The Muse

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

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"It's lovely to meet you, Aoki. That's a beautiful name!"

"So, what brings you here? Passing by? A vacation maybe. The nature? The quietness of a small town? Your past?"

Lily felt all the hair on her arms stand up as a cold shiver shot down her spine. Her eyes fixated on a spot on the table where the wood had been chipped on the edge. In her mind, an image flashed to remind her of her past. Staring at herself in the bathroom mirror, covered in blood that was not only her own, eyes terrified and wide, her body trembling as she tried to regain control of her breathing.

"I'm kidding, hun."

Heart racing, Lily blinked a few times and quickly looked back up to meet Aoki's eyes, mentally pulling herself away from her own memory and shoving it back down into the recesses of her mind. In an effort to appear normal, Lily laughed along with her new acquaintance and smiled.

"I suppose it's... a bit of everything that brought me here. I needed to get away." She shrugged, "I'll be sure to take you up on that tour of the town!"

"Alright, who's hungrier, I can take your order first."

"MEEEE! I'm starving!!" She sat up straight and grabbed her menu, grinning at the waitress. "I did walk here, after all. Take pity on me!" She gestured towards the ends of her hair which had gotten soaked from not being underneath her hoodie on the walk over, and then to her completely soaked through hoodie which laid atop her suitcase. "I'll have a cinnamon bagel, please! OH! And orange juice!"

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_{Interactions: @Rodiak@Artemis Arts}

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

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"Is there any trouble, sir?"

"Hm? Oh no, no. It's fine. Just taking it all in." He shrugged and leaned back into his rickety old chair, thinking about Jacob's previous question about how Sanctuary was treating him. In truth, the town was treating him just fine. He hadn't had any real problems with anyone, at least not yet. He just felt so... out of place here. "Sanctuary has been good. I'm still... getting use to it, I guess. Beautiful views, though." Levi looked outside the window, watching the rain splatter against the glass. "Well, usually." He half smiled and turned his eyes back to Jake. "How long have you been on the force now? How are you liking it?"

Just then, their waitress hurried by their table and dropped off their drinks; water for Jake, coffee for Levi. "Thanks." Levi watched as the girl ran off, obviously in a hurry due to the rush of customers that were piling in on this rainy Tuesday morning. He grabbed a packet of sugar that sat out on a dish at the table and stirred it into his coffee as he awaited Jake's answer.

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_{Interactions: @Inertia}

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

@udonoodles No worries! I feel you. It's been excruciatingly busy at work for me and I've been exhausted by the time I'm home to write haha

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

@GoodestGrief Definitely! I'm looking forward to seeing the character you come up with :)

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

No worries at all!

I'll get a Levi post up soon as well :)

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

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"Just for two or three days I should think."

"Wonderful!" Reya spun on her heel and gestured for the older man to follow her, "If you don't mind, just follow me this way."

Reya led the man to the opposite end of the bar and through an old creaky door which opened up into what might resemble a hotel lobby. In the middle of the room was a wooden receptionist desk, which Reya slipped behind and began to sort through a few papers. On each side of the lobby were two stair cases, each leading up to the second level which was filled with twenty individual rooms. In the bar area there were additional rooms on a second level, though those were rarely ever used these days. When the building had been originally built they had often been used for "ladies of the night", but now they served as storage. Reya had always told her father that they needed to clear out those rooms just in case they needed the extra room if they reached capacity... but who was she kidding, really?

"Alright. If you could just fill out your information here," She pulled out a couple of papers which asked for the mans general information like his name and phone number along with a statements saying that he would be responsible for replacing anything he broke, "Print name here. Initial here.. and signature here." She pointed to the fill in boxes and where he should sign, then slid him a pen.

As he went through the paperwork, Reya unlocked a cabinet inside the reception desk and began to dig through multiple room keys. "Ah-ha!" She pulled out a key with the number 20 engraved onto it. She grinned as she looked up and set the key down next to him on the desk, "I'll set you up with the best room in the house." She gave him a playful wink. Room 20 was on the right side of the building and the furthest away from the bar which meant it would be the quietest while you were trying to sleep. The tavern bar could get rowdy at night depending on what was going on.

When he was finished signing the papers, Reya stapled them together and threw the paperwork into a drawer and locked it. "Your room is just up these stairs to the right. Feel free to ask any of our staff for anything you need, there is a phone in your room as well that will reach one of us."

Slipping back out from behind the desk, Reya slowly began to walk toward the door the entered back into the bar area. "I have to get back to the bar guests, but I'll be around if you need anything. Come on in for some breakfast if you like! Thank you for staying at the Fox Hole!" With that, she disappeared behind the door.

Hurrying back into the kitchen to grab another food order, Reya caught just the end of Ruben's chat with himself.

"... she was intruding? How though?"

Quickly, the heat returned back to Reya's face. "Great.." She thought to herself, unsure of what to say or if she should even address it. Ignoring it was definitely the easier choice... Ignoring it as if she hadn't heard anything at all seemed fine!

Her eyes, avoiding his, quickly searched the counter for the order that the truckers had ordered but she found nothing. "Err.. did you get the..." She paused and peeked out the kitchen door into the bar area again, finding that the truckers had already been served their meal. She ducked back into the kitchen and hesitantly met his eyes.

"Thank you for getting their order out to them, I appreciate it."

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Interactions: @Pagemaster@OddApproved

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

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"Someone splattered mud on you?" Levi looked up from his menu inquisitively, looking over Jake's uniform to see if he could find any of the residue. "On purpose?" He asked, meeting Jake's eyes again. Back in the city it wasn't uncommon for people to purposely aggress officers, especially in todays political climate, but he tried not to jump to conclusions. Although it was becoming increasingly common, Levi still would have thought it odd for someone in this small rural town to purposely pick a fight with an officer. There wasn't very far to run if you got into it with each other. Not to mention, the sheriff seemed to be in the pockets of most folks around town.

Before Jake was able to answer, the energetic brunette waitress appeared at their table. Levi smiled at her, truly glad to have her as his server again. While he found most people in this town dull and tiring, this girl was like a breath of fresh air. He wasn't sure what kept her so happy when everyone else here seemed so sullen, but he was glad to have her around - even for just this brief moment in time.

"Good Morning, miss. I'll have coffee and the egg and sausage special, please." He looked over at Jake, awaiting his order. Behind him, he noticed three women engaging in a light hearted conversation with one another. His gaze met the eyes of a blue haired woman who seemed to have an apparent distaste for the two officers. He could read the look in her eyes from a mile away, though she only looked at them momentarily. He kept his blue eyed gaze on her for a moment longer, making a mental note of her face, before turning his attention back to the waitress as Jake made his order.

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_{Interactions: @Inertia@Artemis Arts
Mentions: @Rodiak}

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

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Lily raised a brow as the red-headed woman recommended a dessert. "Cheesecake in the morning?!" She glanced up at a clock on the wall that read 9:18am. "I think you must have a sweet tooth!" She giggled and returned her eyes to the menu as the other woman began to recommend a bagel instead. "Oooh, a cinnamon bagel does sound heavenly." She laughed and shook her head a bit, "You both have a sweet tooth!" She shrugged and set her menu down, "I'll take your word for it and give that a try."

Setting her menu down, Lily began to look around the room to find who would be taking their order. Upon spotting the two men in police uniforms a chill ran down her spine. Her eyes fixated on them for a minute or two, her mind stuck in the past. Though the police had often been very helpful in her life, recent events had made her often feel nauseous when seeing them. Her therapist had told her it was an effect of the PTSD and the anxiety.

Forcefully shaking the feeling away, she turned her eyes to the waitress who was currently taking their order. Immediately her mind went to her mother, who would have been having a fit that the waitress was taking orders from two patrons who had entered the business AFTER she had sat down. Lily's mother was the least patient person she had ever met, and no doubt would be calling for service and making a scene about it right about now.

Not wanting to follow in her mothers footsteps, Lily relaxed back into her seat and began to eye the blue-haired woman at the table across from hers. "I'm Lily, by the way." She turned to look over at the morning cheesecake lover, offering a soft smile. "Lily Alessio. It's nice to meet you both."

As she spoke her last name, she realized that her name had no weight here in this small rural town. In New York her last name meant something to most people. It meant that she had money and power. Sanctuary probably had no idea who the Alessio's were, and didn't care about who they were. It was an odd and scary feeling having no notoriety here, but freeing at the same time. Perhaps she could mold herself into whoever she wanted to be instead of what people already assumed her to be just by hearing her last name.

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_{Interactions: @ArticBeaver@Rodiak
Mentions: @Artemis Arts@Inertia}

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

@udonoodles Awesome! I'm looking forward to it :)

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

@Pagemaster Sure! Go ahead :)