Never become so involved with something that it blinds you.

“Have you ever interacted with people that haven’t had their morning coffee yet? I swear you blink wrong and they’re ready to bite heads off,” Mason chuckled as he glanced around the room, “Like sharks man, except sharks are cool, you know?” He probably shouldn’t be saying such things in-case someone heard but the morning was off to a bad start anyway. “Oh, he’s not even in yet! I love bad jokes, go go, gimme your best shot!” 

“It’s a shame that coffee has the effect on us. I hate to admit, but sometimes I’m one of those people. Which is why I invested in a coffee maker at home, so I can have my 6 am. cup of coffee before my day starts.” Xander loved his coffee maker, but  that didn’t stop him from going to local coffee shops when the mood strikes.  Xander smile grew. “Okay, What do you call someone with no body, and no nose.” Xander chuckled to himself as he waited for an answer. He knew it was bad, but hey, he was asked.

“Oh, I am a twitch streamer and I do this whole dress up as the character in the game, to make it a bit more special.” Clementine giggled at the thought of wearing that outfit on a daily basis. “I don’t know if I could pull that look off for an everyday look. Recently I got the remastered Resident Evil and this is the main character. The people also have spoken in my poll to as to which look it was. So now tonight I will be in a short skit and tube top as I kill some zombies.” 

“Oh, I think I hear my students mention twitch, but I honestly don’t know much about it.” And that reminded Xander to look into more things that his students are into to relate to them more. “Well, that outfit looks really good and I hope your fans appreciate it.” Though Xander found this type of thing fascinating. Do you dress up all the time, or is this just a special occasion?”

Liv was a terrible running partner, she never kept up pace with someone- she was either too fast or too slow. Still she did her best to keep up with Xander and failed. When she noticed he stopped and cursed, she paused her own music and caught up to him. “Fuck dude,” she replied. “There things are far too expensive to be losing them- don’t worry though, I’ll help you find them. We can go back this way?”

Xander was grateful for Liv running with him, which is why he felt bad stopping their flow to look for some damn air-pods. But she was right, they were expensive. “Only if you don’t mind. I do have insurance. What are the odds that we find them and they aren’t damaged from the fall or someone accidentally stepping on them?”

Mirela had just left a pilates session when she noticed a couple of papparazzis outside, waiting to take any interesting pictures. She tried to ignore them, not really in the mood of having to deal with the situation and walked away with her sun glass on and her phone and squeeze in hands. She was so focused on flying away from there, looking over her shoulder that she didn’t see the young man in the middle of the way. “Ouch…”, she gasped when she bumped into him. “Sorry, I didn’t see you… Are you ok?”

Xander started as he felt someone bump in to him. “No, I’m sorry. I should know better to just stop abruptly like that. Are you okay?” He hoped he didn’t hurt her to bad by his bad manners. “I dropped my air-pods and  I can’t get into my workout zone without them. So I’ve just been trying to figure out if I should go and trace my steps, or just taking as a loss. Any suggestions?”

There was a good chance that people who didn’t know her –or maybe even the ones who did– thought Eevee to be a bit on the eccentric side, and with that opinion, she wouldn’t argue. She had her moments and vintage habits that made her fairly unique. The fact that part of her workout routine was rolling -literally- through the streets of Portland on a pair of white and bright aqua zebra-patterned high top roller skates, with a very noticeable set of matching wireless headphones sitting atop of her head blaring her ‘chill vibes’ playlist into her ears, was an example of this.  It was just something she found calming. So it was no surprise this was what she found herself doing. It didn’t take long for her to fall into a rolling rhythm and was managing quite well in avoiding passers-by that was up until some guy stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and she had to quickly figure out a way to slow down, he was too close to avoid at this point, and only managed to as gently as she could bump into him and steadied herself so she wouldn’t fall by gripping his shoulders. 

“ Sorry. Shit. Sorry. In my defense though who stops in the middle of the sidewalk? Do you have a death wish? Ya know people have bikes. I could have been on a bike! ” She both gently scolded as apologetically as she could. Though the music was still blaring from her headphones so she wasn’t sure how loud she was speaking from the looks of passersby it seemed like pretty loudly though so she pushed them down onto her shoulders. “ Was I yelling? That wasn’t intentional. Again sorry. Although it’s not like I could do that much damage you’re twice my size and again who stops in the middle of the sidewalk? I just wanna point that out, but are you okay? You good? ” She rambled and question and if you needed another instance of her coming off pretty eccentric this probably qualified.

In all fairness, she was right. “Then allow me to apologize. I get so lost in my thoughts when I’m in work out mode, but that is no excuse for my poor manners. And I guess I should be thanking you for not being on bike.” Xander wasn’t one to get star struck. He always told himself that if he met a celebrity, it would be just like meeting anyone else. But nothing prepared him for being in front of the most gorgeous girl he ever saw. And of course that made him want to just walk away because he was sure she didn’t want some crazy dude acting a fool in front of her. “Anyway, I think I dropped my air-pods and I wasn’t sure if I should look for them or not.” He averted his eyes to the pedestrians jogging by and then chuckled when they did a double look. “I don’t want to hold you up or anything. But again, I do apologize.”

Ayrton was in the middle of his post-run stretch session when he became aware of someone else’s presence. He looked up to see the other guy looking through his own pockets, meaning he’d either lost or forgotten something. It was only when the man spoke for the second time that Ayrton decided to say something. “Is everything okay?”

Xander didn’t realize anyone was around to hear him. “Nah, I dropped my air pods somewhere and I’m kicking myself that I can’t listen to my workout playlist.” Xander shrugged and was just going to take it as a lost. “But I’m just going to take the L and move on. Can’t let that stop my momentum right?”

Music softly playing from her airpods, Claire only notices the man stopped in front of her because of the breeze he brings when he comes to a full stop. She’s sat on a bench, curiously watching as he ruffles through his pockets — clearly looking like he’s lost something. His dejected why me makes Claire laugh out loud, and she stretches as she gets off the bench. 

“What ya lose?” she makes conversation, slotting her phone back into the plastic sling holding it (as well as her house keys) in place in her arm. “Wallet or keys? That’s why I got one of these,” she wiggles her arm to show it off. “I’m CJ, you need some help searching?”

Xander looked sheepish at the question. It would make sense for those things to be missing, and seems a bit silly that it’s his air pods. “My air pods... I never keep them in the case unless they need charging. Guess that would teach me.” He saw her sling thing and could have kicked himself. “I keep forgetting to pick one up. I go to the store, and my mind draws blank and then I end up buying something I don’t need.” He smiled slightly. “I’m Xander, and if you don’t mind, sure. Though no hard feelings if you just want to continue you on your run.” He doesn’t want to bother anyone with his forgetfulness. Or want anyone to feel obligated to help him.

Mason’s eyes widened at the cash, pocketing it immediately, he smiled at the stranger, keeping the thoughts of getting employee discounts on coffee to himself, “Thanks man, that’s really generous,” he said instead, “A break would be sweet though, but the morning just started and I’d get shit thrown at me if I asked anyone to cover so I’m stuck here…unless you got a plan to bust me out?”

Xander chuckled. “Believe me, if I could bail you out, I would. I know how early morning can suck and you have  to deal with cranky customers on top of that.” Xander had a lot of respect for customer service jobs, He remembered when he did odd jobs and a lot of people didn’t so much as thank, or tip. “If I didn’t think you’ll get in trouble from your boss, I would stick around and try to entertain you with some bad bad jokes.”

You honestly had me at food, and I would love a workout buddy- it will hold me accountable to get out of bed. Summer really does have a habit of just punking out just when you are having the most fun, so I gotta make sure I have some kick-ass memories. How do you feel about a hike tomorrow?

Hiking sounds good. Any excuse to get out and enjoy some nature. Do you have a specific place you like to hike?

kirby: yes, i will be going to the drive-in theater tonight.

kirby: i'd love some company as well! Do you ever wonder how they make rainbow popcorn.... POPCORN?

Xander: You want to go together?