Bar -- Caritas -- Pikeman's Circle Warmth, light and noise are likely to be the first impressions of someone entering Caritas. Passing through the old warehouse doors from the street, it's necessary to take a step down and through metal detectors before getting to the club proper. The bar runs along the right-hand wall, glass shelves behind it bearing bottles in various bright colours. The main space is mostly taken up by tables, placed far enough apart on the wooden floor to allow some wandering around. The chairs are comfortably padded, and there are a few booths to the left of the doors for the benefit of those who would prefer privacy. For those who would not, there's always the stage. Curved slightly and taking up a good quarter of the floor space on its own, the performing space is only elevated by a couple of feet. Spotlights and footlights direct plenty of attention to the current incumbent, and microphones are provided on three different stands for varying heights. Turned to face the stage is something which at first glance looks like a TV screen, but coupled with the sound equipment off to one side can only mean one thing. Karaoke. The usual clientele of Caritas is limited to those of...unusual appearance, and those who don't mind them. Metahumans, demons, whatever you'd like to call them, this is the place for masks and coats to be cast aside. There's no need to hide how you look in here - there's bound to be someone even stranger at the next table. It's the afternoon, and it's fairly early in the afternoon, too. The interior of Caritas remains dimly lit and well heated, because that's how Lorne likes it. He sits on the bar itself, legs crossed, leaning back a little on his hands. Music plays softly, and he sings along. "When your heart's on fire, you must realise smoke gets in your eyes." It's just the radio. The front door is unlocked. Finally escaping from home, fed up with attempts at phone calls and feeling better about doing this in person anyway, Kess decides that Caritas is long-overdue a visit. She's still clad in her armour, though it's looking more than a little worse for wear now. Claw-marks tear up the leather, exposing the kevlar plates beneath in places, and the only ones mended so far are the ones that would show flesh. Her coat's faring better, the fixed rends barely discernable among the random mottling pattern of the material. She's looking rather more rested than of late, though only a little less strained around the eyes and bleak of expression. Today, though, she bears a precious burden to the demon's club, arms and legs wrapped around it securely, and there's a flicker of a grin as she decides for a last little bit of excitement for her passenger. "Here we are," she murmurs, before folding her wings and curling into a dive, letting air rush them down to a feather-flared scoop over towards Caritas' door. Backwinging brings them to a quick stop, and limbs release her passenger to grounding gently. The burden in question unfolds herself carefully from an overlarge black coat that, from the general lingering scent of cigarettes, is /not/ actually hers. The white shirt underneath isn't, either, oversized and decidedly rumpled - a careful eye could pick out the pale grey of her own battered armour beneath it - but the jeans are hers, and the carefully cleaned jewelry, and the ridiculous grin as Kitty reaches up to hug Kess around the shoulders once they've both landed. "Thanks for the lift," she teases, before eyeing the door thoughtfully. "We should probably not surprise him." Kess is a little surprised by the hug, but returns it briefly, showing another brief smile. "Airtaxi, always on call. Maybe we should just knock?" She steps up beside Kitty to reach over gloved knuckles to rap on the door, then tries the handle. Look, open! A glance to her friend, and she peeks inside, moving to open the door wider to give Kitty room to enter when she sees the bar-sitting one, giving him a little wave if he looks over. Hi? Knock, or ring, or buzz, or whatever proves appropriate. Kitty startled Lorne a bit ago, she doesn't want to risk it twice running. Particularly not when he's been having a rotten time. Poor demon. She hovers beside Kess ... okay, /not/ literally. Just looking about fifteen in Pete's too-large coat and shirt. Which is, coincidentally, just about the time that Liam's limping his way out of the back room, all rumpled and yawning, barefoot and clad only in a blue bathrobe that's been tailored to accommodate his wings. Morning, afternoon, whatever. Getting up time. If he were awake, he might've caught the knock -- but then again, that back door's pretty thick. "Tea?" he requests of Lorne -- just before the movement of the front door registers and he freezes. Wings out. The knock gets a blink, and Lorne slides off the bar immediately - he's taken a couple of steps towards the door, only casting Liam a glance, before Kess just goes ahead and opens it anyway. Tension, only dissipating when he sees who it is. "It's Kess," he reports to the angel, massively relieved. "You know, we could have been doing anything in here, peachpie. There's a purpose to knocking." Reproachful. "Kitty, afternoon, sweetheart." Kess flipped her own wings to her back as soon as she had landed, and Liam's arrival nets a surprised blink, followed quickly by a reassuring smile, coloured with relief. She was going to /ask/ Lorne, but now, it seems she doesn't have to. In one piece, at least, each of them. Lorne's reproach gets a blush and a ducking of her head, as she steps to close the door behind them. But it was unlocked! "Sorry." Oops. Don't mind me, please. That's Lorne's voice - and it triggers Kitty's grin all over again. "Hi, you." There's a bit of tagging behind Kess, and gathering up the coat carefully in hands to avoid trailing it across the floor. She looks like she's playing dress-up. "And - hi, Liam." Hopeful note in her voice, there, though not as certain as when she greeted Lorne. "We just wanted to check and make sure everyone was, well..." People. Liam's first instinct, which is to hurl himself behind the bar or something, is alleviated -- people he /knows/. Okay. He's a lot more awake than he was five seconds ago, blinking wide-eyed at the door. A heartbeat. "Give you good day," he says, calmly. "Would one of you kindly lock the.. door?" The split-second pause where 'bloody' was left out is just perceptible. His blue eyes are already busy roving Kess and Kitty both -- everyone alright? Turning to Liam, Lorne is just for a moment, all apology. "I left it unlocked when I went out for the paper, sweetheart, I'm sorry." He didn't process it as that big of a deal, at the time. A little flustered, he looks to the girls again. "Alive? We're both still kicking. Some of us more literally than others." There's no milage in sharing a bed with some people. Kess is closing the door, so simply nods at Liam's request, hands searching out whatever key or bolt is in evidence for purposes of securing the door. Turning, she's a little surprised to find Kitty trailing /her/ - that's her role! - and is at something of a loss of what to do. A searching glance flicks over the two men, continuing the checking-out trend, before she moves into the bar proper. Can't hang out by the door all day. "How're you both doing?" she asks, a little subdued after managing to scare them. No new injuries since the last round of healing? Does that count as all right? "Good to hear it," Kitty replies to Lorne, and there's something odd in her tone. An easy note, almost cheerful, decidedly pleased. And uncharacteristic: she's /not worried/. Kess is almost escorted further in, with just a touch of hesitance. Sorry for interrupting? Startled, yes, but at least unembarrassed by such things as bathrobes; once he's registered the identities of the new people, and unruffled his feathers, the little angel offers a smile. Perhaps a slightly sad smile, because he didn't miss the change in tone when Kitty greeted him, but welcoming nonetheless. And he does like the way they look, all healthy and not blinded or bleeding from the throat. "Doing fine." Which would be Lorne's answer to that question under most circumstances, really. He wanders around the bar, not *exactly* hiding. He likes Kess and Kitty, after all. "I have one order for tea, anybody else?" "Sure, please," Kess agrees easily, gaze flickering between the pair. In contrast to Kitty, she's not so quick with the smiles and cheerfulness, though it peeks around the edges of her expression at times. Physically, she's just fine. She gives Liam a longer look, wondering, but doesn't ask as she moves to slip up onto a bar stool. Not bleeding from the throat is a plus! And Kitty's finished coughing distressing things. Liam's smile is enough to firm Kitty's expression, and like Kess, she comes to join the grouping at the bar. "Sorry I didn't get in touch earlier," she apologizes to angel and demon, "but the household kind of mobbed me. And I think I'm sort of grounded, kind of." Amused? Yes. No comment on tea. Maybe she doesn't need any more caffeine. "I were goin' to drop by today," notes Liam. "Glad to see you're lookin' alright." He didn't miss Kess' look, either. After a moment, glancing from Kitty to the bird-girl, he adds calmly, "An' no. I'm not goin' to turn black." Which is followed immediately by the angel heading toward the back room, and a casual, "Pardon me a minute." Retreat? Of course not. He just... needs to go into the back. ...oh, hell. Lorne very carefully waits until Liam is most of the way to the back room, then drops the kettle into the sink with unnecessary force. "So, everyone's fine, happy day." Damn it. "Except for the flying part," Kess puts in to Kitty, daring a small smile, which is quickly wiped away by Liam's sudden departure. She looks after him, and flinches at the kettle hitting the sink. She was worried about him! She didn't mean... oh, dammit. She wants to go after him, and looks uncertainly over at Lorne, concern evident now, perched on the edge of the stool. Thunk goes the kettle. And that way goes the Liam. Kitty's eyes track the wings right up till the noise distracts her. "Liam, are you -" 'Okay' is such the wrong word. "Never mind," she adds afterward, shaking her head just for a moment. "It'll wait." And then to Lorne, quieter, "Yeah, real happy, it looks like. Sorry. Didn't mean to do that." She'll apologize to Liam when he comes back. It really would've been better to wait the kettle until Liam was actually /in/ the back room, because that way the tension that goes all the way up his spine wouldn't be quite so evident. A shiver of feathers. The faint pull of an unhappy demon. He glances back at Kitty as he reaches the door, but -- nevermind. Okay. Continuing. He shuts the door behind him. Jeans are good. "I just really had this hope that once everything was all right, everything might in fact be all right. But hey, thanks for coming by." Lorne sighs, and leans his elbows on the bar so he can rest his head in his hands. "Don't go back there, Kess." He knows she's thinking about it. Kess' eyes track the little angel all the way until he's obscured, and she sighs softly. Yeah, she knows he left to be alone. Still, instincts want to go hold him, but she settles her weight against the bar instead. "Takes a little time," she notes quietly, looking over to Lorne and offering a gentle smile. I know. "It will be." All right, that is. "Anything we can do?" Kitty asks Lorne, not speaking any louder than Kess is. "I mean, discounting shouting at him till he figures out we're not holding anything against him. Nerves are still frayed enough nobody needs the yelling part." "I will personally deafen the first person who starts yelling in here. Nobody needs that." Lorne pushes off the bar again, moving to put the kettle on. Liam wants tea, Liam can get tea. "He blames himself, heck, so would I." The demon glances at Kess, and smiles briefly. "Yeah, I know, sweetpea." "I guess all we can do is be here," Kess offers with a little shrug, glancing over towards the door concealing the angel. "We can't make him forgive himself, but we can help." There's always hope and helping to be done, as far as she's concerned. And that's why Kitty adores Lorne. Well-chosen threats. Okay, not the only reason. She's got an odd little smile that would be right at home on just about anyone else's face, but it's /stable/, and /staying there/, and not being hidden or repressed or anything else, which makes it decidedly unusual for her. "And be cooperative with being chased out at the appropriate times," Kitty adds, not entirely teasing. Cue the angel's return, in jeans, shirt and sweater this time, though he couldn't find one sock so bare feet are still the option of the day. Running a hand through his hair in a vain attempt to tame it, he limps his way back to the bar -- pausing at Kitty. "Y'alright? Not coughin' at all? ... Clothes been stolen?" Not really making a study of Kitty's usual expressions, in all honesty. Lorne watches the kettle, partly to prove that thing about never boiling is untrue. If one were to consider the girls, it's almost like Kitty's stolen the birdgirl's smiles and left echoes in their place. There is one for Liam, though, quietly fond and glad to see him. She doesn't interrupt the question and supposed-answer session, glancing instead to the demon. Flicker of worry at that, quickly hidden. "You need a hand back there?" Pitched just for green ears. "Fine," Kitty assures Liam. "Mostly stopped coughing - just when Kess and I went outside, and that's got as much to do with the stupid weather as anything else. And, uh." She gives the angel a quick, sheepish grin. "Pete told me I wasn't allowed to get blood on his clothes. Then all /my/ shirts mysteriously disappeared, for some reason. /You/ all right?" "Fine," replies Liam -- who is as bad as Lorne with such replies, if not worse, but he quirks half a smile at Kitty in response to her own, before tilting his head at Kess. "An' you -- you're alright, aye? Sorry I didn't... they've more power than I, I knew you'd be safe enough." Smiling, Lorne points out quietly, "I know how to make tea, sweetheart. It's fine." He's quite happy back here, not knowing what went on or really understanding so much of the weirdness in the room. Empathic leakage is making him uneasy - he doesn't know which way to jump. Kess looks over to Liam and shakes her head. "I'm all right." Oh, look, that's three of them doing it. Helpful, huh? "And, it's fine." Even if you did let one of those damn things take me home, so I woke up to /that/. She probably said something very rude to it to make it leave. There's a soft smile anyway. "You had more important things to do." And she's proud of him for that, for saving Kitty and so many of those others; there's no hint of negativity in that statement. She would have healed on her own anyway. Lorne gets a glance and a pleasant nod; she wasn't offering because she thought he'd have trouble making tea. But that's fine too. There is exactly one person in this room genuinely at ease with everyone else in it, isn't there. And in her case, it's entirely possible that might be due to subtle brain damage from oxygen deprivation, or something. "So basically," Kitty sums up, "we're all going to be fine once we've had a chance to recover? Is that it?" Let's at least sneak a hint of the whole truth in there. "Fine," echoes back Liam, blandly. He rests his elbows on the bar -- having to lift them a bit to do so, it's true -- and leans there, next to Kitty. He pauses. "Is it over? I didn't see a tower." Conversation, over head. Demon, torn between curiosity and just not wanting to know. Lorne fusses with teacups and pretends he isn't listening. Kess drops her head into a hand, elbow propped on the bar, turned so that she can see everyone. A comfortable slouch. Lips twitch up at the corners at Kitty's assertion - of /course/ it's all going to be all right - and her gaze remains on the other girl at Liam's question, an echo of one the birdgirl asked a day ago. Her expression blanks again and she stays quiet. She knows the answer to this one, and can only hope it's changed. "I don't know," Kitty admits. "The worst of it is over." That she doesn't have a doubt about. "But I don't think Jack's gone for the Tower yet; if he has, either nobody got in touch with me, or they got Pete first and probably a lot of very protective threats." Liam accepts this with equinamity. "Alright. Have to see if Celliers needs any help, then. For what it's worth -- I think that were the last of the black angels." Slight pause. "Though they say they're stickin' around," he notes, with exquisite neutrality, "an' if they do, I'm not sure there's much to keep them from flippin' again. If they're likely to at all." Pouring tea. Pouring tea. Not bothered by any of this, not a bit. Nope. Tower. Hasn't found the Tower. It's dangerous to think about the Tower. Lorne carefully sets a cup in front of Liam - no milk, this time - and one in front of Kitty. "Excuse me, won't you?" Kess tenses suddenly at the mention of the angels not only sticking around, but possibly turning evil again. She tries to cover the shudder by lifting her head and sitting up, placing both hands on the edge of the counter, gaze darting away. Those bastard things are /not/ coming back. No. Lorne's sudden departure gets a startled, sympathetic glance, and she stays mute for a bit longer. And hey, she didn't get any tea? Kitty shakes her head firmly. To Liam, not to Lorne's request. "They're not likely to in the near future," she answers, "and the heart might let us stabilize them for good. That's ... the kind of thing it's /for/, after all." As she's talking, she starts out watching Liam, winds up watching Lorne. Poor stressed Host. And Kess. And Liam, for that matter. The presence of tea is a mild bewilderment in comparison. Tea! "Is it --" Liam's going to ask Kitty something but he breaks off, blinking at Lorne. That line of tension making its way up his spine again, navy eyes evaluating and apologetic. "Ach, lad, I'm sorry. We'll switch subject, shall we?" ...wait. Lorne takes Kitty's tea away and gives it to Kess instead, then realises everyone is looking at him. That's only a good thing when he's on stage. "No, no, darlin, it's important. Clearly. It's just also the kind of thing I almost certainly shouldn't be listening to, so I can just - I can just go." Apologetic, unhappy, and deeply confused. Kess gives the demon a little smile when he gives her her tea, understanding. She doesn't particularly want to listen either, but she has to. Has to know if those things will ever come back. She remembers to make her hands relax on the edge of the bar, so her knuckles aren't quite so white. She'd offer to go with him, if she could think of a plausible suggestion as an excuse. Kitty's glance to Liam is as much as /putting/ the situation in his hands. "Lots of things are important. Think it can wait?" "Sure an' it can," responds the angel, easily enough. "Lots of things /are/ important, not least of which is not chasin' out the bloke what runs the bar." As though he would possibly say anything else, with Lorne's unhappiness pulling, but he does mean it. "Tea to the contrary, I'm not actually working right now. I'm just - there's a lot of residual weirdness, and I don't think I want to know, if it isn't all over. I'd just as soon go on believing everything's gonna be fine." Lorne sighs, and heads for the end of the bar - not to leave, but to circle around and drop elegantly into a seat. "I wish life were a movie."