Fenton Kelly



Fenton Kelly was trying to let the afternoon sun approach him peacefully, he was listening to his jazz music while sipping bourbon and his favorite brand of cigar black samurai.

It was a bright pretty day in Shine City, but Fenton wanted none of it, he still wasn't used to this positive atmosphere, such a contrast from the gloomy noir atmosphere of Neo-City, he was further annoyed that the crime rate was basically zero so there wasn't much work for him here beyond spying on cheating partners.

He decided to give up trying to sleep through the day. It was Sunday, which means a lot of the places of leisure were open but basically empty, which was perfect for the young investigator right now, still nursing a hangover.

Downing his bourbon and finishing his smoke he decided to walk to the town center, Fenton knew he would find most peace at the Shine City Aquarium, the calming water tunnel and sealife is just what he needed right now. After paying the entry at the front door, he began a walk down the watery corridor surrounded by the muted blue light of the exhibit. He was the only one in there, the tranquility was amazing.



Sayri Weston

Sayri was relaxing at the Mochavine cafe, she was hammering away at her laptop, finishing her an article for her blog. Ever since her show has finished she has recieved hundreds of online fans following her and asking her for dating advice. Because she cant get back to so many at once. She usually leaves a few pro tips under the Weston's Suggestions section, something her sister mentioned would be a cool idea.

Sayri was smiling to herself while she drank her espresso and raised her hand, hoping to summon a waitress over with the dessert menu.

---

Today was Sunday, and for most people, it was the time to relax after a hard week at work.

However, for Lydia, it was just like another day in her life.

Today, Lydia was strolling around Shiny Park, taking in the greenery in her surroundings with her camera in hand. She was in the mood for some green photos so today, she went to the park. There was nothing else to it.

Such was the typical thought process of one Lydia Evangeline, a freelance photographer. Thanks to her occupation, she was pretty much free to do whatever she wished and whenever without being constrained by things like office hours.

Of course, this didn't mean that she was just lazying around. She still did her client's requests on a timely manner. And at her free time, she would look for sceneries to photo, to be later put on her website. She didn't really do it for the money though. It was only to satisfy her lust to photo a perfect scene, a perfect view. And if people wanted to buy her pictures, then all the better for her.

"Oh, a couple," she said, suddenly stopping.

In front of her was a man and woman sitting together on a bench. Judging by their body language, it was painfully obvious that they were in love with each other. But it seemed they were still shy around each other.

Adorable. Simply adorable.

She wanted to capture this scene.

But when she brought her camera upwards, she stopped herself. It would be improper for her to take a photo of them without their permission. And the clicking sound of her traditional camera would certainly disturb their moment.

And so she had to resist. How unfortunate.

In the end, she walked past the couple without a word, making sure not to walk near them and not look at them so their little moment wouldn't be interrupted.

---

After walking for some more, she decided to take a rest in a nearby bench. Her legs already felt quite tired. She must have walked around this park three times already.

"Haaaaah..." she sighed. Today was not that good of a day, unfortunately. She only had gotten one photo of a squirrel with her kids. Certainly really cute, but just one photo after walking for half a day?

Her mind returned to the couple from before. That would've been a perfect shot if she had captured it. Alas, it was not to be.

Maybe she should just wrap it up for the day.

Booker, Shine City Gym

Punch, duck, grapple, break, thud, grunt, the cacophony of sounds emanated out of the square ring filled the gym's air and effectively drew quite the crowd. The two sweat drenched men within the ring that were the source of the sounds were locked in what seemed like quite the intense boxing match, those who have been watchin long enough would know that they were half way through their twelfth round. One was a fiery haired fellow while the other was a coffee colored man, but both men were practically giants, each of their steps almost shaking the ring. Blow after blow was dealt by both men, some blocked others... not so much. They broke their deadlock for a moment and began to circle each other, heaving and huffing as they eyed each other. This repetition of engaging and breaking continued for quite some time until the ginger haired man missed a blow which allowed his opponent to get a good solid blow to his jaw, sending him sprawling onto the floor, this spurred quite the cheer from the crowd.

The redhead groggily sat up, rubbing his jaw, but was quickly helped up by the man who had just laid him out. "Good shot lad!!" He said with a hearty laugh, his thick Irish accent more than a bit obvious. "Eh it was just luck, you had me on the ropes for a while there." The bronze skinned fellow said with a warm smile and a pat to the other man's back. Both laugh as they climb out of the ring. "Same time next weekend, Book?" The redhead as he held out his hand to the other man. "I wouldn't miss it for the world, Arty." The man now known to be Book said as he shook Arty's hand. The two parted ways as they disappeared into the gym's locker-rooms.

---

Booker had been hitting the boxing ring with the Irish bastard, or more commonly known as Arty, every weekend for as long as either of the two could remember now, the two walking mountains of men couldn't ever really find a whole lot of willing sparing partners so they made do with each other. Today's match was quite the intense one, the two had been stealing the armature championship from each other for a few years now and since Booker was the one currently holding the title Arty was pushing pretty hard to get it back.

After stretching out a bit in a warm shower Booker pulled on his street clothes which consisted of a plain white T-shirt paired with some blue jeans and a pair of work boots. He grabbed his gym bag and headed out, giving a few goodbyes to the gym staff and other gym goers as he left.

As he headed out Booker breathed in the crisp morning air and dawned a hearty grin. He had lucked out today and managed to get the night shift so that meant he had the whole day to himself, the possibilities were endless. "Hmm what to do..." The giant thought aloud as he slung his bag over his shoulder and began to make his way down the street.

---

Book had loss track of time as he wandered the streets, he had also loss track of where he was, but that was beside the point. Regardless he had managed to find himself in front of the renowned coffee shop known as the Mochavine. "Hmm I could use myself a pick me up." He said to himself before he made his way inside.

The café had a mild buzz about it; small conversations among friends here, whispered exchanges between lovers there, and a few people sitting alone enjoying silence sprinkled about. Book dawned a warm smile as he took it all in.

He made his way through the establishment and to the barista who was currently running the counter. He offered her a warm smile and ordered a chocolate espresso, extra whip cream of course, after this he took a seat in a booth and waited for his drink. As he waited Book looked over the shop again and scanned the faces. He finally landed on a young woman who was currently typing away on her laptop. Book couldn't tell why, but he felt like he recognized her. He racked his brain as he as he searched for and shred as to why he would know this woman. "Do I know her from the gym?... No." He continued to ponder over the woman's identity even after his drink arrived. "Wait a second..." Book said as he recalled the faint memory of a show that he would occasionally flip on the T.V. "No couldn't be." He said before he let out a slight chuckle. "Wow I think it is!" He said maybe a bit to loud as he realized that the woman waving down the waitress was indeed the hostess of that old dating show. Book chuckled again before he took a sip from his drink. "Man what a small world..."

“Yeah, Enchanted Florist's right...? Ah, good. Um, I'm phoning to let ya know that I would like to order 4 dozen red roses for my mother's birthday... yeah, I know it's quite a bit but it doesn't matter... trust me, I can pay whatever it is, I just need the roses... hell, I can give you the address either over the phone or I can be there, you tell me... okay, it's 4287 Roman Rd. House 432... mhmm... I need them there tomorrow...”

Two pale fingers lightly tapped the end of the cigarette on the back of the bench, the ash at the end falling off easily. The cigarette was then returned to pale lips.

“Time... hmm...” If I know my folks, they probably won't start the part until about 6... it might be kinda funny to imagine them being so thrown by my gift... “4:30 sound good...? Afternoon, yes, that'd be preferable. Yes, I can finish up my registry online and pay... mhmm... my name? Ah, Veronica Winters... mhmm... yeah, just how it sounds... thank you. A card? Uh... yeah. Actually, yeah. I want a card as well. What to have?”

Smoke billowed from those pale lips as deep purple orbs wandered around the park with contemplative eyes. Those eyes then seemed to stop on a lone female figure sitting on a bench. Those eyes curiously eyed up the form of a beautiful blonde with a camera around her neck. She felt inspiration strike her at that very moment.

“You still there...? Hmm, I've decided. Please write: I promise you, didn't I? Mhmm... mhmm... don't sign it or anything, just the message... mhmm... yes, I'll send everything over later today when I'm home... mhmm... thank you.”

Veronica hung up with a small sigh as she placed her phone into her pocket, taking one last drag of her diminishing cigarette before standing. Rolling her shoulders as she looked around, she took a few steps to the left of the bench and tapped off the last bits of ash before tossing the cigarette butt into the trash.

Her eyes wandered over the the woman on the bench once more before she turned her gaze away. Hands moving up, she grasped the large chunky black headphones (With skulls on them, of course.) and allowed them to move up from her neck to her head. With them secured over her ears, she brandished her phone once more in her quest for a soundtrack.

After skimming through her plethora of music, she stopped on one. Smirking a little, she tapped it and let the music wash over her. Humming a little to the lyrics, she adjusted the messenger bag at her side (With a crap ton of pins from various bands of course.) before stuffing her phone and hands into her pockets. Then, off she walked. She was unsure as to where to go next but has a few ideas in mind.

---

"God..."

It's finally done.

The final line of code for the security program. A completely new and more effective one. Hopefully this would be able to block any more hackers from sending malwares into the government's website. Still, Roland was worried, not because of the efficiency of the program, but because he was going to hand the program to someone less experienced to use. And usually, those who didn't have much knowledge about it ended up messing everything up. He had to make sure that his works, his achievements had to be used to its fullest. And so he spent another few hours working on a separate instruction and sent it along with the program using email. After all of that, he was free, at least for the next few days.

It wasn't exactly the job for this young analyst in the government's department of cyber security. In definition, his job was to analyze data that had relations to cyberspaces to track down criminals, mostly in this city, and so on. But due to the nature of not just the city but the entire country, having low crime rates, life was just...too easy. And so he was tasked with jobs like this. It indeed was interesting at first, but his work was a one-man job, so having to sit countless hours behind the desk really numbed his senses.

Roland glanced at the clock. It was Sunday, and the day was still long. Perhaps he should quit locking himself inside and go out at least once.

He began packing his stuff, including his laptop and charger, in case of any sudden work call, into his bag, and went outside. He had no specific interests for now, so he just wandered and wandered for somewhere, something that managed to catch his interest. Half an hour later, when he couldn't walk any further, he decided to stop at a café nearby.

"Mochavine Café..."

Perhaps a cup of coffee would be nice.

Roland opened the door and quickly took a seat, placing the bag full of computer equipment down next to his chair. It appeared that he wasn't the only one there, but there was one more. A young, yet older than him, woman with long dark blue hair, on her table was a laptop. The cyber analyst couldn't help but cast a few glances at her while he was waiting for the waiter or waitress to come and take his orders. Still, it would be rude to look at her for too long, so as soon as one of the waitresses arrived at his table, he quickly took his eyes off her and ordered his drink.

A cup of black coffee. Simple is always better...

Michel stepped through a hidden maintenance door set into the wall at the side of one of the jellyfish tanks and into the darkness of the exhibit, checking his phone for his work-related messaging app to see if there were any other pressing matters. He had just adjusted the tanks to make sure that the proper temperature and salinity were maintained, jellyfish were, after all, sensitive creatures, especially in captivity. This was indicative of Michel's typical workday; he was usually always at the aquarium, on call in case of any technical emergencies, but otherwise performing pretty routine maintenance checks with plenty of free time in between. Near a cylindrical tank in the middle of the exhibit was a soft cushiony seat that rounded the cylinder. Michel headed over and sat down to let his eyes adjust to the dark; it wouldn't do to blunder around and run into the visitors. He sat there and admired these beautiful, mysterious, primordial beings.

---

Fenton's stroll was so relaxing, even being slightly hungover didn't stop the heavy thoughts he usually carried around melt off of him. Investigating bizarre cases in Neo-City burned a lot of images into his mind. He was still in his early 20s but his mind carried the burdens of a cynical old man. After seeing the end of the corridor which was mainly stingrays he turned to the Jellyfish Room to continue his peaceful exploration.

Fenton's detective sense warned him immediately of another person in the room, his heart sank slightly as he was enjoying the mystique of the sea environment on his own, other people sort of ruined the experience. The person appeared to be sitting down and Fenton walked over slowly to get a better look.

It was what appeared to be a very young tomboyish girl who was wearing a maintenance uniform, Fneton worried for a moment if he stepped in the wrong part of the aquarium.

Ahem, I uh, didn't know this place was under repairs, is it okay to pass through? I was thinking about seeing some piranhas.

Fenton coughed nervously, it was an odd feeling being a detective, but not in a position of authority.
@Stern Algorithm

---

@Saarebas
After a few mins of raising her hand she realised that if she wanted another coffee she would probably have to get up and go to the counter, table service was always thin on a Sunday. Sayri didn't have to glance around the cafe long, to notice a hulking, tanned beefcake of a man who had just walked in, his heaving muscles were making his footsteps heavy, every step he took seemed to send a small vibration through the floor that Sayri definitely wasn't complaining about. He also appeared to be glancing at her, and she was very familiar with the glance by now.

I'm gonna take a wild guess and assume you might have seen the show? Although I can't imagine how you find time to watch ANY T.V. while maintaining that figure......I take it youve just come from the gym? Maybe you could grab me a coffee and we can talk a little, you look like you probably have questions...I'm Sayri by the way!

She flashed her trademark smile, slightly relieved that she wouldn't have to get up if this man was nice enough to grab her a coffee. She turned and also noticed someone else glancing at her, a bookish tech type, he was trying not to look too obvious with his glances, but Sayri picked up on it anyway. She wondered how many more cute guys were going to catch her eye today.

There was a dull thud and a rattle of glasses as Rowan set the last tray of clean glasses behind the bar, readying for the afternoon. Despite not being open for more than four hours, she had been here for more than two already. Last night had been hectic, with Bobby calling out sick and John missing in action, leaving only Rowan and the owner to handle things, so she had come in early today to finish the cleaning and set up. The whole place smelled of PineSol and wood polish, the refrigerators were stocked, and she herself had finally finished the dishes. The last few finishing touches for herself were next.

Despite being a lot less classy than Mochavine, and much less flashy or modern than the night club, Rowan had set her home here at the Cornerstone, and took a fierce pride in the place she worked, maiking sure that it felt like a second home for her regulars (although not home-y enough that they felt they could break the rules). To that end, she had sought approval for a number of ornaments and other assorted accoutrement to spruce the place up. Not a lot had met with approval, but enough that she had given the old place a bit of a polish up without removing the essential character. Her pride and joy was a limited edition vinyl record of some very old jazz guy (she didn't actually listen to jazz that much, but the owner had loved it) carefully framed and hung just behind the bar. She puttered around for a few minutes, dusting, lighting a bit of incense, and making sure coasters and napkins were stocked all over. Not that the place was large enough to take long, but she put extra care into making sure everything stayed the same every time they opened. No surprises for her regulars, that wasn't what they were here for!

Glancing around, Rowan realised she had run out of things to do. Smiling to herself, she made her way out the front and sat on the curb, basking a little in the sun and closing her eyes whilst she fished a cigarette out of her apron pocket. Although the summer sun was making her black apron and pants heat up, it felt good to be warmed up like this from time to time, though not as great as in winter. She lit her habit-stick and settled in for a nice round of people watching, something she did as often as she could. With her ability to read people's faces, it was easy enough to make up stories for how someone's day was going, and imagine what drink would perk them up. This was the activity that caused her to lose time most afternoons, and this one was shaping up to be a lazy enough Sunday for it to happen again.

@Dynamo Frokane

"Oh! Welcome to the jellyfish exhibit," Michel greeted in a medium pitched voice, "This place isn't off-limits, I just finished a job and am letting my eyes readjust to the dark. The maintenance spaces behind the tanks are well-lit for, well, maintenance reasons." Michel realized that he was over-explaining, and hoped he hadn't ruined the magic of the aquarium for this visitor, but a surprising number of people just assumed that these tanks somehow took care of themselves, that these artificial environments were self-sustaining.

"Piranhas are down that way," Michel pointed, but before Fenton could follow the directions, Michel asked, "Don't you like jellyfish?"

---

"Black coffee? Sure thing!"

After receiving the order from a waitress, Iris flashed a bright smile and quickly went to work. She honestly wasn't much of a coffee person (soda would be her beverage of choice), but hey, as long as she was getting paid for her work, she couldn't really complain. It was a rather simple order, too. Just one cup of black coffee.

Iris scanned the cafe area and deducted that, judging by where the waitress came from (among other things), the person who ordered a simple cup of black coffee was the rather formal-looking man with dark gray hair. He didn't seem super enthusiastic, which was a champagne problem that Iris decided she would fix as soon as the cup was finished. It had been a rather slow day so far, so this was a good opportunity to spice it up a little.

"One fresh cup of black coffee ready for consumption!" Iris soon announced, probably earning more than a few awkward glances. One of the waitresses definitely shot her a concerned glance, but it wasn't anything she should have been worrying about. Besides, she was trying to get the attention of the person who ordered the cup in the first place. Maybe she'd even brighten up his day as a result?

@Conscripts

"So, what do you think?"

Aya hadn't been paying much attention for the past hour or so as the barber cut her hair, but now that she had actually finished it was time to snap herself out of dream world and back into reality. Aya hadn't even noticed her hair fall to the ground as all those luscious locks were chopped off, she had been that caught up in her thoughts on this particular Sunday morning. A Sunday in which she would have a very long shift at her workplace in Mochavine, in about an hour.

Aya looked up at the mirror. She examined herself closely, only now realising just how much hair had been chopped off. Aya thought her hair was already quite short at its original slightly-above-chest length, but now that it had been snipped into a pixie cut that barely fell down to her chin, it was shocking to see how much of it was now gone.

"Ma'am? Is there anything else you would like me to do, or is this good?"

“Oh, yeah, right. No, It's fine now, I like it. Thank you.”

And with a quick smile of gratitude and an exchange of cash, Aya was out, now on her way to work with this great new haircut of hers. It was definitely the best decision Aya had made in a while, getting such a great, absolutely great looking haircut...

As soon as she was out of view from the hairdressers, Aya began to curse under her breath and cover the top of her head with her hands.

Why did I think it was ever a good idea to cut all my hair off, I must be stupid I just wasted money on a haircut that makes me look like even more of a man I thought I didn't want to have this problem anymore—

It was a Sunday, and Sundays were always used to complain about her first world problems, usually to herself. But sometimes, it was hard to predict when and where Aya would end up venting her minor frustrations.

•••

After a thirty minute bus drive Aya was at Mochavine, arriving long before the café's lunch time rush during the early afternoon hours. She was always paranoid about her own punctuality, so it wasn't a surprise to see her roughly half an hour before her shift officially started. As soon as she entered, her fellow employees behind the counter simply gawked at her, specifically at her wonderful new haircut. Some of them complimented her which was nice, and some giggled and joked which was annoying but expected. She still got angry at them, though.

A few minutes of slight bickering between baristas later, Aya was brewing drinks for the next wave of customers. Busy coffee making and would ensue, and now it was eleven and Aya was already done with the whole serving customers a nice cup of coffee thing. And for some reason it was unusually busy this Sunday morning, so Aya found herself dashing between machines and fumbling over coffee cups faster than usual. But this job actually had decent pay and was keeping her financially stable, so she would continue for the next couple of hours.

As she went to work on someone's chocolate espresso, Aya snuck a glance at the rest of the baristas behind the counter. Iris, one of the girls she was more 'familiar' with, seemed to be grinning down at her own cup of coffee, just like Aya usually caught her doing. Peeking over her shoulder, she looked down at the other woman's cup, eyebrow raised.

“Black coffee? Huh, that's kinda plain, isn't it—”

"One fresh cup of black coffee ready for consumption!" Iris said, perhaps a bit too loud for Aya's precious eardrums to handle. Aya noticed one of the waitresses giving her an odd look, and Aya too would give her a similar look of concern. After calling over another waitress to serve a chocolate espresso someone had ordered, the woman looked back at Iris, letting out a small sigh.

“I'm sure that waitress heard you loud and clear, Iris,” Aya muttered.

@GarlandDaHero

---

@Stern Algorithm
Fenton was taken aback when he heard the voice of the young maintenance worker respond, not only did she have a tomboyish haircut but a fairly husky voice for such a petite girl. It was almost like listening to an experimental melody. He cleared his throat and pushed his hands in his coat pockets as he walked over casually, noticing how small she really was compared to him.

I suppose I never really stop to consider how much goes into keeping an atmosphere in a place like this.

He turned to the glass and watched as a large jellyfish billowed by.

It's not that I dont like jellyfish, I suppose you could say, I never really understood them, they have no eyes or ears, do they even have brains? But they look so peaceful all the time, like they are dancing. Someone like me, could never wrap my head around that. Piranhas though, they remind me of home, Neo-City, everything and everyone looking to take apart and snatch whatever scraps they can find.....

Fenton realised he was droning on a little, lost on his thoughts.

So this all seems like a big responsibility for someone so young, is this a weekend job you fit around high school Miss..?

Fenton remembered his manners and took his hand out of his pocket to offer a handshake.

Eyes blinked open slowly. The sight of an aged drop-tile ceiling came in to focus and Joel began to slowly remember who he was and how he got in this place. He had been sleeping deeply and the first gasps of consciousness made him feel like he’d just come back from another planet. Groggy, he huffed and glanced around the dark room.

He remembered that his garage had once been some sort of welding shop. He’d kept the office area below him largely intact, but the upstairs had been a conference room combined with two other small offices. A few years ago he’d decided to consolidate and make the area a living space. The project was still unfinished and the sparse furniture in his “living room” continued to look out of place. A leather sofa, a coffee table with a small rug underneath and a few other items sat on standard issue office white, speckled tile. He remembered the welding dust that had been all over literally everything when he'd first moved into the building. What a pain it had been to clean up. His arm clamored over to the coffee table searching for his phone.

11:14…

Good Lord… He thought. He hadn’t woken once during the night. There was a mug on the table reminding him he’d drank some chamomile tea before dozing on the couch. The stuff was better than any other sleep aid and at least for him tended to produce the absolute wildest dreams. Unfortunately he couldn’t recall anything from the previous night and groaned as he staggered up to a sitting position still drunk with sleep. He looked dead ahead momentarily at the other side of the shop as his body began to get its bearings back. The room was bordered by glass panes that allowed the old ownership to observe the workings of the floor from an elevated perch. Joel glanced over in the quiet below as he shuffled to the bathroom.

There were three cars in various states of disassembly on the floor and one Seadoo watercraft wedged in on its trailer. The owner was a regular customer and had just left it with him to “figure out”. Joel grinned a little. He had no idea how to fix it and hadn’t even touched it yet. In his clean clothes, he slinked between the trailer and the wall and headed for the door thinking he might still make a brunch of sorts. His stomach groaned in impatience. He remembered neglecting to hit the grocery shop as well and after his shower found he still had nothing remotely suitable for a breakfast. However, the girl that worked the bar at Cornerstone was a pretty decent cook and didn't mind experimenting with various dishes. The stroll down the block would at least be refreshing. He'd eat and then decide what to do with the rest of the day on a full stomach.

---

Roland could hear very clearly the cheery voice of someone calling out from the other side of the room.

"One fresh cup of black coffee ready for consumption!"

It must have been his. He could guess it pretty accurately because nowadays, nobody seemed to be taking the simple style of coffee anymore. Well, except for Roland of course. Not that the other style of coffee were bad, its complexity was what Roland did not want to have any of that.

Noticing how occupied the waitress were becoming, the analyst thought that he shouldn't wait for them to come to him. It was their duty of course to serve him, but he shouldn't put more pressure on them to do it. Quickly making his decision, Roland stood up and walked to the bar where he could directly receive his orders.

"The black coffee." He placed the receipt on the bar so that whoever brought it to him could confirm his purchases.

@GarlandDaHero

Booker, Mochavine Café

Book had never really been all that aware of what his actions look like to the outside world, the poor lug has always been quite oblivious in that regard, so it was no real surprise that he never expected in a million years that the woman he was, now that he looked back at it, blatantly gawking at would actually came come up to him. A slight grimace appeared on his thick, caramel colored lips as he mentally prepared himself for the verbal lashing that he expected to get for his ogling. One could only imagine the giant's surprise, even more so his relief, when he wasn't scolded, but rather it seemed that this young woman read his mind exactly. After letting out an internal sigh of relief Book couldn't help but be impressed by how much the young woman, who went by Sayri, was able to deduce about Book just by looking at him. Not only did she figure out that he had recognized her from T.V., but that he had also just made back from the gym. "Is this lady a mind reader?" Book thought for a moment, he also gave it another moment just to see if Sayri was actually reading his mind and heard that one.

"Oh, I'm sorry for strain' ma'am, but it isn't everyday that you see a real life Shine City celebrity in person." Book said with a slight chuckle before he stood from his booth. "And of course ma'am, I'd love talk to you over a coffee. What are you havin' if you don't mind me askin'." He added as he took a step away from the table and prepared himself to retrieve another cup of coffee, but before he could do that he face palmed himself. "Oh where are my manners. My name is Booker ma'am, but my friends call me Book." He said as he offered his massive hand to Sayri to shake.
@Dynamo Frokane

Hmm... guess it's time to feed into my alcoholism, then?

Standing across the street from the Cornerstore Bar, hands in pockets and large headphones blasting a nice song most likely too loud, Veronica felt... at peace. Which was honestly a bit of a rarity these days.

The weight of her bag was starting to become noticeable.

Raising her arm, she pulled back her sleeve to peer down at the watch blinking up at her from her left wrist. Eh... it's about an hour until 12... close enough. Fixing her sleeve, she was prepared to walk in when the familiar smell of cigarette smoke made her fingers twitch.

Following the smell, her eyes drifted down as she finally noticed the woman sitting on the curb outside of the establishment. Head tilting to the right, she squinted her eyes slightly. She looks awfully... familiar...

Forcing her mind to shift through her, most likely, wonky thought from her experiences at the bar (What could she say? She was a fan of alcohol and even though she didn't arrive often, she definitely had fun... from what she could remember.), she was able to finally piece together a story.

Rowan!

She could fuzzily remember the beautiful woman serving her at her nights at the bar. Although, she's only ever been there during the night so... this might be a bit of a shocker.

Are they even open this early?

She had no idea. Like established, she'd never been there before 8 PM. But, in her usual uncaring manner, she decided to basically say 'fuck it' and approach.

Hands buried into her pockets, she barely looked both ways before walking across the street until she was on the same sidewalk as the bartender. Stopping when right beside her, Veronica didn't turn off her music and instead moved her headphones off of her ears so that they rested around her neck.

“It's nice to see you when I'm sober.”

She enjoyed “pre-gaming” as you may call it. Besides, it's a good way to get rid of the shitty bourbon her mother would send. She'd still get nice and tipsy before going to the bar for better alcohol.

Rowan glanced up, using her free hand to brush a loose lock of her purple-black hair behind her ear as she took a drag and dropped her smoke with her other. "Oh hell, hey...uhh...Winters, right? Valerie? No, Veronica. Ummm. We're not exactly open, so I can't serve booze yet, but I can getcha a soda of some sort." She stood, leggy frame evident because she had, due to the midsummer heat, decided on a thinner sort of jeans, as many looks as they might draw. After all, she didn't notice when people were paying attention to her, and it's not like patrons could see much behind the bar, right?

"Ha, yeah, you'd actually be surprised how often I see people both through the goggles and not." She squinted in the sunlight, dusting off her apron and flicking the butt of her cigarette deftly off into the trashcan near the door, the cherry falling just short and avoiding a fire. "Or maybe you wouldn't, who knows?"

As the bass from Veronica's headphones caught up with her ears, one could almost see Rowan wince, though she would never admit it to a customer. "I haven't seen you here this early before, I don't think. Then again, most people avoid the place for the first half of their night to begin with, y'know? Walking past during daylight for even our regulars must be a bit weird. Tell ya what, you look like you've had a long morning, why don't I getcha somethin' to ease the boredom, eh?" And with that and a turn of the hips, Rowan disappeared into the front door of the bar, leaving it unlocked and inviting despite the early hour. Her almost smoky voice, rough from overuse over the past few years, came echoing behind her as she said, "You like the spicy stuff, yeah? Just got a shipment of weird as hell flavours, might be able to hook you up."

@BubblegumQueen

"Michel," he introduced himself, taking the man's hand lightly and shaking it. Michel didn't mind being called 'miss' and saw no need to correct him. He appreciated how the man put some thought into the maintenance of the aquarium; some customers felt entitled to maintaining their sense of 'wonder' and took offense at finding out about something's inner workings. "I don't think we're supposed to understand them, but I see them like a...goal...I suppose that's silly, who wants to be a jellyfish, right?" Ethereal, beautiful, and genderless, Michel felt a primordial awe for these unknowable, ghost-like creatures. But what Fenton said about the piranhas made Michel feel a little sad inside. While there was nothing wrong with piranhas doing what came naturally to them, there was something wrong with humans exhibiting piranha-like behavior, and the fact that the horror of that has become what Fenton gravitated towards was worthy of sympathy.

"This is my full-time job," Michel replied smiling, "There are a few other maintenance personnel, but since the equipment is high-quality, it's a lot less work. Thankfully, Shine City has plenty budgeted out for educational facilities and infrastructure, so we do have it pretty easy." Michel mentally chided himself for talking about city planning, of all things. He had a terrible habit of answering people's questions in 'too educational' a fashion. The man just wants to look at some fish, not hear about where his taxes were going.

---

The large beefcake of a man had an equally beefy name, Sayri didn't have to force a smile, she was genuinely pleased to meet him, especially when she got a brief glimpse of his overwhelming power from a handshake, the display of strength made her spine tingle just a little.

Ah Bookie, I would love if you could grab me a frappachino, I usually drink black coffee, but I've gotten a sudden urge for something a little more...medium tone.. and then a surprise fan of the show like yourself can give me some opinions about Shine City as a whole, I'm sure you've been here a lot longer than I have, by the way you confidently strolled in here.

Sayri went back to hammering at her keyboard before taking another look at the young man who she previously glanced at, who was now ordering a black coffee. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something fascinating about him.

---

@Stern Algorithm
Fenton seemed to be tallying the feminine and tomboyish attributes of the young lady in front of him, although she had what some might consider a deep voice for a girl, she had a very female handshake. Fenton found the hand silky and inviting even though her expression didn't match that, so he pulled his hand back fairly quickly out of slight confusion. The name was 'Michel' which sounded very European and quite typical of the fancy things he heard since moving here, probably short for Michaela or something.

Private Investigator Fenton Kelly, nice to meet you....I um...not currently on duty.

He found himself studying the young lady a little longer than would be deemed appropriate so he returned to look at the Jellyfish, softening his stance on previous sea life opinions. His detective sense picked up on something, that they young lady put slightly more emphasis on the word 'goal' when speaking of the sea creatures but he was just hungover enough not to want to think about it too hard, he wasn't solving a case today.

Well as you can probably tell I haven't been here long, so if public spending happens to go towards pleasant aquariums like this and highly competent staff who run them, then I guess money is being spent better here than In Neo-City.

Fenton found himself smiling a little. Which made him in turn feel slightly sick....he barely ever smiles and definitely not during the daytime. This aquarium, or this young lady clearly had a disorienting effect on him, he didn't want to leave, but he wasn't feeling himself all of a sudden.

Well I better get going, um got case work to look over today, but I'm glad I got to learn a bit more about these creatures, I'll try and explore more of the facility next time I'm here....maybe I might see you again too..?

Fenton found himself hanging on to words longer than he felt appropriate and quickly nodded to Michel and left the Aquarium. he needed a drink now more than ever so he made a beeline for the Cornerstone Bar.



After a short cab ride he found himself outside his favorite bar, walking in with a slight desperation to clear his head of his interesting interaction today. Even the first few steps inside made him feel better, the atmosphere of this place was tuned to Fenton's liking, when the sunshine and happiness became too overwhelming for him, he could always find himself in the dark corner of this speakeasy. He was also happy to see his favorite bartender Rowan working today. Fenton had been coming to the bar long enough to notice that some men were intimidated by the tall strong woman who smokes like a chimney and serves them drinks with a nod. But not Fenton, he found her absolutely gorgeous and had little problem with expressing that, as as the custom in Neo-City. There also was another lady in the bar, who looked like she just arrived also very pretty at least physically.

Rowan! Have you got any of that 50 yr old Bourbon left? I've got a hell of a story to tell you today and I'd rather have a triple on the rocks to ease me through the narrative.

Fenton had no problem giving Rowan an honest smile.
@Indy Cooper

---

The bedroom was dark with cloth strewn in a messy trail leading to the bed. Where two figures slept, both looking very content from the activities from the night before. Both figures smelling of alcohol, both nursing hangovers that neither one of them knew about, that they’d quickly discover the moment they awoke.

It was 10:10 am before Issac awoke with a groan his pounding as he opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. His mind unable to recall how he got into this bed. Although he was able to tell this was not his bed, it was far to soft it was annoying. Looking up the ceiling Issac mind a slowly started to tick over. Memories of last night slowly starting to unveil themselves. He could recall was being at the Cornerstone … But he couldn’t remember why. No, he did recall it had been a coworkers birthday, they’d gone out to the Cornerstone to celebrate. Issac trying to remember the details. He remembered an obscenely shaped cake, that tasted quite nice, although he couldn’t recall the flavour. He remembered downing a stupid amount of alcohol over the duration of the gathering. Chatting someone up. That was it he could not recall the rest. Clearly, he came to who’s ever home this was and given there was an unfamiliar mass next to him it didn’t take long for Isaac to put two and two together.

As the memories slowly came to him, Issac grinned a little. Feeling rather pleased with himself. It was good to unwind. Now the only problem was sneaking out of this bed and getting out of this apartment without waking the mass laying next to him.

It took twenty minutes but Issac ecspaced dressing himself before he made his escape. Hoping he had not woken whomever it was he slept with. He was pretty sure he had as he heard sound coming from the bedroom. But, Issac didn’t want to deal with the awkward morning after breakfast. So quickly left. So headed to the street, checking his pockets as he went to make sure he had all his stuff. Pleased that by that everything had remained secure in their correct pockets. He didn’t need to go back, didn’t need deal with what he wanted to be a drunken one night stand.

Once on the street, Issac held his head for a moment the sun was far too bright, and the noise in the street was far too loud. It taking a full minute to adjust to it all, not the first time he’d been nursing hangover and gone into the public eye. His police academy days it was a pretty common thing for him to do on his days off.

Needing to placate his need for a smoke, Issac figured he go to the park for a bit then work out what he wanted to do. Part of him thinking since he was up and out he should just suck up the pain and do something with today. Part of him wanting to go home drink a bucket load of water and sleep the day aware. To Issac, both options sounded tempting. Still, he wanted to think about it.

The walk to the park was a long one it being after 11am before he arrived. Issac taking his time not wanting to rush things lest he make his head hurt. It was bad enough every car the drove past sounded like a jet engine flying right next to him. It was barely tolerable even if Issac could handle pain pretty well.

Once at the park Issac was quick to head deep into it looking for somewhere quiet to sit, preferably somewhere near a bin. That way he didn’t leave the butt laying around somewhere. Finding a seat close the to the centre of the park. Issac sat and lit up a cigarette. Inhaling deeply feeling a little relaxed as his need started to fade. Issac knowing he really needed to quit it was not good for a cop to smoke. Even more so it made him do things like smoke in the park. Which was not exactly legal. Something Issac hated himself for doing. But when he needed a smoke he didn’t care so much, they helped him relax.

Issac puffed his cigarette at near record speed. Not taking any time to enjoy it. Stamping on the butt when he was done and chucking it into the bin. Knowing a few people would have seen him, so left his seat and started to walk a lap of the park. As he decided what he do with this day. Still unsure what he wanted, so far all he knew he wanted something to eat, but was unsure what.