Prism Marine : Blue Waves

Chapter 2 - Splashes

The friends group had been walking for quite a while now and were finally in the neighborhood where the Lost Trident, their meeting location of choice, was situated. Now that they were nearing the limit between the third and second New Fontaine districts, the streets were more densely populated. A few blocks away, there was a popular venue for bands and theater troupes alike, and Cy knew it regularly housed a new and particularly energetic music group that started out recently, already bringing in little crowds to their short shows. Tonight was one of those occasions, and he could see that a few people seemed to be walking towards the beating music echoing from a couple streets away.

Because of its closeness to that pretty popular venue and to the boulevard marking the limit between the consecutive districts, the restaurant Cy and the others were all meeting in today was a prized location for visitors and locals alike, and it was sure to be absolutely full like any other Friday evening. Thankfully, they knew the owner of the Lost Trident, and he always kept them a VIP space for their Friday evening meetings. This privileged status wasn't that surprising, knowing that one of the members of the research group was his own son, Thorin.

Speaking of which, the son in question came to greet them as soon as Cy pushed the entrance door and revealed the packed interior of the restaurant. His young face was shining, and his everlasting smile brightened the already-light room. He held his trusty engineer cap in his hand, letting loose the short but messy strawberry blonde hair he loathed taking care of.

"Finally, you're here," he chanted as he shook everyone's hands. "Ada's already waiting for you guys."

"It's good to see you, Thorin!" Ephe was obviously happy to see the engineer boy tonight; he hadn't been able to come to the lab for the entire week, busy with his classes to become an accredited Dome engineer. Yet, as the youngest of the group, he was especially good at brightening their mood whenever he dropped by for a chat or to help Ada with her sciencey stuff. Even Yin was smiling a little as she greeted him, relaxing her face, which was usually busy thinking about something else.

"You too, Ephe! But let's not keep Ada waiting. Come on!"

In a blink, he sprung and started moving faster than anyone would think possible through the crowd packed inside the restaurant. Every table was full, and the bar was obscured by drunkards and other regulars alike who were all enjoying the evening. Cy struggled to follow at Thorin's speed through the sheer mass of people, but he knew the way by heart already. The whole group could pretty much walk there with their eyes closed if they wanted to after the many evenings they had spent chatting at that one table.

When they all finally got there, Ada was indeed waiting at the long, ten-seat wooden table the group always used on these Friday nights. Situated at the deep end of the restaurant, it was conveniently far away from most of the noise found near the bar, where the majority of the tables were. Obviously, this one was for larger groups than Cy and the others ever were, but this way they weren't constantly crammed against each other like they would have been at a smaller table. Ada smiled and waved both hands as she saw the rest of the squad emerge from the crowd. She was a tall girl with long, blonde hair and green eyes, and while she was quick to crack a smile to the people she knew better than most, she was actually a fairly introverted person, shy around people she didn't know. This made her current job as an independent shopkeeper pretty surprising, but, as if that wasn't enough already, she was also the lead for a band she had recently put together. All by herself. Cy simply couldn't understand where her persistent shyness around strangers came from while she did all of this on the side, and Ada herself even sometimes admitted that her personality was hard to explain. On occasion, shy as a child; on others, arrogant as, well, a child. This unpredictable side of hers was probably why Ephe liked spending time with Ada a lot.