"What took you so long Ishtari boy?! I'm famished!" Dasnir growled.

"I told you my name is Rae."

"Ok then, Rae, are we going to eat or not?" Dasnir said, in a slightly condescending tone, as if he did not approve of a Prince being prompted to use the name of a commoner he just met.

"Yeah, yeah, hold your fucking horses." Rae said, smirking at the impatient Prince. "First, we need to discuss manners while we are out. Since you need to hide, and you want me to help you, then we need to all be on the same page, yeah?"

"Fine Isht—, Rae, what do you propose?" Dasnir said through his teeth, clearly annoyed at his dependency during the current situation.

"Well for starters," Rae began his instructions. "You should probably not speak to anyone, other than me, since you both have a strange... you know... Alien vibe going on. Also, don't bow to people..." Rae paused, trying to be specific, in order to avoid the oblivious Aliens misunderstanding him. "...Or each other for that matter... Just while we're in public." He saw the sour look on Fulbrik's face, and grimaced slightly at the Guardians obvious displeasure.

"And one last thing, don't loudly talk about alien races, or alien specific words, or refer to yourself as Warriors. Basically if you're unsure of what to do, it's probably fucking weird, so don't do it, ok? Remember we are just there for food, and until I can get you guys a bit more practiced at not sounding like you're from Outer-Space, then this'll have to do. Dammit, I didn't think about what you're wearing. I don't think my clothes will fit either of you..."

"Of course not, we are Asgeeri Warriors, and you are a small delicate Isht—." Dasnir trailed off, realizing he was annoying Rae with his comments, and he didn't want to upset his host, at least not before he was fed.

"Don't worry, there's a thrift store not far from here; we can stop there and get you guys some normal looking outfits. The old lady that runs it has really bad eyesight; I doubt she'll even notice how weird you both look. I've never picked clothes for other guys before, but it can't be any more suspicious than whatever you're wearing now."

Rae slapped his fist into his hand, gave a confident smile, and flicked his tail as he began to feel somewhat reassured by his own plan.

Within an hour, Rae and his Asgeeri friends had managed to grab some convincing human clothes from the thrift store, and were approaching Velma's Diner.

"I do not like this..." Fulbrik said, trying to recall the name of the apparel, "...Hoodie-thing." He pinched at the fabric with disgust. "These garments look slovenly, and are unfit for the physique of an Asgeeri Warrior. How can one be ready for combat in such a thing? Why must we debase the Young Master with this floppy bag with strings attached?"

"Hehe— Dude," Rae giggled, as he saw Fulbrik's reaction. "You should be praising my skills right now. You're lucky I could find one that even fit you. You're tall as fuck (Fulbrik is 6 feet 5 inches / 195.5 cm tall), even compared to the 'Young Master' (Dasnir is 6 feet / 182.88 cm tall)! He quipped, in a playful manner that imitated Fulbrik's habit of calling Dasnir "Young Master".

"Although, I didn't even know I had skills to pick out clothes like this... but I like the colors. I think I did a good job? Wish Abi was here, she's better at this sort of thing than me. Although, I'm not sure how the fuck I would tell her; I came across two Aliens."

"You are very strange with what you find amusing, Rae." Fulbrik said carefully, with a small twitch in his right eye, as if to remind himself not add a 'Sir' in there.

Dasnir was looking off towards the building they were approaching. "Is that it? It's small. Are you sure they have food?"

"Yes they have food you goof. Why the fuck would I go through this trouble if they didn't. Now remember, let me talk and do the ordering, just don't say anything unless you have to." Rae said with a confident grin on his face.

With the ding of the bell above the diner door, the boys entered and were greeted to the sweet scent of pancakes. The whole of Velma's smelt like heaven was cooked and served up on a regular basis. There was a bustling about of waiters and waitresses taking the orders of many loyal customers; as well as, the faint clanging of pots and pans hitting stove tops, and the sizzling of sausage and bacon being pressed onto hot flat-iron griddles.

"Hai there, welcome to Velma's how many ya got?" Said a young chipper blonde girl, with pig-tails and the white apron-ed uniforms that the staff of Velma's donned daily. She was rolling her hair in her fingers, tapping her foot and leaning against the front desk, while texting and chewing gum. The girl hadn't yet looked up to greet the Ishtari and Asgeeri customers; but rather, she seemed to be regurgitating a practiced greeting as she lingered in her own self-absorbed world.

"Oh no, not her... when did she start working here?" thought Rae.

Rae immediately recognized her as Stephanie Blaire, one of the most popular girls in his senior class. She looked up, and gave Rae a nasty look. "Eww, it's that freak... Clarissa! You can seat this one, keep him away from me." Stephanie yelled, with a look of disgust plastered on to her slightly overly-made-up face. You would think Stephanie had seen a stray flea-ridden cat run through the door.

Rae's ears sulked in his hoodie, at the familiar sounds of social rejection, and he was blush with embarrassment. Though this was not something he was unaccustomed to in general, he hadn't quite mentally prepared himself for being rudely called out by one of his classmates at Velma's. One of the reasons he liked this particular Diner is because no one from his school had worked there, until now at least.

"Oh my whose this strapping hunk?" Stephanie cooed. She sashayed herself around the desk and obviously bumping against Fulbrik with a clear sort of intention, yet the look on her face said: "Oops". "What can I get for you sweetie???" She smiled, as she practically drooled on his bicep; Ogling him with an obvious and uninvited lust. Sometimes in life men can be objectified, and sometimes Aliens can too. Stephanie managed to do both.

Fulbrik's eyes shifted down in their socket; and without moving his neck, he gave the lusty girl a doomish look of intimidation. His normally stoic tone was accompanied by a slight hint of displeasure as he spoke. "I believe you have missed your opportunity at bedding me, as you have so callously dismissed my companion and in such an unseemly public manner. I do not consort with dishonorable women."

"Ugghh— What the hell you weirdo?!" Stephanie exclaimed. She was clearly unaccustomed to rejection, especially weird rejections from weird Alien hunks. She ran to the back with her face bright red and her eyes half shut in embarrassment.

"BAHAHAHA" Rae laughed heartily, and wiped a tear of joy from the corner of his eye.

"Oh my god! Did you see the look on that stuck-up bitch's face? I'll never see something so great ever again. You're a true hero, Fuly." Rae elbowed the neighboring giant, then leaned in to whisper to them both. "But seriously, don't expose yourself unless you have to. I'm used to these assholes picking on me, don't worry." Yet even though his reminder was sincere, he was having trouble keeping a straight face, and kept giggling intermittently.

A few moments later and the boys were seated by their new waitress. Rae ordered three platters of Pancakes and Bacon for his new friends. This was one of his favorite meals, and certainly his favorite breakfast, and nowhere else made pancakes quite like Velma's.

"Here we are," Clarissa said, jaunty and swishy, as she sat down their food rather skillfully with just one hand.

"I gave you all some coffee and milk on the house. I heard what Stephanie said to you sugar, that was so mean. Consider this an apology, kids these days can be so cruel." The older brunette waitress scurried off, having delivered their order and done a good deed.

"There's no alcohol?" Dasnir sneered, in disappointment. "And what is this floppy disk?" He said holding up a pancake in bewilderment.

"Where do you come from where they serve booze with breakfast? —Haha!" Rae asked, as he laughed. "Here let me show you." He grabbed the pancake from Dasnir's hand and poured generous helping of syrup over it. Then he cut out a large chunk, and before Dasnir could protest, he shoveled it into the Prince's mouth.

Dasnir looked a bit angry for about half a second, and then his expression relaxed as he tasted Velma's delicious homemade buttermilk pancake recipe. "I tout I tolvd you..." Dasnir paused, and then swallowed. "This is very good. Give me more of this 'pancake'."

"Sure, but don't talk with your mouth full. —Haha— You looked ridiculous." Rae grinned at full-mouthed Prince.

"Master, have you tried this 'bacon'? It is very salty and crunchy. I've never seen meat prepared in such a fashion." said Fulbrik.

The Guardian had not been paying close attention to the Cat and the Prince. But as he looked up he saw for a brief second a small smile shine on Dasnir's face as he glanced at a giggling Rae. So brief and so small was it, that had it been seen by anyone other than his Guardian, who had years of practice at reading his Master; it would have gone completely unnoticed. The giant's steady hand shook, in a most uncommon fashion, and his fork dropped abruptly with a sound breaking the tranquility of the scene. He quickly averted his eyes and reached to try what human's called 'coffee', pretending as if he saw nothing.

The small usually insignificant sound seemingly wrenched Dasnir from a far away place, and the Prince's usual cold, distant, and emotionless expression swiftly returned. "Hurry and finish your food, Fulbrik, we have preparations to make. We can't stay here too long." He barked.

Rae thought Dasnir and Fulbrik had an uncomfortable feeling silence for the rest of their meal, as they barely spoke at all, and wondered if he had done something wrong. He very much wished to continue having these new friends, even if they were strange extraterrestrials; after all, they were the first real male friends the boy had ever had. And so he too absorbed their tension, and blamed himself, hoping that he had not lost them already.