The thought had passed Caspar's mind at least once, how convenient it would be to have Princess light up their wood stove at home, or the community bonfire. "She's a little young to be evolving anyway, but I'm leaving it up to her. She can kick plenty of butt in her current form." He grins at Princess, then gives Panda another thoughtful look. "They're all right, but they aren't as safe as the Plaza. There's also some nature spirit that's clogging up some of the hiking trails with vines."

Not that he's trying to spoil Panda's good time. But he'd like the bear to know what he's getting into if he goes exploring.

~*~

Well, that complicates things. She doesn't want to burden Ice Bear with knowledge of a timeline that no longer exists, but it does make her request more difficult to explain. "No, nothing happened to me. I mean, not anymore, technically... Listen, um. There's a man who visits the Nexus. His name is Jeff. He's Marie's boyfriend -- the redhead who offered you to work for her? He's, um... he's a good guy. Some stuff happened in his past, and I managed to fix that, but I'd rather not run into him again because I don't want to remind him of what he went through. Do you think you can give me a heads up if he's in the café? Just for a little while. If enough time passes, I don't think it will be awkward anymore if we run into each other."