"desks" is one syllable?

Jules smiled widely when she saw Merrick near her. “Hey Mer! Fancy seeing you out here! Are you having a good day? I hope you’re having a good day and if not–” Jules took in a big inhale of breath because she had almost forgotten that breathing was a thing. “Then we should do something to make it better. Like go get coffee or food or something. Do you bowl? I can’t really bowl but we can have them put the bumpers up and THEN we can bowl.”

“Hm? Oh, no, he just likes to stare. If you blink a couple times, that might help though? Slowly, though.” Sure enough, the cat moved on from alternating between staring at Merrick and Dragon to staring solely at Dragon. “Oh, enough of that! She’s cool,” Mags informed the cat, who slunk away once more. “He’ll be fine. He just has a bit of an attitude,” she informed Merrick.

In that moment, blinking seemed terribly difficult and cats seemed especially confusing. “Uh... Slowly. Yeah.” She had no idea if she managed to blink slowly enough, but the cat did not attack her or anything. “Do... most cats have attitudes? Am I scaring him? I just want him to be a happy cat.”

No sooner than Magdalene reached the top of the stairs, a black cat slunk past her. The cat made its way downstairs and rounded the corner to the kitchen, staring at Merrick. Magdalene was back downstairs not much after, holding out a hoodie to Merrick. “Here you g- oh! I See you’ve met Salem. And decided on a tea- great!” she walked over to the stove to pick up the kettle, taking it over to the sink. She supposed perhaps she ought to have filled it up and put it on the heat before going upstairs, but it was a bit late for that now.

Merrick clutched the tea to her chest, and stared right back at the black cat. She did not get along as readily with cats, so she was a little concerned about making the animal angry. Dragon did not budget from next to her, but Merrick could tell that the dog wanted to say hi to the cat. Merrick automatically accepted the hoodie, but kept clutching at the tea. “Thanks, you’re amazing. Uhm, is your cat mad at me?”

“Oh, they’ll be around to investigate soon enough. Probably wandering around upstairs,” Mags explained with a shrug. “I’ll put the kettle on. What kind would you like? You can look around in there, if you like.” She pointed to the correct cabinet. “Oh, uh. A sweatshirt then, I guess? That seems the easiest to clean. I’ll go grab one.” She headed upstairs.

“Oh, uhm, yes, thanks, okay!” Cats were great, but she had always been more of a dog person. Animals not wanting immediate attention felt weird to her, but it was not like most animals went looking for attention. She went toward the cabinet as Mags went upstairs. It seemed that she was on her own with her calm dog and a cabinet full of tea. Which tea, which tea... She scooped up a box of lemon, and held it delicately between her hands, not wanting to take any in case it was special or something.

“If it makes you feel uncomfortable, I won’t.” Lee tried to be aware of situations as much as possible, consent wasn’t just a word in the dictionary, it was an important construct that should be honored as much as possible. “I read online once that to cure a lack of sleep, you need to go outside into the sun and reset your body clock or something of that nature. I believe that it was written by a person who deserves to rot in hell because this is awful.” He rubbed his eyes again. “Remind me again how you’re not suffering? Are you truly part of the X-men?”

“No, no, it’s fine. Just be anonymous about it. You could even say you thought of it.” Yes, that sounded like a good idea to Merrick. She knew a little about circadian rhythms, but tired people went out in the sun every day and just felt worse. “Maybe it’s a point of view sort of thing. Like when you force yourself to laugh until it stops sounding creepy!” She grinned, not sure if she had said anything too weird. “No, I just didn’t drink very much, and I’ve always had a healthy dose of energy in the morning. Maybe I’m just lucky.”

Aly was quick to reassure Merrick, it was obvious that her dramatics didn’t make the girl feel comfortable. “Sorry, sorry. I’m an idiot. Go on, tell me the joke.” She listened carefully to the joke, a small smile growing on her face every word and finally she let out a little light laugh. “Wow, yep. That’s definitely a dad joke. I can literally see my dad telling it.” She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. “Do you have any more?”

“What? No, you’re not an idiot,” Merrick insisted, not wanting anybody to feel that way. She sighed in relief when the joke was received well enough. “Well, my dad would laugh too, but I don’t know what makes it a dad joke. Are jokes dad jokes if told by dads?” Very important philosophical question. “Uhm, maybe? I guess? Where does the king keep his armies?”

“Three,” Mags answered as she opened the door, ushering Merrick and Dragon inside. “You can leave your shoes on. Or take them off; either’s fine. Do you want something to drink? Something warm, maybe? I have tea,” she offered. “Oh! And I can get you a jacket. Or a sweater? Or a blanket?” She wasn’t used to having company.

“Three! That’s a great amount. Oh, I don’t see them.” Merrick glanced down at her shoes. Two was one too many options to deal with, so she just left them on; that had been the first of choices, after all. “If you have tea, that would be lovely, thank you. And anything warm would be nice. Whatever you don’t mind getting covered in my scent or whatever. I have no idea how I smell, but I worry, y’know?”

Aly grinned, shaking her head. “You don’t have to apologise because of my clumsy ass. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Aly turned over dramatic, her hand clutching her head. “How did you know? That was exactly what I need. Bad jokes, hit me with the worst you got, babe.”

Merrick worried that she had done something wrong, and it showed on her face. She did her best not to continue to knit her forehead up in concern, but well... “Okay, so there’s this guy, and he’s driving a bus. But the bus is full of penguins. And this police officer notices, and pulls the guy over.. ‘Sir, I need you to take these penguins to the zoo.’ ‘Yes, of course, officer.’ So then the guy drives away. The next day, the officer sees the same guy on the same bus with the same penguins! ‘I thought I told you to take these penguins to the zoo!’ ‘I did! We had such a wonderful time, that today we’re going to the beach!’”

confused about concept of wearing an entire shirt in cool/cold weather

still lives with parents and doesn’t pay rent

sighs about not having a gf but freezes when confronted by pretty girls

thinks all girls are pretty girls and sometimes cries about it

rewired her entire house just to see what would happen

can’t spell own ex-gf’s name

emo phase was 95% for the aesthetic

tried to put a floppy disc in a cd drive once

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Dragon,” Mags cheerfully informed the dog. “Thanks- and no problem! Oh, I do have cats, though. They should keep to themselves, but Dragon isn’t going to go berserk over them, is she?” she verified as they approached, stopping with her hand on the doorknob.

“She’s really good, I swear. Hold on a sec,” Merrick insisted, giving her dog a pat on the head. She then knelt down for Serious talk time. “Dragon, hey. No chasing. Look at me... No.” The dog gave her a look that Merrick interpreted as a good sign. “Cats are cool, but my girl will probably just try to herd them like some kind of meme. Nothing worse than that. How many cats, though?”

“I mean the squirrels are nice but I’m not too sure about whatever’s been eating people in there. A bear? A wolf? I think you could outrun both,” she said jokingly. “I don’t really exercise so I don’t do much of anything. I for sure wouldn’t be jogging out in this cold. I prefer to sit outside, watching whatever’s around me.” Hayden scrunched her face at Dragon. She missed having a dog. She didn’t feel ready to have another though. “I don’t think I’d ever put my dog in a dog show. Could you imagine the stress the owners put those dogs under?” she asked her, looking up from Dragon. “If they can do it to kids they’d definitely do it to dogs. Just enjoy having a damn dog, jeez.”

“I dunno. Outrunning a bear isn’t actually the recommended course of action, to my understanding,” Merrick told her semi-seriously. It started to sound like a reasonable plan to carry Worst Case survival guides with her if this town was going to be as weird as it was. “You could come for a jog with us if you wanted. You could wear an entire shirt if you wanted.” Personally, Merrick thought physical fitness was very important, but did not think that she should push the idea further. She watched Dragon gently headbutt Hayden, probably looking for more pets when attention was taken away from her. “Yeah, I guess it fits into that love of competitive activities that people are all hype for. You don’t have to enter your hypothetical future kids and dogs, thankfully, unless it becomes a law or something.”

“That’s what makes comics so amazing! Be honest, do you see me more with a Gwen Stacy, a Mary Jane, or a Felicia Hardy?” he asked curiously. Spider-Man was his absolute favorite superhero of all-time, so these were the answers he needed to know. “That’s a blessing in more ways than one. We’re both pretty cute but I don’t think that’d save us from that hairline. Can’t wait to become the greatest thieves alive.” Maybe he needed to make a visit to public records and see what kind of things had happened in this town. “Because they were worth it, obviously,” he couldn’t help himself to joke. 

“Uh...” Merrick glanced in the direction that the blow-up doll had been thrown. “Deadpool. But out of the three you said, definitely MJ. I can’t see the other two lasting with you. I hope I picked right as a non-Buzzfeed quiz-maker.” She did not particularly like the idea of stealing something like the Declaration of Independence without a very good reason. And that had to be a really extra super good reason. “Oh. Well. I think a divorce might have been involved, now that I recall, so maybe not that worth it.”

It took a moment, the fact that he was hungover making the cogs in his brain jammed and slow but a grin began spreading over his face. “Well, it’s not as though I can blame you for it. In all honesty, I think you’ve just won at life with that line alone, I need to text it to Hayden as soon as possible.” He gave her a nod, toasting her with his coffee. “At the moment, a nice party involves me, my bed and Netflix. I don’t know why I ventured outside today. I suppose I should be grateful that work didn’t need me today.”

“Uhm, I’m sure she would love that,” Merrick said, always vaguely concerned about enabling Hayden with, well, anything. And at least this was not a serious conversation; who up and tried marrying someone over morning coffee? ...There was probably somebody, actually. “Maybe let’s get you back inside your home now, though. If there’s really no chance of needing to go into work, then you deserve this quiet break. Really hoping you aren’t doing the other half of Netflix and, because I don’t really want to talk about that... Why are you out here, though?”

“No, no.” Emma reassured. In all honesty, any excuse not to talk to her mother was an excuse that she would take. “Besides, given the current climate, I don’t think anyone should be left alone.” She smiled softly, being the perfect example of a model citizen. Her mother wouldn’t question her too hard if this were the reason that she wasn’t calling her back. It was her training after all. “It’s Merrick, right? You work in my mother’s building, if I’m thinking of the right person. If not, I apologise.”

“Right, yes it is pretty scary out there. At least nothing bad’s happened in the last week. Shoot, do you think that I jinxed it?” It was kind of difficult not to know who Emma was, especially when the building’s keeper was mentioned. “And you have to be Emma. Yes! Public Records. We don’t have an ad campaign since my sup says it’s not a good idea to advertise that we have old death records.”