Luminary Institute

65: An Intrepid Group of Heroes

Nyssa and Celeste’s date ended up being interrupted by an intrepid group of ‘heroes.’ The moment they walked through the door, with the bells tinkling to signify their entrance, Conrad, Titus, and Albion all sat up straight and began waving their arms in the air like fan blades. Conrad, in particular, seemed possessed by a demon. He bounced in his chair, nearing orbital escape velocity. “Celeste! Nyssa! Come over here! Come on, come on! Join us!” 

With the three of them bursting from excitement, to an unnatural degree, Nyssa made eye contact with Celeste. After passing a few non-verbal messages through facial expressions, she followed Celeste towards... the opposite side of the restaurant. Before they made their quick-turnaround though, they tapped the waiter guiding them to their seat and asked for a new seat on the other side of the restaurant. 

The waiter, faced with the two of them—who had dressed up and put on makeup—froze a half-second, hid a blush, and began guiding them to a new table with a cheery smile. 

Celeste, scrunching up her face for a second after the waiter turned back away, leaned over to Nyssa’s ear. “He’s so innocent.” 

“He really is,” Nyssa shook her head. A faint smug air wafted off of her as she flashed a smile to Celeste. “Unlike me.” 

“Oh shut up, you’re more innocent than a dove,” Celeste rolled her eyes, squeezing Nyssa’s hand. “On another note, I suddenly seem to have contracted blindness, and a sudden urge to walk towards this side of the restaurant... strange development isn’t it?” 

“Truly, maybe it's something with the restaurants or the occupants,” Nyssa pondered aloud as she followed the waiter up the stairs. “Because I suddenly seem to have developed the same symptoms as you.” 

Celeste snorted after hearing Nyssa’s quip. Before any more conversation could happen though, the waiter motioned to a small table beside the window for two. He handed them a pair of menus and disappeared with a slight bounce in his step. 

Smoothing out her dress, Nyssa took a seat across from Celeste. She kept her hand linked with her lovely girlfriend’s, and began to peruse the menu. Once they settled down, quieted down, and in a cozy atmosphere where they could scan the food and drinks section of the menu though, they found their tranquility shattered by the neighboring table being dragged over by a certain notorious rambunctious trio. 

“Oh wow, this is a really nice spot!” Conrad slid up next to Nyssa, giving Celeste a brilliant smile. “We thought you two suddenly hated us, but turns out it was to guide us all to come to this nice and cozy area! Just... absolute genius. Can’t praise you two enough.” 

“It’s a really nice area indeed,” Albion nodded as a faint whistle of amazement slipped through his lips. “Far better than the busy first floor area we had been sitting in earlier. How did you two know to come up here? Been here before?” 

“We have... not come here before,” Celeste sighed, feeling veins popping up in her forehead as Titus sat down next to her with a few pats on the back. “This just opened didn’t it? It hasn’t been around for very long, how could I have come? We practically eat all of our meals together as a group.” 

“That is... true,” Titus sighed as he began looking over his own menu—one brought over from the previous table they had been sitting at. “You two are dressed up though, looking good.” 

“Thank you...?” Nyssa nodded her head, a faint speckle of curiosity tugging at her lips. Do I mention we’re dating? Or do I let them figure it out...?

“You two do look great!” Conrad hit a weird pose while half-sitting in his chair. “Amazingly so. The attractiveness of our entire friend group has to have gone up drastically with the addition of you two.” 

“I have no clue how it happened,” Titus leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms out and spreading his legs. “Because, Nyssa, you just joined our class, but I think you and Celeste are the closest two friends in our group as always, more so than the three of us who have known each other since our younger days.” 

“For sure...” Albion agreed as Conrad, next to him, nodded along as well. “Like, Titus and I met as babies pretty much, and we met Conrad in middle school, but somehow over the course of a couple months, you two seem to have surpassed us. But... I mean, well, you two are also girls and girls are naturally a little more touchy than us guys...” 

With Albion looking towards Conrad and Titus for their thoughts, Nyssa couldn’t help but look towards Celeste. An exasperated sigh left her mouth and she shook her head after watching Celeste mouth “dense as a brick.” 

The two of them though, accepted the situation and gave up the idea of their date though, electing to just unwind and have some random, chaotic fun with Titus, Albion, and Conrad as usual—never mentioning the fact they had... moved to another step in their relationship. 

Halfway through their meal though, the reveal behind the trio’s exuberant greeting came to light. 

“Can you please help us pack?” 

“I just napped through the entire morning, and haven’t even started packing. Any advice? Or like... time to lend me a hand?” 

“No, no, I’m the most urgent situation here, trust me, my room looks like someone bombed it, so please help me pack, will you two? I’m sure you two are very good at packing, as you’re both pretty neat, but, sadly, and as you all know, I am not.” 

Perhaps out of revenge for earlier, or perhaps just because they wanted to relax for a bit, Celeste and Nyssa replied to Albion, Titus, and Conrad’s desperate plea with a firm “No.” 

Celeste, on top of it, added a few more kind words, hiding a scary smile behind her hand. “Perhaps if you two had a little more foresight with your previous night, we wouldn’t be in this situation, right? Plus, you three are perfectly capable, and are all older than Nyssa and I, so I’m sure you three have this in the bag, after lunch you’ll still have six hours or so to get the packing done.” 

Glum, Conrad, Titus, and Albion nodded. 

“Expected...” 

“Yeah...” 

“I mean you have a point, but... yeah...”

Following this little interaction, the five of them returned to their own respective bowls of noodles. The sound of quiet slurping filled their table. Minute by minute though, Albion, Conrad, and Titus sped up the pace of their eating as the impending dread of having to pack their own suitcases began to set in. 

Once they finished, paid their bill, and dipped, Celeste and Nyssa sighed while looking at each other. Smiles of relief appeared on both their faces. 

“Hey, at least we still both have about a third of our own meals... we can enjoy it slowly, yeah?” 

“Of course.”