A Human’s Guide to Surviving Magical Mishaps by Kit Bryan
Rule 73- If you’re the fifth wheel: Embrace your role as the wild card - you add the spice, the unexpected twist, and sometimes, the comic relief!

I encourage the guys to send their own responses to the dinner invite. There's no point in having a practice conversation if I answer on their behalf all the time. Once again Fin sends a short essay and Ashton's answer is brief. Conversation practise for confused fae and confusing humans

Ashton- Okay whattime is dinner?

Finvara- I appreciate the invitation and would be happy to come to dinner with everyone. I look forward to meeting you Marcus and to seeing you again Lucy.

The next message is confusing because it's a photo message and Ashton sent it. The photo is the flash photography photo he took way too close to my face and I look kind of horrible squinting against the light with my mouth open mid sentence. You can see Fin in the edge of the photo, clutching his phone tightly.

"Ashton! Why would you send that?" I whine, half horrified and half amused.

"I did not intend to. I was working on sending a text and I missed a key and it opened the photos. I tried to go back to the messages but it just somehow sent the photo. I apologise." He says guilty. I can't help but giggle. It really is funny, and at least he only sent it to Lucy and Marcus.

Conversation practise for confused fae and confusing humans

Ashton -IMG01

Lucy- Well, that's... Not a very flattering picture. I'm guessing it was an accident?

Marcus- Damn Luce, you're cold. Also, is that Fin in the background? You ladies did not exaggerate. <3 ;)

Kat- He didn't mean to send it. I don't know that he meant to take it either. It really is an awful photo though. :/

Ashton- I didnot mean to send thatphoto,. But I do not agreethatit is a bad picture. Kat always looks lovely.

Kat- Thanks Ashton. :) You're wrong though.

Finvara- I am confused. You are sending little smiling faces and hearts. How are you all doing that? Is there a trick to it?

Lucy- They're called emojis. You can find them in your keyboard settings. Kat can show you, or I can show you at dinner if you're not in a rush. Finvara- I will wait for your assistance. Thank you.

Lucy- :) Great. Dinner will be at 6:30 by the way. That gives Marcus and I time to go home and change into something less horrendous after work. Marcus- Speaking of work... This break of yours has been extraordinarily long Lucy.

Lucy- I get it, I'll go do my job. I'll see you later everyone! TTYL (Talk to you later) Marcus- I should also get back to work, but feel free to call if you need anything. Ashton- Thankyou

Finvara- We will see you both later.

Kat- Thanks guys, see you at dinner. Good luck at work and remember, you aren't allowed to fight customers, no matter how rude they are. Marcus- Sigh...

I spend a few minutes explaining the emojis to Ashton and he ends up texting me an entire stream of them. I offer to show Fin as well but he declines saying that he plans to wait for Lucy to explain them since she already offered and he doesn't want to be rude.

"Oh! The camera changed somehow." Ashton shows me that he's swapped it to the front facing camera.

"Yeah, it's so you can take pictures of yourself and still see what you're doing." I explain. Ashton's eyes light up. Without hesitation he leans in closer to me and takes a picture of the two of us.

"This is the best picture so far." He says proudly and I smile at him. He really is a sweetheart, even if he does like to tease me.

It takes a few more minutes but eventually I manage to convince the guys to put their new phones down long enough to take them grocery shopping. We need more food and snacks. The entire experience is hilarious. Apparently shopping in the fae realm is a very different experience. Neither of them understand how there is so much plastic on everything but they are amazed at the sheer quantity of the items and that such a large place is run by so few people. I let them help me pick out the snacks and this must be what it feels like shopping with toddlers because they're constantly just grabbing things and throwing them into the basket without even checking what they are first. It's a good thing I'm just getting whatever they want because I would hate to see two grown men in tears which is what I suspect would happen if I ruined their fun. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration but they're definitely very enthusiastic. Finally we make it home and I instruct the guys on how to charge their phones.

"Come on, take a break from the phones for a little while. They'll charge faster if you aren't constantly using them. We still have a few hours until we need to leave for dinner, what do you want to do?" I ask. The question seems to focus Ashton who sighs deeply before straightening up.

"I would like to look for the final assassin. Can you assist me to use your laptop and search the news stories as you did before?" He asks hopefully.

"Of course." I agree easily. Ashton does more of the computer stuff this time. I mostly just sit next to him and point out what he needs to do. His typing is still slow, but he doesn't have to type a lot to do a basic search. Sadly we don't find anything even remotely useful. By the time we have to get ready to leave for dinner, Ashton is clearly disheartened. I do my best to reassure him, but it's Fin who actually succeeds.

"Don't feel bad, we only just started searching. I'm sure we will find the assassin eventually, I can call George later and see if he came up with anything. This is just one method of searching." I remind him.

"If you have not found any deaths by poison is that not a good thing? It might make the fae easier to find but for the sake of the humans it is best that the assassin is lying low, is it not?" Fin points out calmly and Ashton actually does seem cheered by that.

"That is true, you are optimistic today Fin. I wonder why that is. Or maybe you are just eager to leave for dinner." He smirks at his friend who maintains his perfect composure and just gets the door for us to leave. I grin at Ashton's teasing but I can't help but think that it's going to come back and bite him. Fin and Lucy are still getting along great but I still just can't picture things ending well. Still, they're adults and it's their decision, but if Fin hurts my friend I am going to have to kick his ass.

When we arrive at O'Connel's Lucy and Marcus are already seated. Lucy jumps to her feet and greets me with a hug, then gives Fin the same greeting. Ashton gets a cheerful wave, much to his relief. Marcus stays where he is, lounging in a booth seat and watching us all interact curiously. I slide into the seat next to him.

"Hey Marcus." I give him an awkward one armed hug as best as I can in the limited space. He pats my back and grins at me.

"Hiya Kat. So, are you going to introduce me?" He asks. His smile is dangerous, I just know that he's planning something. Oh dear.