[Open]

[chronobreak]

A. Redbright Institute

School might be out for the summer, but there are still plenty of students around. Some of them have dorms here, and others are just there for the summer classes. Regardless, Ekko is also there, keeping track of the underclassmen. Occasionally he has to guide a student to their classroom after they've gotten lost.

Sometimes he wonders why he took the position, but of course he knows why. It's just another small step in a quest for recognition. It's worth it. Even if he does have to deal with dealing with young kids.

Still, if he's needed or called for, he's there to help.

B. Everywhere

Ekko is seventeen and has about a year before he'll graduate. He knows that he wants to stay in London, and his grades are good enough for the universities here. But he also knows he's going to need a job. Which means there's a kid walking all over the place checking out stores and popping into them to ask for applications. Thankfully most have gone the way of electronic applications, but a few of them still have paper forms.

For shame.

He still takes them, slowly amassing a small collection of application forms over the day.

He may bump into people in his hurry to visit as many stores as possible. He could rewind so it never happened, but sometimes it's easier to just go with the timeline.

"Didn't see you there."

C. Wildcard

Choose your own adventure!

[Prose or brackets okay by me!]

Comments

B

[goroesi]

"Don't worry about it!" Maera quickly bends to scoop up the package she dropped, jamming it further into her small purse so that it won't topple out again. "Just look where you're going, right?" But her attention is caught by the sheaf of papers in his hand. "Let me guess - job hunting?

[chronobreak]

Look where he's going, he could look where he's going to be four whole minutes in the future. He shrugs it off, "That obvious?"

Of course he is, he's not trying to hide it. "Know anywhere else that's hiring?"

[goroesi]

"That depends, I suppose. What are you looking to do?" She does know of a few random job openings around the city, after all the time she spends making deliveries and sending messages here.

[chronobreak]

"I'm not that picky." He pauses, "As long as I can stay in the city, that is." He has some responsibilities he simply can't leave.

[goroesi]

"Makes sense." Now she has to think a little, drumming her fingers on the package. "I think there was an opening at this coffee shop I visited last week? If you're up for being a barista. Or... there was a bookstore looking for another clerk? I'm pretty sure there was. Do either of those sound good?"

[chronobreak]

He considers it for a moment. It's not like he's nixing job opportunities just yet. And there's the possibility one of them is close to the school. "Either one sounds fine. Are they near Ealing?"

B

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji looked surprised, but not put out, by the bump. One of the application forms had been jolted out from the rest of the pile by the impact; he slid it back in with its fellows. "No worries. Lookin' for a part-time job? I just quit mine a couple days ago."

[chronobreak]

As long as he didn't actually injure anybody, it's fine. He straightens the pile back, once Heiji puts the form back.

"Yeah? Where at?"

[detectiveofthewest]

"Place called Cafe Poirot over in Barnet. It's a nice place; you should check it out if it's in your radius. Owner's got a thing for detective shows, in case that's a dealbreaker, but I only turned in my notice 'cause I got too busy."

He certainly seemed willing to chat up total strangers...

[chronobreak]

Barnet, not too far away and located in Redbright's territory. He'll need to hit it up.

"A detective themed cafe's no deal breaker, unless there's a bunch of actual murder mysteries to deal with. What'd you get busy with?" He can't help being curious.

[goroesi]

"Yeah, the bookshop's in Ealing and Coffeer's is right near by. I believe in Harrow." She has to think about it for a moment, but that sounds right to her ears. "Why d'you ask?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji slid a hand along the brim of his baseball cap. "Not a P.I. yourself, huh? That's too bad! I got family over for the month, so obviously I gotta run all over London showin' 'em around. They wanna see everything -- the swans, Big Ben, the Thames... plus that one platform from them books about the wizard.

"That, and I got another job with a bunch of nutty coworkers. It pays better, I guess."

[chronobreak]

Perfect. "I go to school around there. I don't want to go back and forth through London." It's a big place, and he doesn't really want to end up sleeping through classes.

[chronobreak]

"Nope, I'm not much for dealing with bodies anyway." More like he's had to deal with too many dead friends to want to deal with anybody else's.

"There's plenty to see, if they're into that stuff." He's pretty glad his parents have never gone and dumped relatives on him like that. He's not sure he could deal with the boredom of lines. Ah, if only he could jump forward in time too.

"Yeah? Where are you now?"

[goroesi]

"Oh, you go to school? You're so lucky. I haven't been in ages." Like, decades. Every so often, she enrolls in a couple courses online, but it's not the same as the Real School Experience in her mind. "Then working at Coffeer's would be perfect for you! I hear they may or may not have employee discounts on their espresso." She's totally making that last part up, but hey, there's a possibility.

[chronobreak]

"I don't know if lucky's the right word for it." But he seems amused by her enthusiasm. Not to knock the school experience or anything, but after eleven straight years of it, it gets old.

"I'll need to check them out too."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Yeah, only I already saw it all myself a couple months ago. Plus, have you ever tried to keep a bunch of little girls on task? I swear, they're always tryin' to wander off to who-knows-where." And harassing lawyers, he supposed.

Heiji made a face. "Over on the east side," he said a little morosely, gesturing in the direction of the Thames as if some of the earlier energy had been sucked out of him. "One lady brings her cat to work. I swear, one of these days it's gonna come back with someone's hand, that's how mean it is."

[goroesi]

"But you get to learn so many new things all the time! I'd love to be able to do that. Learning opportunities are few and far between in the real world." It's been a long time since school, man. She's forgotten how boring it gets after a couple years.

"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Perkins. Maera Perkins. It's lovely to meet you."

[chronobreak]

He feels for the guy. And he especially knows the feeling of trying to keep children on task. It's exhausting. He's not even in charge of them, but younger students seem to look up to him. Which is all at once concerning and a boost to his pride.

Yeesh, maybe the pay increase isn't worth that much if it's got this guy looking miserable. "Sounds rough. Did it scratch you?"

[chronobreak]

"There's plenty to learn in the real world too." It's just a matter of searching them out.

"Ekko," a nickname his old gang friends called him. What can he say? It stuck.

[detectiveofthewest]

How did they run so fast with those stubby little legs...

"Wha -- no. I mean, not yet. It better not if it knows what's good for it! Cat scratch fever's a real thing, y'know." Fever, chills, vomiting, fatigue... of course, whether Grimalkin was carrying anything like that around, he had no idea.

"Oh, well. I guess it could be worse. Hey, did you know a cat infected with toxoplasmosis can shed the parasite for up to two weeks? I mean, not that I have to clean out any litter boxes or anything, I'm just sayin'."

[chronobreak]

The boundless energy of youth?

"I don't own a cat." So none of those have ever come up for him. And he gets along with most animals well enough. Except for that one time he had a rat and it escaped- but that's another story.

"Did you look that stuff up just because you had to deal with one?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji laughed. "Nah, I do it for fun! You never know when a bit of trivia's gonna come in handy. Like check this, right? Toxoplasmosis gondii infections have also been linked to an increased risk for car accidents. 2.65 times more likely than people without it. They think it might be due to interference with normal reaction time, plus increased risk-taking behavior."

Yeah, sure, that was totally useful to know if you were on a quiz show or something.

"But I like 'em, anyway. I mean, except for that one, maybe. Dogs, though -- we just don't get along too well."

[chronobreak]

He can feel his eyes glazing over. He might be interesting in a few odd things, but cats have never been high on that list. And he's pretty sure it's not going to help him out much in his day to day life. "Weird trivia you've got."

Aren't dogs supposed to be more friendly than cats? "Did a dog bite you?"

[goroesi]

"Oh, like in a canyon? Like, your voice echoes?" Yeah, that's the first thing that comes to mind. "Cool name. So, Ekko, do you want me to show you to your possible future career?"