[center][color=lightsteelblue][h1]ᴀᴏᴋɪ ʀᴇʏɴᴀ sᴀɴᴅsᴛʀöᴍ[/h1][/color]
[i]Location - Sol City Streets - Old Harbor
Mentions - [@PrinceAlexus][@RoccanIronclad]
Interactions - [/i][/center]

"Wha-- I didn't get any message!" Aoki was talking on the phone as she walked down the street, her hair blowing on the cold wind. Her tan coat slapped harshly against her legs as she made her way to the Uber that she had ordered home just a few minutes ago. "Yes, I checked my email, but there was nothing on there." She had gotten a call from her boss telling her that is she was going to come in late. Apparently, there had been a change in her schedule and Aoki had not gotten the memo. Her schedule had been changed to start earlier now, and she would be able to leave the museum earlier too. While Aoki was glad her hours had been changed, she was still unhappy that she had not gotten the email that had informed her of it. "I'll be there in ten minutes. Thank you for calling me." With that, Aoki hung up and hoped that there was no traffic on her way to work. 

Aoki was supposed to start at 7 in the morning, and she arrived to work an hour late. There had been a lot of traffic in the streets, and an accident had slowed down the highways, so there was no way for her to arrive any earlier. Although a bike would have been helpful, but Aoki didn't know how to ride one-- and riding in heels must be difficult. Aoki also took the whole hour in the Uber to thank Marinalia for giving her Ashton's information. She would contact the other woman later at night when she was at home. It would be nice to get everyone she had met at the club to hang together and talk peacefully. 

As soon as Aoki clocked in, she got to work on a painting from the early 18 hundreds. The painting's colors had faded, and there were a few cracks on the canvas. There would be no painting today, since she had to prep the painting first and make sure she examined everything she would have to do to restore the painting correctly. It took her about two hours to get every little detail down on paper and make sure to note it's location so she wouldn't overlook it when it was finally time to seal and cover up the cracks. The rest of the day was spent prepping the painting and documenting every little detail about it as she did so. Restoring old pictures like this could be a lot of pressure for someone. Being in charge of taking care of something so old and historical could have been too heavy for someone to handle, luckily Aoki was a woman of determination and ambition! While her perfectionism did slow her down a bit, she continued to work hard and not let the pressure get to her. 

[hr]

[center][i]Later that day, after work[/i][/center]

Old Habor was a place of history. Aoki loved history. She loved living and working with history. There was something about Old Harbor that made her feel like she was back home in Helsingborg. Since the days had begun to grow colder and colder, she had started to become more homesick. The cold always reminded her of the snowy days back home and how she and her brothers would play around in their backyard while their parents watched and tried to hide the whiskey they drank. To help her homesickness, Aoki would often go to the harbor, sit down with her sketchbook, and listen to some of her father's orchestra songs. On bad days, she would come and listen to him playing the piano and cry until she could see her family standing in front of her. Aoki had debated going back to Sweden so many times, but every time she had to remind herself that going back there wouldn't further her career. She had a life in Sol now, even if it was a lonely one. 

"Maybe I can do for summer vacations..." Aoki hadn't been back home in years and seeing her parents and brothers in person would do good to her. She never really liked the summer here in America and Helsingborg was a lot cooler than Sol during the summer, so she would be able to escape the heat too. The more she thought about vacations back home, the more she felt the homesickness grow. Aoki decided to push her thoughts about home back and save it for later. Now, there was a beautiful view of the harbor. While someone would think cloudy skies and a gloomy feel to the dock seemed somewhat sad, Aoki enjoyed this weather. She loved to sketch and shade in clouds. There was also a man fishing in the harbor while boats passed by. The wind was a lot harsher by the water, so his hair was whipping around. Aoki had taken a seat just about 30 yards away from him, so she had a pretty good view of him. Without wasting another moment, Aoki began to sketch the man down. 

As she sketched down the passing boats and the man, Aoki tried not to make it too evident that she was staring at the man's figure as her pencil drew lines on the paper. It had been a while since she had done anything realistic, so Aoki wanted to take the opportunity to practice and take advantage of the lovely scenery. Besides, Aoki tended to give out the sketches she drew of people to the person, in case they noticed. Luckily, the man she had been sketching for the past half hour.

Everything was done in pencil. Aoki had taken some artistic liberties by drawing the stranger with a sad smile instead of a serious one. A smile that Aoki was too familiar with. When she was done, Aoki held the drawing up to compare it to the man, hoping he wouldn't notice what she was doing. Anyone who was watching her from afar would at least think what she was doing was really weird and strange. Aoki didn't mind too much, as long at the man she had drawn didn't notice. The drawing had come out too nice to give away.