[cis Woman And She/her] Welcome To Aurora Bay, [ZAHRA HAMED]! I Couldn’t Help But Notice You Look An

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?”

Zahra nodded in a greeting, evidently preoccupied by her predicament. Thinking through her options, she remained silent for a moment before registering the man had offered to help.

"Oh, no, you really don't have to," she replied hurriedly, "I got myself into this mess, I better get myself out of it." The idea of letting a kind stranger carry her very literal burden sounded nothing short of atrocious to Zahra. Still, she was tempted to accept the offer, if only for the fact that the bag would most likely give out before she actually made it inside. "Actually," she began through gritted teeth, "I could use some help. Thank you. I'm just returning these, so, you know, gotta get them inside."

Sometimes, during his work day in his new job, Matt needed some fresh air to organize his thoughts. Leading a team of writers was starting to prove a little overwhelming and the fact that he was back here in New York so close to his own ghosts weigh on him constantly.

Matt knew the city even before he moved to live here permanently, especially Manhattan. First as a tourist but now as a resident and as he walked around, he tried to focus on his surroundings. Doing a little of people watching always helped his creativity.

That's when he noticed the woman struggling with her bag of, assumingly, books near the public library. He let out a small laugh at her comment and stepped a little closer. "Can I help you with that?" he offered.

Zahra was glad Matt seemed to be comfortable with keeping the conversation flowing, meaning she could take a backseat and concentrate on listening. It suited her just fine. She could remember her first few weeks in the city, how exciting and big it had felt. She had worn down her very favorite pair of shoes with the amount of walking she had done, completely in awe of her new home. "Those are still good places to visit. Although I guess the glitz and glamour wears off eventually." She glanced at him quickly. "What do you plan on doing now that you live here?"

"Oh..." Matt brought his fingers to his own lips and closed them with an imaginary zip. "You got it." He smiled kindly and started walking out of the library towards the hot outside. "That's all I know about New York, places to eat." He chuckled. "Whenever we visited with my family, all we did was go out to eat and visit all the parks and museums and... well, libraries." He gestured behind them. "But the tourist life is behind me now."

Zahra glanced down at her feet, deeply embarrassed by the reality of her situation. "Kind of, if you can call me covering my fridge with the due date receipts a system. It has worked pretty well so far. It’s definitely not aesthetically pleasing in the slightest, but gets the job done.” Zahra wanted to be one of those well-organized Excel and spreadsheet type of people, but so far she hadn’t picked up the needed skillset, nor the motivation.

The rigidness in her voice had dissipated slightly, making her sound less defensive, leaving behind just the very obvious physical and mental exhaustion. Still, she seemed to pick up as Birdie described what she had been up to. “I mean yeah, that’s definitely work, but it at least sounds like you’re mostly enjoying it. That’s good.” Thank god she could already see the book drop and would soon be rid of her shameful cargo. “Have you found anything interesting? Could definitely use some recommendations.” While she had never played an instrument and could not say she was a particularly gifted singer, music had always been one of her dearest hobbies and one of the main reasons why she loved living in the city. "Oh? That sounds exciting."

Birdie didn't buy a word the other said, but she was willing to drop the subject. After all, she found out years and years ago that it was impossible to force any sort of change upon someone else, it was something they had to do themselves. "Right." She continued to make her way into the library with the other, "You must have one hell of an organizing system to make sure you don't catch a bunch of late fees for these things." If she checked out this many books at a time, she was liable to forget a good chunk of them and create a mess for herself in fees.

"Somewhat." She responded to the question. "Unfortunately, I haven't been able to take my own advice as of late. I've been spending a lot of my off time looking into some of the local bands for some new stuff for the station, which might bring about some fun, but is still technically work." That part was hard to set down with the incredible music scene in the city. "Who knows, maybe I'll go to that Devil's Night coming up at the She Shed for non-work related fun."

Joe's Tavern had come to serve a very specific purpose for Zahra. It was dark and dingy, and the drinks were definitely cheaper than the outrageous prices she had come to expect from New York City. It had served her well during her PhD years and she hadn't really bothered trying to find a new spot.

The stranger sat next to her didn't seem to be enjoying the atmosphere quite as much Zahra. She glanced at their beer and shrugged her shoulders.

"Thought of trying anything else?" she asked, eyeing her own shot of Jack Daniel's. It was a safe choice, hard to mess up. "Just don't get the wine."

open starter @bhqextras

where: Joe's Tavern

They've lost count of how many bars they've been to since they moved to the city but they still haven't found a place they can call their place, where you'd find him every Saturday or after a work day where they'd have to deal with a lot more dunces than they'd like (one)

Trying not to snap at the bartender that asked them "a what"?" when they asked for a pint and added a condescending "you're in America, sweetheart, just say beer." as if they could erase from their brain the way they've talked all their lives because they set foot in the country.

And all of that to taste the piss poor excuse of beer the man served them. "Ugh, I don't know what I was expecting. It's like it gets worst every time I taste one of these." Theo shook their head in disgust but took a few more gulps anyway.

Zahra glanced up from her phone at the customer in front of her, the man clearly frustrated by something. The reason didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to her, but she obviously didn't have the whole story and couldn't know why he seemed so agitated. "I'm not in the habit of eating other customers' food," she informed, back to swiping through her e-mails, "or have any desire to steal it." Truthfully, she couldn't imagine anything worse than sharing some random stranger's food. "You and your tacos will probably be just fine."

open starter @boroughshqlocation: 10 Year Anniversary @ Casa De Tacos, Queens

"i'm makin' it clear right now, you have to pry all ten of these out of my dead cold fuckin' hands man, i'm not sharin', or splitin' or anything, and i mean that shit." he says matter-of-factly as he rubs his hands in line, now not being too far from getting rewarded for the day. it had been a long ass stressful day at the garage (as per usual) so nothing was standing in his way of having this one thing, even if it meant he cut in front of the annoying little toddlers that kept screaming and running around a few feet ahead. children were the future his ass.

Zahra couldn't count the amount of times she had been chastised for being too direct or straightforward, but she honestly could not understand why it was such a problem. She had just saved herself precious time and energy by deciding they would leave at that very moment and head elsewhere. Somewhere with better beer, no doubt.

"No. Midwestern. Went to university here, though." Explaining she had done her doctorate in the city sounded awfully pretentious and she didn't care to discuss the subject in the slightest. She reached into her pocket for her cigarettes, holding one up in the air. "You mind if I smoke?"

Theo was pleasantly surprised that the other took their offer so quickly so they flagged the bartender, pulling out their phone to pay for both their drinks and jumped down from their stool. "Lead the way, love." They followed after the brunette out onto the New York streets they are still so unfamiliar with. Manchester is far from a small town but nothing compares to this, not even close.

"Are you a proper New Yorker, then?" they asked, curious.

A brief smile appeared, softening her angular features as she handed the bag over. "So you've had training. Lucky me, I guess. I've seen some of those law books, those are pretty hefty, both in size and texts." While her parents would have been overjoyed if their only child had gone into law, Zahra couldn't imagine anything more daunting. Making her way through the doors, she turned to speak to him. "Yes, just this way. I'm returning those. Again, thank your for your help. It's very kind."

Matt shrugged with a smile on his face. "Happy to help. I have a sister who's a lawyer. She made me carry her big books when I was a teenager so I'm no stranger to this." He chuckled before approaching her and offering his arms to her. "May I?" He asked and once he was allowed, he slipped his hands inside the bag and picked up a few of the books to unload the burden. "Lead the way."

"Not really. They had the best program and I got in. Made sense," she answered, flicking the ashes from her cigarette, "and I had already moved to North Carolina before that. Equally far from Minnesota. Although I guess Durham wasn't as wild as New York City." She shrugged at their question, carefully considering her answer. "I don't know. I guess it depends on what you mean by home. It's been, what, sixteen years since I've lived in the Midwest." She studied them for a moment, full brows knitted together. "You don't seem to be the biggest fan of the city. What brought you here?"

"Only if you don't share." Theo gave the other a playful smirk as they both walked in tandem through New York. "You came all the way here for uni then? That's bold." They said as they offered to lit her cigarette and then lit their own, making them stop walking for a moment. "What does feel more like home, here or your hometown?"

They both resumed their walk soon after their cigs were lit. It was a nice night in New York. Theo wasn't used to that type of heat yet but they didn't mind it all that much. They'll mind it less when they get that cold beer.

Zahra had always been a night owl and even more so since she had moved back to the city. Back home she had enjoyed how quiet everything had been when the whole neighborhood slept, had always been thrilled by the thought of being the last one awake, while the opposite was true in New York City. There were always people out and about and Zahra felt a special kind of comradery with the other sleepless wanderers. It could still be loud, yes, but there was also a certain kind of peace that felt familiar and even comforting.

She glanced to the side at the stranger and nodded at her words. She hadn't meant to strike up a conversation, not really, but she also didn't want to move from the spot she had picked for herself. It was surely one of the better ones. "I know," she agreed, dark eyes directed towards the sky. "No wonder people find symbolism and write poetry about it."

status: open (@bhqextras) location: Full Harvest Moon Viewing Party ; Prospect Park

if given the choice, olivia would've travelled to the country for this. perhaps she would have rented a car and driven until she was in the middle of nowhere, and then just parked on the side of the road and watched the moon. it wasn't that the view of the moon from here wasn't fine - it was, decent at least. up north where there was no light to drown out the stars? now that was spectacular.

but olivia didn't like to travel like that alone. she was small, after all, and had done enough research for the next twenty lifetimes that told her how she should avoid rural areas at night, and certainly don't go alone. as she didn't have anyone that was willing to go on an impromptu evening roadtrip, she found herself at the park. it would be good enough from here, the moon was still worth the late night for sure. so she laid back on her towel, arms crossed beneath her head casually.

❝ you know, ❞ she started, pretty much assuming that the person settled on the towel within reach of her own - god, was nowhere in the city no longer crowded? - would no doubt respond. ❝ no matter how many times i watch a full moon rise, it will always blow me away with how pretty it is. ❞