Today had been a particularly shitty day, hadn’t it? With rain soaking every inch of clothing he owned, Gideon leaned up against the cool concrete wall of the convenience store he’d just shopped in, finding little comfort sitting on small ledge at the bottom of the same wall. Stretching his legs up so far felt nice, but, just about as nice as the usual lactic acid burn could feel, really. All the water he drank just made him crave something more sugary and artificially flavored with every sip, but he’d never shred the left over baby fat he had if he kept indulging himself every chance he had. At the very least, the cold water helped him not feel so sapped from the suffocating humidity that blanketed him that day.

”D’ya think that God just likes raining on this city in particular? As, like, a big fuck you to us for existing, or something?” David, the other courier standing against a post in front of Gideon finally broke the silence between sips of his own water bottle.

”Couldn’t tell ya, David. I’m not exactly privy to God’s thought process or anything like that. I just deliver shit, man.”

”You even believe in God, G?”

”Thought I did,” Gideon began to rise and grunt on his words as he rose,”but, I realized that it didn’t really matter to me, right? My parents were freaks over that shit, woke up and went to sleep reciting prayers, sent me to Sunday school, all that. Despite it all, I just never really got into it.”

”Soo…. You’re an athiest?”

Gideon let out an exasperated sigh, as David laughed jokingly. ”I guess, man, if that’s what you wanna call me. I just don’t take the time to think about it.”

”You don’t ever think you might need him? I mean, traffic is getting worse by the day around this place, one day you might end up through some guy’s windshield, it wouldn’t help to have the big Arab Jew in sky on your side, ya know.”

”Pfft, how do you even know he’s human, dude? He could be a big… dream catcher or some shit like that.”

David let out a chortle. C’mon, I can’t go around these locals talking like that. They get mad anytime I even imply that Jesus wasn’t white. They’s probably start the crusades again if I said some shit like ‘dreamcatcher’.

Gideon chuckled. ”Yeah? Well, maybe then God would be too busy smiting our smartasses instead of pouring rain on us.”

David, who has mounted his bicycle and rolled over near the road, simply replied with a chuckle and “Shiiiiet.” before he pressed his pedal down and got his momentum going down the street.

Gideon chuckled, and slid his helmet back on, fastening the strap. He could feel his cold, wet clothing with a renewed obviousness, as finally standing up made everything slide and shift around. He poured the remainder of his water into the bottle on his cycle, and tossed the other bottle in a recycling bin before mounting his bike. As he slowly made his way back into the bike lane, he took in a deep breath of the thick, humid air, and then took off.

Of all things, Gideon was still thinking about God. His parents had been so fervent with their teachings of the Bible when he was a kid, he was genuinely surprised that he hadn’t ended up fanaticals like they were. He knew that forcing children into religious studies often made kids turn away from them even faster than they could even become acquainted with it all.

Maybe, one day, God would help he and his parent’s bond again. If anything was going to work, it’d probably have to be him.

[h.r]
Physical Traits
Mahrie prefers to wear her hair down, spread about her shoulders most of the time. Sometimes, she'll put it in a one-sided braid that she'll pull over one of her shoulders. She favors fun, colorful blouses most of the time, some with floral patterns, some plain, and is usually seen wearing darker blue jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie when roaming about.

Full Name
Mahrie Lizbeth Beaulieu (Mah-ree Bow-li-yoo)

Gender
Female

Ethnicity
Caucasian

Sexuality
Heterosexual

Age
16

Motives
Mahrie's parents' devotion to both her, and their community taught her at a young age to be compassionate, understanding, and willing to help in and way she could. Her mother taught her to keep powering through until the very end, no matter what the world throws at you. And her father left a legacy of helping anyone he could, but also finding a balance between his passion in his work and his daughter, giving care and compassion to both, equally.
Due to the experiences she’s had since moving from France to the United States, with bullying and sometimes not grasping “American” concepts quite as well, Mahrie lacks confidence in herself in times of emotional stress, sometimes feeling as though she isn’t good enough for what needs to be done.

Occupation
Young high school student, aspiring doctor and author.

"Maaahrie! It's time for dinner!" came the call from downstairs. One of the volunteers had just finished cooking an evening meal for all of the children. "Put down that book and get down here quick! Otherwise it's going to get cold again!" Mahrie couldn't help but smile in the moments after that call, for most of the volunteers here knew her tendencies to get caught up in her books and forget to eat completely.

"One moment!" she called back, aiming to quickly finish the page she was on before having to hurry downstairs. Her current read consisted of a mix between biographies of famous doctors, both old and new, and harrowing details of their lives, how they had come to find their passion, and the people they got to save and see smile once more.
Many times, Mahrie found herself lost in one of the many books she'd carry with her to school. Whether they be compelling fantasies, stunning biographies, or simply a newspaper article about finding a cure to an illness or a doctor who performed a miraculous surgery.

As she skimmed that last page, subconsciously reading it a few times over already, her mind wandered off in thought to some advice she had been given once, from one of the volunteers at the orphanage. It made her think about just how much she's in tune to the world around her, and perhaps how she's so dependent on reading to be happy that she misses out on everything going on around her.

"Y'know Mahrie, it's alright to take a break from reading sometimes. I know you love to read, but you should also pay attention to the world around you, before you miss anything."

"What do you mean when you say, anything?" she asked, glancing up at the woman momentarily as they strolled through the park.

The older woman chuckled quietly, reaching down and gently closing Mahrie's book as they stopped on the path for a moment.

"If you look around Mahrie, there's lots more to see than meets the eye. See the leaves falling? It's going to start getting colder, fall is almost here." the woman paused and pointed down at the grass bordering the pathway.
"And look, the ants are preparing for fall too. They're taking crumbs down to their Queen, so that they can stay underground when it starts getting cold." Looking back at Mahrie, there was some fascination in the child's eyes.

"But you learned that by reading about it, didn't you?"

"Yes, that is true," the woman said with a little chuckle, "but what good is reading about it if you can't experience it for yourself?"

"Hm, I guess that makes some sense. But I still want to finish my book." the child said, shrugging with indifference and diving back into her book.

The woman laughed in amusement, "I wouldn't expect anything different, Mahrie." she said, placing a hand on the young girl's shoulders and leading her down the path.