"Good to meet you again, Agne. How have you been?"
Place had a grin on his face as he shook Agne's hand.
The fish-eyed man blinked one of his eyes, and Place heard someone hiss through their teeth behind him.
A deep humming emerged from Agne's throat, followed by a series of clicks and a single high-pitched whine.
"Nice to hear that."
Place moved back as Emilia moved in to greet the newcomer.
A hand landed on his shoulder and pulled him back as she began to speak.
Otis whirled him around and leaned into his ear.
"What is that?" He whispered as the other two also leaned in.
"What are you talking about?" Place feigned a questioning look.
"That!" Otis vaguely gestured over to the talking two.
"Oh, him?"
"Yes, him!"
"That's Agne Khlakuntharri Shroit." Place casually explained. "We've known each other for a while, which reminds me, I haven't introduced you to each other yet."
Place took a step, only to be pulled back.
"Get back here!" Otis commanded with a hurried whisper.
"Explain!"
"Explain what?"
"Why does he look like that?"
As the four of them looked over, Agne looked over, and one of his blinked.
Place felt a shudder run through Otis's body, and Zandre looked uneasy.
"That's normal, it's part of his family traits."
"Shroit." Raise said, and Place nodded.
"Now come on, time to meet each other."
Place strode forward faster than Otis could react, and so they were forced to step forward behind him.
"Now then, people."
Emilia stopped speaking and Agne stopped his clicking and whining as they turned to face them.
"This is Otis March." Place started introducing each other, and Otis stiffly nodded.
"Raise Lith." Raise gave a short bow. "A pleasure."
"And Zandre." He waved his hand. "Nice to meet you."
"And these old friends of mine are Emilia Emils,"
"Greetings."
"And Agne Khlakuntharri Shroit."
A whine and a single click was his response, as his eyes looked at different people.
Otis was visibly uncomfortable, and Zandre looked a bit creeped out as well.
But Raise was watching Agne with fascination.
"You can stop now." Place spoke calmly, the grin gone from his face. "Any longer, and Otis is going to run away."
"A pity." Agne spoke as his eyes stared to change form.
Otis, Raise, and Zandre watched with horror and interest as his eyes shrank and moved inwards.
A few seconds later, his eyes had changed into a normal shape.
He blinked a few times and rolled his eyes around for a bit before shaking his head.
"Hey there! Nice to meet you!"
He thrust his hand forward in front of Otis, who was now looking a little sick.
"No?" He asked, moving his hand towards Raise.
"I have heard about your family." Raise took the offered hand. "Your partial transformation ability is fascinating."
"Thank you."
Agne turned to Zandre.
"That's so cool!" Zandre enthusiastically shook his hand. "How did you do that?"
"It's a family trait, and the process is not a comfortable one, but the benefits are worth it."
Place interrupted Zander before he could ask more questions.
"Now, I know you're curious, but it's lunch time, and I don't know about you, but I'm very hungry."
"Me too," Emilia admitted. "And we still need to know what the cafeteria has in store for us. Shall we get going?"
A series of nods went around.
"To the cafeteria then."
***
"Why were you scared?"
Place asked as Otis sat down with his tray of food.
They were the first two on the table, the other four were still picking out what they wanted.
The cafeteria was a large place, and it had multiple floors.
The tables were also of various sizes, made to seat 4, 6, or 10 people.
Large lanterns lined the walls and the ceiling, currently unlit as light poured in from the windows.
Near the entrance, there was a large table, behind which all the food was prepared.
"Of what?" Otis looked up and asked.
"Agne."
"I wasn't scared of him."
"You were."
"No, I wasn't."
Seeing that this wasn't going anywhere, Place changed his approach.
"Alright, but you were unsettled."
Otis looked down at his food.
"Maybe." He admitted.
"But can you blame me?" He started. "I didn't expect anything like... that."
"I admit that seeing something like that is strange, but you were shuddering."
"Things like that..." Otis grimaced. "They're unnatural, they are wrong."
"That's a strong word." Place took a bite. "Why? Why are they wrong?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's normal for a creature to gain beneficial traits if it can, so why is wrong?"
"I..." Otis frowned as he thought about it. "I don't know."
"Maybe it's just because it's your first time seeing something like this?"
Place offered an explanation.
"Not quite." Otis negated that as Zandre and Agne walked over.
"I saw a snake shedding its skin once." His face scrunched up as he remembered that situation.
"The idea of a human doing that..." He shuddered.
Place imagined that scenario in his head.
"Thank you for that mental image." He deadpanned.
"What are you talking about?" Zandre questioned as he sat down.
"I won't speak about it, because I still want to eat right now."
Place drove that image out of his mind and focused on his meal.
"Sorry about that," Otis smirked. "But you now see where I was coming from, right?"
"Enough, eat."
"Right, right."