Earth

Ceiling . . Ceiling . . . Ceiling . . . Oh, look . . a ceiling . . .

Mikael sighed and shut his eyes as it turned into a quiet yawn that made his eyes water. His room was dark. He liked the dark. It was when he felt more free. He often wondered if that was why he so loved Meat Loaf's "Seize the Night", one of his all-time favorite songs along with "The Monster is Loose". He didn't sleep often. It wasn't insomnia, that he was sure of. He just didn't sleep often or for long periods of time. Instead, he usually found himself staring at the ceiling for hours, or the wall if he felt like a change. At the moment, it was the ceiling. He felt like he'd stared at it so long so many times that he may have actually memorized the different grooves and bumps.

The low drum of a song drew him back into reality. He felt a small weight on his chest from his iPod, and the hard-to-hear song was the cause of his earphones having been pulled out to lay limp on his shoulders. With another yawn his sapphire eyes rolled lazily to the right to his clock. He preferred the simple black box clock. The one where the red numbers blinded you even from the other side of the room. And the kind that woke up the ditzy, annoying blonde in the dorm next to his whenever it went off.

His revenge for her playing her crappy pop music into the bitter watches of the night.

It was six twenty-three. Classes started around five till eight. He shifted and looked back at the ceiling. He tried to determine whether or not he was too lazy to get up and keep staring at the ceiling, or whether he wanted to get up now. He groaned and pulled his earphones out of his iPod to stop the music and sat up. He grabbed his charger from the table beside his bed and plugged his iPod up before taking a shower. After drying he threw on a dark blue t-shirt, jeans, and a short-sleeved black jacket. He picked up a black cord and wrapped it around his long, curly red hair to form a ponytail. After he put on his belt and socks he turned on his alarm before pocketing his glasses case, palm-sized flute, iPod, and his notebook and pen.

There was a dull banging on his wall and he smirked as he stepped into his shoes. He slammed the side of his fist onto his wall before switching his alarm off and yelled, "Compromise!" the reply was muffled but he easily made out a number of curses. He grabbed a few other things he would need for the day and turned his music on as he headed out the door. Students were beginning to move around, most going to get breakfast. He had never been one for breakfast. He used to just have a cup of coffee each morning.

The music inspired him. As he would say, "It opens the floodgates of my imagination. I need symphonies to build my worlds." It also did one other thing: It helped numb his empathy. He was a weak empath, and could feel the emotions of those around him. At times he would get vibes from people from their emotions that let him tell if they spoke the truth or not. The music helped to distract him from those around him.

He stepped out into the front courtyard of the school and saw that Emery and Chris were already there. When Emery yelled something he pulled out one of his earphones and looked to see her catch Amy in a tight hug. He chuckled as he approached, "Don't kill her, Emery. That seems more a stranglehold than a hug."

Alex had thoughts about joining the circus every time he went to get breakfast,since the amount of skill and dexterity required to heft his giant books as well as take the occasional bite of margarine and toast would have made cirque du sole blush with envy. He went through his morning rituals of brushing his teeth and smushing as much After a bit of unsuccessful scrabbling in his room for a few more pens amongst the clutter he hefted the bag on his back and left to go downstairs and do his little balancing act once again. He only ate a little, not even finishing his toast, before going to sit at the fountain. He waved to Chris and slid into place next to him. A quiet hello slipped past his lips and he pulled A history of mental diseases in the ESP proficient, he allowed the book to fall across his knees and started reading.

"And upon search into the pineal gland of Mr. Alichokov the surgeons found unusually large amounts of melatonin..." Alex grabbed a pen and uncapped with his tooth, his other hand busy holding up the massive texts he had on balanced on his knee. He scribbled something about red light and 530 nm next to the text about the pineal glad while nodding occasionally to what his friends were saying. He didn't really pay attention to either after a few moments though, the words began to blur as he nodded off before jolting himself back. He shook his head and mentally scolded himself for staying awake into the wee hours of the night,but it's not my fault that stupid blonde chick was playing Lady Gaga on an endless loop until three in the morning! That was true, it really wasn't his fault. As usual Alex was so busy talking to himself that he'd failed to notice Emery strangling Amy and only noticed Mako via the acrid smell of cigarettes that entered the air.

Grinning at Amy's reply, Emery did loosen her grip, as well as stick her tongue out at the vultures who dared to insult her greetings. "I resent that comment, Mikael, Mako. Shut up, you guys, can't you see we're having an..." she paused in thought for a quick moment before continuing, "an Emamy moment. Whatever happened to all your knowledge on bonding with your beloved ones?" She joked, and finally, released the poor black-haired girl from the accused stranglehold. Sitting back along with the rest of her friends, Amy quickly whipped up a conversation topic.

"So, has anyone done anything new recently? You know, a new song, a new case, a new dance, a new book, stuff like that. You know how much fun it is to talk about that stuff."

"Meh, nothing too important. I haven't been able to cooperate with the detectives in this city yet. They think I'm too young to work on the kind of cases they do." Christian had replied.

"Ouch. Judging a book by its cover much?" Emery muttered, holding out a hand towards Chris in a request for a gum. Turning to Amy, she responded also. "Besides the fact that my thighs are killing me from the new stretches yesterday, nothing new. I'm surprised I can still walk."

A pair of eyes snapped open, darting over to the basic alarm clock. It glared 5:00 am. Upright, Eddie took in a deep breath and released it. Eddie had a morning routine he preformed everyday since his training. After waking up, jogging is next, followed by strength training with the classic push-ups, sit-ups, and an assortment of other exercises.

It was nearly 7:00 am and in this part of the schedule, Eddie eats breakfast. The most interesting part of this seemingly normal morning routine comes after breakfast however: the day's "future forecast" as Eddie usually says. He sat at the table, utter silence filled the room, then in his head. Visions blurred past his eyes in blazing succession. "A school; apple; car accident" he muttered.

Eddie pushed in his chair and placed his dishes in the sink. As he was out the door, a call from his mysterious leader came in. "Copy. Heading out to Central Park. This is Agent Dawn, over and out." He loved saying 'Agent Dawn.' It was just one of the perks that came from being a paid agent sent to protect the world.

His route to Central Park was different from his usual daily beat. This route caused him to cross the boarding school. Eddie casually peered through the front gate seeing the school that matched his predicted forecast. "A school..." he mumbled, looking across the yard at the fountain where a group of kids were communing. His attention was focused on the girl in the middle being hugged (or held captive). Although it did not mean anything to him, this particular image of kids remained at the back of his mind as he made his way to Central Park.

The path Eddie had followed had taken him right to Stoker. Was it luck that brought him to meet his companion or was it just a little bit more than that? "Mornin', sir," Eddie greeted from behind Stoker. "What's on today's menu?" he asked jokingly.

Ignore.

Ignore, again. Sorry, don't know what happened with my computer to cause a triple post. My deepest apologies.

POST REMOVED

Alex's head twitched up from the book at Chris's question,"Hmm? Oh, it is a compilation of neurological diseases that those gifted with ESP tend to suffer from. I'm currently reading about a high level pyrokinetic terrorist who had been detained in Russia. He was executed and an autopsy revealed a veritable hodgepodge of chemical imbalances." Alex continued on about how various other high level Espers had also had several mental disorders, many of which were centered around the Pineal glad in the brain. "It's a fascinating read, though a bit dry for my tastes." He ended, angling the book so Chris couldn't see that he'd been drawing Godzilla on the borders.

After trying very very hard (and succeeding) at not making a dirty joke about Emery's thighs Alex slipped his book back into his sling pack and leaned back a bit. It really was a beautiful day.

"Seriously, Emery, Amy only has the one life," Mako said, mirroring Mikael's comment. "Can we keep her around for it?" she asked jokingly. Mikael smirked and pulled out his pad and pen. He tapped the end of the pen on the paper before randomly scribbling lines that suddenly began flowing into his head. Rhyme and free-verse combined was his specialty with poetry. He found that he hated being limited to just one. It was his idea, after all. Even if nobody else liked it, why should he care?

"So, has anyone done anything new recently? You know, a new song, a new case, a new dance, a new book, stuff like that. You know how much fun it is to talk about that stuff." Amy asked, drawing him from his stupor.

"Meh, nothing too important," Christian replied, popping a rolled up stick of gum into his mouth. "I haven't been able to cooperate with the detectives in this city yet. They think I'm too young to work on the kind of cases they do," he said with a sigh. "But it's no biggy. It's kinda nice to not worry about dead people for a while." Emery answered Amy's question, and Mikael furrowed his brow as he sensed what felt like someone resisting the urge to laugh.

He answered while looking at what he'd written, actually thinking about the content for the first time since he'd started writing it, "No, but . . when your head is as jumbled as mine is you wouldn't be able to, either." he said with a chuckle. "I may have enough for a poetry collection, though . ." he muttered, tapping his pen against his chin, vaguely aware of Mako stepping next to him.

"What are you listening to?" he heard Mako ask. He looked up to see she was addressing him.

"Oh," he couldn't help but smile a little. She acted so tough, but her weakness was music, like writing was to him. "Dante's Prayer by Loreena McKennitt." he answered. Usually he would be listening to Ayreon, but he loved the soft, sorrowful sound of Dante's Prayer. Which probably accounted for why his poem was so depressing.

Slowly, she nodded her head. Mako had heard him, but she was consumed with the violin and piano. Her fingers kept twitching, the notes playing out in her mind's eye. She would play this song later today, and it would be perfect.

A horn honked and Mako was thrust from her reverie. Cursing and shoving her cigarette back in her mouth, she looked over at Mikael who was smirking. Her neck grew hot and she stood up. What a jerk, smiling at me like that. Mako thought very quietly.

"Burn that for me." She demanded, pointing at his earphone. Looking at him one more time, Mako smirked back and then lazily draped her arm over Amy's shoulders, anything to get her mind back into focus. Amy was taller than Mako, so it was an awkward pose for her, but with as big a personality as Mako had, she made it work. Pulling the cancer stick from her lips she blew the smoke away from the group. It slithered up into the sky, disappearing into nothing.

"Amy, what have you been up to? How's your mom?" Mako always liked everyone's moms. Probably because they weren't her own.

She lifted her booted foot up and tapped Alex's knee. "You know, that crap talks about some of us in there." Mako always got defensive when people brought up experimenting on "her kind".

"You perform experiments on me, and I'll beat you till you can't walk again." She seemed really serious, her eyes glowing at him. But she quickly turned back to the sweet girl in her arm and gave her a squeeze.

"So, about your mom?"

Christian flicked out his arm, handing a piece of gum to Emery. Hmm? Oh, it is a compilation of neurological diseases that those gifted with ESP tend to suffer from. I'm currently reading about a high level pyrokinetic terrorist who had been detained in Russia. He was executed and an autopsy revealed a veritable hodgepodge of chemical imbalances. "So the guy was a terrorist, huh? Sounds like he got what he deserved. But I wonder if we should be worried about any imbalances in ourselves..."

He heard the others talking about music, but he tended not to become involved. He liked any song with heavy music and good lyrics, but he had very different tastes than some of the group. It was about that point that Chris#2 appeared out of nowhere. Heh. It's not like you really can do much with me. No competitions I've heard of lately and I still can't convince the NYPD to let me into their firing range. Jeezus, I'd bet I could shoot better than them. But they always have to bring up that little detail about be bein' too young. "I know your pain, Christopher. But they'll see their mistake soon." He took a long 'drag' out of his gum. "They can't get by in such a big city without a bulls-eye shooter like you."

Mikael watched for a moment as Mako nodded, still in her trance. Still caught in the music. The honking of a horn snapped her back into reality and she noticed the look on his face. That same, steely look that came so natural to her reappeared and he felt a twinge of irritation sparking from her. She pointed at his chest before saying, "Burn that for me." it took him a moment to realize she meant his earphone. She smirked back before draping her arm awkwardly over Amy. Mikael shook his head and muttered, "Excuse me." under his breath as he turned back to his notebook. He scowled at the filled page and turned to a clean one. He cocked his head to the side and felt the weight shift on his earphone as it swung to the side.

Something humorous, perhaps? he thought. What had just happened was already beginning to form something in his mind. It had a lyrical feel to it. Something with a smooth, yet bouncy flow.

"You know, that crap talks about some of us in there." Mako said, addressing Alex."You perform experiments on me, and I'll beat you till you can't walk again." he glanced up to see that Alex was reading one of his textbooks and jotting down notes on it. He hadn't heard what he'd said about it, but he was sure he didn't want to. Having two parents that were doctors in the country's foremost - and the world's largest - medical center meant that he knew full well how much doctors were fascinated by "Espers". He hated the term. It sounded like a racial slur to him. That, and something out of a Final Fantasy game.

Oh, the agony.

Alex replied to her almost jokingly, and then answered what was apparently a query about the time. Mikael looked back down at his notebook. He frowned again and shook his head. He had the sudden image of an obelisk in his mind. Something huge and made of black marble with golden writing scrawled upon it. It stood in the middle of a lake turned almost pink from a rosy sunset. His mind had been on them, lately. To him they were symbols of mystery. Of ancient secrets and something wondrous. Something powerful. He had to do something with the idea or it was going to drive him insane!

Amy pulled him from his thoughts, "Oh yeah, that's right! She said to invite you all over for dinner again today, so I figure that once we get out of school we should just go downtown and hang out until it's time to eat. After all, you know how close my house is to Central Park, and that is one of the best places to hang out. What'd'ya guys say?" he was about to speak when the bell rang. He cringed at the annoying noise. "Well, there's your answer Em! We need to get to class, guys! See you after class, Mike, Mako!" Amy called as she took off.

Mikael closed his notebook and shoved it into his jacket's inside pocket, along with his pen, "See ya, Amy!" he called. "Just don't fall and hurt yourself on the way there!"

Mikael stopped dead when he heard Emery say, "Aww, is our author wowwied for his Amy?" his face remained as blank as a taunting sheet of paper - for a writer, the blank page was your worst enemy - as he turned to the dancer. She had taken hold of Mako's arm. The writer tilted his head to the side just a little. Sure, the jest annoyed him a little. But, he wasn't angry. Ticking him off was a hard thing to do, and usually you had to be a complete and utter moron to rile him. Still, he would play the part.

"I would tell you more than to just to watch your tongue, but . ." his blue eyes flicked to Mako and back to Emery, "my fear for the living weapon you have attached yourself to is greater than my desire to . . act." he said, his words coming out slow and cool, chosen quickly but not without some sort of forethought. His lips twitched into the shadow of a smile before he turned and headed to class.

The everlasting grin still lit on her face, a soft giggle flew out as Mikael was out of hearing vicinity. "He's all over her. Spooky kid," she mused, releasing her grasp on the "living weapon"'s arm. Quite frankly, of course, Emery didn't mean it with full seriousness. She rarely meant anything given her full attention; everything was freedom and she could live in all the jokes she wished. All meant with a good-will, the happy-go-lucky nature that loved to tease and taunt was what made Emery simply Emery. Turning to Mako, a wide grin placed on her lips, she nudged her head towards the school and sauntered towards the building for homeroom. "Guess we should get going to! Don't wanna be late."

And thus, weaving in and out of the crowds formed in the hallways, sat herself second row to the back in class and did the usual. Hum the latest routine music, stare out the window, and peacefully ignore the teacher's lessons. She'd get it out of a classmate or Mako or something, depending whoever seemed to be listening to the educational lectures. Eventually, time would soon pass by, each class would be over and she would be permitted to learn the best form of education for her. The art of dance.

Unfortunately, it was still the beginning of the day with a few more classes ahead for her to ignore.

Ignore...stupid double posts >.>

Alex watched his friends scatter like leaves in the wind, Emery latching herself to Mako and dragging her off to class, Mikael doing his stoic writer routine and sauntering off his own way, and the rest scattering in ways Alex had no time to watch. After a few seconds he rose and started walking towards his next class. His friends were relegated to the back of his mind as he walked, he caught a glimpse of Mikael still sauntering, though he was swallowed by the crowds before Alex could do anything but nod at him and blurt out the first syllable of a hello. He wafted his way through the crowds, slipping in and out of the cracks that the groups of people made as they flowed out of and into the classrooms, mindless chatter filling the air until finally he dragged himself into class with the sound of shoes squeaking on linoleum permanently etched into his psyche. Then he muttered a low curse.

Alex wanted to be an ESP researcher, that was evident in everything he did, everyone knew that he could list just about every part of the brain so well it had practically become a reflex for him. On the other hand, in order to study the extra-normal parts of the brain you had to be well versed in the occult as well as neurology. Generally if he was asked by someone to explain the otherworldly he would readily divulge all he knew and proceed to bore them to death in most cases. One extremely common query, common enough that it made Alex grind his teeth every time he heard the words The Dark One (pronounced with capitalization) was the question "Is The Dark One real?". He believed in the dark one and in the end of the world but when it came it came and generally trying to stop prophecies tended to fulfill them. So it was with ever growing dread that Alex stared at the words on th blackboard and sighed in an exasperated manner, The Dark One had been scrawled onto the board in large letters with a question mark at the end. Today was not going to be good, not at all.

Being around a few people at a time meant a lesser chance of actually feeling what others felt. Unfortunately, being amongst a crowd of talkative and irritated students meant that his mind was in danger of being somewhat overwhelmed. He turned his music up louder in an attempt to fill his brain with music and not whatever else the other students were feeling. Mikael barely even registered arriving at his class. He pulled his earphones out of both his ears and iPod before stuffing them both back into his pocket. He made his way to a seat near the back of the class, but one next to a window. The student in the seat next to his was sleeping. He pulled out a notebook from his satchel and as he sat down he slapped the student sitting next to him on the head.

He sat up instantly and blinked before glaring at Mikael, "Hey, lay off, okay?"

Mikael opened his notebook and laughed, "Be more attentive." he chastised. "Maybe the teacher will like you more." he said, casting a wry smile at him.

"What about you? You spend the whole hour writing!"

Mikael tapped his pen against the side of his head, "Eidetic tonal memory."

"That doesn't make much sense when you look at the definitions of each word you just used." the boy scoffed.

"Oh? Really?" Mikael slowly looked up at him. "Then explain my grade." the boy rolled his eyes and pulled out a notebook. "There we go." the writer chuckled teasingly as he looked back at his notebook.

When the cursed monotone ring of the bell rang Chris cursed under his breath. He was smart enough to get by here, but still, he hated school. He knew that people just thought of him as some loose cannon gun nut. Which, he would not deny the gun nut part, but a loose cannon, not really.

Anyway, when Amy ran off yelling to them to go to their class, he sighed. He had just gotten here and now he's got to leave again. He'd much rather hang out with his friends than go to some boring class. And it wasn't like he was in most of their classes. I mean, who would put a gun nut into a class of artists, writers, and scientists? On paper, it was a recipe for him to become a bully. So instead he had solitary confinement in some boring classrooms for the rest of the day with about 30 other people.

What a drag.

Instead he was really just wanting to pull out his ipod, drown out the class and curl up into a hole in the ground until his ultimate liberation by the same sound that sentenced him.

He wondered what his friends were doing.

In moments from his orders, Eddie had his phone out calling the Brit, Lidvia. He left a message. "Mornin', Lidvia. It's Agent Eddie Dawn. We need you here in New York asap. Report back when ready." Eddie paused. "Watch out for car accidents today, too." He closed his phone and placed it back into his pocket. Eddie mentally took down all the relevant information on the briefing as he sped up to walk alongside his commanding officer. "We are on the tail of a lead now?" The recruit asked, half-knowing the answer already.

Alex had long since fazed his teacher's natter out, he had a notebook in front of him and between drawing odd beasts with tentacles and limbs that twisted in unnatural ways and learning to discreetly juggle his pen armada he was writing out an article for Science Magazine concerning the effects of red meat on IQ. The seriousness of the piece was ruined a bit by the doodle of Cthulhu giving a thumbs up at the top of the page but this was only the first draft. He glanced up at the clock and let out a small sigh of relief, five minutes to go. I wonder if Amy's sleeping out on the benches again? Maybe I should go check on her? Would that seem a bit overbearing, no I'm just trying to be nice aren't I? He peered out of the window and bit his lower lip. It wasn't raining so she should be alright, his guilt once again diminished Alex sneaked a look at the clock, two minutes left.

"Now if you'll look right over here we have a diagram of Lolo the chimpanzee's brain, if you'll notice you can that the planum temporale of both are positioned..." Alex diverted attention from the teacher and stared at the clock again, it was still two minutes to go. His feet started to shake, hitting his knee on the top of the desk until the medieval sounding bell rang and they all scattered. "I wonder who the bell tolls for?" He whispered quietly, chuckling at his little joke. He got up and walked from class, the only people left were those in the special classes and Amy who was sitting on a bench, wreathed in trees and looking like she'd just woken up from a nap.

See, she's alright. It would have been silly to check up on her.

He continued forward, her blank silhouette coming into more and more detail as came closer, a wry smile crossing his face as he got closer. "Hello Em-Amy." He faltered as he spoke, Their names were so similar it just sort of slipped out. "Thank you for waiting."

Mikael stretched and yawned - which was hard to do in a cramped chair. He looked up at the clock impatiently and then at the teacher. When he had turned his back Mikael closed his notebook and slipped it into his satchel. He slowly closed it and sat back up before the teacher turned around. His blue eyes flicked back to the clock impatiently. He silently willed it to ring. His mouth twisted into a grimace and he let a low groan escape as he slowly sank into his chair. The sounding of the bell seconds later had him shooting back into an upright position. He grabbed his satchel and made for the door before most of the class had stood up. He dodged through the slowly growing crowds as he headed for his dorm. He fumbled to pull his iPod out of his pocket and stuffed his earphones in before cranking up "The Garden of Emotion" by Ayreon.

When he reached his dorm his opened the door just long enough to throw his satchel onto his bed before moving on. He headed outside and into the trees towards the courtyard. He stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and slowed his pace. He tended to walk in long strides, moving very fast by nature when he walked. He also took stairs two or even three steps at a time. He always needed to be moving fast. That was another reason he was on the track team: He loved to run. When he realized he was near the courtyard he pulled one of his earphones out and heard who he believed to be Alex say, "Hello Em-Amy." he faltered slightly as he spoke. "Thank you for waiting."

"You fall asleep again, Am? Seriously, you should at least go inside or something when you nod off like that." he heard a second voice who he recognized as Christopher. "Eh. Whatever. You been in NYC for all your life, so you know what the hell you're doin'. So, we got plans tonight, anyone?"

Mikael chuckled and paused when the three finally came into view, "Hey, guys!" he called out his greeting. "Hope we haven't kept you waiting too long, Amy."

Finishing the final pirouette of four rotations, Emery halted to a stop of her ballet routine. Receiving a compliment from her instructor, she merely sent a soft grin towards the woman and slung her bag over her shoulder. She bid her goodbyes, bolted out the studio and quit her graceful act. Finally within out of reach, the silverette frowned at stumbled in her walk. "Fuck my legs," she muttered, punching each thigh to loosen up the sore muscles. It was that stretch again, the one where her instructor intensified. She swore, keep this up and by the end of the year, she was going to be a contortionist.

Trudging along awkwardly to avoid any further pain, she headed for the courtyard where the meeting spot would be. Catching quick sight of her group of familiar friends, she gave them a weak smile in her tardiness, and a glare at the few with questioning looks by the way she was walking. "Don't even ask," she said bitterly, rubbing the area just above her knee. Turning to Amy, however, her eyes immediately lit up at the sight of the girl, and of course, greeted her with yet another 'stranglehold'.

"Amy, the savior of my physical pain. Hold me T__T."

Eddie had taken his phone out and texted the agent. "Chrysler building. 0900. Bring comfortable shoes." His phone was placed back into his pocket and followed his leader to the Chrysler building...

Some time had passed and Eddie and the agent then arrived at the Chrysler building at 0900. On time. Ed had told Eddie to do what he was training to do: tell the future. Eddie walked around toward the quietest side of the building which wasn't all too silent. He sat on a bench and closed his eyes trying to clear his mind and focus on today's events, maybe more would be revealed? There he sat in a trance-like state, trying to foresee what was yet to happen.

Time was passing by, but to Eddie, time almost seemed to not exist. It wasn't on the forefront of his mind, but kept somewhere in the subconscious. Time continued to flow. Then, the Vision appeared...

Sending Amy a smile, Emery sighed in relief. "You're my savior, you know that?" She weakly laughed, a defeated expression falling over her face. It was good thing dance today was only stretching and a relaxed run-through of the important elements in her routines. Otherwise, she'd be hanging out with her friends, stuck in sweat and looking like utter...poop. She gave Mako a short-lived wave as she caught sights of her suddenly appearing, and though she looked just as killed from whatever she did as Emery was from dance, she decided not to inquire into her business. Whatever could give Mako a look like that was definitely something you should allow her to bring up, not pry.

"I always wonder how you can bear to physically drag someone around all the time. And I don't care what we do first."

Already on the move, Emery shot Christian a bored glance, a wry smirk making its way on her lips.

"Why wonder when you can get a taste," she stated, her tone defeating the purpose of it being a polite question. Loosening herself from Amy, despite the sudden pain jolting through her thighs, she leaped onto the back of her poor detective friend, almost forcing out a piggy-back ride. Before he had any time to protest (if he was even going to), she answered his rather rhetorical question after a laugh. "S'cause Amy's got guns and muscles, you know? Duh." She joked, poking the back of his head, "Which draws me to a conclusion: She's more comfortable than you."

Jumping off his back, Emery almost lost her balance if she hadn't grabbed hold of Amy's arm. "Damn, I'm crippled," she muttered under her breath.

"I can hold you for a little while, but if we're gonna hit the town before we go to my house, then you'll have to walk eventually." Amy informed her. "What do you guys want to do first?"

"Oh, no worries. I'll just hop onto Chris' back again," she replied in sarcasm, helped her way down to a bench. "By the way, I don't really mind, so long as we end up at your house for dinner. Gotta love your mom's cooking."

JJ tucked strands of silky blonde hair behind her ear as she pour herself a steaming cup of coffee. Her morning routine had been tough to get used to, with the time difference being so large, but the caffine definitely helped. With mug in hand, she left her flat, locking both locks behind her. After a few sips, she was starting to feel energy rise from her very core, but not enough to do much other than head to the Chrysler Building, where she had been told to go earlier in the morning.. Lucky for her, she was only a five minute walk from it, and in heels, that was a good thing.
Taking another sip of joe, she began to push her way through the early crowds of people, all ready agravated with the city and she hadn't been there for more than a week. This is worse than London at tea time, she mused to herself. Being her height, and especially her weight, made it a little more difficult to navigate through the sea of people. After a minute of being stuck in the exact same spot, she reached for the gun in its holster on her belt, not actually going to use it. It was a nice reminder of some power at least.
Jordan stopped at a news stand, where she bought herself a copy of the New York Times, just in case she actually had some time to read it during her working day. She just hoped the guy who was practically the reason she was there, knew who she was. If not, she could always flash a badge. But it's more fun if people know you... She thanked the man behind the register, then dove back into the crowd. Most people had their heads down, so she had to almost yell to finally arrive at the building. It was huge, compartively. She gaped at it in awe for a moment before sitting down on a bench across the sidewalk from it. "Hope this is the place," she mumbled.
By then, her mug full of energy had been drained, and all that was left to do was the paper she held in her hand. With a small sigh, she pulled it out and flipped the world news section, hoping nothing had happened in Britian in her short time away. She was relieved when she saw that it was basically just on the war going on, and some aftermaths of earthquakes. When she flipped to sports, she saw it was covering a New York Yankees game against the Boston Red Sox. She couldn't care less about baseball, but secretly she prefered the Sox. It was best not to speak of it out loud.
JJ glanced at the watch that was upside down, the clock on the inside of her wrist, so see it was only 0847. But, when she looked back up again, she saw some official looking people there, a woman waving her arm at them in excitement. She stood, throwing the paper in the trash and holding the mug in her right hand. She held out her right to the men. "Agent Stoker?" she asked the older-looking one. "I'm Agent Joiner from the SOCA, I believe we spoke on the phone?"

Hours and many coffee runs later, JJ was still wandering around Manhattan looking for leads that could tell her how to find this mysterious 'Dark One'. She had visited countless people claiming that they knew who it was, but she knew none of them were it. They were too old, or just born, or quadrapolegic, or dead. None seemed viable, especially the babies and the ones who were dead. After a little while, her hope for the day had been lost. She so dearly wished that they would just find this son of a bitch just to get it over with.
Patients is a virtue, her mother's voice reminded her in the back of her mind.
Then I'm not a very virtuous person.
From her pocket, her cell phone rang loudly. She excused herself from the older gentleman she had been talking to, and answered her phone. "Joiner... No, I haven't... All right... Of course I have... Yes... Yes I'll keep looking. Fine..." Just as soon as the conversation with the agent on the other end of the line had started, it stopped. "It's like they don't know I have a gun," she muttered to herself as she walked back over to the man. "Thank you for your time, sir. If you can tell us any more, please call the number on that card I gave you." They shook hands, and she left.
Still I have nothing.