In silence, Alason's eyes opened.

As the cacophony of colors blurred in and out of familiarity, his eyes closed again, wiping away the residual grime of sleep, before opening again to the sight of his bedroom. Odd, the alarm directly across from him read fourteen minutes past his usual wake-up time, yet did not buzz. Then came the memory, and with it, a smile: [i]I have today off[/i]. Rolling over, Alason cursed himself for having habitually woken up this early. [i]But[/i], he considered, [i] at least it lets me make more of my day[/i].

Taking a moment to will himself out of bed, Alason headed to the bathroom and after a long, peaceful shower, dressed himself in a fine navy suit. It was only now, perhaps a half hour into a long-awaited day off, that he realized a horrible truth: he had no idea what to do. A family visit would likely be dull and promptly regretted, anything exotic and adventurous was out of the question - Alason was much more of the planning type when it came to such ideas - and there likely wouldn't be enough time in the day to do anything exciting anyway... perhaps it would simply be best to start from the beginning. And what might the beginning be? A familiar grumbling sound signified concurrence from Alason's body with his plan.

The autumn air was suddenly something friendly, something crisp and pleasant, to the man not worried about hurrying himself to his little human job with his little human coworkers and explaining to his little human boss why he was late. All too often, Alason would get caught up in the little annoyances, problems that didn't really exist but that he created for himself in his stress. So what if it was a little bit cold outside? The cool air was actually a bit nice, especially as a sweet reprieve from the heat of summer. And the people, some bustling about as they gather supplies for their daily commute, some heading to school, and a handful just sitting on a porch, or on a bench, enjoying their life. It would take a stronger soul than Alason's to restrain a smile. Ay, but there's the grumbling again. Beginning his own commute once again, Alason headed into a place he figured would be the least crowded this time of day: The Tipsy Dragon.

With many of the other breakfast-goers at the local diner, the Tavern was as empty as it would be during the day, with only as many patrons as there were visible staff. Taking a seat on one of the available barstools, he awaited service, and when it came, cheerily ordered a coffee with some generic breakfast sandwich, the ingredients of which he had already forgotten by the time the order came out of his mouth. When the food and coffee arrived in front of him, he thanked the barista and took a long, satisfying sip of the coffee.

"Ah, fantastic."

Almost immediately afterwards, however, having followed up his drink with a bite of the sandwich, Alason grimaced and restrained a retch as he tasted the foulness that was his meal. Perhaps he should've more thoroughly reviewed the ingredients, as it would seem that a large portion of the flavor was donated by a most abhorrent feta cheese. For the sake of maintaining tact, he quickly chewed and swallowed the remainder of the demon-cheese-food-thing and washed it down with the rest of his coffee. It wasn't enough, though, and in a stupor of hatred for the abominable substance, he took a mug of coffee right off of a passing waitress' tray with a hurried "Sorry!" before taking the much-needed sip that totally wiped the remaining taste of crumbly white venom from his tongue. Uncomfortably, he let out a hollow chuckle and placed three dollars on the tray where the coffee had been.

"K-keep the change." Another awkward laugh and he turned back to the counter, hoping only that something would save him from this natural social disaster, and that some force, divine, mystical or otherwise, could wipe this mating of perfectly good bread with this sheepspawn vulgarity off the face of the Earth.