[ Riz is, it must be said, more than used to receiving a less than sunny reception. This isn't quite that -- but the guy's twitching like he's seeing something unsettling and, momentarily forgetting that he could be that unsettling thing, he twists his torso around to look behind them.

Nope. A bunch of weird little tea parties, as far as the eye can see. ]

Uh. You good, dude?

[ It's the Goblin thing again, isn't it? ]

[ Riz cracks a hapless grin. ] Someone green?

[ It's not a real question; he's just joking, and it's clear that no offense was taken. He grabs the cookie with a bright word of thanks, but upon looking into his teacup, crinkles his nose. Upon further investigation, he finds that one of the teapots is filled with hot water and hot water alone and he digs into his briefcase and out pops a half-emptied bottle of instant coffee, which he then tips into the kettle of hot water. The cup of tea is unceremoniously dumped into the ground and is replaced by some highly potent looking brew.

He's not drinking it because he needs it. He's been sleeping well these days. But old habits die hard, and so does his love for coffee. He dunks the cookie into his cup of coffee and shovels the entire thing into his face in one fell swoop, which looks physically improbable, but he seems to have managed it okay. Pleasantly, as though what he did was perfectly normal, Riz asks, ] So, how'd you and Fabian meet?

For real? They sent a freaking dragon after you guys? [ Riz says, eyes round with alarm in-between taking a large draught of his frankly disgusting coffee mixture. Even Riz knows that this isn't exactly good coffee, but it doesn't stop it from tasting good to him. He'd probably eat instant coffee out of the package with a spoon if he felt deprived enough. ]

That's insane. We did kill a dragon once, technically, but that's a full party affair, not a two-vee-one. [ Then again... ] Did you kill it, or did you manage to lose it?

I've gotta imagine that was their intended solution. Unless you guys were truly superhuman, no way can two people take on a dragon alone.

[ He'd really prefer dragons come nowhere near him, honestly. He's pretty glad that he didn't have to face that one. ]

How'd you guys lose it? [ He takes a sip of that godawful instant coffee concoction he's put together. ] One downside of dragons is that they're a lot faster than we are. There was one guy in there that got to bring an entire motorcycle -- did you have one of those?

[ He's still deeply jealous, something he can't restrain well enough to avoid the envy dripping from his words being all too obvious. He wants a motorcycle. Life is truly unfair. ]

[ Riz gives Dean a toothy grin. ]

It's not!

[ It really, really isn't. He got all of the ratios wrong. He's not the sort of guy to put cream and sugar in his coffee (he had trained himself to like black coffee when he was around thirteen years old, on account of the fact that every single TV Detective went around drinking black coffee and he wanted very badly to be cool), but he has to admit that some cream and sugar might improve matters somewhat. Experimentally, he pours some in. From the coffee's clouded appearance, it may have made matters worse. ]

I poured in too much. But I like coffee, not tea, so. [ He shrugs, as though to suggest that disgusting coffee is still better than delicious tea, which it isn't. He holds up the tin and rattles it. ] Want some? I'd put in less, for the record.