Date: 12/11/2023 Location: The Prosperity (currently parked on Sturn, near the Theme Park Fan Club's Clubhouse)

Prior to joining the crew of the Prosperity, Daniel had never lived anywhere with such a strong culture of gift-giving for birthdays. It was quite a lot of fun, and he'd gotten quite a lot of wonderful things for his birthday - some of which were rather touching, coming from people he cared a quite a lot about. He was also finding that he really enjoyed the gift-giving side of it - coming up with something that someone he cared about would like, and then getting the chance to make them smile. It was admittedly a little challenging on a tight budget, but so far it didn't seem like anyone was disappointed with their gifts, which was quite a relief.

With Ian's birthday coming up quite soon now, he'd put quite a lot of thought into what to get them. In the end, he'd landed on a couple things. One of the gifts was ready to go, but the other - well, it might be close to ready, or there might be a lot of fixing left to do. Again, he was faced with a situation where he couldn't really tell on his own. Thankfully, he wasn't on his own. Things were still new enough with Ryder that he wasn't quite sure what to call said 'things', but he definitely felt comfortable inviting them to try home (ship)-made brownies. Ryder loved sweets after all, so surely it wouldn't be an imposition.

Leaving the brownies to cool, he set off in search of his -- in search of Ryder, pleasantly surprised when he found them quickly. "Ryder - hey!" He greeted cheerfully, raising a hand in a half-wave at the sight of them down the hall, and reminding himself that there probably wasn't a need to be too self-conscious about the fact that he was smiling so much, or that he'd quickened his pace to meet them sooner. "How's your afternoon going? I was wondering - do you have a little while free?" Again, these were perfectly fine and normal things to ask, and he didn't need to stress about being over-eager, most likely.

In and out. It’s a mantra she repeats in her head though she’s unsure if she’s reminding herself to be quick or reminding herself simply to breathe. While she has always thrived in chaos and likes to think of herself as someone who does well under pressure --- it’s what makes her such a good doctor, what makes her emergency room run so smoothly when she’s on shift --- there are always exceptions to the rule. Tornadoes are the exception, something she’s been afraid of since she was ten and her father let her go to the movie theater with him to see Twister. Something about it had unnerved her (and maybe if she was a psychologist she would recognize that that something was more of her fear of lack of control finding a physical manifestation than any actual fear of the weather) and left her feeling jittery and nervous even on a good day. But she’s already been an anxious mess for the last three days (okay, the last three months but she’s not about to go admitting to that) with thoughts of missed periods and mood swings and pregnancy tests swirling through her head. The last of which she’s currently got clutched in her hands, having left her cart with Eli momentarily while she zipped away to grab one. Ideally, she should’ve brought her cart with her and hidden it underneath something before he could see it but she’s not exactly thinking clearly and besides, Eli is someone she finds she doesn’t letting in on something like this. So she’s mentally prepared for having to give some kind of explanation to him --- who she isn’t prepared for, however, is Ryder. Which is also who runs directly into as soon as she turns around. “Jesus fucking Christ,” she lets out a gasp of surprise as she collides with him, box clutching against her chest as she takes a step back to steady herself. “I didn’t even hear you come up. I’m gonna put a fucking bell on you or something.” Then her brows furrow, the familiar concern and desire to nurture creeping up as it always does when Ryder is around. “You shouldn’t be out in this,” which is hypocritical considering she is out in it --- plus, there’s little more than a heavy rainfall and thunder and lightning happening outside. 

The fact that Ryder had reversed the roles between himself and Izzy where he’s been ignoring her calls (largely) and texts, means that Isobella needs to check on her best friend. She didn’t know what was going on and she was sick of feeling left out in the dark. As best friends, they were supposed to talk about what was bothering them and they weren’t supposed to just disappear into thin air. Luckily, she knew that Ryder hadn’t left Olympus because she really didn’t have the funds to hire a private investigator if he had— but she would’ve figured it out and she would’ve found his ass. That was the promise that Izzy had made to herself and Ryder a long time ago. She wasn’t going to leave and she wasn’t going to let him leave without some good ass reason— even if he wanted to leave though, he was going to do it with her by his side. They wouldn’t walk this world alone, not when the other was alive and well.

Knocking on the door of Ryder’s apartment isn’t something that Isobella does. She knew where the spare key was, she had her own key and well, honestly, she wasn’t above tearing the door off the fucking hinges if she had to. Placing the key in the lock and stepping inside, a bag of take-out food and a coffee in her hands, ready to cater to whatever Ryder might throw her way. Iz locks the door behind her, you never knew with this town. She places her purse in its normal place alongside her keys before moving through the apartment to the place she’d assumed he was— his office. The man tended to dive into things at work (whether it was Club related or Titanic related) when he needed to hide away and Izzy was ready to try and drag him out of it. That is just what they did for each other.

She leans in the doorway, knocking so that she wouldn’t frighten him since he was unlikely to have heard the door. “Ry?” she says, softly, again trying not to elicit a negative reaction, after all, Ryder was in a state and she didn’t know what that might mean for his continued anxiety. She moves closer, giving him a faint smile. “I figured I’d check on you, considering you’re ignoring me,” she explains, signing along with her words. Stress tended to make Ryder more silent and adverse to speaking rather than signing, so she would meet him halfway. “Talk to me,” she adds.

After some time searching, a tan-skinned Maddox had finally stumbled across his friend who’d apparently been hiding out from him. He’d lingered in all the wrong spots for a Primordial to linger in, hoping the Trojan would stumble in. But alas, he was in the last place that Maddox would look which was in a more neutral area. Although they’d been friends for so long, the split sides made it a bit more difficult to find one another when people wondered why Maddox Hart was wandering in Trojan territory again. Especially after burning Trojan bikes (which was then pinned on Richie) and running ‘Kane’s girl’ but really, his girl, out of town. 

Upon approaching his friend, he leaned up against the man’s newer car (one that wasn’t burnt to a crisp), perking up an eyebrow. “Guess I should’ve just called you, then I wouldn’t have gone searching for your ass in all the places you should’ve been,” he chuckled, still feeling a bit light and airy since the turn of events. Surely, Ryder had heard that Allana had left town but it’d be a while since the pair chatted about his status. “Heard you got roughed up-- you okay?” Maddox asked, squinting at his friend. While Maddox had really come to talk to his friend for a reason-- namely, Sutton, he couldn’t help but ask him.