It wasn't quite evening, but that didn't much matter in the city of Cedrella. The roads were already busy with people eager to get home and as far away from work as possible. Restaurants were starting to get busy from those trying to avoid the dinner rush and shops were busy seeing customers that wanted to avoid long lines. Plus, there were always students from the local college added to the mix which made the city feel extra busy during certain times of day.

The local club, Club Codename was just starting to get ready to open. Most of the staff wasn't required to show until an hour before open. That generally gave the staff enough time to clock in, get their work area ready and get prepared for the usual crowd. It was only when they had live performances that Thomas would ask a few of the staff to help him get set up earlier. Otherwise, it was just Thomas getting everything together until then. Which was fine, the staff usually did a good job cleaning up from the night before so he didn't have much to do himself.

Today, though Thomas would be training their newest staff in waiting tables. He suspected it wouldn't be much of a problem, but training was always a time consuming task. One that required his full attention and took away from managing the club and getting events set up for the rest of the week. But, it was a necessary part of the job and he wasn't about to complain about it. He was too old for that.

"So, Gabrielle, you are expected to arrive an hour before open which is five o'clock. You are expected to be clocked in and ready to work at that time," Thomas explained to the nervous girl following him around much like a lost puppy. The girl just nodded, so he continued, "When you have clocked in, your job is to look over your section. Make sure everything is clean and set the chairs. The lounge is for more experienced wait staff only, so you will only be working the downstairs area until you've been here for a few months, do you understand."

Gabrielle nodded and helped the owner with going over her section of tables for the night.

Donnie groaned as his alarm brought him back to the land of the living, alerting him to the fact that he had an hour to get ready and get to work. Despite the time that the club opened, Donnie had only just fallen asleep an hour previous; his damnable neighbors had been playing music all night and fighting all morning. Not only had he heard them through the paper-thin apartment wall he shared with them, but the rage the two had been projecting had his head throbbing and his temper shortening. He wasn't close enough to leave any emotional suggestions that would get them to calm down, so he had had to settle with blocking out their thoughts for the slightest bit of relief. They had finally ended it with one of them storming out of the apartment and he'd taken the chance to get a precious hour of sleep before his shift.

His head was still throbbing as he made his way into Club Codename and behind the bar to make sure everything was stocked, clean, and ready for opening. The coffee cup in his hand was already empty and he found himself tipping it back in the pathetic hope of getting even one more drop out of it; his neighbors' emotions may have been out of his system, but he was still nursing the normal headache from their raised voices and the music before that. He sighed when his frown reflected back at him from where he scrubbed a little too hard at the spotless bar.

"God, I really need to move out of that hell hole," Donnie muttered to his own reflection, taking note of the dark spots under his eyes. He had been planning to move out for a while, given that it was the same apartment he'd lived in ever since he got out of prison. He knew that it would be better to get out of the slums and find somewhere closer to his job, but he just didn't know how to look for a nice apartment. Growing up he'd gone from an orphanage to the gang's hideout, then to prison and his shitty little apartment; he wasn't sure he'd even know a good living space if he saw it.

Donnie looked away from the bar top and took a few deep breaths to try and shake off his mood, knowing that if he wasn't in control come opening time it would negatively affect the customers he interacted with. He's always made sure not to let his sour moods leak out, but better safe than sorry; he already saw Mr. Clark with a trainee, and while the man seemed rather immune due to the similarities in their powers, he wasn't sure about the girl, and didn't want to take any risks in finding out. He slowly reeled himself in before putting off a feeling of calm in hopes that it would not only help him truly feel it himself, but also that it would keep any customers around him from getting too rowdy tonight. He was in no shape to deal with anything of the sort, the sleep deprivation chipping away at his usually strong mental walls.

"Really need to move out," he repeated to himself, shaking his head and doing another pointless wipe down of the bar.

With a *yawn* rises slowly from her makeshift bed on the rooftop of the highest standing building of the city. While owning a small apartment on the outskirts of the city, Alexis usually likes to sleep at highs. Even since she was small, she would go on the rooftop of her house to doze off.
But that was before she had her powers.
Looking at her phone, she notices that she woke up 2 hours earlier than she supposed to. With enough time to go to the gym, take a shower and arrive at work 30 minutes earlier, she gathered her stuff and teleported on the ground, scaring a few people by her sudden appearance.
15 minutes later she was on the other side of the city in a small gym and doing her exercises.
Known for her harsh attitude on people who interrupt her, no one approached her and with her headphones on, she didn't care about the others.

1 hours later, she teleported right in the club. Two coffees and a one ice tea for her in her hands.
Looking over the area, she noticed that the owner was training a new gal, Donnie was at the bar.
Appearing in front of Donnie, she smiled.
" Hey Donnie. Didn't get much sleep?"
A glass appeared in her hand and the two coffees appeared on the bar for Donnie to drink.
" Those two are for you. As for me, give me something hard. Hopefully, the night will be quite. Otherwise, I might need two of those. "

Donnie couldn't even find it in him to jump at Alexis' sudden appearance, too used to her antics to even have an instinctual reaction nowadays. When the two coffees appeared before him, however, his eyes practically lit up. He quickly grabbed one and took a long sip, hugging the cup to his chest with one hand and smiling at the girl gratefully as he pulled down one of her favorite bottles. He poured her two fingers and slid the glass closer to her, despite the fact that she could have gotten it herself.

"You, my dear Lex, are a godsend," he told her, taking another sip of the warm drink in his hand. "And no, I didn't; my neighbors have been making sure to play music through the night and then start fighting as soon as the sun rises," he confided. "If I lived in an actual apartment complex it wouldn't be tolerated but," He shrugged, waving his hand dismissively. "y'know, it's The Slums. Can't do much to get slumlords to take action, and no one calls the cops for serious crimes, let alone a noise complaint."

He leaned against the bar top and gave her a soft smile before changing topics. "I'll make sure to keep the people in my area calm and happy so that neither of us need to worry too much. It's the least I can do to help you out in return for the caffeine."

Alexis took the glass and drank it in one quick gulp. She was used to this. Every night, some procedure. Wake up, go to work, drink something hard, kick ashes. It was a nice break from her acting days. The fuss she woke up too, the people always screaming because a scene didn't work out how they planned...

Alexis laughed and said with a smile on her face " Somehow I knew that you would need them. Donnie, if you need money, just ask. You know that in that department I'm good. Hell, you can crash at my place. Its not as if I use it too much. Maybe once or twice a month. I mostly use it to stash my stuff. With my power, I don't really need much. I slept last *night* on the rooftop of the highest building in the city.

As for keeping calm, don't worry about it. We both know what happens with people that don't follow the rules. "
To demonstrate her point, she takes the glass and throws it towards the ceiling but just before it touches it and breaks, it reappears on the bar.

@AnaSilan Sunja

Donnie laughed at her little power show before retrieving the glass and beginning to clean it. "I appreciate the offer, but I actually can afford a slightly better apartment, I just don't how to have nice things," he admitted, giving the serious statement in a joking tone so that she wouldn't think to pry. No one really knew about his past, him having always been tightlipped about most of his personal history despite encouraging others to open up to him. He had divulged his criminal history to Mr. Clark during his interview because it was required, but that was about it. No one knew that his last name was actually just the name of the orphanage he grew up in, or about his time on the streets with the gang and-aside from Mr. Clark- his subsequent prison time. No one would guess it by looking at him either, what with his wide, innocent smile and bouncy curls. He was nothing like the brash and aggressive kid that existed before his powers fully manifested.

Then again, he supposed that being able to hear people's thoughts and experience their emotions as though they were his own would make anyone second guess any of their own actions. He couldn't really be upset about his attitude change either; he'd helped a lot of people with simple emotional pushes and a bit of mental prying should it be needed. He shook his head and refocused on Alexis.

"I'll get to it soon, especially with the way my neighbors are being. Hell, maybe I'll join you on the rooftops. It's probably pretty quiet up there," he said, tapping two fingers to his temple to show what he meant. "I used to fall asleep watching the city lights from rooftops, given that all the light pollution blocked out the stars. Is that why you do it?"

He'd always made sure not to use his telepathy on co-workers, preffering to learn about them in the normal way. He knew that people freak out at the thought of mental intrusions, and he did his best to keep everything comfortable within the club, including ensuring all workers that he'd never use that power without them knowing.

Hearing people in the bar moving about he looks out to see Alexis and Donnie talking, smiling he starts preparing a platter of nachos for the staff before they open. Shredding some brisket he tosses it in the pot with the sauce he was making. As the cold brisket warms up in the sauce he grabs out some nacho cheese and fries some corn tortillas that he cut into wedges. After several minutes he pulls the chips from the fryer and salts them, tossing them on the platter. Pulling the meat from the pot he tosses it in a hotel pan and places it in a holding area scooping out 2 spoonfuls of the meat and topping the nachos with it then tops that with the nacho cheese and serving it with a side of his home made salsa with 8 different tomatoes, the salsa looking like a pile of edible confetti with 5 or 6 different color tomatoes and peppers. "Here is your portion guys, just be careful with that salsa. I added 1 pepper but I don't know how hot it actually is. No pain receptors after all." He said placing the still steaming batch of nachos on the bar top.