You hear a faint, astonished voice from the parking lot: "What the hell just happened?" Someone else says: "I don't know, but I doubt that's covered under warranty."
The elemental starts flickering restlessly, almost starting to lose cohesion slightly on the edges. It looks like its time in this plane is running out.
The elemental is definitely starting to dissipate now; wisps of fire are dissolving into thin air from its body, and it is almost the size of a mouse now. In a few seconds it will be completely gone.
The background voices from the parking lot continue conversing: "...do you think we should call insurance...?" "...what would you even say happened? Our Kia got abducted by aliens?"
You've probably been around this area enough to remember Auntie J's being one of those mom-and-pop Mexican places that serves the real stuff. It's popular with college kids because they load you up with lots of food for five dollars or less.
"Ah, yes, dear, I've passed it a few times. I don't think I've ever been inside yet, though, I'll usually grab something from Tao's if I'm in a rush..."
We cut to a montage of the party getting absolutely piled up with Mexican food from the kindly old abuela who runs Auntie's - steak and chicken tacos, al pastor, pico de gallo and salsa, blackened shrimp, and rice, the absolute works. The place seems entirely nonmagical, but pleasant, and you note a few disguised Othersiders dining in nearby tables.
You catch a few snippets of conversation from various patrons: someone is talking about a pile-up on the freeway, someone else is muttering quietly to their compatriot about how they spent a hundred dollars on an antique wand and it turned out to have all the charges used up, someone else is commenting on the car alarms coming from the park an hour ago and wondering if there was a burglary.
When you look at Fin, you notice she's manages to get food on her mouth and hands and hasn't gone for a napkin. She's also stashing anything that looks like it might not leak in her bag.
From a corner booth, you catch a particularly interesting snippet of conversation: "...disappeared, absolutely vanished into thin air, no clue. The police are running me in circles and saying they've got lots of cases to investigate, I don't get what's going on, there can't be that many people missing..."
Sherri didn't eat too much; while she certainly didn't starve herself, she was a little skimpy on the main dishes and focused maybe a bit too much on the salad.
@Mithical The person looks like a regular human, an elderly woman who looks a bit nervous and distraught. Across from her an elderly man is saying reassuringly, "They'll find her, you know how she gets sometimes and runs off to chase her dreams... this is just another one of those times, they'll find her. You're worrying."
@Mithical Most of the other conversations around you are mundane - insurance, college, typical Upside concerns - but one of the other conversations in a far booth, which you can only pick up snatches of, is clearly two Othersiders talking in low voices about a missing professor at a local university.
"We'll have to test that out later, Fin, sweetie. For now though, darlings, have you noticed that a bunch of people have been talking about disappearances lately?"
Sherri nods towards the far booth. "Do those folks look like Othersiders to you? Because they were talking about some sort of professor who had vanished, but I couldn't quite make out what they were saying."
@bobble As you look at the two people in the booth, two things jump out to your keen eye - one of them is unusually tall and gangly, to the point where he's ducking slightly to avoid hitting his head on the light over their table, and the other is extremely short and squat and stockily built, with a very thick and white beard. They are just human enough to pass... barely.
The bearded fellow is now giving slight little eye-flicks in the direction of your table, in a way that suggests he's picked up on fellow Othersiders being around but doesn't want to approach or look weird about it. He mutters something to the tall fellow, who also shoots a discreet look over.
The bearded fellow looks back at the tall fellow and nods slightly. The tall fellow stands up discreetly and heads for the bathrooms, a little more quickly than you might expect, and takes out a cell phone.
@Mithical He's moving out of easy view, so you'd either have to follow him or make a really good Perception check to see him above the other customers.
You crane your neck just enough to barely see him as he hovers by the bathroom door, putting the phone up to his ear. He waits for a moment, and then his lips move as he mutters something into the phone that isn't audible at your hearing distance. He waits for a reply, and then ducks discreetly into the one-room bathroom and shuts the door.
You can initiate them too if it's a particularly stressful/emotional moment, I apologize if I haven't been doing a good job of remembering to trigger it
@Sciborg I was thinking, because Fin is from somewhere rural/isolated I think her accent (while speaking human or Dwarvish) would be quite distinctive, even if it's not immediately placable?
