Ming-Lon "Daniel" Lee

Location: His apartment, location coffee shop
Interacting with Bora inedverdently @Apokalipse Atsuko via text @Lady Hestia Zahra @Beefydork

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Its Autumn. For all intents and purposes it was a slow news day for Daniel. He checked his phone, looking at various types of social media, trying to see if there was any breaking news that he needs to be on the scene for. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending how one looks at it, there was not much going on in the world of sports... For the most part, days like this Daniel wished he can cover some of the bigger sports. Football was in full swing. Basketball was getting underway. Baseball is in the final stretch before the playoffs and hockey is right around the corner as well. Instead, the sports he covers, track and field and other various 'smaller' sports, decided to take the day off.

Stretching out at his desk, he spun around on his chair and spoke to Zay, his roommate, "Zay! I'm heading out for coffee, want me to bring you anything back? Oh and do you have a performance tonight or something? I was thinking we can ordering and check out Deadpool if you haven't see it?" He looked towards the window absentmindedly before getting up, walking to his room to grab a few things to get himself ready. He grabbed a quick shower and dressed in a simple white t-shirt, well fitted dark jeans and a part of North Carolina blue retro Jordan 12s. With his sunglasses framing his eyes, he did a quick double check of the essential 'cellphone-keys-wallet' combination before leaving the apartment.He called out to Zahra before leaving "Just text me your order if you want something!".

On his way out, he walked past several of the residents of the building. However, the people that he regularly spoke with did not seem to be present. He assumed them to be asleep anyways. There was one person though. He walked past her and could have sworn that he knew her from somewhere, but he did not even think to ask. Walking down the street, thinking about the coffee order he was going to place reminded him of the text he needed to send.

Scrolling through his phone, he found Atsuko's contact information and sent her the following..

"Atsuko, its Daniel. I think its about time your cafe placed a order. I don't think we've receive that yet. Just a friendly reminder that you should look into that. Also, let's not let whatever we did stand between us... After all, it was fun, right? I mean, I wouldn't mind if it had happened again... Anyways, you can call me or my people and get the order taken care of."

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Aching. That was the first thing Reed felt as he was awoken by the sound of his front door closing. He slowly opened his eyes, yawning and scowling at the awful taste in his mouth. He was hungover, that much was certain. Squinting against the sunlight that was streaming through his window, he got out of bed, only to realize he was without clothes. Fuck he thought, frozen in place as he went back through the events of the night. He'd been bored, and When Harry Met Sally had been on. So he'd gotten out the vodka and texted...Roxy.

Fuck indeed he thought, shaking his head as he made his way to his bathroom, turning on the shower. He looked into the mirror at his face, a face that looked like it had been through quite the night. His hair was a mess and he had bags under his eyes. He might not have been able to figure out what exactly had happened, but he had a good guess. He hopped in the shower, letting the hot water wash away his guilt. Well, most of it.

He had known Ryan liked Roxy. Of course he had, the dude was his best friend. And he'd still hopped under the covers with her, as soon as the liquor hit his lips. This was the kind of thing a shitty person did. He'd punch himself if he could. Groaning, he got out of the shower and dried off, wrapping the towel around his waist and walking back into his room, where he quickly got dressed. After quickly doing his hair, he noticed a text from Roxy. He sighed. How much more awkward could things get. Walking into his kitchen, he shot off a reply, while preparing a cup of coffee.

To - Roxy
Hey...

Sighing, he brewed his coffee and poured it into a mug, sipping it and looking out onto the city. He'd fucked up. He knew that much. And as much as he knew it, he kept doing it, again and again. Sighing, he went to pour himself a bowl of cereal, only to discover that his apartment was currently devoid of food. Whelp, Ryan probably has food he thought, heading out of his apartment and down towards 503 where he proceeded to bang on the door.

"Ryan! It's Reed! Get yourself decent Lady Killer, I need food!" he shouted through the door, most likely pissing off most of the neighbors, not that he really cared. At this point, all he wanted was food, and to be able to talk to his best friend. Granted, he really couldn't talk to his best friend about anything important, seeing as how the only important thing in his life was how he was sleeping with said best friend's crush, but hey, who said life was easy?

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Liam had been up for close to thirty minutes and he was already glued to his phone. Filling up Sancho's bowl with food, he gave the small cat a little scratch behind the ears as he moved over to the coffee pot, taking his thermos and filling it up with his free hand while he scrolled through the Associated Press app on his phone. There was a full day ahead of him, and there was something about this day in particular that had Liam up, about and keen to see things unfold. Filling the thermos, he left the coffee pot where it was for Joseph when he got up and pulled his bag over his shoulder, moving toward the door and out.

Glancing down the hall, Liam smiled as he saw Reed banging on Ryan and Roxanne's door. Wandering toward the elevator, he gave Reed a nod as he passed. "Morning." He greeted plainly and simply before wandering into the elevator, making sure for a moment that no one else wanted to hop in before he sent it down to the ground floor. Heading out of the building, Liam sighed for a moment as he took a long drink of his coffee, he hadn't slept much the night before, having spent most of the night compiling a brexit report for that evening's broadcast, but after his time at Harvard and the time he'd been at CNN, he was used to not sleeping much.

Liam didn't bother with a cab, the benefit of living in Times Square apartments was that it was close to everything, and that included his work. Peering up from his phone from time to time to ensure he didn't walk into anyone, it wasn't long before he was at work and wandering into the newsroom. Greeting his coworkers, he dropped the report in his bag on his bosses' desk and moved to his own desk. Bringing up his news alerts, Liam chatted idly with his staff and started his usual routine of sending out e-mails and texts to the appropriate people in regards to the show that evening. As usual, this included a few of the people who he happened to live with. Grabbing his blackberry, he leaned back in his chair as he began to type a pair of texts.





Setting down his phone, he let it rest by the keyboard while he waited for any response, leaning forward at his desk as he started going through his own e-mails, pitches from his staff, tips from whoever, and the occasional bit of spam. The work day was just starting and, strangely, Liam was looking forward to it.

Joseph was woken up by the thin, bright light coming through the window. He thought he closed the blinds the night before, but the rude awakening proved him wrong. His vision stolen by the light, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and rushed to the window and closed them. He blinked a few times, giving his eyes time to adjust, and rubbed them. After he was able to see clearly, he slowly opened the window back up, now that he was able to look out without being blinded. People were already doing their errands, going to work, and catching cabs. Many people walked with suitcases, some with shopping bags, and others with plain purses. The majority of the sea of people flooding the streets were talking on their cell phones, likely business work.

The window was fairly large, but a little lower than most would be. He stood before it window, looking out at the people, until he realized he was only in his underwear. He quickly rushed over to his dresser and picked out a pair of slim jeans, pulling them on rather violently. He went through his shirts, picked out a nice black shirt, and buttoned it up. He pushed his fingers through his hair to rought it up a bit, and glanced in the mirror to make sure it was alright. He looked pretty good, at least he thought so. Casually formal, as he likes to describe himself.

The mirror was just one of the many things he had on his walls. There were many random posters, signs, and other hanging things that he'd taken from previous sets that he'd worked on. Many of them were going to be thrown away, but he'd prefer to keep them safe, not in the trash. They're like suvenirs to him, something to remember each and every place he's worked. He had a pair of swords, which might be his favorite suvenir ever, that was from his third movie. It took place in the Civil War, and he was cast as the supporting character, an officer. He had been able to keep both the sword used, one of them real and the other was actually retractable. Obviously they can't use real swords to stab, so they used angles to make it seem like they were being killed.

When he finished reminisching about his past, he left his room, going straight for the coffee maker. He dodged Laim's cat, Sancho, who was laying right in the middle of the room. Jeez, ate and everything already. Eating must be real exhausting. He got ready to turn the machine on, but noticed that it already had been turned on. He poured himself a cup, slugged it down pretty quickly, and poured one more to kill off what was left. Before he forgot, he pulled out his phone, checked the weather, and thanked Liam for the coffee.



Joseph slipped his phone back into his pocket and returned to his bed, staring out the window once again. It seemed oddly bright for a normal morning, but he began to feel particularily odd himself. He suddenly got a strange feeling in his stomach, something good. It usually happened when he was nervous, afraid, or intimidated by something, but he found it almost comforting for once. Something good was going to become of the day, he was sure of it. Unsure of what it was, though, he began to fantasize about what could happen. Thoughts ran through his head, but he couldn't think of how any of them could happen on just a regular day. He forced it to the back of his mind, figuring that he'd just let the day play out.

Pulling his phone out once again, he scrolled through the latest news. Nothing too exciting, there were a few big sales going on, some store was being inspected for health violations, nothing new. After he'd finished, he went onto the website of a local theater, checking to find any plays he may have a chance in. Many of them were kids plays, silly takes on films, that kind of thing. But one thing, however, did catch his eye. They were creating a production of Reservoir Dogs, one of his personal favorite films.

"No way...!" he muttered to himself. He immediately wrote down information of where the auditions were, what time, and everything he may need to know. He couldn't decide what role he would go for, though, he loved them all. Rather than deciding right then and there, he chose to wait awhile, think on it a little bit. He did, of course, want to spread the news. He knew the movie like the back of his hand, he could definately play anybody in the play! He had to tell somebody.



Out of excitement, he opened the apartment door, not realizing that he had no shoes or socks on. He got half way down the hall before noticing and ran back to his room. He through on some socks, slipped his feet into some black slip-ons, and returned to the hall. He noticed Reed infront of a door just down the hall, giving him a quick wave before quickly decending the stairs. The auditions happened to go on all day, and only that day. He got out the door in a hurry, and hopped into his car. He figured that it may not be a bad idea to go for a little drive, go stop and get breakfast somewhere, get ready for the audititons. He would be able to look up some lines, get familiar with the material once again. The quicker he could be ready, the better. He was determined to get a role, no matter what it was, and wanted to do so as quick as he could.

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Reed’s got a girl over again. Leo rolled his eyes as he noticed the pair of high heels tossed idly by the front door. Considering it was only six in the morning, she was probably still there, too. I wonder if she’s someone I know. He was half tempted to take a quick peek in Reed’s room to find out, but quickly banished the thought. After all, there was no guarantee that his roommate and his latest partner were under their blankets, and Leo really didn’t want to scar himself first thing in the morning. Nope. Definitely a bad idea, he shook his head as he knelt down to slip on his running shoes, moving quietly so he wouldn’t wake the sleeping couple.

The app on his phone had predicted nice weather that morning, so Leo was taking the opportunity to go for an early morning jog before work. It was a difficult habit to keep up in the crowded city, since there were few places that were open enough to do a real workout, but he was committed. Also, there weren’t many other people crazy enough to wake up as early as he did to go for a run in the park. Most New Yorkers were creatures of the night, partying late and sleeping in. Leo used this to his advantage.

He crept silently out the front door and headed down the hallway, taking the stairs to the lobby for an added bit of exercise. Once he reached the front of the apartment complex, he broke into a light jog, making his way to Central Park where he ran on a short circuit for five miles. He had a pleasant time of it. The sunrise in the East, the slight breeze that cooled his skin, the friendly smiles of other crazy, early morning runners… It’s a good day today, Leo thought as he sat down to rest on a bench.

Feeling accomplished as he looked out over the park, he decided to send Ryder a text:



Once he felt rested again, Leo made his way back to his apartment to get ready for work. When he got back, however, he found that the lights were still off, and his roommate and the mystery girl were still in bed. He sighed as he took his running shoes off by the door, Looks like I’ve gotta finish up quietly. He took a quick shower and changed into a gray suit for work, then checked his briefcase to make sure he had all of his supplies and headed out once again to the subway train that would take him to his job.

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12:30PM

Leo yawned tiredly as he walked into the company break room. The think-tank he was apart of had just spent the entire morning going over a new project, and he was exhausted from sitting around for hours. Fortunately, he didn’t have to bother going out to eat on his break because the head of his department had provided sandwiches for everyone. He pulled up a chair at one of the empty tables, took a sandwich, and pulled out his phone, lazily scrolling through his social media updates. There was nothing interesting. Maybe there’s someone I can chat with. He opened his contact list and skimmed through the alphabetized names as he decided who to text. Involuntarily, his eyes lingered on one name in particular: Atsuko. If he was honest with himself, she was the one he wanted to send a “hello” to more than anyone else, but he forced himself to scroll on down the list. We don’t talk enough... I don’t want to seem like a total creep. So instead, he opened up a text conversation with another person:



Leo set his phone down and continued to munch on his sandwich as he waited for a reply.

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Reed chuckled as he walked into Room 503 wincing at Ryan's noise level. "I may look like shit, but at least I'm hot shit," he replied with a smirk, yawning and taking the cereal box from Ryan. He grabbed a bowl from a cupboard and filled it with cereal, before pouring in milk. "And I will go grocery shopping, eventually. I mean, I'm sure Leo will go if I don't so, it'll all work out," he said, smiling as he took a bite of cereal.

Taking a seat on the kitchen counter rather than at the table, he took a bite of his cereal as Ryan told him about his friend's performance. I shouldn't go, not if Roxy's gonna be there. But would it be weird if I didn't go? Fuck. There was a civil war waging inside his head, all culminating with him saying something that he was sure he'd regret. "I'll come, if that's cool. Sounds like fun, and afterwards we can all go get shitfaced," he said, smirking.

Just then his phone buzzed in his pocket, alerting him to a text. He fished it out of his pocket and saw it was a text from Roxanne, asking about her scrunchie. How the hell am I supposed to know if she left her scrunchie at my place? he thought, trying to see if he remembered seeing it. He shook his head and shot her a text back, then tapped one out to Leo.

To - Roxy
Uh idk i'll look when i get back

To - Leo
Hey if you get the chance, can you grab some groceries? we out

Reed stopped himself from giving off any sign that something was up. He didn't want Ryan to be suspicious, as that would end poorly for both of them. "So, how are things with Roxy? Are you so hardcore crushing that you won't let me set you up tonight? Cause, I don't mean to brag, but I am the Matchmaker Extraordinaire," he said, grinning at his friend, while mentally scolding himself for bringing up Roxy. Oh yeah Ryan, how's your roommate who you have an insane crush on? By the way, we slept together last night, just so you know. Reed Riley, how the hell did you make it all these years?

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Ryder started off her day by being awoken with a phone call which she answered extremely quickly, wasting no time and letting out a “Hello” that clearly said, ‘this better be important if you’re waking me up when I haven’t even had a cup of coffee or tea.’ She yawned as her co-worker spoke to her about how he screwed something up with the case files. Ryder cursed under her breath and groaned.

“Really? Are you kidding me right now? You’re making me feel like i’m PMSing and it is nowhere near that time Jeffrey. Fucking get your head on straight and straighten that shit out. It better be flawless when I get into work.” with that, she hung up the phone, putting it on the table beside the bed and getting out of the bed. Her head felt terrible, clear that she had one too many drinks. But it wasn't totally her fault. The beer at Lion's Den was really good and they were having a drinking contest that she was somehow dragged into. Seriously, she had no idea how it happened.

Ryder went into the small kitchen and grabbed an apple. Who cared if it wasn't much, she'd probably end up eating something later. She looked over at the clock and her eyes went wide. "Well, fuck." she had stuff that she was supposed to do in the morning but goodbye to those plans. Sue could have woken her up or something. She grabbed her cell and went to over to Sue's contact, sending her a quick text before getting one from Leo. She was usually out running with him but not today.



This man was a god. You know, it's not a great thing when you nearly follow a stranger home when you're drunk and he's stopped that from happening... more than once. Ryder really did need to find some aspirin though. Where did she hide the thing? She went over to the restroom and shuffled through the cabinets before looking back down and sending Sue a text.



With that she clicked send. The aspirin was hidden behind the pills that she had for god knows what. After that, Ryder went over to her closet. She didn’t have work in the morning so no to the bland clothes that the firm told her to wear. Ryder got on an outfit fast and went back over to her phone which she had heard buzz earlier. She quickly sent Zay a text back with a smile. This girl could really sing. And she already looks like a star. The first time she saw her, she was pretty sure she was some famous chick with the shades on and looking downright fabulous. And besides. Coffee. Or beer.



With that, she clicked the send button and went over to her shoes, pulling on her black boots that lets be honest, made her legs look 1000 times hotter than usual. Leaving the house, she saw Reed and waved before heading down and to her car. Checking her phone again, she saw a new text that had been sent a while ago. I need a new phone.



She finally put away her phone and started driving towards the cafe. Shades on and she applied a bit of light lip gloss when she stopped at the red light. Her makeup wasn't caked on at all so it was fine. She couldn't wait to hear Zahra sing. That girl had a really good voice. Once she was at the place, Ryder threw her keys in her purse and headed into the cafe, locking the car 2 times just in case. It was New York freaking City. Why do people even live here with all the damn crime. Well whatever, nice place. Once inside, she looked around a bit and went over to Roxanne and Zay with her shades now off and in her bag.

"Hey loves. G'morning." she quickly ordered a iced caramel latte and took a sip. "My god. Did anyone go to the bar with me last night? I need to drag Leo with me next time so that I actually remember what happens the night before." She took another quick sip of her delicious latte and continued speaking. "Anyways. When are you singing Zay~?" she had a bright smile on her face as she spoke.

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"Mhmm, the bonbon should be almost done" Atsuko thought as she looked at the treats inside the refrigerator.

One of Atsuko's specialties when it came down to sweets were these small bite-size candies enrobed in chocolate treats. Seeing how they did take a fairly long amount of time before they were edible and Atsuko had woken up early and had arrived before the kitchen staff usually started food prep for the day. She would usually wait till the kitchen staff arrived before coming in to bake or help cook. But, She woke up with the urge to make some sweet treats this morning.

"Ah, there we go" Atsuko whispered to herself before removing the now solid pieces of chocolate out of the fridge. "Just as good as I thought they would look."

After adding a few edible decorations Atsuko placed the different colored bonbons on trays and walked to the front of the cafe. When she reached a display case with a variety of sweets, from candies to brownies. She placed the colored bonbon in fronts of the labels that marked their flavors. White bonbons under the label for white chocolate caramel center, Dark brown under Dark chocolate with cocoa creme, and brown one under Chocolate with coffee filling. She turned on the lights to the display cases as the kitchen staff started entering, she greeted them cheerfully as they started working food preparations.

She hummed to herself as she looked at the clock on the wall, It was almost time to open for the day. They were opening later then usual because of a event that happened the night before. So she had asked Mrs. Loretta to let the staff know that they would open at noon instead of 8:00 today. She made her way back to the kitchen, walked pass the cooks to go down the hallway that led to the employees break area and the back office. She looked around a bit, before unlocking the door to the back office and slipping in. she locked the doors behind her and sat in her rolling chair.

She picked up her phone, seeing that she had messages from Ryder and Daniel. she read through them before replying to them.



She turned in her seat, and pulled the order book from the shelf. she started to double check, What she wrote down that she would need. as well as made additions to the order book, so that everything would be in order for her meeting with Daniel later.

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Ida goes about her usual morning routine. As she have come to do so regularly, waking up at roughly 5 am, then straight to the kitchen to make some coffee and toasts. New york looks so pretty in all its autumn glow, she contemplates while spaced-out gazing at her window while munching a piece of butter toast. The usual morning news was on tv. "Same old, same old". Robbery at some Deli store, some car accident at a highway in Florida, a celebrity divorced for the 5th time this year and a joker decides to run for presidency. Nothing new there. She absentmindedly flips the telly only to stop at scene of some cheesy morning telenovela w/c made her eyes roll, she could see the creases of her brain. "Once you get that dna test, incest is not as fun as you think." she said to the close up face of woman, in probably the most exaggerated crying in the history of tv crying. Ida has seen this before, more times than she wants to admit. Growing up, her caretaker was a fan of these, everynight they would watch it no matter how much the plot gets ridiculous nonetheless, it reminds her so much of home. And how she misses it.

Times like theses, it would be really nice to have a roommate to rant to these petty observations with. The apartment seems too big all by her lonesome. "Hmm. Maybe I should get a tabby." It's as a good time as any, would at least be a step up to talking to inanimate objects.

She goes shower after, and spends the next 45 mins or so perpetually doing her make up and clothes. After everything's settled, her bedroom in order, checked all the outlets, or if she left the water running(again) and in her satisfaction she went off to her first period class. After a wonderful day in class, by noon she dropped by the coffee shop for some Chai Latte, breathing in the cool autumn breeze (and pollution) as she crossed the street with pure confidence and contentment. Indeed, the day just gets better and better.

"Hey! Watch where yer goin'!" Ida's happy trance was cut of by a deafening horn. The driver, rolling down his car window to shout at the unnatentive woman.

"Well, EXCUUUUUUUSE ME, why dont YOU watch where YOU'RE driving you ASS." Ida held her lips as she noticed the bright green color of the stop light above her. A bit embarrassed, she instead replied a "Sorry!" to the now red, bald driver and scurried off the road.

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Ida entered her work building, her hands clutching a satchel and some envelopes, her hair now bedraggled, her make up fading, clearly not the same carefree image as she was this morning. If only I could pass that damn driver's exam, and not squeeze into a crowded 7 o clock train everyday for the rest of my life. That would be a REAAAL dream." she muttered to herself as she try to get a hold of her stuff and her image. Halfway to the elevator, she strugglingly reached for her phone in her purse. There was a text from Leo. Tapping her manicured fingers to send a reply.



"FUCK." she skittishly followed up a text.



She thought for a second, and tapped another.



With a mental facepalm, she shoved her phone in her purse, patiently waiting for her floor.

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At the break room she popped up behind Leo and gave him a "Hey there!", putting down her baggage, delighted to see a stack of food on the table. She sat beside him and grabbed a chicken sandwich. "So, are you free after work? I was stalkin Zay's twitter last night and heard she's performing. You wanna go?" she bit a mouthful of the delightful snack. "My God this sandwich is heaven.", gabbing another piece of snack without an utter care in the world.

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It was a slow news day, a few boring news alerts had popped up but nothing particularly exciting. Was it really so hard for there to be something interesting? As Liam thought this, his phone began to blow up again with replies and new messages. Leaning back, he sighed as he kicked his feet up on the table and began to look over the messages he'd received one by one. Scratching at his chin, he began to type out a response to each in turn.



Closing his phone, Liam tapped it against his palm for a moment or two before finally moving to stand. Quickly moving to his Executive Producer's office he left his notes on her desk and said he'd be taking the rest of the afternoon off. He half-expected to get called back to work later that evening, but at least he'd stop by Village Coffee so Zay didn't see fit to slide mean letters under his door. Returning to his desk, he packed up what little stuff he'd brought in and shifted his bag over his shoulder again, moving back to the elevators, down and out of the building. He was still dressed for work, and his outfit wasn't exactly anything special or well thought-out, it looked nice enough, a messy buttoned shirt with a jacket, chinos and his press tag still hanging off his belt.

It didn't take long for Liam to get to Village Coffee, it wasn't too far from his work, or from anything really. As he wandered in he glanced around, it didn't take him long to spot a few familiar faces. Approaching Zay, Roxanne and Ryder, Liam gave the three an awkward smile. "Howdy Ryder, Roxanne." He nodded toward both of them before he shifted his gaze over to Zay. "So against my better judgement i'm here to write a bad review for you." He winked in her direction, the tone in his voice making it obvious that he was only teasing. For a moment he glanced past her toward the counter, he'd finished his coffee from earlier but he hadn't really eaten anything that morning, and it was starting to bug him, as was evident from his stomach rumbling slightly.

Krystal Fox

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sigh... She was supposed to be working today. By this time on a regular day Krystal would already be in the store. Out of bed, washed, having eaten breakfast, gone for a walk. Any normal day would have been simple, easy, repetitive and fun. In work at 10am, home at 3pm. Then the rest of the day would be spent doing whatever - writing, playing games, talking with people online.

But, this wasn't a normal day. It was a horrible, painful day of sleepiness and nausea. How long had she actually slept for? It couldn't have been long. But, maybe it was ages. This bed and onesie were so warm... Her head lay buried under the covers, her body curled into itself almost like a cat, clutching a plushie to her chest. It was based off an old game by nintendo, that lasted 30 years and there were still new games for it. Or at least newer games. The Metroid series. And this toy too was warm...

Myriam was probably out there. She had a tendency to bunk off work to do whatever she wanted, and today was no exception. But then again today was quite the special case. Krystal had always prided herself with a strong immune system... But when she was ill, she was usually very ill - and for quite a while. So there she lay, curled up in her bed, feeling slightly sick and with a large headache...

Boy how she would love some painkillers.

But there was no way she was getting up. Last time Krystal tried to stand the world looked like she had just done two lengths of corkscrew in a 50m pool and she fell face first onto the floor. By hell was she trying that again. Maybe... No, that was selfish. Myriam had other things to do. It wasn't fair to pull her roomate away from whatever she was doing just to help a sick girl. Myri was probably asleep anyway.

The covers gently shifted as Krystal's head poked out a bit. Why was everything spinning so much? She must have had a flu... One of her hands reached out from under the sheets, reaching for a glass of juice that sat on her bedside table. Come on... Just a bit more... Her glasses weren't on, and for some reason it looked a lot closer than it really was. Her hand kept going until...

Damnit! Too quick... The glass rolled across the floor, the liquid dripping off the cabinet and wetting the carpet. Maybe it was best to get her...
"Myriam..," her voice was a quiet call for help, slightly unsteady and with hardly any volume. Any loud noise hurt her head, "Myri..." she sounded so weak... Unlike that usual shy demeanour in front of anyone by Myriam, which was still lively if quiet, this voice was quiet and helpless. Why did she have to get ill now?

This was such a pain...

Myriam sat in her room on her bed, holding a black controller in her hands while playing Mario Kart on her Wii U. She was third place at the current moment.... second.... fir- "Fuck you, Luigi, you little son of a bitch! You bastard moron!" Luigi had dropped a banana peel right in front of her, she had no time to react, she drove right into it and three other NPCs drove right past her over the finish line. "Fuck you fuck you!" She threw the controller onto her bed and it bounced once before settling.

She dropped back to lie on her bed. Her black t-shirt had rolled up over her stomach and she pulled it down forcefully. "I was so close." Not that it mattered though. It was just a game and it was just being played to kill some time. It wasn't that much a thing. There were games way worse losing in. For a second she played with the thought of switching to play FIFA on her playstation instead. The blonde sat up and threw her open hair behind her back, she took the controller and decided to give it another try -- not that she had lost the other times, but oh well. She just can't end Mario Kart when she's losing. Habit.

Pressing play and choosing the same character as before with the same vehicle as before, she was determined to do it right this time. "Myriam..", a voice whined from outside her room. She sighed. What was Krystal doing home? Wasn't she supposed to work? "Myri..", the voice called out again. Jesus, I'm lowering the volume already! She pressed the button several times to shut down the sounds of her game.

As the race began she couldn't help but stick to Krystal with her thoughts. Why was she here? Usually she was up early and out before Myriam even woke up on her free Mondays. She frowned. Krystal was never ditching work. Only a few seconds into the race she paused the game and got up from her bed to walk over to Krystal's room. With a soft knock against the wooden door she made herself noticable before peeking inside the bedroom of her roomate. "Hey... Why are you in bed?" Seeing the clutch tightly onto her plush toy, the juice on the carpet and her being wrapped up in a warm blanket when the apartment was not at all cold. "Are you not feeling well?" Within seconds she sat on the side of the bed and put her hand on Krystal's forehead. The kitty ears of her choice of clothes made her smile. This girl was just too adorable. "You're burning. I will get you some water and some medicine and you should probably get something into your stomach too. I will clean that up in a sec." She picked up the glass from the carpet and avoided the wetness. "Do you need anything else? Did you call in sick?" She reminded Krystal that work had to know about someone not coming in. Hopefully she already did that.

For someone not caring about her own work and often ditching it just to sleep longer or play video games, she really cared about Krystal and her job. She knew that the girl never dropped a day of work if not absolutely necessary. Myriam, usually only stopping in the middle of her games when something more interesting was happening, didn't think a second about sitting and gaming now. She had to sit with Krystal and help her get better. For the blonde girl making food was something she only did when she was starving and ordering pizza would take too long. But she didn't hesitate a second to offer to make something for her roomate. She pushed all those thoughts away, thoughts about what she didn't do for anyone - including herself - but did do without blinking an eye for Krystal Fox.

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Spacing out while sitting at the break room table, Leo jumped when his cell phone had a mini explosion of incoming text messages. He had forgotten that since it had been set on “Do Not Disturb” during the advertisement meeting, any messages sent to him earlier came in on a delay. He picked up his phone to see who was trying to reach him. We’re out of food again? Leo rolled his eyes as he read his roommate’s text. I thought I just picked some up last week! What does Reed do with it all? His fingers worked nimbly as he typed out a reply:



Hitting the send button on the first reply, Leo opened up the next message, which had been sent from Ryder. He sighed audibly as he read that she had been out drinking again. Whenever they hung out together, he always took it upon himself to keep her from getting completely wasted, but he couldn’t do that when she partied without him. Really, she wasn’t his responsibility—Ryder was an adult and could make her own decisions—but Leo always felt the need to try and help the girl out when those decisions were less than good for her. He tapped out a quick text back:



Leo sent the second reply and checked out the last messages that had been sent from Ida. The short string of hasty typos and corrections made him laugh. Oh, the joy of autocorrect. It was more amusing than it was useful. He wrote a reply:



Leo was just finishing up his second sandwich—roast beef and cheddar; they were too good to have just one—when Ida arrived in the break room. “Hey,” he grinned as she joined him at the table. Breaks were always more fun when he could spend the time chatting with someone else, and Ida was a great person to do that with.

“So, are you free after work?” Ida asked. “I was stalkin’ Zay’s twitter last night and heard she’s performing. You wanna go?”

“Shoot, I wish I could, but I already made plans to defend the city from evil this afternoon,” Leo said with a wink. “You know, hero business comes first and all that… Maybe next time.” He popped the last bite of sandwich into his mouth. “Actually, I don’t think I’m doing anything today. My roomie needs me to pick up some food at the store later, but I’m free apart from that. So yeah, I’d be down to go! A live performance by Zay sounds awesome.”

Joseph got halfway to the little coffee shop that he was heading to for breakfast when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He lessened the force on the pedal and pulled his phone out. Watching the road carefully while he read the text, he decided that he would be going to Village Coffee instead. Liam had invited him to go along to see Zahra Heaven perform, a person that he'd met a few times and enjoyed. She always seemed to be happy when he saw her, and she was a fantastic singer. Only stopping at Village every now and then, he thought that maybe he'd have to go more often, seeing as he knew some of it's customers and performers.

He made an illegal U-turn, checking for cops before executing it, obviously, and sped down the road. A few minutes passed and he came to a stop along the curb just across the street. Rolling up the windows, he pulled the keys from the ignition and stepped out. Breakfast and a show, definately something he was always up for. He crossed the street and entered the nice little shop. Well, if may have been little once, but it was packed with people. As soon as he entered, the sound of chatting people filled his ears and blocked out everything from the outside. People bought food, got coffee, and just enjoyed the music. He thought he saw a few business men inside, too.

Joseph quickly scanned the shop for Liam, finding many more people he knew than expected. So much for not knowing anyone else here... he thought, chuckling a bit out loud. He was talking with a few people, Zahra being one of them. She seemed like a very nice person, he'd seen her performances a few times and thoroughly enjoyed them. As soon as he spotted her, he saw her nearly choke on a banana and look at Roxanne rather surprised. Joseph smirked, not caring about what had just happened, only the outcome. Not only was Liam speaking with Zahra, but he was with Roxanne and Ryder as well. He'd never heard Roxanne sing, but he had heard that she was very good. In fact, he may have asked her to sing once or twice, which now that he thought about it, may have seemed creepy. He pushed it to the back of his mind as he looked to Ryder. He'd seen her around, not too terribly often, but knew she was in his building. She seemed alright. He snapped back into reality and walked over to Liam, dodging customers on the way.

"Hey hey hey," he laughed, "so much for not knowing anybody here! I appreciate the invite, I'm always up for seeing Zahra perform! Zahra, always nice to see you, good luck up there. Roxanne, Ryder, how's it going? Nice to see you two here, too!" He bowed his head in respect to each of them, then clapped his hands together. "What'd I miss?"

He ran his hand through his hair, scratching his head while he did so. Why he hadn't come here more often he didn't know, but he certainly liked the atmosphere. He wasn't very fond of loud noises, but this was pleasant. The voices of the crowd of people was almost comforting, he knew that nobody would pay attention to him in large groups. He wasn't sure how much the story of his past had been passed around, crossing his fingers that it was over for now. He glanced around and was happy all was well and normal. As soon as he realized this, he turned his attention imediately back to the small group of people before him. It was clear that something had just happened, or else Zahra probably wouldn't have almost choked on that darn banana.

"Oh, and Zahra, is the banana alright? Looked like an action-packed half-second, seems like you won that fight!"