STARTER FOR: Anyone / Open. LOCATION: Outside in the back of Hawthorne Tower. SETTING: Evening.

Smoke escapes her lungs and lingers through the end of July air, a muggy humidity consuming Mary. One hand reaches back to rub the hair at the back of her neck, right where subtle beads of sweat accumulate around her dark strands. She had hours of work to thank for her appearance, though Mary was never quite put together to begin with. Her outfits were always hideous, accompanied by a pair of inexpensive, beat up looking sneakers she purchased at a local secondhand shop. 

Either way, Mary has about an hour left within her shift but she decides to take a ten minute break just for the hell of it. Most were tucked into bed, basking in the clean linens that Mary slaved away on down in the laundry room this afternoon. Another slow drag of her cigarette is taken before she jumps, a door opening and closing by itself over in the distance. “Fucking shit,” The brunette mumbles, her hand reaching upwards to rest upon her clothed chest, “I’m starting to think this place is haunted. I heard a rumor someone died on the top floor in one of the penthouses. But the wacky old lady on the sixth floor told me that and I’m pretty sure she eats cardboard, so..I’m not sure if she’s a credible source.”

Misha startled a bit himself, not having expected to find anyone waiting near the back door. His mind ran through an assessment on autopilot - familiar, a housekeeper he’d seen a number of times before, not likely to be a threat but he could never rule anyone out entirely - before his shoulders managed to relax. The smell of smoke lingered and it wasn’t hard to figure out why she was out there - just an overworked staff member stealing away for a few minutes of well-deserved personal time, not waiting to ambush him. (Probably.)

Her words made him chuckle as he looked back at the building, and even craning his neck he could barely see up to the penthouses from that angle. “Don’t people die in hotels all the time? Surely every floor’s got a ghost or two by now. And if you actually know somebody who’s eating cardboard, she’s probably next. That’s gotta be hell on your guts.”