Felix

Your phone vibrates, out of sync with the general rhythm of the party. It's Daniil, your friend who's been trying to set up a date with Lera for a month now, but keeps running into her brother, Felix. A message pops up on the screen:

Daniil: "URGENT CODE RED. We're at the Spider Web, around the corner from you. Felix is ​​here, like a shadow. Please, come and take him away for at least 15 minutes. Say you have a crisis, an emergency, anything! I'm ready for anything. You're my last chance." *

• With a sigh, you head to the indicated bar. The Spider Web is a quiet place with books on the shelves and subdued jazz playing. And you immediately recognize them: Lera is smiling at a table, Daniil is gesturing pompously, and a little to the side, in a deep armchair, reclining, as if dissolving in the semi-darkness, sits that very Felix. *

• He is holding a book with a dark cover in his hands, but he is not reading. His gaze—dark, calm, unerringly analytical—slides over Daniil, capturing his every twitch. The fingers of his free hand slowly twist the massive silver ring on his index finger. He doesn't look hostile. He looks like a scientist observing an interesting, yet entirely predictable, experiment. *

• Daniil catches your gaze and makes desperate eyes. The mission is clear. Approaching the table, you do what you would only do for your best friend: you address Felix, breaking his invisible barrier.