Rous checked his watch again, folding his hands back onto the table. [I]"I thank you for your patience. We are waiting on one more person. They will be along shortly!"[/i] He turned to Lou, the smile widening. [I]"Lou, could you get me the biggest cup you have, full of espresso? My payment should be coming through...."[/i] The debit card machine whirred, a receipt printing out for a (1) large espresso. $8.99 PAID.

[I]"Ah, there it is! My espresso, if you will. Nothing in it, just plain please!" [/i]

When all the reminders and alerts went off, Jean tilted her head. How very peculiar. And just as the vaguely familiar man walked in. Coincidence? Unlikely. How had he done that, she wondered. She moved to a seat closer to the newcomer, as most of the customers filed out.

And then the machine was printing out...was that a receipt? Jean's eyes widened. Had he just...? But how? She leaned forward in her chair. Something was up, adn she wanted to find out what.

A cold blast of wind swept through the cafe as the next guest opened the door; they had to fight to get it shut again. "Whooh, man!" he sighed, leaning against it for a moment before straightening again. He glanced around, assumed everyone saw that, and slunk to a spot near Rous. He wasn't smart, but he figured the man from his dream with others sitting around him was a fairly obvious sign. "Sorry," he mumbled huffily, starting to remove the thick scarf and mittens to keep from warming up too fast.

His watch beeped as the last person sat down, and he smiled widely once again. [I]"Thank you for joining us, Zeke! Now that everyone is here, we shall get started! There's something I need to get out of the way..."[/i] He reached up, pulling off his sunglasses, his eyes squeezed shut.

[I]"I'm not from around here. Not this city, not thisbolanet, not this universe. Don't freak out /too/ much when you see it."[/i] He opened his eyes, an emerald green glow emanating from his irises. A physical glow, one that looked like someone was holding an emerald in front of a candle. He smiled sheepishly and shrugged, awaiting the pokes, the prods, the screams as they tried to figure out if this was Hollywood magic or not.

[I]"Also, still waiting on that coffee..."[/i] He said, Turing his gaze to Lou.

Arin just stared in wonder at the man's eyes. She LOVED green eyes. She felt herself go faint, and unintentionally swooned, leaning backwards whilst sighing. She then realizes what happened, and blushes quite a bit....

(( Family crisis came up, and I'm...pretty numb right now. I'm not going to vanish entirely, but my attention may not be all in one place and as a result the rps I'm not completely immersed in are going to suffer. Even the ones I am immersed in are likely going to suffer. Please be patient with me. I'm not dropping, just trying to get things together.))

OoC// Hope things work out, . No pressure or hurt feelings

(( omg I'm sorry to hear it! You have my best wishes :( ))

Kyar did a double-take. Now...those were some interesting eyes. His fingers twitched over his coffee cup. But hey, if this guy could do all the weird crap he'd been doing, why not have weird eyes too?

Zeke stared open-mouthed at the man. "Oh my god," he breathed to himself. That wasn't normal... Another universe? What the hell? He glanced around at the others, nervous, but felt a bit better when they all seemed so shocked.

Lou paled, she was going to scare off this guy with her skills. "Uh, sure, heh." she said, her mind scrambling to remember what was all in an espresso. It's plain coffee you dunce! she thought, shaking her head. She filled the machine with what she thought was the proper amount of already ground beans (thanks to Sally) into the espresso machine and hit the button labelled 'small'. She was about to ask about paying when the register came to life and rang up a receipt.

The espresso was ready soon after, making a quiet ding sound. She caught a whiff of the beverage as she took it back to the stranger. The scent of the coffee was a little strong to her, but what did she know, it could've been the smell of the cafe she smelled. She almost dropped the coffee when he removed his glasses. His eyes were weird and a little frightening. The coffee was placed onto the table with rattling hands and she went to sit down, hard, in her earlier chair.

ooc/ hope things get better soon, I'm sorry for whatever happened

Arin squealed in amazement at his eyes, sounding much like the schoolgirl she was. She then quickly tries to compose herself, and pretends that she didn't do that, and blushes a lot

Rous looked around at the group, with a look if pleasant surprise on his face. [I]"Wow, you took that much better than I anticipated! (Thank you for the coffee!) Now, down to business."[/i] He stood up, taking a swig of the still hot coffee without a flinch.

There was a sound similar to big, metal I-beams groaning, and a whiteboard appeared next to the table, seeming like it was always there. He grabbed a dry erase marker that came with it, and wrote a word on it.

Moderator.

[I]"You have been chosen, by me, to be a 'Moderator'. What does this mean? Let me tell you!"[/i] He looked to them, eagerly, as if he was teaching a class.

[I]"There is a theory that your scientists have about multiverses.[/i]" He drew a circle, and dotted it with 'stars'. [I]"It states that there are infinite parallel universes much like your own, but slightly different. I am here to tell you that this is correct. Which would mean that there's an infinite number of You'd running around, correct? WRONG!"[/I] He proceeded to draw more circles, that were dotted just /slightly/ different.

[I]"You, in this room, are unique. In every sense of the word. Everyone you know, everyone in this city, on this planet AND NOT, have infinite amounts of them out there. But /you/ is all there is of /you/. You are an anomaly in the multiverse. (Lemme grab another sip of coffee. I LOVE THIS PLACE! So good...) They say that dreams are a peek into another universe, that you are seeing it through someone else's eyes. Everyone else is, but not you. When you dream, you are really there. That's why you are usually tired when you wake up. So every day dream, every kick of the imagination is a view into another universe /that exists./"[/i] He tapped the board, and the drawings began to lazily spin. He then circled the word 'Moderator'.

[I]"A Moderator's job is to make sure the multiverse runs 'as planned.' There are certain milestones that must be met, and we make sure that they are completed through whatever means necessary. Sometimes, those means mean manipulating reality."[/I] He illustrated his point by drawing a perfect monkey, then a cave man, then a caveman with a wheel. Above them he drew a shadowy figure throwing down a hammer and a chisel. He then circled the man.

[I]"Believe it or not, you have heard about Moderators all your life. Famous ones like 'Dr. Who'. A more noteable one, you aren't going to believe.."[/i] More metalic groaning could be heard as he turned around, a bible in one hand, and the qu'ran in the other"Is God, Allah, Odin, Ra, et cetera et cetera. Really, they are all different names for the same person, the moderator in charge of keeping your universe in check. Now, as to why I am here."[/I] He sat back down at the table, his cheery demeanor changing to something akin of hatred.

[I]"There are some who abuse their power for personal gain, or simply because they are sadistic bastards. These /Unprofessionals/ are usually eliminated. A famous one that you all would know about is named Sal'tarin. Otherwise known here as 'the Slenderman.' A rather foul creature who found himself in my part of existence by sheer luck, and uses his powers to torment those weaker than him. That's where I, and soon to be you, come in. You see..." He stood back up, and proceeded to write some words on the board.

Professionalism Enforcing Moderator.

[I]"I am a Professionalism Enforcing Moderator. I am tasked to find the Unprofessionals, and eliminating them through whatever means necessary. And soon, you will be a PEM as well. I am your new boss. Any questions?"[/i] He asked, running his finger around the edge of one of the multiverse, making it spin faster.

S-so....he's real..? That terrifying thing with the hentai-esque tentacles is real?! W-well how do we kill it?! What do we do, how do we do it?!

Zeke raised his hand. "What makes us the most qualified? I understand we're unique, but that also means from my perspective that the odds of a being a Moderator is almost zero. So what makes us the best choice over everyone else?" He wasn't sure he was even making sense, but it was worth a try. There was just no way that a task this big could fall on his shoulders, out of all the other hims out there.

Lou scowled at the sudden appearance of a whiteboard, So this was a magic trick kind of guy. She blinked at him as he finished, not believing a word of what was being said, even though it sounded vaguely familiar, like a dream she'd had before. She listened to his spiel, perking up when Doctor Who was mentioned, but otherwise remaining still. "No offense to you, sir, but I like my current boss." she quipped. This is the weirdest day, ever. How did this guy do these tricks? She wondered, trying to maintain her poker face.

Ira's face was frozen in a state of awe and disbelief. Some how he had always known. All this vivid dreams and day dreams, all those characters that just came to him that he drew in his sketchbook. And this guy was claiming they all had the ability to manipulate time and space itself. Even more was a certain realization. Some where in another universe, Tsitua, and Ketsuoana were /real/ and he could go there. He folded his arms and scowled. "This is either a sick joke, or amazing news. Either way, I'd like more proof than shiny eyes and a damn whiteboard." He said, seeming to be the only one in the room who /wasn't/ willing to just believe this guy. In reality, he just wanted to see a universe other than the one he was in. If it was true, it meant that his feeling of being an outcast, and never feeling right would be confirmed as his true nature, that he was a "Moderator" He spoke again. "If you're a moderator, I want to see the ships flown by balloons and sages. I want to see demons and angels fighting each other in Atlantis. Take us somewhere other than a coffee shop where the employees can't even make a damn cup of coffee." He demanded.

Lou turned her scowl towards Ira, "Look, I appreciate you helping the kid earlier, but I will kick you out if you continue to insult the fare." she snapped at him, Lou didn't appreciate Cool Beans being insulted. She leaned closer to him, her eyes cold, as she made the threat. At the moment she was more upset about the insult than the science fiction stranger. She'd have understood if it had been one of her coffee's that were being insulted, but Sally had made this scrawny boys cup and Sally knew how to make good drinks.

U-uhm...can we...not fight....? Arin hated hearing people argue, especially when she was involved in the situation somehow.

Kyar laughed, kicking himself back. "Sorry, my friend, but I can't even leave the city limits right now, let alone the entire universe!"

His bemused demeanor darkened when the other guy insulted the shop - mostly because Lou was angry. The coffee, in his opinion, was on par with what coffee should be, not much better, but not usually worse. He didn't bother to say anything, just sit up and glare - Lou could handle herself. Arin's plea turned his attention back to the green-eyed stranger.

"Look, I imagine it'd be really easy to prove to us this is all true. I mean, apparently we can just day-dream jump to a new world, that's what he said, so if it's true, well, just try it then, maybe with his guidance. Sure, whatever. Wouldn't be hard to prove, so why get upset about it? But I still don't care, because like I said - I'm not in a position to do a lot of travel."

With a serious expression, Ira shifted his eyes to the woman. How unoriginal of her to make an assumption based on how he sounded rather than what he had said. He leaned his head toward her with apathetic eyes, "I wasn't, I was insulting you." He had been referring to the two counts of mediocre coffee preparation by her since he had arrived. Ira like people just fine, but he was incapable of restraining from the truth of things, whether they were harsh or not. That was why he liked characters such as L from Death Note. He felt they had a lot in common.

[why do out characters keep butting heads?? I promise I'm not doing it on purpose 😞]