Lauren slowly got up and out of her seat as the train started to make its way into 30th Street Train Station, she had spent the last week on her vacation spending some time with her family and a few of her friends which she could only get a few days off once a year just to visit them. As the train finally came to a stop at its station Lauren slowly got out and into the aisle as the other passengers got ready to get off of the train as well. She eventually got out carrying her backpack along with her suitcase walking past some other passengers and watched as others started to get into trains heading up to New York, and other cities.

She walked up the stairs and into the station itself walking past the ticket counters and then out onto 30th Street heading over to the closest bus stop and sat down waiting for the next bus to arrive which was ten minutes later where it eventually took her straight to her apartment Lauren set her things down onto the floor looking out the window and at the streets below today was a rather nice and comfortable day, and she didn't have to go into work until tomorrow.

Jakon sits astride his large Fat Boy, the huge engine roaring between his legs as he rapidly covers ground along the long stretches of unfamiliar roads. His saddlebags packed tight with all the essentials for road travel, maps, clothes, lighter and a couple of days worth of emergency rations and cold weather gear in case things go really wrong. The last few weeks are a mixture of seedy and dingy motels, road food and easy women.

Today is no different, a crappy hotel of the side of a highway after a long day of riding. Tonight there is no looking for a bar to drink in, just a rough bumpy bed in a crappy hotel and the sweet promise of sleep. Stowing what little gear he has away carefully and removing his thick leathers he collapses on the bed, the roads to travel tomorrow already calling.

Scott was awoken from his sleep by a tap on his shoulder from the stewardess.

"Sir, we'll be landing in Philadelphia shortly." She said, a polite smile beaming across her face.

"Okay, thank you for waking me." Scott replied, returning his own smile.
He was just returning from a disaster relief conference in Sacramento. It was rare that anything worthwhile came out of these conferences, but the powers that be had to show the public that they were always working to improve their service to them, or else risk having to fight a battle with politicians to justify their budget. Scott closed his laptop lid before sliding it into the laptop bag by his side. As he was doing this the pilot's calm and confident voice came over the intercom.

"This is your captain speaking. We'll soon be approaching Philadelphia International Airport, so we ask that all passengers please take their seats and fasten their seatbelts. We hope you have enjoyed your flight and we thank you for flying with Delta Airlines."

The fasten seatbelts light blinked on, followed by clicking as the passengers followed their instructions. Scott stared out the window and watched as the ground crept closer, before the ground rolling past the window started to slow as the plane taxied into the airport. Grabbing his laptop bag, he exited the plane and caught a cab home. Waiting for him at the doorstep was his wife, who embraced him at the doorway.

"You have a good conference honey?" She asked.

"Don't I always?" Scott replied, chuckling. He set the case down next to the door and headed off to bed, his body longing for the comfort that it offered.

Now that Shawn had finished his shift at Pennsylvania hospital, he headed towards the locker room to grab his stuff. As he removes his items from the locker, his friend Jeff walks in. Jeff was a small guy, about 5"5, but he was a friend.
"You finished too?", Jeff asked Shawn.
"Hell yeah, cant' wait to get home and relax. It's been a... Stressful day, to say the least. See you later.", Shawn replied.
"See 'ya." Jeff said.
As he left the locker room. Shawn zipped up his hoodie, tied the laces on his sneakers and put his work shoes in to his backpack. As he left the hospital, he headed down South street and popped in to a small grocery store on the left. Not intending to stay for a full shop, he grabbed a few items and headed towards the checkouts. A few bags of chips, some soda and a microwave dinner. Usual stuff. He paid for his items, and left the store. As soon as he stepped by, a fire engine with the sirens blaring speeded past. Not an unusual sight for the busy streets of Philadelphia.

Arriving at his apartment, Shawn unlocks the front door and enters in. 'Damn, it's good to be home.', he thinks to himself. He sticks his microwavable meal in the microwave and leaves it to heat up. He removes his hoodie, and then his work clothes. He puts on some sweat pants and a baggy t-shirt. After getting changed and freshening up, he removes the meal from the microwave and sits back in the living room. Flicking between channels, he stops to watch the news. Nothing abnormal, just usual stuff.
"Oh shit." He says out loud.
Local news shows the fire fighters tackling a fire that broke out only a few blocks away, in an Italian pizzeria. Shawn walks over to the window, and steps out on to the fire escape, which actually provides access to the roof. As he looks over the city, he faintly sees the smoke rising.

Fire fighters have the situation in control, the fire is currently being put out. Casualties unknown., that's what he hears as he re-enters the window of his apartment. Shawn sits back in sofa, whilst eating his meal. He considers going down to that area, he knows people from there. He decides to go, having nothing else to do. He puts his sneakers back on and leaves the building, whilst still eating his dinner.

Michael Wesley
Chestnut Street - Starbucks

It was only the first few hours in town, and already, he had been ditched by a 63 year old man and a 56 year old woman. It made sense, though. They didn't get out much, and once he drove them over to one of the public parks, with the fancy dog tricks, crystal-like ponds, and the sunlight and shade, Grandma had shooed him off, while his Grandpa laughed. He didn't mind - not at all. He'd only got back into his truck, and headed off further into the town. There was quite a few sights to see, and he enjoyed the time to himself, despite the somewhat bad traffic, seeing as this was a pretty busy time of the day. In the end, he ended up parking his truck at a Starbucks, while he got out to enjoy free TV, cool AC, and a nice, piping hot...

"And what would you like, sir?"

"Chocolate latte and a club sandwich, please." Michael reached down, taking out his deer-skinned wallet, while the cashier drummed his fingers on the table in front of him, rather impatiently. Taking out a 20 dollar bill, Michael paid for his items, before pocketing his change.

"Here you go, sir. Enjoy your stay." The cashier was a teenager, still pimply and lanky, and there was a certain rudeness about him - he didn't really like his job, it seemed like. Michael nodded his head, taking the offered cup of latte, and his place - which held a rather delicious-looking club sandwich, complete with toasted toast. While the smell was delicious, he doubted that it would live up to his Grandma's butter-milk biscuits and bacon...something he could eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Michael glanced around the cafe, taking notice of an empty booth near the windows. He made his way over, setting his food and latte down on the clean table.

"This is pretty nice." He sighed to himself, a smile pulling at his lips as he leaned back and took a sip of the latte. Damn it was steaming hot. This was a relaxing day;; he felt odd not moving around doing work, but he guess he deserved a break. His grandparents truly did. A few people walked around him, some giving him waves and smiles, which he replied with a nod of the head and a small, friendly smile. Nothing was out of the ordinary about a young, broad-shouldered guy wearing jeans, boots, and a white t-shirt.

"Aye sir!" The team says. They all give crisp salutes, before turning, and marching out of the room. They had just been issued weeks of leave, after several missions that had stressed out the team a lot. After exiting the room, everyone gathers their personal effects before making their way to their own destinations. Silver and Paul meet up, before heading to their individual apartments to get their luggage, before heading to the airport and catching their flight to the US, specifically, to Philadelphia.

"Glad you got us First Class, Sarge. Lovin' the extra leg room," Paul Garrett says, lifting his feet up and swinging them, as if to emphasize his point that he loved the amount of room that was provided. "Hey, let's not forget the USB chargers," Silver Fox says with a chuckle, as she flicks the page over in her book. She glanced at Paul's phone and his kindle on charge, a smile on her face, before relaxing for the rest of the long flight to Philadelphia.

"Are we there yet?"
Silver hadn't realized she had fallen asleep until she had awoken to Paul's question, and she was going to reply to him before she realized that he wasn't speaking to her, but a passing flight waitress. At that time, the captain of the aircraft announced that they were going to land, and everyone buckled their seatbelts before the craft descended to the airport. The craft touched down, and everyone got off, including the two SAS members, whom collected their bags and got a taxi to a house that Paul, as part of his side of their deal, had rented out for them. They unpacked, before trying to figure out what they wanted to do for the rest of the day. They finally decided upon going shopping for things that they didn't bring with them, and made their way to "Klein's Supermarket" for some shopping.

Kettle on the boil. Dinner on the stove. Petra Novak ran a hand through her short red hair as she stood in front of the stove, her eyes on the clock. These days, her husband was getting home earlier than usual, in fact two hours earlier. With that nasty cold going around the construction crew was short handed. They either opted to hire temporary help or wait until their crew was back to full size. However, it seemed barely anyone responded to their job add. Where were the mass of the unemployed? Petra's husband would end up arriving at the job site, ready to work, only to go home a couple hours later when less and less of the crew would show up. Whatever this cold was, Petra reasoned, it must be a strong one.

If only she knew.

At 2:30 in the afternoon, keys turned in the front door and her husband, Radek, grunted as her entered the home. Wringing her hands, Petra stepped out of the kitchen to meet him, surprised to see him home this early. The weekly norm had been 3:30 - he was an hour early.

"Ahoj," He greeted her in Czech, tossing his sweater onto the hook and planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Ahoj. Home already? This is an hour earlier than yesterday."

Radek merely shook his head, sauntering into the home, his nose directing him to the kitchen. "We are down by seven men. We cannot work like this." The man sighed. "I smell food," he said in Czech, winking at his wife.

Petra only grinned, leading him to the kitchen that he was headed for. The two conversed about the "cold" while Petra tended to the meal.

"I do think this cold will dissolve soon," Radek said as Petra served their early dinner. What neither of them knew was that it was only the beginning.

Set Trachtenberg
Mikveh Israel Cemetery

Set stood in front of the rather ordinary headstone, clutching a necklace and a bouquet of pink carnations. His hat and cane lay at the side of the grave and he seemed to have no trouble standing without said cane. His thoughts drifted back to his past, Vietnam, meeting his wife, having their daughter and of course, his wife's eventual death. He stood for a few more moments before sighing and laying down the bouquet at the foot of the headstone. He picked up his hat and cane while shoving the necklace into his jacket pocket. He made his way back to his car and started the engine, but didn't start moving quite yet. His eyes drifted across the street, a favourite shop of his wifes sat, staring at him like a challenge. His eyes narrowed as he turned the ignition off and got out of his car.

Set entered 'Starbucks' looking about as out of place as a toaster on a fence post. He swept his long black jacket back and reached into his pocket before pulling his wallet out of said pocket. He eyed the menu that was stationed above the counter before making his decision. He gave a courtesy smile to the young, pimpled attendant, a courtesy that was not repaid.
"An earl gray tea please" Spoke, Set. The attendant went through the usual speil before getting him his order. Set paid and began drinking it as he exited the establishment. To him it had too much of a 'hipster' feel to it, he certainly didn't get what his wife saw in the place. After his first sip his face turned to a small scowl, he leaned against a pillar inside the shop and pulled out his small, old mobile phone. He punched in a few numbers before raising the phone to his ear and talking.
"Hila, It's your father, I'm in that Moonbucks place and let me tell you-" He took another sip. "Oy gevalt is this bad" He could hear his daughter laughing on the other side of the phone.
"You need to get with the times, dad!" She spoke "Not everything can be made with as much time and effort as you make it, it is a fast-food shop after all."
"Would it kill them to put a little more citrus in it though?" Another laugh came from the other side of the phone.
"Dad, I've got to go pick, Sophia up from school, speak to you later ok?"
"Alright, bubbala, give my love to Sophia."
"And stop using those old Yiddish phrases! This isn't the Torah for Pete's sake!" Set laughed a little before closing over his phone and exiting the shop. He sidestepped a young trucker as he left the shop and got into his car.

Home
Set laid his cane down on the table next to his chair. He leaned over to his right and fiddled with the record player for a while before finally getting it to work. The music of 'Gilbert O'Sullivan' began to echo throughout his house. Namely 'Matrimony', Set's favourite song. He picked todays newspaper up from beside his cane and began to read, sipping the 'disgusting' tea as he did. He had longed for a hobby since his wife had died. He had tried out stamp collecting, kite flying and even trainspotting. But all of them had been too boring, and the third one had involved too much 'Irvine Welsh' literature. Nevertheless, he remained content in his small, boring life.

When one works with the general public, one quickly learns an important lesson: The General public are complete and utter bastards who should never be trusted with anything that requires two seconds of thought or consideration for the people that have to deal with the mess after they make it.

Andre had learned this lesson a long time ago, but that didn't change the fact that he still had to put up with it. Every day he went to work in Philadelphia at the public library was a new experience of the sick and twisted minds that he suspected were practicing to take over one of the many circles of hell; Books damaged by food, being handled too roughly, stolen, having pages torn out and spread around the building if not stolen outright and books being put back in the wrong places, paint!... and those were the standard issues he normally had to deal with by the end of the day. The weird and/or gross ones... the memories made Andre shiver.

He couldn't help but feel that the library would be better off if it just kept its doors shut and kept the general public out and away from the books. As he set another book back into its rightful place, he glanced towards his watch to check the time. About fifteen minutes past his shift, but there was so much backlog and it needed to be done while the library was closed otherwise it wouldn't get done at all. He didn't mind really... Being in the library by himself was rather peaceful after a bad day.

Lauren sat down on her couch watching the news she could hear sirens going on down the streets below as the news showed that an apartment was on fire. She got up from her couch and headed over towards the fridge looking down seeing that there wasn't much of anything at all left in the fridge. Letting out a sigh Lauren grabbed her wallet and turned around and headed out of the front door she decided to go down to a small convenience store just down the street.

Lauren opened the door to it grabbing some canned food as well as some ready to eat meals going over towards the register Lauren paid for what she bought before leaving the store and made her way over towards a Starbucks for some coffee.

Jakon checks his saddlebags quickly, making sure everything is where it should be and that nothing will become detached in todays long ride. Sleeping gear, spare clothes, a few ready to eat meals just in case there were no road stops nearby or something went wrong with the bike, tire puncture kit and a small spare fuel jerry. Everything looks to be right in about order.

Finally he throws his leg over his bike and pulls on his thick leather jacket, flexing his fingers in his armoured gloves as he places on his helmet. A good day for a long ride, and a city to resupply at the end of all of it maybe even a chance to make some extra cash quickly if he is lucky. Today is a good day.