&& Daybed

“don’t worry about me, if anything i’m glad i shielded your fall.” he offered her a smile before looking over the flowers in her hands, hoping that he didn’t add any damage. “it has been a while, i was wondering when you’d be back to buy that dog of yours — did you enjoy your time away?” 

Julia could feel the brunette didn’t want to talk about her family, just from the gesture and the expression on her face and she nodded, softly. “No worries, no worries. You don’t have to talk about it.” She reassured, softly. “Well, I’m sure you have good friends and you’re truly not alone. As long as you have friends, there is no such thing as being alone.” Julia reassured, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Of course it’s not. I’m a bit more old fashioned - but, I mean, whatever makes someone happy and I’m not one to judge. I’m a little shy about all of that, so I admire you, truly, for being so brave about it.” Julia felt her cheeks flush slightly, but she still kept a smile on her face. “It is true though. I’m a psychiatrist in training, so learning about how healthy it is and how we relate to sex - you will learn in so many ways that every bit of sex is very healthy and connects us body and soul.” She smiled, nodding. “Isn’t it amazing? It’s so good.” 

“Maybe that’s why I like it. I can make people see a perception of me that I create and I manipulate and no matter what, they can’t actually prove anything underneath. It’s like a really public game of cat and mouse and the public don’t realise I’m toying with them.” But that was more about her public image. A carefully curated image and one that Kat was incredibly proud of. She always would be. A really clever cat, if people just thought she was dumb. “Thank you.” Holding up the drink, she downed it in one sip.

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 “I heard you the first time.” Isabella hadn’t touched the machine since the man approached her. She didn’t mean to be snappy and hopefully the stranger didn’t take it that way. She was simply stating a fact. Bella also didn’t mean to cause a stir, she thought maybe the candy would fall with a little encouragement. As the man looked at her she didn’t look away. Instead Isabella kept her eyes locked with his. “Thanks for the advice.” Normally Isabella would have grabbed a few snacks from her home. This morning she had been in a rush making sure her little brother got to school on time. “I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m in need of a snack.” 

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Ana smiled at her and winked, “я, безусловно, буду.” Ana could take her position seriously when she needed to, when the time came for it, but outside of academics being serious was just not who she was. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if she moved up any higher, if who she was, who she grew to be, would change completely. “Not yet.” Ana gave her a skeptical look and shook her head, “Fresh air? That’s it? Seems a little boring, not to mention this air isn’t exactly ‘fresh’, ya know.”

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“honestly, i’ve never tried it before,” a grin on his lips, cyrus breathed a laugh. he wasn’t forward about things most times; it was easier to stay passive. life was an ocean: every wave was different, there was always a crest and ebb, but as they came and went, it made more sense to move with it than to fight against it. like a buoy in the harbor. lifting the cup to his lips, he took another slow sip of his coffee, humming over the rim of the glass before he continued. “why, would it work?” 

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Nodding as she listened, Alejandra agreed wholeheartedly. Growing up Catholic with her parents meant having certain values and ideals that were aligned with the church and she believed it, until her parents and brother died. She longer believed in a higher power or the ideals set forth by religion, “Yeah, I’ve come to learn that in my older years.” Staring at the condensation accumulating on the glass, “Yeah, I appreciate that. I’ve put my heart and soul into this thing.”

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Julia certainly felt the pressure of the town of Chicago, being a Faust, and the want to be normal, to live a normal family life, and she knew how hard that was going to be. Still, it was nice to meet a breath of fresh air that was the woman in front of her, someone who seemed just to be kind. “That is true. I’ve lived here all of my life and I don’t think I will ever leave, but that’s just because my entire family is here. I’m rather close with them. They’re everything to me. Is your family here too?” Julia asked, interested. She was glad the pastry was good, as she knew they would be. Honey’s was such a staple of Chicago. “It really is. As long as everyone is safe and it’s consensual, adults should just be adults and do what makes them happy. The rest is no one’s business.” Julia smirked, laughing. “Oh, yeah, I know. For sure. Do you want a piece of this brownie, by the way? It’s so delicious.” 

it wasn’t often that someone like delphine just stumbled upon a kindred spirit - the likelihood of it happening in a city as big as chicago made it even less likely. but still, there was something about the man in front of her now that made her feel as if she had. a subtle grin settled on her lips as delphi scanned his items, chuckling as she did so. “that’s more appreciated than you know.” she sighed. “enjoy the show?” del asked, doing her best to hide her continuously growing grin.

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“Even more fun when you’re one of those people stupid enough to put almost every aspect of your life on the internet or around for public consumption so when something is up people seem to just know.” Story of her life, and whilst there were parts of it that Katerina would never give up, sometimes when she wanted to hide it was just hard. Taking a seat back on the couch she paused, “Honesty. You and I have been good friends for a while and this is going to be a whole new ball game. But if I fuck up or could do something better, please be honest with me about it. Like not in front of everyone but definitely call it out if you can.”

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In Isabellas eyes the machine was already broken. You were supposed to put your money in and in return you would be granted the snack you desired. That was not the case with this vending machine, but she supposed he was right. She didn’t want to cause more damage to the machine and besides in the future she now knew not to return. “And I wouldn’t want that for the next person this vending machine decides to work for.”

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Ana cracked an eye at the woman before closing it and moving into the next position. “Oh, Lada, просто признай, что любишь меня.” Even with Ana’s new position, she still didn’t take things seriously especially when it came to the people that worked for her family because she loved to tease and poke fun at people constantly. Plus, with her intelligence, getting into intellectual battles with people where she came out on top was like a fun day for her. “We don’t have to tell anyone, it can just be our little secret.” Ana opened her eyes and chuckled to herself, “So what does actually bring you out here to the park?”

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a smirk rose to his lips. it hadn’t been his intention to stare, but now that he was focused, it wasn’t hard to imagine why people were keen to stare. “i was zoned out, but now i’m a little upset that it wasn’t intentional.” he raised his mug, tipping it in a slight cheers motion before he brought it to his mouth. a slow, warming slip of coffee slid down his throat, inclining his chin. “sorry, though. it wasn’t my intention to weird you out or anything,” 

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