"Probably Easier Said Than Done?" She Suggested Carefully. Zahra Wasn't An Expert On Firefighting As

"You've got a keen eye, Rosie," she replied, careful not to sound snappy, "but I guess this combines strength training and cardio. Saves me a trip to the gym." Not that she had actually frequented one after moving back to the city, nor was she particularly interested in doing so. Admittedly it might have made her trip to the library just a little less torturous. Zahra tilted her head to the side as Rosie voiced their offer. It was a sweet gesture. "Thank you. I might take you up on that if I ever grow really tired of these pilgrimages." Zahra sighed at their question and shook head slowly as she studied the books in her bag. "I have honestly lost count. Way too many?"

“zahra,  are  you  behind  again?”  rosie  was  not  so  much  asking  as  they  were  just  making  the  assumption.  if  it  was  them,  they  certainly  would  also  be  having  late  fees.  this  was  one  of  the  pluses  of  owning  a  bookstore;  they  could  read  whatever  it  was  they  wished  directly  as  it  came  in.  so  long  as  it  didn't  interfere  with  the  customers  coming  in.  offering  smile  for  sheepish  smile.  “y'know,  if  there's  something  you  want,  you  can  always  ask  me  for  a  favour  to  order  in.  a  copy  you'd  get  to  keep,  and  like,  not  worry  about  returning  and  all.”  nervous  chatter  immediately  boiling  up;  even  though  rosie  could  keep  friendships,  it  often  filled  her  with  doubt  to  be  social.  as  though  she  might  ruin  something  by  accident.  “how  many  do  you  even  have  in  there  this  time?  the  box  is  bigger  than  last  time.”

I feel like I need to be re-socialised like a feral cat.

Despite her stubborn streak and tendency to insist on doing things by herself no matter how difficult, Zahra could not hide her relief. Besides, a slipped disc didn't necessarily appeal to her. "Oh, hardly. It's definitely no more than a quarter of my size. And it's lighter than it looks." That was a bold-faced lie and Zahra was definitely grateful Ryan had offered to help her with the books. "That'd be nice, thank you. Can't say I've been doing much of heavy lifting lately." She shook her head slowly. "You're working? Nothing serious, I hope."

—dressed in a casual uniform, black pants and standard FD t-shirt, he walked up the stairs leading to the library meaning to check on a call; they did claim it was a false alarm, but two of them had been sent anyway to ensure there were no issues. a standard procedure for such a call, they needed to do an inspection of the building; this was a library after all, a fire break out in this place would be a pain, for many reasons. “what are you doing?” he laughed as he noticed Zahra —first he had noticed the bag, to be fair. looking at the massive blue bag she was carrying, he arched an eyebrow. “this is twice your size, Zahra,” he teased, laughing. “may I?” he inquired, gesturing towards the bag.

where: outside of the new york public library open: to anyone!

A drawn-out sigh escaped Zahra's lips as she stared at the massive, blue Ikea storage bag filled with books to the point where it would be a miracle if the bag remained intact for the last few steps. It had become evident she would not be finishing - or even opening - most of them in time, and paying late fees for the lot didn't exactly appeal to her. So, there she stood, trying to steady her breathing before entering the building. Evidently she needed to invest in a gym membership if she were to start lugging dozens of unread books on a weekly basis.

Feeling someone's presence next to her, she glanced at them almost sheepishly. "Don't ask," she muttered before flashing a nervous smile, "please."

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT TASK #002

a zahra hamed moodboard

When the other spoke, Zahra couldn't help smiling briefly. "I get that. It's not everyday you see someone carrying forty pounds of books in an Ikea bag. Not even in New York city." She had definitely garnered a few odd looks on her journey to the library, but most New Yorkers seemed to have seen far stranger things and didn't seem to be bothered by the sight.

"I guess you could say that." She regarded the books for a moment as if trying to come up with an excuse for dragging them around the city. "I guess I went a little overboard during my last few library trips. Toting around this haul made me really consider switching to e-books," she admitted, slightly amazed the bag had managed to stay in one piece. "They would probably be far less damaging to my back."

stuck on how to finish the small project she'd started a week earlier, jazzy finally had to admit defeat and do the research on how to best turn her idea into a reality. looking up tutorials online hardly helped because it was too easy to get distracted and go down the cute-kitty rabbit hole, so she typically stuck to how-to craft books.

so informative and full of so many other ideas for potential projects, a trip to the library wasn't really as big of a deal as jazmine was making it out to be. it just made her feel like school was back in session, so when she noticed the woman's large bag, she welcomed the opportunity to postpone her entrance. "sorry," she smiled, "but i have to ask, i do." she peered into the big blue bag, the comical amount of books too amusing a sight to keep her grin from widening. "what's happening here? are you training for some sort of reading marathon?"

Zahra wanted to argue and assure she was indeed doing just that, but the words didn't make their way out of her mouth. He lips twitched slightly as she sighed and reached to rub her aching neck. Previously figuring out work-life balance hadn't been such a daunting task; she had been able to distance herself from her research the moment she closed her laptop or put away whatever book she was reading. Recently, however, she seemed to be spending more and more time thinking about and dreading over work. "Yeah, I know. I do have fun," she replied, well aware just how defensive she sounded. "Anyway, better ge these inside." Oh, how she wanted to change the subject.

She glanced at Birdie, trying her very best to smile somewhat convincingly. "What have you been up to? Been busy?"

"Well, I'm more than willing to try anything at least once, even if it's not the most exciting." She felt like that was a fairly accurate statement. In her opinion, it was hard to figure out what you liked, what you were good at, and what worked best for you if you never branched out and tried new things. On the flipside, it was entirely possible that she ran through new experiences too fast and never gave things their proper time.

"On top of being a person and experiencing life." Birdie never felt like life should be all work, there had to be a balance. Living life without doing anything for yourself to relax sounded like a miserable way to live. "Not even necessarily in a fun way. I mean, reading all that on top of maintaining things around my place feels like it would suck up more time than I could possibly have." There never seemed to be enough hours in the day. "But, you know, there definitely be some time for fun or at least something enjoyable too."

Zahra studied them briefly, eyes intense as she scanned them from head to toe as if trying to come to a conclusion of some sort. "Plenty of pubs in NYC as well. You just have to know where to look. Some of them are real tourist traps," she replied with a shrug. What couldn't you find in New York City? It was easily one of Zahra's favorite things about the city, the sheer scope of options for activities, food, and drink. "That's fair." She had never liked those places either.

She fell silent for a moment at their question, then reached for her bag and stood up easily. "If it's good beer you want I can think of few places in the neighbourhood."

Theo turned to her a little, leaning closer to hear her better and paid attention to her every word. "In England, a place like this would be exactly where you'd find the good beer." They explained after hearing her. "The specialty places are usually full of posh twats that don't know what good beer is."

They gave their tumbler a last swirl before they down the rest of the whiskey, putting it down but their fingers linger on it, thumb stroking the edge. "Can I buy you a beer sometime in one of those specialty places, then?" Theo turned to her again with a bit of a cheeky smile.

"But wouldn't that be a beautiful way to go? Being flattered to death. That being said, I would very prefer if you were to stay alive." While making friends had always been somewhat of a daunting task to her, Zahra valued the friendships she had immensely. Yes, she still struggled to open up and share, but that didn't mean she actually wanted to push people away. She was making a conscious effort and luckily Vismaya seemed to appreciate it.

The undeniably delicious smell of the pizza reminded Zahra that while seeing Vismaya was definitely her main priority, she was also quite eager to eat. Having come to realize she hadn't remembered to do a real grocery shop in days, she had raided her snack cupboard earlier in the day, but the pizza in front of her certainly seemed far more appealing than the Goldfish and trail mix she had inhaled. Her head snapped up as Vismaya informed she would paying be paying for the evening. "No way. Can't allow it," she replied with a firm shake of her head. Her father had taught her many important life skills, and somehow fighting over the bill was certainly at the top of the list. Admittedly he was far more creative, often faking toilet breaks in order to pay when others least expected it. "But if you insist, you will have to let me pay for the next two times we go out to eat or have drinks," she added, not wanting to draw out the conversation when they were about to have a good time. Not that Zahra was all that eager to talk about herself.

"I'm okay. Having kind of a writer's block," she admitted with a sheepish smile, "but I'm sure it'll pass. Has happened before." It was true, she had struggled with inspiration before, but somehow this time felt different, more final in a way. "Honestly, haven't been doing anything too exciting stuff since I moved back. But I'm happy to be properly back in New York." That was at least true. "How are you? Hopefully your life is more thrilling than my current existence."

Few people made the cut of occupying Vismaya's extremely limited free time as of late, and Zahra would always be one of those people. Though, Vismaya didn't entirely consider her own company a treasure as of late, feeling like she had formed a habit of monopolizing the conversation just to talk about workplace fusses and, as always, her mother. However, tonight, she wanted to truly catch up with her friend, as she thought of Zahra often and fondly, and had a vested interest in the girl's wellbeing. "Z, I swear you are going to flatter me to death one day. My blood will be on your hands. My beautiful, beautiful blood," Vis teased, her nose scrunching as she giggled at her own lame joke. "Pizza is always the perfect place to start. And it's damn good, too." At that, Vis gingerly placed one of the small ceramic plates in front of her friend, and then helped herself to another slice. "So, firstly, order whatever you want, tonight is on me, and I'll be having no arguments about that, so, shh. Secondly, please tell me how you've been doing. I know I saw you a few weeks ago, but it still feels like it's been a full calendar year."