lost one of the gloves in yesterday's portal. And this one still has that weird honeycomb design on it. But that did cause my hands to be covered in charcoal. There's probably some dirt on there too. Since I did stand up and had to get up from a dirty floor. I don't know whether or not I touched my face after touching the charcoal either. So there might be charcoal on there too. Hopefully, I can go to the bathroom there to clean my hands at least.

I message him a quick thumbs up as I can't help but sigh. As I quickly take a look at the now-open metro station entrance again. I can't help but notice people immediately walking out of it. I also notice quite a few people going in already. A lot of people go off work early today since the weekend starts. I quickly text Lake again to what he wants to talk about. But I doubt that I will get a reply. At least I won't be able to see it as I go down the metro station.

But it seems that I'm wrong since Lake answers nearly instantly. Saying that he will explain it there. But I also get a message that I should know what's it about. And it's not hard to figure out what he wants to talk about with me and Kiara. There's really only one thing that all of us have in common. One thing that all of us actually need to talk about. And that thing is that temple. There's nothing else the three of us can talk about. I put my phone away as I head down to the metro station. And I can't help but notice how people are immediately using the now-open hallway. Not even twenty minutes ago I ran out of a portal in here. And now it's buzzing with the noise of the people acting like nothing happened.

Navigating through the crowd of people in the station is quite hard. Which doesn't make things easier since I still have to look at the map to see what line I need to go on. Since I don't go to the city centre all that often. It takes me at least five minutes to find out I just have to take the light blue line. This station starts on and I feel will be even busier. As I get near there I find out about how busy it actually is there. As I see the crowd of people I quickly let my thought run by. All of this was for a conversation that could've taken place over the phone. But as I think back at the temple I can't help but think about that monster. It was so big and could've killed me in an instant. Yet it didn't, it probably did kill Alex and the others. I shouldn't think too much about it. If I overthink it might make it very clear that I'm lying. The fact that people bump into me constantly doesn't help it. It gets me out of my thought process which I don't mind for once. I think the more I think about the lie the more elaborate it becomes and the easier its to see through. I'm not even sure about the fact that I should keep on hiding the fact that, that monster was even up there in the first place.

It nearly takes me an hour to get out of the metro station again. And the rest of the time I needed to actually find this place. And that was honestly the easiest part for some the metro station was hell today. Because I found the place in five minutes if not less. I had to miss two trains on purpose because they were that busy. I rather not feel like a trapped anchovy in a can. And those two trains would've definitely made me feel that way. Just standing inside the station made me feel that way already. It seems like rush hour started an hour earlier since it's Friday today. This is good for those people because the weekend is always fun. But when you want to get somewhere quickly it isn't that much fun.

When I get inside the Cosy Place I can help but notice the modern aesthetic. It doesn't look like a place I would visit by myself since I can't help but think that this place is expensive. I hope that I'm the last one to arrive. Since it makes it easy to find the people I need. And would hopefully spare me having to sit here all alone. But as I look around I don't see Lake sitting around here. But after a bit more looking I do spot Kiara already sitting in a booth of sorts. I'm glad to see her since that means no awkward conversation with Lake while waiting for her to arrive. Nor do I have to worry about just sitting at a table waiting for the others. As I go to sit down Kiara quickly greets me. "Hey, Azure, How are you?" She asks as she pauses for a bit. Looks at me a bit and asks. "Are you okay? Sorry to say but you kind of look like a mess right now." I just have to wonder how I actually look right now. I can't look at the moment but I don't think I look injured. However, I don't feel like I'm injured. And I would say I'm a pro in that since I have gotten injured so much. Well if I do look messed up I don't really feel it. Which is at least a good thing if you ask me. The adrenaline should've run out while I was in the metro. But the fact I immediately got a question about that. I'm hoping that it's charcoal and not wounds on my face.

"I'm not that surprised. I just finished a portal when Lake messaged me about meeting up. But do I seriously look that bad? I don't really feel that hurt, to be honest." I reply as I truly want to know how bad I look. But it feels awkward to leave now that quickly clean up in the bathroom. The entire coffee shop looks really nice to sit in. The lighting isn't all too strong neither is the music all too loud. If I know my music well enough I have to say that there's jazz music playing here. Which gives this place a calm feeling. I however already know that the drinks will probably cost quite a bit here. Which makes it clear that I won't come here myself that quickly. It's too expensive for the money that I make. But I get the prices for a good place like this in the city. You're in the middle of the city where the rent prices for just about everything aren't cheap. So I get why the prices are high. I just know that shouldn't come here when I don't make a lot of money.

"Wait, you went to another delve already? I heard that you usually took breaks between delves. At least that's what Lake told me. But why did you decide to go to another delve already? Yesterday's delve was already quite bad. So I don't get how you already did another one today." Kiara asks as I see her look behind me. I assume she tries to spot Lake who's the only one missing. I'm honestly surprised that he's not here yet. He's always on time when he goes to delves. But it seems that when he plans something himself. That he doesn't mind arriving late.

"I had to get some things off my mind. And going to another delve seemed like the right thing in my mind. I also wasn't too hurt from yesterday. So I thought it wouldn't hurt too much. But the one I went to was a labyrinth type of portal. Which is now on my list to avoid." I explain as I try to make it come off as a joke. Since I'm not sure yet if I should just avoid the labyrinth type of portals together. I should probably just avoid delving with most people I encountered in this delve. Since I wouldn't want to end up in a group with Russel again. Emily I don't mind seeing her again since I have been doing delves with her for years now. And Olive seemed misguided by Russel. She was probably just rude because of what he told her.

"Okay, I get that everyone had to clear their heads after yesterday. But going inside a portal seems like a weird move. How could that help you clear your head? Also, you just look like a mess. Not because of blood but like exhaustion on your face I guess." Kiara explains as she doesn't understand why I went to another portal. However, I have been doing delves for so long that some like labyrinth portals are usually good ways to clear your head. Well, I have to be careful which portal since even the weakest portal can freak me out so much that I get hurt. However, I'm just used to going there so much. But I don't know why I look tired. I don't really feel tired. Well, I might look tired since I had to deal with Russel and his goons. But I don't really know if that's just my business. But it seems like I don't have a lot of time to think about that. Because I see Kiara wave again which means Lake has arrived. I turn around and give a small wave to be polite.

"Sorry, I'm late because of the traffic. I didn't expect it to be this bad." Lake says as he goes to sit next to Kiara. Like her, he looks at me for a few seconds before asking. "Azure, dude you look like you haven't slept. Did you get so many nightmares from yesterday's portal?" Lake quickly makes himself comfortable as I assume we're going to talk about yesterday. However, I really need to talk about today's portal too. And I rather not scare my siblings with it, to be honest.

"Well, I just explained to Kiara that I did another portal today. And when you texted me I just came out of there. And I probably got some charcoal under my eyes because I had to use a lot of it." I explain yet again as I wipe my face a bit in an attempt to get the charcoal that might be there off my face.

"Wait a minute, you did another portal today? That sounds like something I would do. Yet I just slept in and took the day off. Yet you did a portal? You sound like the dude who just rests at home after something weird happens. But just so you know. No wounds but you still look messed up and tired. Didn't you look in a mirror after you got out of the portal" Lake asks me in a pretty light-hearted tone of voice. But he's right, it's not really something I would do. I'm more of the wanting rest after every delve type of person. I would think that Lake was the type of person to do another delve. How weird that might be. I'm honestly more surprised about the fact that Lake has been nicer today. He's been acting way nicer to me starting from yesterday. Before he would've made fun of me and tried to mess me up a bit more. Not with physical damage but like messing up my hair. He wouldn't have told me the way I looked messed up.

"Well, the person you could thank for me looking so tired, is someone you know. I had to deal with Russel and he wasn't pleasant." I say and the moment I mention Russel, I see Lake scoff. I finally feel like I can get it off my chest as I start to rant about what happened. "Do you know how idiotic this guy is? Not just idiotic but straight-up dangerous. I'm not talking about general recklessness inside a portal that the association tends to advise against doing. No, I'm talking about rules being broken. He was manipulative to so many people today. He brought kids inside the portal. And I'm kind of convinced that he thought that he was doing the right thing." I ramble off as I just want to get all of this out. But it seems that I caught both of them off guard a bit. It takes a second or two but I see their faces drop. I hope they realise that I'm not even exaggerating here. "When I told him that what he was doing was dangerous and breaking some important rules. He told one of his friends to knock me out. I have to think it's him since I don't think anyone else would want to knock me out. Which gave me a first-hand experience of how hard it is to get out of one of those."

"Wait, did that really happen? All of that sounds too weird to be true. Yet at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if it was true. Because that does sound like something that Russel would try to do." Lake says as he calls over a waiter to take our order.

A plan - Part 2

Complete

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Assassin

Known users: Russel Miller

Rank required: F+ rank