♦----------♦

  Today was the first day on her job. Ashley looked towards the other bed, and saw that Carol had returned after she had fallen asleep. She tiptoed past her, and proceeded to run out the door for her morning shift at the cafe. Upon entering the place, she saw Charlotte talking to a customer. When she saw Ashley, she just grunted and motioned her to a door near the back of the room. Inside was a middle aged man, who was just putting a dish on the rack. When he saw Ashley, he hung up his apron, and without a word, left the room in a hurry.
  Thinking that was a bit weird and rude, Ashley just shrugged and put on the apron and some gloves she found in the corner. There were two piles of dishes still waiting to be washed, so she decided there was no time to lose, and got started.

♥----------♥

"Great, it's Wednesday", groaned Lasille, staring at the ceiling of her shack. "Another day of stale bread." She got out of bed and padded over to the bag of bread on the floor in the corner. Looking into it, she saw that there was only half a loaf left. "Guess I'll go and bother Robert again."

Lasille travelled to a small bakery where a man leant against the counter, reading a newspaper. He was in his fourties, wearing an apron over an orange t-shirt and ripped jeans. Lasille walked right up to the counter and greeted him.

"How's business?" she asked. The man put down his newspaper and sighed. "Been slow for the past week. I bet folk are holing themselves up in their houses, expecting a bomb to drop the minute they step outside. How's yer job going?"

Lasille shook her head sympathetically. "Not too bad. Starlight cafe is basically one of the only restaurants that are still open. Charlotte says that it we won't close untill a bomb destroys the place. Still, it's thanks to you that I've got such a good job."


Robert smiled and ruffled Lasille's hair. "I've known Charlotte for years. Stubborn as a bull, that woman is. Yer parents were good friends of mine, too. It's only natural that I do what I can fer you."

Lasille grinned, touched by his concern. "By the way, can I have the usual?" Robert went in the back and came back with three loafs of fresh bread. "That'll be five dollars."

Lasille looked at the bread in bewilderment. "Fresh bread for the price of the usual stale bread? You do know that I mean the stale bread, right?"


"That I do" said Robert. "I'm not getting many customers, so why not sell to you?"

Lasille forked over the money and stuffed the bread into a bag. "Thanks."
"You're very welcome" replied Robert.

As Lasille turned to walk out the door, her eyes fell upon the stack of newspapers that were sold for a dollar. "Robert?" she said. "Can I have a newspaper?" "Help yerself" he said. "They ain't goin nowhere."
Lasille grabbed a newspaper and walked out the door, reading it.

♠----------♠

Serai Kils// Amnesiac Android
 

The officer looked surprised, even stunned, and stopped moving. This gave Serai the chance to push past him, and make an attempt at an escape. 


Serai ran, her footsteps swift and light. Suddenly, she heard footsteps around the corner.She did the first thing that came to her, opening the door to the nearest room, and closing it, the darkness engulfing her.

She heard the footsteps go past, and sighed in relief.

♦----------♦

Ashley Morgenstern

"Oh thanks!" said Ashley, as she took the vegetables from Lasille. She said a brief good-bye and let Lasille get back to her afternoon nap.
Ashley entered her shelter, to find a note from Carol. She scanned through it, and could make out the words "job" and "coming back tonight." She was lucky that the bombings started after she had gone to school, or she wouldn't understand a thing.
"Awesome!" she thought, "Carol is goinna get a job!" She set the vegetables on a broken piece of cement and got into her bed. She closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

♥----------♥

Lasille sat up and put a hand protectively against her eyes to block out the late afternoon rays that filtered through the roof. "What did you say?" she asked Ashley. "Something to do with jobs?"
Ashley rolled her eyes and told her about what had occurred between herself and Charlotte.
"Nice!" exclaimed Lasille. "Congratulations! Now I won't have to collapse under the tons of dishes waiting to be washed by myself!" She hugged Ashley briefly, then got off the bed and walked over to the bag of vegetables that lay on a makeshift table. "I forgot to give you some of these", she said. "Here, have some." She handed some of the vegetables to Ashley.

♣----------♣

Franziska von Karma

The woman looked at Fran shyly, "I'm-"

Fran cut her off, "I think I know who you are,"

"I... I overheard a bit of your call; I'm sorry for making you wait so long."

"It's fine," Fran replied in a monotone voice, "We, uh, better get going then. Alexis probably wants to talk more about this with you."

She started to walk briskly out the doors of the airport, past the closed rooms of the mechanical works. Conny followed close behind her.

"He hasn't told me much about this. Only to meet you here so any questions you have, don't ask me; I don't know."

Conny closed her mouth that had been open to do the exact thing, "Uhm, may I ask where we're going, Miss?"

"...No."

They came to the end hall and stepped outside where a car was waiting for them. The driver had been leaning against the side of the car; he jumped to attention as soon as he spotted them.

♠----------♠

Serai Kils// Amnesiac Android
 

Serai was shoved into a room that looked like it belonged to a hospital. Only there was a lot of electrical equipment lying about. 'What is this place?' she thought, as she sat on the bed. "Wait here," the nurse said. She then abruptly left the room, closing the door behind her.


As soon as the door closed, Serai got up, and examined the room. It was a small room, with one desk, a bed, a curtain, and bedside table. Everything was white save for the mechanical devices. 'A horizontal O.G.A...what on earth?' she thought, getting up and rushing towards the door. She opened it, and ran slap bang into the officer who had caught her before.