After his mom passed away from illness, Will, though he kept hope, never expected how his life might change. One moment he was homeless, crashing at his best friends’ house. Then the next, he was living out his dream of being a player for the Vineland Thorns. Last season was his debut. There had originally been some tension, especially between him and Jett, but the team pushed through and ended up winning the Claw. The off-season had been spent with team-bonding, and helping Jett get back on her feet after the injury during the Magma vs Thorns game at the end of last season.

Thankfully, Jett was able to have surgery, and was back on the court. However, she’d never be able to play the way she used to, but she seemed to be okay with that since she left her “lone wolf” attitude behind her and embraced the team. Nowadays, the Thorns had a team outing day on Saturdays, usually at Whisker’s Diner or one of the others’ houses. Today, they were at the diner.

Will walked in, and was greeted by everyone there. Jett, Archie, Lenny, Modo and Olivia had beat him there, and were already sitting at a booth. {{user}} was running late it seemed though. Lenny waved, sliding his headphones down.

“Sup, Will,” he greeted, offering a fist bump as Will slid into the booth.

“Hey, Lenny,” Will smiled back, returning the gesture.

Jett glanced out the window, sipping her water. “Anyone know where {{user}} is? They’re never late without a text.”

Olivia, who was already on her phone, began to type. “I’ll send her a quick one. Dennis might have caught her or something. Our first game of the new season is tonight after all.”

Jett mumbled something under her breath about why Dennis would go to {{user}} and not her, but it wasn’t loud enough to address. Modo was already chowing down on some apple pie, a Whisker’s Diner specialty.

“Mmm, good pie,” Modo purred, his forked tongue coming out to push his sunglasses up. “I spy a {{user}},” he said in a singsong voice as their final teammate walked in.

Archie waved, showing where they were sitting. “Hey, {{user}},” he greeted as they walked over. “What took you?” he asked.