[h2][center][color=#ffbf00]Mina Louise Aldridge
[/color][/center][/h2]

The difference between products marketed as "flame resistant" and those that were actually flame proof was becoming a vital distinction in Mina's life. Flame resistant bed sheets, for example, had been a superfluous, bordering on mysterious, product at some point in her recent memory. Were they for people who smoked in bed? Wax play enthusiasts with poor depth perception? 

They were not for people who caught fire in their sleep. 

At exactly eight thirty AM, Mina caught fire. Exactly half a second later, an alarm went off and the automatic extinguishers installed over her bed responded to the fire sensor and exploded with a [i]pfft[/i] of cold white foam. It smothered her (formerly) sleeping and (possibly more importantly) ablaze form with a frigid blast of chemical fluff. She blinked her eyes open.

[color=#ffbf00]"Well. Doesn't that just-"[/color] Sitting up, she ran a hand down her face and spit some foam off to the side. [color=#ffbf00]Sorry, sorry,[/color] she mumbled to the attendants hurrying in to right the mess, holding extinguishers in case the overhead had failed in its job. [color=#ffbf00]"I know this probably gets your goose. I can clean it, it's my own-"[/color] 

[b]"Not to worry, Miss,[/b] said a young woman already stripping the sheets. She and her cohorts were not the type to bat an eye at a woman still sporting her bonnet and covered in extinguisher spray. [b]"You ought to get cleaned up for the meeting today."[/b]

[color=#ffbf00]"Oh, right. About forgot about that- Sorry. Again. Sorry. I'm gonna, uh."[/color] She sighed, nodded out the door before heading toward the showers, a change of clothes over one arm. 

[center]------[/center] 

She made her way to the meeting room about half an hour after the chaos, hair tied back and clean clothes on. [color=#ffbf00]"Uh, morning. Y'all. Good to, uh. Good to see everyone all bright and early, huh?"[/color] She didn't address anyone in particular, more aiming for small talk as she poured herself a cup of coffee from the beverage tray.