“Got it. Can I grab a beer? What my buddy Moose is having,” Prancer handed over the bills.

“Me too,” Velvet said.

Prancer withdrew a larger bill from his wallet, and set it on the counter, sliding it toward the old man. “Gratuity?”

“No need,” the old man said. “Service fees and peace of mind are worked into the food prices. Order something, if you want to thank me.”

Beers in hand, they briefly considered sitting at the counter before Moose took a seat at one of the tables.

“Where you sit is important,” Prancer said. “Booth, you’re minding your own business, you’ve got walls around you. Sitting at the counter, you’re open to people approaching you and joining you, I think. Not entirely sure how it works here in particular.”

“I hear you,” Moose said. “But I was sittin’ funny the entire drive here, and if I sit on one of those stools then I’m going to have my back spasming the entire way back. I need a sturdy chair, here.”

“Sure, doesn’t matter that much,” Prancer said. He twisted around in his seat, one hand on his beer, taking a look at the others who were present. “Pretty laid back here.”

“Could be a quieter time of the day,” Velvet said.

“Out of the way place, too,” Prancer said. “You heard what he said about using powers? How many places have we been to, and how many allowed use of powers at all?”

“Ten. Ten places,” Velvet said, hunkering down over her beer. “This is the only one, I think. Might have been a rule in The Well, but that was more the kind of place where you don’t know the rules until someone’s punching your face in for violating them.”

Prancer watched as a faint speck of dust traveled across his vision, pink-tinted. He smiled.

Four teenagers in the corner booth. They wore dark clothes with symbols and designs spray painted on and bleached into the fabric. One with a bandanna on his head looked their way, and Prancer flashed the guy a smile.

Three in another booth, against a wall. Tinkers. There was a cloth strewn out over the table, and parts were laid out. They ranged from twists of metal to a glass tube housing something that looked like a large, chewed wad of gum. The wad was throwing itself against the sides of its glass cage.

He wondered how that worked with the ‘no business’ rule. Were they only talking shop? Where was the line drawn?