Zahra Watched As Ryan Went To Pick Up The Bag, Quietly Grateful He Had Happened To Be There And Didn't

"Oh, I'm sure. I have always enjoyed bickering with grown men who seem to think the only things worth studying are business and engineering. They never seem to like my research topics. It's great, really," she sneered. Despite the road block she had hit with her work, Zahra still considered the material itself fascinating; the lustre of academia she had once so enjoyed had simply disappeared. "Pancakes do sound good," she admitted, eyeing the options listed on the menu. While she was a decent home chef and could feed herself no problem, none of the things she whipped up were anywhere near gourmet. "Are you real hungry? I kind of want to order a bunch of things. Never been here before."

"Honestly the best part was telling people what my various research papers were on. Like, 'oh Violet dear what are you studying this month? Just animal mating habits. The gorilla were particularly passionate.' Always fun to see people's reactions." She said with a chuckle. She took a sip of her water. "But I'm sure it'll get easier once you aren't being graded. But until then, you know I'm your gal." At that point the waiter arrived and dropped off their drinks. Violet still didn't know what she wanted to eat. There were too many good options. "I'm thinking pancakes. What about you? Their eggs are good here."

"I get that. I'm kind of doing the same thing," she admitted with an equally uneasy smile that disappeared within seconds. Well, she certainly stressed over work and spent an ungodly amount of time staring at her computer screen. "It'll take a while to figure out what you like doing, especially here. There's so much to do and sometimes that can be a bit overwhelming." She remembered just how spoilt for choice she had felt when she first moved to the city. Zahra had been eager to try absolutely everything to the point where she hadn't known where to start.

"Well, I mean I do like visiting the museums, or art galleries if that's your thing." She shrugged, kicking a pebble along the street as she walked. "There's tons of good live music as well. I tend to take advantage of that. Just depends on what you like."

Matt let out a chuckle at her question, shaking his head and then looking back a her with a mortified look and a shy smile. "Honestly? Work." He chuckled. "That's as far as my plans go right now. I go to work, I come home, eat, sleep. Then work again." He slipped his hands into his pockets and bit the inside of his cheek. He wasn't proud of his routine but he hasn't felt like doing much else for a few months now. Matt carried all alone a baggage way too big for his poor back.

"What do you like to do around the city for fun?" He asked, curiously, not wanting to dampen the mood, so he offered her a kind smile. "Maybe I can learn a thing or two from you."

While she had always been independent and quite happy to do things by herself, going to a Halloween party alone had felt quite wrong. Well, she mostly didn't like the idea of entering the party alone and didn't mind the group had scattered within the first ten minutes. Apparently she hadn't been the only party-goer left to their own devices. Finishing the drink she had been nursing for quite a while, she nodded at him in acknowledgement. "The best," she agreed, trying to spot her own group of people. It was a pointless task with the amount of people packed to the venue and she soon gave up, coming to the conclusion she would find them later. "Sure, why not. Sounds like a good idea right about now."

Open Starter For: Anybody @aurorabaystarter Location: Sharky's Monster Mash

Oliver wasn't feeling like himself lately, but that's when his siblings had shown up into town and they surprised him. He was glad that they were able to come for Halloween so that he could party with them. He hadn't partied much with his younger siblings since he was always worried about taking care of them. But as usual, they took off with someone random and Oliver, dressed as Harry potter, found himself alone. He ordered himself a drink at the bar and he looked around while he waited. He looked to the person who was closest to him and he smiled, "It's so nice when you're deserted by people who came to town to see you." He chuckled a bit. "I was going to take a shot, are you interested in joining?"

Being taken care of made her feel like a kid, small and not in control. Her lips curved down in a slight frown before she managed to catch herself. He was just being kind, far kinder than he had to be with a complete stranger. So, instead of turning into a petulant child, Zahra nodded curtly and offered her library card without any further arguments. She really didn't have it in her. "Good to meet you."

"Yeah, yeah. It was just a long hike," she answered, her voice low, "but I'm fine. Need to start exercising more, I guess. Or stop lugging around so many hardbacks. Maybe both."

"Maybe I could get your library card and return these for you. And I'll find you some cold water." Matt offered quickly, Putting the books down on the floor by his own foot. "I'm Matt, and don't worry about it, really. I'm glad I was close by to help."

Matt looked around the building. At least the AC was on. He imagined carrying that weight in New York City's summer would exhaust anyone, he couldn't blame the brunette. "It is really hot out, you should just take a breath here." He smiled and squeezed her arm gently before he pulled back and crossed his arms across his chest, just waiting on what to do next. "Have you eaten anything today?"

"I don't know, could be both," she pointed out, eyes nailed to the balloon as she thought through her strategy, "plenty of relaxing things are also real dumb. That being said, you could win a record."

who: open (@bhqextras)

where: early after noon, any day, aura music festival

what: doing an activity at one of the vendor tents (making rave sprouts, laying in hammocks, palm reading line, sitting inside the giant parachute, playing balloon darts, making signs, or face painting - pick your muse's favorite!)

Sherri sighed, scrunching her nose at her current task. "I can't tell if this is relaxing, exciting, or just — dumb." She blurted to the person nearest her.

She should have expected it, and in a way she had done. Still, she hadn't exactly prepared, too engrossed in her work or at least in avoiding it to the best of her ability. She had planned a relatively easy day for herself, a few hours in the archives going through the records for the Center for Religion and Media, something she could certainly find some joy in even on the worst of her days. Apparently the universe had other ideas and Zahra's simple day took a turn just as she was reaching the steps of the archives. She stopped, took a look around as if trying to figure out where the voice was coming from even though she had absolutely no doubts. At least it bought her some time. "Azhar," she replied, involuntarily amused by the anagram of their names once again. She was sure her voice shook ever so slightly but hoped it would simply seem like a sign of being out of breath. "It's me. I'm, uh, just heading in."

closed starter for @ofzahras , on campus at new york university near the library / archives.

sighing,  azhar  ran  a  hand  across  his  head  before  adjusting  his  beanie.  although  the  autumnal  weather  had  yet  to  hit  the  streets,  and  the  leaves  were  not  changing  except  for  slight  yellow  and  orange  tints  at  their  edges,  he  was  prepared  for  the  brisk  wind  that  promised  a  temperature  drop.  deep  in  thought  about  that  thesis  he  had  begun  reading,  having  been  asked  to  proofread  it  by  one  of  his  students  for  their  presentation  upcoming,  and  his  head  ached  in  the  place  that  he  couldn't  knead  out.  reminded  him  of  so  much  agony,  really.  how  he  spent  too  much  time  on  it.  or  not  enough.  but  he  didn't  want  to  be  held  down  by  his  past,  intending  on  heading  home  and  relieving  devi  of  her  watching  -  duties  earlier  than  intended  as  a  surprise.  that  was,  until  azhar  himself  was  surprised.  dressed  in  the  dark  brown  suit  jacket  and  casual  blouse  of  his  lecture  earlier,  he  paused  when  he  spotted  a  familiar  visage.  slowly  blinking.  (  am  i  seeing  things?  )  “zahra?”  too  old,  and  exhausted,  to  waste  much  time.  (  not  to  mention  his  heart  ached.  in  a  strange  way.  right  there,  in  his  throat.  )  “did  i  fall  'sleep  back  there  or  is  that  really  you?”

"Probably easier said than done?" she suggested carefully. Zahra wasn't an expert on firefighting as a profession but she couldn't imagine flexible schedules were one of the perks. It had to be frustrating for both of them and seemed to cause quite a bit of conflict. She coudn't say she envied either of them. "It's an intense job," she added after a lengthy pause. She had always been comfortable with what some people deemed awkward silences, quite at home with the stillness of it all. Normally she didn't mind being left alone with her thoughts whereas lately she had found herself running from them, desperate for any sort of distraction, no matter how mind-numbingly dull. Dragging the books around had worked for a bit, the physical discomfort stopping her from mulling over everything else. "I don't know," she muttered, feeling deflated both physically and mentally. She had spent so much time working towards the life she now had and somehow it felt like such a waste, something not worth the time and effort she had put in. "Impostor syndrome, I guess. Happens to most people at some point."

“—it’s fine,” he said with a faint shrug, a gentle smile adorning his lips. “she is right; I need to lay off some shifts,” saying it out loud was not just admitting it to Zahra that he knew it was him who had fucked up, but to himself too, that the only way to fix this was to make more time for her. as of now, he spent more time at work, at the station, than at home with her when it should be the other way around. it might have been entirely unintentional this happened, but the result was still the same ( and he would find a way to fix this, besides apologizing to her and making more time to actually be present ). a frown formed on his features at her following words. since they first met he knew she loved her research projects, and seeing the lack of excitement in her tone, her admitting it, seemed to him a little odd, coming from someone as dedicated and hard-working as her. and maybe it was part of the issue; the expectations she set for herself as opposed to what she felt. “you shouldn’t be anything, and perhaps that’s part of the problem…” he offered in a matter of fact tone. “something troubling you?” he inquired, not out of curiosity, but genuine interest of what was going through her mind.

please stop asking me how i'm doing, idk i'm ignoring it

Zahra nodded as they explained it was their first time at Joe's. It didn't seem like the bar had made a particularly good first impression, no matter how Zahra enjoyed its atmosphere. "I see. It's a fine place, really," she promised before finishing her first drink. "Oh, there's loads of good beer in the city. I guess places like these aren't particularly well-known for their excellent selection, though. You could try one of those specialty places."

Once Theo got both their whiskeys, they gave it a quick smell and swirled it around for a moment. "That's because it's my first time here. Cheers, mate." They said, clinking their glass with hers before taking a small sip of the warm liquid burning down their throat. It was good though, far better than the beer. "Can't go wrong with good ol' Jack-o here." Theo lifted the glass towards her and sipped again. "Haven't been in the city long, keep trying to find some decent beer."

Zahra was grateful Violet had reached out, mostly because she was evidently excited to see her, but also because it forced her to turn her attention to something less daunting than the pages of subpar writing she had been managed to produce in the last few weeks. Sitting down, she reached for the menu before letting out a sigh. "I guess that's adulthood in a nutshell. Can't imagine how people with big friend groups ever find the time to meet up." The idea of trying to find a day that worked for ten or so people sounded nothing short of hellish. "Anyway, how are you doing? It really has been a while."

Closed Starter for : @ofzahras

Location: Bluebird's

Violet had just taken a sip of water when she spotted her tall friend walk out onto the patio of the restaurant. She raised her arm up in a wave to get their attention. "Zahra darling, it's so good to see you. I feel like I've been so busy lately and I've missed hanging out with you. This place does eggs so perfectly, light and fluffy like you wouldn't believe." She said, catching a waiter's eye that they were ready to order drinks.