A sharp and coarse cough was the first sign of autumn for Kebi, it was also what unfortunately woke her up from deep sleep as her throat constricted around the lack of air she had under layers and layers of blankets. They were dusty and borrowed from relatives but kept her warm when the time came, which for Kebi was better than nothing.
She flipped the covers over her head in a huff of apparent frustration, not entirely sure just what caused her to wake in such a bad mood.
"Well, I already forgot what that dream was about five seconds right after I woke up."As usual in her morning routine, she stared at the ceiling with a faraway look in her eyes. It wasn't as if she could actually see the ceiling itself even as the blur of the morning left her eyes, but it was nice to reassure herself that she wasn't completely blind. It took maybe a good 30 or so minutes before she even found herself moving a muscle and even longer until she was actually sitting up, ready to embrace reality and not wander her post dawn thoughts.
Sitting up, she shook a hand through her, and reached over for her glasses which was next to blank news sheets strewn across her work desk. The visage was enough to remind her of the article she needed to have done by early tomorrow. Pictures, citations, interviews, she needed these things in order to complete what some might have seen as a small school project.
As typical, not even getting paid was enough to motivate Kebi into finishing her work earlier than need be. She stared at the time on her phone, not at all pleased that she'd have to get up and go interact with the world just to ensure that she'd have some money to eat tomorrow.
"Alright so, 9:00am not bad, maybe we can actually get to where I need to be, and take some shitty pictures right?"Without a second thought she walked over to the bathroom, quick to grab her toothbrush and get to work on her daily morning routine. It didn't take long at all for her to come walking out the bathroom with her hair in a messy bun, wearing an over-sized and slightly frayed hoodie with leggings and laced boots. All casual, and very unlike the professionals in her industry, but it'd have to do.
She grabbed her phone her headphones, packed her bag with her camera, laptop, and notebook, and headed out of her small apartment to her
Vespa in the downstairs parking lot.
As far as anyone could tell Kebi was definitely a newcomer to Sol City, the city itself felt like something of a maze, but one that Kebi had no problem exploring with her trusty Vespa. However, often times she'd find herself asking for directions here and there, and to this very day she had no idea just where anything actually was, sometimes even her own apartment looked foreign to her in the grand vastness of the city ahead.
Speeding past the sites of the city however, made up for being lost along the way, at the very least she got a nice view, and at the very worst a pissed off city native would begrudgingly tell her where she needed to go. Of course, today just had to be one of those days where she had to piss off more people than she intended to. Speeding into the Southside of town was not something she typically did, in fact just the sight of it made her feel claustrophobic, something about it reminded her that life wasn't always an easy breeze like this city seemed to suggest.
Regardless, she didn't bother changing routes as soon as she saw the first dilapidated building, there was something incredibly homely about this part of the city, tucked away from the bustle and gleam of other parts, and not nearly as well kempt. Kebi was actually supposed to be doing her report on a inquiry into one of the factories down in Southside. While, this wasn't some groundbreaking national news making headline, there had been rumors of illegal dumping into the Riverside waters by this particular company. The last time she came here to interview them, she'd been rudely turned away, however she was assured that this time there might be something more succinct than the original answers she got.
Even if there wasn't, she always had her camera to at least sneak in and hopefully document any evidence. Maybe she was having delusions of grandeur about just what she would find at this factory, the rumor could have just been competition trying to invoke competition through libel. Kebi had no real way to know since her own source was anonymous and was found through the net as usual. Did the locals know about the little backpage Reddit where everyone came together to talk about the city? She wondered for a quick moment.
As her eyes began to scope out her current surroundings, she didn't particularly notice her Vespa gradually slowing down and the handle growing increasingly unsteady in her grip . She should have been looking out whether or not she found herself in a small alleyway, it wasn't long before her Vespa ran headlight first into a wall which caused it to simply lift her only a few feet off her seat but just enough to jolt her awake.
The headlight busted against the hard wall, and Kebi was left backing up to confirm the worst. That wasn't the only thing damaged, as she attempted to turn the key and was left with an engine that refused to start.
"Oh fucking great..." she gritted between her teeth as she stood off to the side and examined the outside of the Vespa.
As expected, she knew nothing about Vespa repair, and nothing about upkeep either if it was so quick to fail on her now of all times. She huffed, already regretting the fact that she even came to a part of the city she wasn't even accustomed to.
Kebi spotted a convenience store nearby, and walked over, asking for the nearest repair shop she could find. For once, some luck came her way once the shop owner confirmed that a shop existed just a few blocks away from here.
"A-Pex Designs? Is that right?"She worded the name of the shop as if Apex was not a word in her vocabulary.
"Yep, if I reckon it should be a few blocks from here. You could use your phone GPS to find it.""I sure will."Making her way back to the Vespa she moved the handles into her grip, and walked with it towards wherever her phone pointed. Dragging the vehicle was one thing, but having it constantly drift off where she didn't need it to was another. Rounding corner after corner Kebi was able to find Apex Designs which to her was a godsend had her aching feet not been the first thing to fail her.
"Just a few blocks huh? So much for that."She walked into the shop, being careful not to let her Vespa knock into any of the vehicles currently being worked on. Walking just close enough not to be within the vicinity of another car, she used the kickstand to make the Vespa stand still before walking further to see if she could get any help.
"Uh....hello???? Anybody there? Kinda need help with my Vespa....if you guys? or...girls.....or person....can fix that kinda thing...?"She knew she wasn't making the best impression but she hoped it was enough to catch whoever was inside the shop's attention since no other customers or employees seemed to be around.
@pilatus
