▬

James could blame the call, talking to one of the members of the council over the phone about a meeting they would have the following day, focusing over a few issues that had been haunting Astoria lately. Even though it was mostly Nova Pangaea in general. He should’ve been aware of what was happening in his surroundings, but it only reached his attention the moment his body collided against someone else. Thankfully he didn’t fall, being able to rest his hand against a car parked next to him prior his instincts were able to hold some papers that the other person was holding.

“Sh– are you okay?” Because he was, aside from the surprise of how careless he had been. “I don’t even know if I should be the one apologizing to you. At least, I was able to save this?” He offered, what seemed to be a script, back to them. “Busy day? Because I’ll use that as an excuse for myself.”

“You’re fine. It was 100% the pavement.” Aubrey said, waving off his concern as they got back to their feet, gesturing to the crack that she’d tripped over. “And okay, maybe a little bit my being distracted, too. That’s what I get for trying to email and walk.” Honestly they should have known better. They really should have. But they were wearing sneakers, arguably the safest shoes to wear while walking and being distracted by your phone.

Aubrey locked her gaze onto the script and took it gratefully. “Oh my god, you just saved my ass, thank you!” They clutched the script to their chest. “Something like that. My calendar is gone. Not just for the afternoon, but for the entire month. I was trying to get in touch with my agent, and, well. You know the rest.” The gestured at their surroundings. “Are you alright?”

Zhyan was getting adjusted to the life of a reporter without actually doing much reporting himself. He was running errands mostly, getting coffee, making pictures, writing the articles that nobody else wanted, getting far too much advice that it bordered more on negativity than something that might actually help him get better. So many mentions of his writing looking cluttered, using the wrong verbs, having to ‘spice up’ the writing. He wasn’t so sure he could do all that and get a job after the internship. It felt like he was being set up to fail, the other interns getting far less advice that went so deep, less errands, more actual papers. But they were also the best thing about the job, kind, constantly trying to help him, proof-reading his work before he sent it on and giving him the kind of advice he could actually work with. 

He was sending a kind message to one of them as he ran down the street to get home to write an internet article, when something hit his shoulder hard. He managed to keep standing, although the force made him spin around 180 degrees. He turned towards the person who had fallen and held out his hand. “Yeah, no, don’t worry. Are you okay?” he asked, noticing the other had completely fallen to the ground. 

Aubrey internally sighed with relief when they saw that the person that they had knocked into was still standing. They were already having a rough go of it and the last thing that they wanted to do was to inflict it on someone else. They took their offered hand, brushing their pants off once they were back on their feet. No tears, good. They couldn’t afford to have to buy new pants right now. “Yeah, I’m fine, just got caught in a crack in the pavement is all.” They said, glaring down at the ground.

And then despaired when they realized that their coffee had split. Onto the script. Because of course. “Shit.” Aubrey said, abruptly bending back down to grab it, running their hands over the cover page, trying to wipe the coffee off. Their agent was going to murder them if they had to request another copy. It seemed salvageable, but they wouldn’t know until it had dried. “Well, there goes my afternoon. Are you sure you’re alright?” Aubrey asked, turning back towards the stranger again.

▬

Charlotte just wanted to smoke one and let go of the annoyance that wanted to take place within her being. From walking outside every time she had to text a neighbor in order to make sure that both Mania and Loki were fed and had enough water for themselves, to taking another look over the script she was holding whenever she went back inside the set. 

It was from learning that it would take a few more minutes, if not an hour, for her to shoot her scene, that Charlie decided to take a walk, and that was also when she noticed them coming her way. “Aubrey, hey,” Charlie stated, wearing the best smile she could offer at that moment. “It started better than it is now. I’m just simply… waiting.” And she hated that; the shapeshifter could notice time flying by and herself being unable to occupy with something else. “And it doesn’t look like we’ll wrap this up any time soon. I might get myself some coffee.”

“God, tell me about it.” Aubrey groaned, tilting their head side to side as they stretched their neck. “I hate the days like these. Too much waiting around, not enough action. Like... why are they even bothering.” They shook their head. They might complain but they did genuinely enjoy the work. Plus it was nice to get paid.

“Would you mind if I joined you? I happened to bring the worlds most boring book with me this morning and I’m ready to pull a fire alarm just to have something to do.” Aubrey wouldn’t actually pull a fire alarm. Not because they knew it was wrong, but because they would just end up with another day like today to make up for it and absolutely no one on the cast or crew would forgive them for inflicting it upon them.

Well, nothing they could do about it now. At least it gave them time to sit down and read over the script. Aubrey’s agent was asking them to consider, but they’d been so busy with the move and filming that they hadn’t had a whole lot of free time to go over it. They taped at their phone, in the middle of sending an email to their agent about the missing schedule when they lost their footing in a crack in the sidewalk, losing their balance, crashing into the ground, losing their grip on everything they had been holding onto.

“Ouch. Damn it.” They groaned as they sat up, rubbing their head. Not that it hurt, but it was a natural reaction to falling to the ground And realized that they weren’t the only victim of their clumsiness. “Shit. I’m sorry, are you okay?”

Aubrey sighed, closing their book and tucking it to the side of their chair. Of course the book they’d brought with them to read was also boring. Of course. They stood up, putting their arms above their head and leaning side to side, stretching out their back and shoulders. They were just about to do a quick lap to stretch out their legs when they saw Charlie out of the corner of their eye and set off in their direction. Finally, someone they could talk to.

“Charlie! Hey!” They said once they were by their side. “Is your morning as slow as mine?”