Frank and Lauren had to turn off the stream after Lincoln started screaming his head off, a sizable crowd had gathered around their table to watch the stream once the first quake from the portal summoning appeared. At first it was only one curious onlooker, who politely asked what movie they were watching, then it was some college students, and before long Frank was feeling hemmed in as every employee of the café had come over to watch Lincoln as well. Frank suddenly regretted not putting his headphones in. But he let them watch anyway, he knew once he saw the beam of emerald light from the sky that this was it. The real deal, a portal opening on Earth.
"What the hell was that anyway? It looked like the best special effects I've ever seen!" said an older gentleman, the cook at this café.
"Effects? Buddy, I'm telling you those weren't effects. He really shot those monsters. Did you see when the spear guys charged him? Those weren't really short stunt men. But how did he know that was going to happen? Is he the fucker that took my lottery win last week?!" Said another man in his late 30's
"Maybe he's with the government. Although he seemed like he was alone, and I doubt the FBI, CIA, or whoever would let some guy livestream that if he was with them" one of the students chimed in.
"No, you missed the beginning, he was talking to his viewers" Frank piped up, "This guy has a whole community set up and he's been talking about this stuff for a few weeks now. I only just found his page the other day, I was lucky to catch this live. Apparently this isn't the first time something like this has happened" He tried to be very nonchalant about it, he didn't want to stretch belief too far and have these people snap at him. He needed them to come to the conclusion that something was wrong by themselves. While the small crowd stewed over what he just said, he stole a glance at Lauren. She was shivering like she'd just come in from a raging whiteout blizzard. He wasn't the only one to notice her quaking or the way her expression dropped to the floor.
"Jerry, could you whip up some tea for this young lady? Is green tea okay with you, miss? How do you like it? Milk, sugar?" The cashier who was manning the register before coming to watch the stream, a man barely older than Frank, took it upon himself to find a means to calm Lauren down. He turned to Frank and said "Don't worry, the tea is on the house"
When his sister didn't respond, Frank got a little worried. He reached out and touched her hand. "Lauren? How do you want your tea?"
"Huh?" she came back to her senses, her hand still shaking even if the rest of her body seemed to have come under some measure of control.
"This kind gentleman is offering you tea, do you want anything in it?" Frank said slowly
"Y-y-yeah. M-milk and brown s-s-sugar. P-please." Frank squeezed her hand
"Hey, thanks for sharing the vid, man. Can I get that guy's channel name real quick?" one of the college students asked, "we're gonna head back to our seat after, promise"
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"But I have so many questions..." his friend piped up
"Shh, we can figure that out ourselves, rude ass" Frank quickly brought up Lincoln's channel name and the student looked it up on his phone, following the channel immediately. "Alright, thanks. Rudy, we gotta get you a gun or something. And a fucking clue!" the more polite of the two said as they turned to go back to their own booth seat, the crowd dispersing with them. Except for the kindly cashier. If Frank had to guess, this guy was probably a manager, or the owner.
"Please, let me know if you need anything else" He too, finally nodded to them and went back to the counter.
"Lauren, are you okay? You seem a bit shaken up" Frank gently probed at his sister, who hadn't said a word past ordering her tea.
"F-frank. It's real. It's all real. What do we do?"
"The same thing we've been doing. Take it one step at a time. Remember, knife today, then range tomorrow. Deep breaths. You're going to be okay. I'm right here, I won't let anything happen to you, that's a promise" He met her eyes as he said that, suddenly her breathing became more steady and her hand stopped shaking almost entirely.
"Excuse me, can we get that tea to go?" Frank called over to the register.
"Sure thing! I'll be right over with it in a moment" The manager replied
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Back outside, after Frank finished off his plate and paid for their initial meals, the sibling duo were heading back to Frank's car, Lauren holding onto her free tea. Just before they were about to get in the car, Lauren tugged on Frank's sleeve.
"Frank... After we go buy my knife, you were going to go on deliveries, right?"
"Yeah, why?" he turned to face her, concerned since she had just had some kind of anxiety episode not a few moments ago. Honestly, Frank himself wasn't quite so sure why he wasn't having just as bad a reaction.
"Can I come with you? At least until mom comes home from work?" She pleaded gently.
"Lauren... yeah sure, of course you can! But, will you be okay in the car by yourself? My plan was to pick up the food and then practice my teleport skill. It would save me on gas and help me in the future"
"Fine. Just try not to take too long. I... don't want to be alone for too long right now." she looked Frank in the eye as she continued "You have to promise me you won't try to fight anything like we saw at the end of that stream. There's no way you could fight that thing without a whole tank rolling up, even then I don't know if that's enough"
Frank smiled back at his sister, her worry plain on her face.
"Don't worry, I won't have to. Because I can do this, remember?" He activated [Total Invisibility] and walked quietly behind her, giving her a big hug "If you can't tell I'm coming behind you for a hug, how is a dragon going to know I'm walking past him, or a goblin to know I'm going to stab him clean through the heart?" Lauren let out a little yelp at first, but then settled down. He was right. If those monsters were anything even close to life on Earth, they would rely on their eyesight first and foremost. What they can't see, they can't find. And if Frank found them first, she hoped, they were already as good as dead.
Having demonstrated his powers again, Lauren felt more confident that Frank would be okay in the future, and that she wouldn't have to worry so much. She just needed to keep him updated on monster lore to make sure he knew what he was facing.
"Alright, alright, I get it" She left his grasp, breaking his stealth in the process by pulling his arm away, "Now lets go buy the knife! I want a really cool one!"
"Nuh-uh, you're getting a practical piece. You wanted a knife to feel safe, not to look cool" Frank unlocked the doors and the siblings sat down, buckling up for the next leg of their journey.
"No fun! You're such a pussy boyscout"
"Hey, just because it's gotta be practical doesn't mean it can't look good. Trust me, we'll find you something"