Shaken, not stirred. -Goldfinger

Arlo's phone went off with the standard ringtone. The ID read Elaine, but he couldn't just ignore the call. John had to admit, he was in a precarious situation. Angering Arlo could result in just about anything going awry, and he might not be able to fix it in time. "Hello?"

"Hey Arlo!" came Elaine's squeaky voice on the other end. "Where did you want to meet up?"

Meet up? Arlo was meeting Elaine somewhere? Why? Yeah, they knew each other from Turf Wars, but Elaine was so annoying, and he could have sworn she was the lowest of the low among the elite tiers. Wait- shit. Now he'd been hesitating to answer. "Uh- I've heard Woaba Boba is a good spot."

"Okay! Did you want to meet in half an hour?"

"Yes, that would be fine." John answered. That time he had almost nailed it- a hint of an English accent, with a low and calm voice.

"Alright! See you there!"

Luckily he didn't have to come up with another response, as Elaine had already hung up. But he couldn't imagine how long he would have to endure her rambling at Woaba Boba, and if he could survive it without falling asleep. Replying to her in a conversation shouldn't be a problem, though; she's much too flustered and dense to notice anything. Maybe she'd know where Isen usually is.

When Elaine finally arrived at Woaba Boba, she was dolled up and couldn't keep from blushing. "Arlo!" she called from a dozen feet away. "Sorry I kept you waiting."

"No worries. I haven't been here long." In fact, he hadn't even ordered the coffee yet. John could have sworn she was a few minutes early, so his idea of getting extra cream and sugar added was a bust. She came so willingly to meet Arlo, and yet, she wouldn't even come to heal Sera with him there- unless she was forced.

Elaine took a seat in the booth and didn't say anything until they had ordered their drinks and had taken a few sips. "So, Arlo? Is there any particular reason you wanted to see me?"

Wait, what was it that Arlo had wanted in sitting down with her? He couldn't have wanted this to be something of a date. Dammit, Arlo! Why do you have to be so secretive?

Elaine started to look a little worried when he didn't immediately respond- or maybe it was some sort of hopefulness.

Arlo would probably want information from her. But… what information? The only thing Elaine could tell him was Sera's condition. Unless, she was supposed to be looking for other things. Arlo, don't tell me… "I was interested in how Sera-phina- is faring." It sounded like Arlo had two short strokes in the middle of the sentence, but Elaine just seemed upset that this revolved around Sera.

"Oh… right. Well, nothing seems different from last week. There have been no signs of her ability returning." She paused to look at her drink. "I'm sort of worried for her. I overheard her on the phone… and it sounded like Wellston Hospital was telling her about her results. I don't know what they told her, but she seemed really shaken. Maybe even the doctors don't know what's wrong with her…."

John looked at the table, thinking. This information was nothing new, but at least Elaine still seemed to care about Sera. And Elaine acted as though relaying this information to Arlo was normal. Was it?

"Hey, Arlo?"

He looked up from his thoughts.

"I saw the postings about Seraphina today." Right. The thing that had started two huge messes. Not only would Sera have to deal with the entire school wanting to take her on, it had given someone an opportunity to do… this. Whatever you would call it. "Looks like the school found out after all…"

'Arlo' sighed. "There's nothing we can do about it now. Do you know who posted the article?"

Elaine shook her head. "They remained anonymous. Even though the writer might not be sure if Seraphina really lost her ability, what about everyone else? D-do you think things will get out of hand?"

Even though he had to do it, at least he could really protect her now. "If everything becomes too crazy, I'll step in."

Before he could say anything else, the TVs blared with a typical broadcast newsroom tune. "BREAKING NEWS!" a red haired reporter exclaimed. "EMBER strikes yet again!" The woman then went on to say the same old generic information about the body and the dangers of becoming a superhero yourself.

"Oh, that reminds me." Elaine said as she turned her gaze away from the TV. "Uhm… Saturday night, Blyke and Isen were pounding on my door. They were in a panic. Before I could process anything, I was in Remi's room…. She had a huge gash on her back and was coughing blood." she looked to 'Arlo' for a reaction, but he didn't know what to give. She was the Queen, so Arlo probably knew her well. The best he could do was slightly delayed surprise. "The ability wasn't from any of our rival schools, and certainly not from Wellston. She was hurt badly… the attacker would have had to be an elite tier, at least." she explained.

"And you were reminded of this from what's on the news?" John asked.

Elaine began to blush again. "They're probably not connected… I just wonder what those three are up to."

It was probably now John's responsibility to find out what happened to Remi and make sure she was okay. He'd much rather be looking after Sera, but he might do more than harm than good as it currently stood. All he could do is hope Arlo was competent enough in keeping her safe until he can get to watching from afar.

Arlo was unaccustomed to living in a small apartment such as John's. He had numerous duties at home to be dealt with on the daily, and the estate was near enough to the school. He knew he had it good, but here everything was crammed together, and he might as well sleep on the floor as opposed to the bed. All there had been to eat was cheap, fake, easy to prepare foods- like ramen noodles. Arlo assumed an extra bulge in the budget for some real food would go unnoticed.

On the route to classes the next day, Arlo had to keep reminding himself that John referred to Seraphina as 'Sera'. Even though she was a cripple now, it was disconcerting when he discovered her taking the alternate path today. "Heeeeeey, Sera!" he called. When she turned to face him, he realized she looked awful. Her hair was astray, she wandered as though a zombie, and bags rested beneath her eyes.

"Oh, hey." she mumbled. Seraphina halted her hobbling and waited for him to catch up. Arlo hadn't run in a very long time, but it was probably something John would do.

"Did you get much sleep last night?" he wondered, trying to act 'upbeat'.

"No. I couldn't fall asleep 'til late." Her monotone voice was definitely reflecting it. However, she seemed a bit more… awake, with 'John' around. It would figure that John lifts her spirits, and never himself.

"Oh… Are you still worried about your ability coming back?" They were now walking side by side, and she seemed more comfortable with it than she ever had near Arlo.

"I guess."

He looked to her with a smile. "Well, if you keep wishing for time to go by, you'll just prolong the moments."

She looked up from the ground and met his eye with a raised eyebrow. As a joke, she replied with, "Were you searching up quotes last night?"

"Uh, noooooooooooooo. I can't use fancy words?"

Seraphina just giggled; a type of laugh Arlo had never heard from her before. He supposed it was pretty cute.