"I totally want to meet everybody, for sure—when this whole deal with the metal is over it'd be nice to...well, I guess it depends on the weather, I was still thinking it was September. Barbecue on the patio or the backyard or whatever's out there. Some kind of doors-open thing, anyway." Erran had been awkwardly disinvited from a few barbecues over the last few years because of the vegan thing, until he made it clear that he was completely happy to eat nothing but grilled corn the entire time; he liked the summery atmosphere of outdoor parties and took any excuse. "Or geez, we must be getting close to Halloween, right? Wow."
When Gemma reached out to touch the elevator button, he noticed the same thing she had, that it didn't go up. Only down. "What's in the basement?"