Once Edward was seated, he removed his mask and threw down his hood. Leila did the same— considering these were potential party mates. She was seated on Edward's right— between him and Markus. Once Edward revealed his face, Markus took a deep breath. Brandon didn't seem to react— his attention was too focused on Ikarus to think about anything else.
"Edward… I wanted to apologize for the way I acted the other day," Markus was the one who spoke first, "It was wrong of me and I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me."
"You won't have another panic attack?" Edward asked. Ikarus raised his head and gazed into Markus's eyes. The blond man seemed to shiver as Ikarus moved, but he didn't raise his voice or back away in fear.
"I'll try not to," Markus replied, "I'll do my best to get used to him."
Edward smiled, then turned to look at Ikarus. A mischievous idea formed in his mind and he didn't hesitate to act on it.
"Markus wants to play with you. Go have fun," Edward spoke in Draconic. Brandon and Markus gasped in surprise, one out of excitement and the other in surprise. Then, before either of them could ask the question hovering on their minds Ikarus hopped away from Edward's shoulder. The creature climbed over Leila's thighs— the woman took a moment to pet Ikarus's wings— before the dragon quickly made his way to Markus.
The man was practically frozen as Ikarus climbed onto his lap. As soon as Ikarus found his way onto Markus's legs he climbed up and put his paws on the blond man's chest. His eyes were staring into Markus's— demanding to be pet. Markus didn't seem to understand Ikarus's intentions. He was frozen stiff like a marble statue. He looked back at Edward, tears in his eyes, as he begged for help,"
"I think that terror you're feeling is just a side effect. Play with him— he's like a cat," Edward explained. Markus didn't seem to understand, so Edward continued, "He wants you to pet him, that's why he's staring at you so intensely."
"He does?" Markus whispered, confused. He slowly looked back at Ikarus, then slowly put his hand on Ikarus's wings. As soon as he did so, Ikarus purred and brushed his body against Markus's hand. This gave Markus a boost of confidence. Soon enough, Markus seemed to forget about the fear he felt as he began to treat Ikarus like any other housecat. However, Edward occasionally heard Markus whisper, "This is insane. What am I even doing?"
Edward looked away from Markus and turned his attention to Brandon.
"So, Bran, how have you been?" Edward asked. It had been months since he talked to his brother, so he was glad to get the opportunity now. Brandon smiled and turned his attention away from Ikarus.
"I've been doing good. Classes have been easier than usual recently, so I've found myself spending more time playing video games. When I got your text this morning, I thought you would be alone. Who is this?" Brandon asked as he gestured to Leila.
"I'm Leila. Edward and I just met," Leila answered. She leaned forward and offered her hand to Brandon, "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Sure, same here," Brandon smiled. He looked at Leila, then back to Edward. Edward watched as he appraised both of them and a confused expression formed on his face. Markus managed to look away from Ikarus— now as calm as usual, "You two have the same Origin?"
"Sort of. I originally had an Origin called Amnesiac. It allowed me to copy Edward's Origin and make it my own," Leila explained, "Before that, I was a Thief."
"I'm guessing you're going to ask us to join your party?" Markus asked. Edward nodded. As he did so, Brandon and Markus turned to each other and nodded. Then, Brandon spoke,
"What can you do, then? Your levels are both low, but we're more concerned with your abilities," Brandon asked.
"I can tame dragons and Leila can summon flames. What about you? What does your Bounty Hunter Origin do?" Edward asked. Brandon smiled widely.
"It mainly allows me to use whatever weapon I want without penalties. Markus can't use anything lighter than a hammer, or he'll suffer from a debuff. If I'm fighting an evil-aligned enemy, I become more powerful, as well," Brandon answered.
"Mine gives me more health and allows me to distract enemies," Markus said with a smile, "I'm the perfect tank."
'They're well balanced. It was a good idea to contact them,' Edward thought to himself with a smile. He looked at Markus's armor and asked, "How high is your defense?"
"Thirty," Markus answered, shocking Edward. Even Ikarus only had twenty-nine points in defense! What sort of juggernaut had Markus turned himself into? "I have twenty points in Endurance and my armor is worth ten. The only unprotected areas of my armor are my eyes, as well."
"That's very high," Edward mumbled. He looked at Brandon.
"I focused on my Luck stat. I don't really specialize in combat, to be honest," Brandon said.
"He's great to bring in a party though," Markus smiled, "His Luck stat has forced monsters to drop dozens of items. He's like a walking treasure chest."
"I'm not that great!" Brandon smiled. The two of them laughed together for a moment before turning back to Edward, "But that's good. I was worried that neither of you had very good abilities, but I shouldn't have doubted you. Why did you want to party up?"
"I wanted to have a larger party to level up easier," Edward answered, "You're the two I know the best in this game. If I hadn't managed to contact you, I would've had to party with people I didn't know. Obviously, I wanted to avoid that. So? What do you say?"
"We'll join you. That sounds fun."