Pilatus

Sol City [Modern Slice of Life] . (CHAPTER ONE COMPLETED!) . ARCHIVED

Joel Nicolosi

Wednesday Morning

Joel parked the Jeep in the long-term garage, popped the hood and took the battery kill-switch key with him as the headed for the international terminal. He didn’t get out to Sol’s main commercial airport often, but he always tended to enjoy it once he got past the idiotic security. A couple people recognized him in the baggage line and he casually waved and returned cordial greetings. The TSA checkpoint wasn’t too bad and he was putting his sneakers back on in fairly short order. Glancing down at his phone to the boarding pass, he was about an hour ahead of schedule and had time to kill before he had to be at the gate. He slinked past a sign for the Sol City Grand Prix that still hadn’t been taken down and set about his way.

Sol International was still fairly new and strolling the terminal was a bit of a curiosity he enjoyed and blending into the crowd for a while was a welcome change from the past few days. His phone and email remained full to the point that he thought he might have to hire someone to sort through it all. The thought crossed his mind that Sio might be a good candidate for such a task since she insisted on being there while he worked. She might as well be useful, he mused, but he quickly stored the thought as he continued to walk down the wide, main corridor with a book-bag slung over his shoulders. It was going to be a long flight and he planned to take care of some business along the way. The race winnings and his wager from Nissan had already been deposited in his account and he had made a list to spend part of the flight taking care of every debt he ever owed to anyone. His mother insisted it would be a classy move to at least donate some of it to a charity and he was going to take care of that as well.

Then there was the matter of Marlin and her family baggage. It occurred to him that she was much more interesting without her snooty rich family. They all seemed to be of one mind at the party and it was slightly creepy. Her tough-guy cousins had shot him some dirty looks and he contemplated what they’d look like when his thirty-five millimeter wrench went upside their head. Assholes. He had been nice enough in the days that followed and he returned her texts in a nice way, but again she seemed to be much stronger when she didn’t have anyone to run to, like when he found her at the cargo office that night. Then there was Sio who was a whole different level of fireball. He grinned at the thought of women competing over him.

As was his usual custom, he first scoped out the gate where he would be boarding then headed over to the very posh Cathay Pacific lounge to kill off the remaining time. It felt in poor taste to ghost through the airport without saying anything to Marlin after she wished him a nice flight. She knew when he was flying and could see when his flight landed so he went ahead and texted her back telling her where he was and if she had time could stop and chat.

@PrinceAlexus

What Are You Listening To?

Sol City [Modern Slice of Life] . (CHAPTER ONE COMPLETED!) . ARCHIVED

Paige Kennedy

It was surreal, watching them, as they rushed in to her apartment. The police and the paramedics got there first. She hadnt moved from her slumped position against the back of her couch when they excitedly came through the door. While the suits secured her apartment and the body lying in her kitchen, the parademics started to tend to her. The female EMT immediately set about working on her head. Paige felt something like a boxer in the ring corner and she had just gone all twelve rounds. The young woman continued steadfastly in her work asking questions, gently probing, pushing and pressing to find broken bones or cracked ribs occasionally looking back behind her or talking to the police. Paige knew she was out of it. She could hear herself talking, but it was like there was a delay between the thought, the word and hearing it come out. The EMT told her she had a definite concussion from being slammed into the wall and her side was cut from the glass table shattering, though thankfully nothing had cut too deep. She was very lucky.

It took her a little longer than usual to process it when Milo came through her door. He looked so worried and concerned. She'd been beaten up before, wrestled with fugitives, been kicked, punched, spit on and at only 130 lbs, generally tossed around, but nothing like this. The look he gave was one she'd never seen from him of caring and compassion. When she saw him her eyes locked on to his and her expression brightened into a weak, but unfiltered smile the polar opposite of when they'd only first seen each other at the Winter Party. "Hey," She said weakly as he knelt beside her feeling the tenderness in his touch as he brushed her hair aside. "I fired the elevator guy." She said with a small cough and a joking grin that feebly attempted to cover her pain and disorientation.

A mechanical clang sounded as two officers lifted the stretcher carrying the bagged body of her attacker, its feet locked in place and they began rolling it away. Paige tilted her head a little and looked past Milo her expression fading as she watched them wheel out the hitman. "I think our mutual friend from the other day sent him." She said still watching as the paramedic continued to clean up her face. "I also think I'm going to the hospital." She continued as another EMT arrived pushing a second stretcher. "Just go in there and get me some clothes," She nodded towards her bedroom. "You know what I usually wear." In her injured state, she didn't really care what he found in there and thought maybe he'd like that she'd placed the picture of him, Ana and herself in a small frame on her dresser. 

@RoccanIronclad

Sol City [Modern Slice of Life] . (CHAPTER ONE COMPLETED!) . ARCHIVED

It *looks* like we're leaning towards Sol. I've got some ideas.

Some stuff we're going to save for a surprise though.

Sol City [Modern Slice of Life] . (CHAPTER ONE COMPLETED!) . ARCHIVED

Joel & Siobhan

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Location: Apex Designs; Tuesday Late Afternoon

Interaction: Joel (@Pilatus) & Siobhan (@Almalthia)

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Mentions:

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Joel caught the keys and tucked them in the front pocket of his sweatshirt. “Yeah, they mostly only have each other to look at all day.” He said, referring the motley congregation outside his shop. As she moved in closer, he remembered how she kissed him the last time they saw each other on the roof. Where were these chicks before I won that race? He thought to himself. She didn't quite seem like another one just wanting to hitch her wagon up, and if she was, she was at least willing to put her money on it. He put the bottle of Blue Moon in her open hand and stooped down looking and running his hand under the fender then getting in a push up position to look under the frame. “That's a Parkway Drive song,” He said studying what he could see of the underside. His main concern was rust, Chevrolets tended to start from the bottom up, but it appeared the car was garage-kept which would be a huge plus. “Not my favorite song by them, but it's not bad, a little dark, I like the riff and the beat.”

He got up to see her open the hood and glanced over inside. His lips curled slightly. Everything was there, but covered in gray, dusty, age. The radiator hoses looked brittle, rust was staining the firewall under the master cylinder and the spaghetti of vacuum lines looked cracked and dried out. No wonder it ran rough. Every internal seal was likely in the same condition. “No, I don't miss you now.” He said shaking his head with a smile that denoted some level of pity for her. He picked up a broken vacuum hose to emphasize his point. There was no telling where it once led. “This thing doesn't get driven a whole lot I'm guessing?” He let the hose drop undramatically and continued looking, taking out his phone and shining its light to see if he could get a look at the carburetor tucked under the air cleaner. “Like I said,” He started feeling for cracks around one of the motor mounts. “It just depends what you want to do.” He popped open the reservoir on the master cylinder and peeped inside seeing it was low on fluid. “I can rebuild the carburetor and plug the lines and it will run better for sure, but you got a lot going on here.”

He closed the hood down gently. The light outside was fading too fast to see enough of anything else for the night. “If it was mine, I'd think about just putting a crate engine in it,” He said opening the driver’s door and giving the seat a firm shake to see if it was loose from someone stomping the pedal, but found it surprisingly firm. “Fuel injection was the best thing ever put into a car, we could just put a kit on it if you wanted, but you'll be back for other stuff if you plan to start driving this regularly.” He leaned in to check the mileage and nodded approvingly before turning back to her. “I’d keep the color black for sure.” He crossed his arms and looked up and down the unusual coke-bottle design. It wasn't his cup of tea exactly, but it was something different. He was starting to get his own ideas for it, but wasn't sure how much she'd want to spend.

Looking inquisitively at the cold bottle of Blue Moon Siobhan wiped off the top, as he had the scotch the other night, and sipped. Not bad Taking a longer draw on the beer she leaned closer looking at the engine with him she grimaced. No wonder Karen was running horribly. She's pretty old and really needs an update. Sipping on the beer she smiled as he admitted that he had missed her. Was that pity? Oh hell no. I don't want pity. She watched him get a feel for Karen and could almost see the gears turning with his thoughts. When he got into the driver's seat she took another long draw. She leaned a hip and watched him give the wheel a good shake. “Easy there Speed Racer. Karen's got a temper.”

She nodded at his assessment and leaned down her right arm on the top of the car so she could make eye contact without ducking her head awkwardly. Her white t-shirt pulled taunt over her generously curved figure. She handed over the Blue Moon that had maybe two swallows left. Little ones. “So I plan on driving Karen. Often. Why own her and not drive her? And yes while it seems like she was a show piece she's gonna need to be a working girl.” She reached over and looked lovingly at the inside of the car caressed the steering wheel and looked back at Joel. “While seeing you all the time has its appeal I want you to have some time to miss me. And I don't want to get boring so let me get to the point. What would you do if this was your Corvette and you were as... passionate about her as I am?” It came out a little breathy at the end.

She playfully tapped him on the nose hoping to distract herself. Which drew her attention to his mouth. Which reminded her of her kiss and run. Woah and there goes the tension ratcheting up. He hasn't gotten me back for stealing a kiss yet. That's probably going one of two ways. Either he'll ignore it or do something about it when I least expect it. She blushed as she realized she was staring a bit and wet her lips. Realizing the image she gave off she laughed softly and backed up a little. “Sorry about crowding you there Joel just a bit enthusiastic about this.”

Joel got a generous view as Sio leaned down and expressed her “enthusiasm” with the project. He took the bottle back and finished off what was left. Then she sort of tapped his nose which mildly irritated him. He hated when people touched his face, but he let it go. She seemed to suddenly be acting very childishly and he was in business mode. “Here's the thing,” He said with a small shrug, “If it was mine and I could do whatever I wanted, I would just about gut the whole thing down to the frame. Especially if you're married to it for life.” He looked it over again, not even paying a lot of attention to her as he envisioned the work it would take and the proposition that would cost far and away more than what the car was worth. “Give it a modern coilover suspension, widen the fenders and lower it so it will handle better and be proportional instead of long and narrow.” He scratched at the stubble on his chin, not having shaved since the race, thinking intensely.“Change the motor out, GM crate engines are pretty good and come with all I’ll need. That will clean up the engine bay and make it easier to drive daily, no more pumping the pedal to start it.” He pointed along the side with the base of the bottle, “Put old school pipes down the side like some of the C2’s had, probably do satin black like on a Harley, that would make it subtle yet different... If you're following me.” He had plenty more ideas, but those were the biggest. If she was up for any of that, she'd be up for anything and if he was going to do this, it would need to be done right.

Siobhan nodded and got very serious. She could see a lot of time and effort on Joel's part would go into this. “Then do it. It's not that I don't care it's more of the fact that I trust you. It'd be like you asking me to do a designer piece for you with an outline to work with and letting me have my head, so to speak. But is this going to be fair to monopolize you? I'm sure that you'll have a lot more people now that you've done some schmoozing. Plus this is a ton of work. So I'm willing to start at say 100 grand? And work from there. I can get you a quarter of that when we start and get it to you in lump sums at every quarter at the latest dates. So what do you think? I don't want this rushed. I can deal with not having it right away and I want it done right. Which is why I asked you.”

Sol City [Modern Slice of Life] . (CHAPTER ONE COMPLETED!) . ARCHIVED

Paige Kennedy

Wednesday Night

The walk from the elevator was again extended so much so that Paige was becoming accustomed to the stroll down the hallway. The maintenance bulletin that her apartment complex put out promised Wednesday as the last day of maintenance, but she honestly didn’t mind the slightly longer walk it caused her. The day had been fairly productive. She and her Chief met with the US Attorney to outline everything they were bringing to bear against Jackie and thanks to Milo’s cool acting chops, it was going to be a slam dunk once they got in front of the judge. The fact that he’d additionally threatened her, as a Federal Officer, was going to just be icing on the cake. Neither she nor Milo would even be needed to testify which was a plus. Like all law-enforcement, she hated the massive waste of time that appearing in court entailed.

She entered with a slight sigh of fatigue, looking forward to just getting some rest and starting on her next case in the morning. She dropped some mail on the counter and took her gun off her hip, placing it on the top of the bar when she felt her phone vibrating in her back pocket. Annoyed, she took it out and looked at the number that was awaiting an answer and not recognizing it. Her thumb just grazed over the glass screen when an odd yellow line fell over her field of vision and she barely had half a second to drop her phone and get her hand up.

It felt like an extension cord, tough and rubbery against her fingertips. The slack tightened snugly around her neck in an instant as she heard her phone fall to the floor. From nowhere, she could feel the weight of a person behind her, breathing steady, unmoving and firm. His shirt was course, like a workman’s. She thought she could feel pockets with buttons. He held the cord firmly in both hands with the loop around her neck and with her back pressed against his chest he swiftly moved his foot around her leg to prevent her from squirming any further.

Paige squeaked for air through the small gap her fingers put between the cord and her throat. The shock itself had nearly taken the wind out of her lungs and she felt like a dog whose collar had been yanked hard. She got one leg up to the edge of the counter, feeling the rubber sole of her sneaker bend affirmatively under the bridge of her foot she used every ounce of muscle strength, adrenalin and survival instinct she could muster and launched herself backwards into his upper body with one massive leg press.

They rocked back crashing into the refrigerator and her attacker had to remove his other foot to steady himself against the push. Paige jumped again like a wild animal planting both feet firmly against the counter and launching them back into the refrigerator which shuddered against the impact with an even louder crash than before. The doors flung open in recoil and groceries spilled out onto the floor. She gripped the cord with her other hand feeling his grip tighten down even harder. She choked for air and kicked hard against the counter again. He felt like he lost his footing briefly in some of the spill and she was only briefly able to catch a complete breath before he adjusted his stance to prevent her from kicking again.

A load bearing wall pillar composed part of the bar area and with both of her hands grasping against the strain of the cord, she had no defense as he slammed her into the wall repeatedly. Flinging her by her neck, the first blow nearly knocked her silly and she yelped in pain. A decorative set of plates crashed to the counter and shattered. The second one was even harder, then a third. She could feel her strength fading and for a moment she could see herself: as a little girl back in Florida, sitting in church with her mother while her father preached, as a high-schooler at the prom, graduating from UF, joining the Marshals, hanging out with Ana and Milo. A dark haze began to fall over her eyes and she felt her hand fall away. She no longer had the strength to hold it up, but as it came down on the wrecked countertop, she felt something familiar amongst the jumble of broken dishes and mail envelopes… Envelopes… She remembered. That was it… Milo’s knife.

She had a small coffee cup on the counter where she kept it along with other little knick-knacks, pens, pencils and loose change. It was sharper than shit. She’d already slayed a few letters with it. With the last vestiges of strength and control left in her beaten frame and suffocated mind she wrapped her hand around the handle, pulling it from its small sheath and swung it behind her as hard as she could.

Somewhere she had developed the notion that if she ever stabbed someone it would be gruesome, twisting and gory. The notion of it felt barbaric, like every knife was about as sharp as a regular kitchen knife and it would really take effort to do some damage. She had no real concept of how sharp a blade could be honed or what it would be like when it impacted human tissue. There was almost no resistance when she felt the tip of small blade pierce through his pant leg and stop as soon as it was in all the way to the handguard. Immediately, she knew she was right about two things: There would be gore and her feet were no longer on the ground.

Her attacker roared in shock and the sound of his cry was quickly followed by what sounded like water hitting the linoleum flooring. She could breathe again, full sweet breaths, but something was off, a sensation of weightlessness. She was flying through the air. He had thrown her like a rag doll and she grazed past the pillar he was just using to bash her against. The scene was inverted though, she was almost upside down, barely having time to process anything before she felt her hip crash into something hard and partially constructed of glass. The whole piece crumped beneath her and she landed back on the floor on her head and shoulders. For the first time, she could see him and the mess that was her completely destroyed kitchen. He yanked the small knife out of his leg, but the floor and cabinets around him were already covered in blood that literally sprayed like a hose from the wound she made. Her body crumpled over and she lay on her side for a moment almost mystified by the sight of it. The scene looked like something out of a cheap horror movie the way it gushed out. He quickly ripped the sleeve from his shirt to tie around it, staggering as he did. It was a uniform! She thought as she watched. The elevator company?!

For the moment he was distracted she began to regain her bearings and the realization of the total pain she felt all over her body. Whatever he threw her into was now splintered wood and glass… The table… the false drawer! She was sitting on it.

The man looked at her moving pitifully, his face sullen and unrelenting; he was still struggling with his makeshift bandage to stop the bleeding. His face snapped back towards the counter where he knew she had left her pistol. He flung the holster away and turned back at her, but was already staring down the barrel of her service Glock.

It wasn’t as elegant or as balanced as her SiG and it felt like a brick in her hand, but the sights lined up in her tear-squinting gaze and Paige cranked off three shots that all struck home and dropped him to the floor in a heap.

It was over.

Part of her was expecting to instantly hear a commotion. People clamoring to see what happened. But, for the moment, there was nothing but cold silence. She flopped back on her side and winced hard in the pain she now had time to fully realize. Many things felt cut or broken or just out of place and her head hurt badly from being slammed into the wall. She could see her phone on the carpet a few feet away from where she dropped it and managed to drag herself over. She hit the emergency call function on speaker and waited.

“911, what is your emergency?” A male voice came up crisply. It was the same guy that answered when she called to divert the bikers back at the Winter Party. It hurt immensely, but she had to smile a little bit.

She took in a deep breath, feeling not only how beaten she was, but that she was completely exhausted. “This is Deputy US Marshal Paige Kennedy,” She coughed and gave her badge number, “I’ve got an officer down… which is me,” She coughed some more seeing small spatters of blood speckle the white carpet with her words, “…And one suspect with three GSW’s,” She looked over at the unmoving body of her attacker and gave it the finger, “He’s not gonna need an ambulance.” She gave her address and ended the call.

Straining up to a slouched sitting position against the back of her sofa she spit out a combination of teardrops, blood and sweat. Her shirt was matted to her side. She knew she was bleeding, but wasn’t sure how bad. Her hair was all over the place, still partly contained in its band while the rest hung wildly and stuck to her face where she could feel more blood from her temple. She didn’t know why and she did know all at the same time as she tapped slowly again on her phone leaving small red finger prints on the glass as she did:

Milo:
Come over.

Sol City [Modern Slice of Life] . (CHAPTER ONE COMPLETED!) . ARCHIVED

Paige Kennedy

“Four, if he hadn’t been up there you would have been locked out with no phone and probably would have frozen to death you dumbass” Paige felt as if she’d handed Sio enough conversational slack to hang herself and felt obliged to finally kick the proverbial chair out from under her feet. The rest of it seemed beside the point. She perked up enough out of her hungover malaise to give a matter of fact glance back at her redheaded friend, but the slight tension faded when she mentioned Milo’s “lumberjack” like appearance and Paige chuckled thinking about him sawing on a tree with one of those big chain saws. No, it would be an axe. She thought. He’d have to make it first, then chop the tree down. The mental picture gave her a wry grin and she looked away sheepishly towards the window where she could see the sunlight sparkling across the midday water. She felt her phone vibrating with a text and glanced down shaking her head. Speak of the lumberjacking devil. With a light sigh, she glanced back at Sio getting ready to leave. “That’s fine, I’m off for a day or so,” She said. “Think I might go get my car fixed.”

When Sio was out of sight she texted Milo back:

I went to work and they sent me home… She texted back and inserted an emoji icon of a tired face, something she rarely ever did… I feel like I got hit by a truck

@Almalthia@RoccanIronclad

Sol City [Modern Slice of Life] . (CHAPTER ONE COMPLETED!) . ARCHIVED

Paige Kennedy

Paige smiled back at Sio letting her tired olive eyes cut just a little against the peppy redhead in a sisterly glance. “You’ve been waiting all morning to say that haven’t you?” She replied, yawning and looking mildly amused. “No, it was just Milo.” She said flatly. “Sorry if that kills the story for you.” She sipped her coffee. It wasn’t the greatest, but she was starting not to hold Sol City to too much of a standard on many things and it had been sitting on the burner long enough to work against her hangover headache to some extent. She added a bit of sugar to take the edge off.

“So, you were drunk trespassing on city property. Is that where we left off?” She continued. “Then you ran into some random guy you liked on the roof?” She was beginning to fill in some of sketchier details of Sio’s night at the party. “If the door locked behind you and you had to open it to get up there, doesn’t that mean he was already locked up there?” She smirked accusingly to try and let the implications of that sink in to see if Sio could pick up on the greater danger of her situation. With that aside however, part of the redhead’s imagined story was resonating: You don’t want to share the details because you barely believe it is real. The words fell right into what felt like an empty space in her heart and brought forth a feeling of truth that she’d put away from the night before.

@Almalthia

Sol City [Modern Slice of Life] . (CHAPTER ONE COMPLETED!) . ARCHIVED

Paige Kennedy

Paige listened as Sio recounted the night shaking her head slightly in amusement at the amazingly brazen attitude of the hosts she described. What Sio didn't realize was the story behind her capture of Bob and the two sisters from the party. The pair seemed to be quite the socialites in Sol. She'd never met the older one, but if the girl was anything like her younger sibling, she didn't need Sio's validation. Still tired, but listening carefully, she propped her head on one hand and stirred her coffee even though it didn't have anything in it. Her trained ears couldn't help but listen for any detail that didn't add up and when Sio reached the part about getting locked on the roof, her glance perked up slightly and then narrowed across the table at the redhead. Paige had a passkey and could open any door in City Hall. She was familiar with the stairway and usually entered the building through the same corridor. "What do you mean you 'got locked out on the roof'?" She said. Her tone was not critical, more probing. "How did you get up there anyway?" She knew full well how, but the law officer in her was used to getting people to admit to things without thinking about it.

She wasn't upset, just a bit disappointed in her friend's recklessness. Sio was considerably sharper than most girls her age, but she knew that youth had it's lapses in judgment, particularly when paired with copious amounts of alcohol. It wouldn't have been as bad if she hadn't been alone. Paige was starting to feel some measure of responsibility for the girl, but by no means was she there to be her parent. When Sio asked about who she was out to dinner with, Paige's automatic response was simple: "What makes you think I was out with anyone?" Years of dealing with criminals gave her a delivery that was neither question nor statement. Though she had no problems with telling the truth, she was a bit interested in how Sio automatically assumed she was out with someone rather than being alone or with a group. She thought about Milo for a moment and like the whole morning and most of the night, he was just like a mental block she couldn't get around. She needed some real sleep and still had a slight headache.

@Almalthia

Sol City [Modern Slice of Life] . (CHAPTER ONE COMPLETED!) . ARCHIVED

Paige Kennedy

In spite of what she told Milo, Paige went in to work. On a best estimate of three hours of decent sleep, she staggered in to a standing ovation from her office. Overnight the news of the Sunday’s actions by the Marshal Service had spread all over the local media like wildfire. The capture of Bob and the gangster, Jackie Costa, were headlines at 5am and continued throughout the morning across TV and radio. Though her name was not mentioned publicly, the whole office was buzzing, particularly about the discovery of the Costa Operation and its multi-tiered connections. For the moment, the Marshal Service was at the top of the game amongst the task force brought in by the mayor. Paige perked up instantly in the praise and the hangover headache from the sake hurt a little less. She chatted with her Chief Deputy for a while and started some of the paperwork until he not so subtly recommended that she take a day, two if she wanted, and get some rest. The US Attorney wouldn’t be in until Wednesday. She could get her next case file then and get back in the hunt. They could hold the fort down for two days. She didn’t protest.

With her little M3 in hand again she headed back south to meet Sio. She didn’t have a clue where or what the, “Old Starboard” was, but some of the locals in the office assured her it was legit. She pulled up and as she got out, looked back at the scar the scorned cripple had left on her borrowed little piece of German engineering. Since the damage was down to the metal, the estimate from Sol City BMW had been considerably more than she wanted to spend and Uncle Sam didn’t pay for cosmetic damage on seized vehicles. She ran her finger over the mark again and sighed weighing whether or not to live with it or dip from the reward money she split with the bounty hunter to fix it. If she did fork over the cash, she resolved that second to hang on to the car tooth and nail no matter what. She glanced over her shoulder as the wind off the river ruffled her standard pony tail and looked at the boat traffic moving leisurely up and down the river. It was a little like home in a way, but she turned and went inside before her thoughts could get carried away again.

Walking in the doors, her polished silver star and the gun on her hip drew a few glances from the lunch time crowd and she never stopped loving the Old West feeling of it, but instead of boots and riding gear, she wore Converse and jeans with a similar white hooded sweater that she had on the last time she’d gone out with Sio. A waitress, looking at her slightly unnervingly, began to offer her a table, but Paige found Sio as she flipped her sunglasses back and headed over to the booth. She was still noticeably tired and walked with her customary stoic glance down the aisles mentally cataloguing the layout of the place as she went. She ordered a black cup of coffee and sat down across from Sio. “Sorry I’m late,” She said, honestly not sure if she really was.

@Almalthia