low fidelity
๐๐๐๐พ๐ฝ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด
โ NEVER LET ME GO โ
[ closed one x one - venus & floatingaroundspace ]
Last edited:
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Realistic or Modern โ ๐ต๐ฌ๐ฝ๐ฌ๐น ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ป ๐ด๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ถ โ โ
โ NEVER LET ME GO โ
[ closed one x one - venus & floatingaroundspace ]
low fidelity
๐๐๐๐พ๐ฝ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด
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[div class=name]JUDE.[/div]
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[div class=tag]location[/div] ;; home โ mo's music shop
[div class=tag]interacts[/div] ;; alex & coworkers
[div class=tag]tags[/div] ;;
FloatingAroundSpace
[div class=tag]outfit[/div] ;; cozy casual + heavy black boots.
[div class=tag]mood[/div] ;; slightly freaked out, now just plain tired. monday blues.
[/div] [/div] [/div] [div class=right] [div class=scroll] Jude's dream that night was an omen.
It had been a long time since she dreamt of her mother. But, there they were, on the front door stoop of her childhood home, Cotorro's humid heat making itself known during the sunny day. Jude felt very, very small standing in front of her mother. Marisol Carvajal had an air of confidence and grace that nobody could ever shake - her hair was a deeper red shade, bordering auburn, but just as curly as Jude's, and her skin similarly tan and freckled. The woman watched her daughter with a small smile. Neither spoke as she took Jude's hands in her own, too warm for the thick summer weather.
"Promรฉteme que tendrรกs cuidado, mijita."
"Cuidado de que, mami?"
"De lo que viene."
The front door opened by itself before Jude could ask anything else. Inside, Alexander sat at the dinner table, jarringly out of place in the ramshackle state of their home. Her father, fiddling with their old radio. Matteo ran through the living room, always energetic, and opened their antique fridge in search of a snack. And her mother stood up, kissed a now adult Jude's forehead, and entered their home. The woman sat opposite of Alexander at the dining room table, patted his hand with a smile, and each face turned towards Jude right outside the door.
And then flames. A flash of white hot heat, unrelenting, engulfed everything within minutes. Jude could do nothing but watch her home and loved ones be reduced to ash. Whether it was minutes, or hours, or even days, Jude simply stood by and watched, unable to do anything. Night fell by the time the embers smoldered in a black heap of soot and wooden beams. The dark engulfed everything, and before she knew it, the night left her childhood streets unrecognizable. The girl began to walk into the dark, a walk that turned into a run, running from something behind her.
Jude woke up to the dim twilight of their bedroom, large windows showing the silent city below. The sky had barely faded to a lighter hue. Laying in bed with tension riddling her body, she took deep breaths, remembering where she was. The bedside clock read 4:12 A.M., but nonetheless she slowly sat up. The girl was a furnace, unbearably warm, and Jude was left surprised for a moment that Alex hadn't awoken. He still slept, back facing her. It was a surprise they continued to shared a bed. Still clad in a large sleep shirt and underwear, Jude toed on her slippers and slowly slid open the glass door of their condo balcony. She closed the door behind her and leaned against the railing, watching the world outside slowly begin to awaken. It was bitterly cold - autumn was beginning to fade into winter - but Jude only noticed the puffs of steam that drifted off as her body slowly regulated temperature. She returned to bed ten minutes later, but did not sleep.
Around six in the morning, she finally got out of bed to begin the day. Jude showered quickly, trying her best to not let the chill set in. Despite their nice condo, comfortably affordable given Alex's career of choice, the smooth floors held a cold that easily got to Jude. Her morning routine was quick and easy; letting her hair air dry in the meantime, Jude got dressed in comfortable but warm clothes, brushed her teeth, swiped on mascara and tinted lip balm, and toasted a bagel. In the past, she would take the time to make them breakfast. It seemed like a sweet, wifely gesture. The girl had a hell of a time realizing once they got married that, yes, she was a wife. It did not come naturally to her, but they weren't exactly a traditional couple, so she supposed it was alright. But, Jude was a good cook, and was happy to take the role in their kitchen. Keeping their place clean wasn't as natural to her, so they balanced that as best they could.
Now, however, Jude simply smeared cream cheese on her bagel and called it breakfast. She only called out a goodbye at the front door before leaving. Her dream had left her a bit rattled, and she couldn't bear to deal with the weird limbo of her marriage at the moment. Driving in New York City was a specific kind of hell, and her work wasn't too far, so the ginger simply found it easier to ride the subway.
Jude arrived an hour before opening. Lights on, she entered what was technically her office, but was really a large glorified storage closet. Two walls covered in shelves and storage, with a wide desk pushed against another wall containing her computer, more files, and other work necessities. She checked their daily sales quota, monthly expenditures, and went through the list of expected inventory to be delivered in today. Soon, her two opening shift employees came in from the back entrance, and the work day began.
"Knock knock," came a voice from the door of her office. Jude looked up to see a familiar tall, lanky blond, holding out a quad of hot coffees. Francis Flowers was the newest employee, only hired a few months ago, but the kid was freshly admitted into college and still managed to be the most responsible out of all his coworkers. Despite being 6'3", he was a gentle giant and didn't cause trouble.
"Much appreciated, thank you Flowers." Jude took a long sip from her coffee, and caught Francis' grimace.
"How? That thing is scalding hot, doesn't it burn?"
"Nah, I'm just totally hot coffee-proof." She chuckled at that, and was finally herded out of her office by Francis, and her other morning worker, Misako. The morning was slow, and a bit drizzly from the overcast skies. Jude spent it organizing their collection of vinyls and procrastinated paperwork for the moment. [/div] [/div] [/div] [/div]
[div class=tag]interacts[/div] ;; alex & coworkers
[div class=tag]tags[/div] ;;
FloatingAroundSpace
[div class=tag]outfit[/div] ;; cozy casual + heavy black boots.
[div class=tag]mood[/div] ;; slightly freaked out, now just plain tired. monday blues.
[/div] [/div] [/div] [div class=right] [div class=scroll] Jude's dream that night was an omen.
It had been a long time since she dreamt of her mother. But, there they were, on the front door stoop of her childhood home, Cotorro's humid heat making itself known during the sunny day. Jude felt very, very small standing in front of her mother. Marisol Carvajal had an air of confidence and grace that nobody could ever shake - her hair was a deeper red shade, bordering auburn, but just as curly as Jude's, and her skin similarly tan and freckled. The woman watched her daughter with a small smile. Neither spoke as she took Jude's hands in her own, too warm for the thick summer weather.
"Promรฉteme que tendrรกs cuidado, mijita."
"Cuidado de que, mami?"
"De lo que viene."
The front door opened by itself before Jude could ask anything else. Inside, Alexander sat at the dinner table, jarringly out of place in the ramshackle state of their home. Her father, fiddling with their old radio. Matteo ran through the living room, always energetic, and opened their antique fridge in search of a snack. And her mother stood up, kissed a now adult Jude's forehead, and entered their home. The woman sat opposite of Alexander at the dining room table, patted his hand with a smile, and each face turned towards Jude right outside the door.
And then flames. A flash of white hot heat, unrelenting, engulfed everything within minutes. Jude could do nothing but watch her home and loved ones be reduced to ash. Whether it was minutes, or hours, or even days, Jude simply stood by and watched, unable to do anything. Night fell by the time the embers smoldered in a black heap of soot and wooden beams. The dark engulfed everything, and before she knew it, the night left her childhood streets unrecognizable. The girl began to walk into the dark, a walk that turned into a run, running from something behind her.
Jude woke up to the dim twilight of their bedroom, large windows showing the silent city below. The sky had barely faded to a lighter hue. Laying in bed with tension riddling her body, she took deep breaths, remembering where she was. The bedside clock read 4:12 A.M., but nonetheless she slowly sat up. The girl was a furnace, unbearably warm, and Jude was left surprised for a moment that Alex hadn't awoken. He still slept, back facing her. It was a surprise they continued to shared a bed. Still clad in a large sleep shirt and underwear, Jude toed on her slippers and slowly slid open the glass door of their condo balcony. She closed the door behind her and leaned against the railing, watching the world outside slowly begin to awaken. It was bitterly cold - autumn was beginning to fade into winter - but Jude only noticed the puffs of steam that drifted off as her body slowly regulated temperature. She returned to bed ten minutes later, but did not sleep.
Around six in the morning, she finally got out of bed to begin the day. Jude showered quickly, trying her best to not let the chill set in. Despite their nice condo, comfortably affordable given Alex's career of choice, the smooth floors held a cold that easily got to Jude. Her morning routine was quick and easy; letting her hair air dry in the meantime, Jude got dressed in comfortable but warm clothes, brushed her teeth, swiped on mascara and tinted lip balm, and toasted a bagel. In the past, she would take the time to make them breakfast. It seemed like a sweet, wifely gesture. The girl had a hell of a time realizing once they got married that, yes, she was a wife. It did not come naturally to her, but they weren't exactly a traditional couple, so she supposed it was alright. But, Jude was a good cook, and was happy to take the role in their kitchen. Keeping their place clean wasn't as natural to her, so they balanced that as best they could.
Now, however, Jude simply smeared cream cheese on her bagel and called it breakfast. She only called out a goodbye at the front door before leaving. Her dream had left her a bit rattled, and she couldn't bear to deal with the weird limbo of her marriage at the moment. Driving in New York City was a specific kind of hell, and her work wasn't too far, so the ginger simply found it easier to ride the subway.
Jude arrived an hour before opening. Lights on, she entered what was technically her office, but was really a large glorified storage closet. Two walls covered in shelves and storage, with a wide desk pushed against another wall containing her computer, more files, and other work necessities. She checked their daily sales quota, monthly expenditures, and went through the list of expected inventory to be delivered in today. Soon, her two opening shift employees came in from the back entrance, and the work day began.
"Knock knock," came a voice from the door of her office. Jude looked up to see a familiar tall, lanky blond, holding out a quad of hot coffees. Francis Flowers was the newest employee, only hired a few months ago, but the kid was freshly admitted into college and still managed to be the most responsible out of all his coworkers. Despite being 6'3", he was a gentle giant and didn't cause trouble.
"Much appreciated, thank you Flowers." Jude took a long sip from her coffee, and caught Francis' grimace.
"How? That thing is scalding hot, doesn't it burn?"
"Nah, I'm just totally hot coffee-proof." She chuckled at that, and was finally herded out of her office by Francis, and her other morning worker, Misako. The morning was slow, and a bit drizzly from the overcast skies. Jude spent it organizing their collection of vinyls and procrastinated paperwork for the moment. [/div] [/div] [/div] [/div]
coded by shady.
Last edited:
FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
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Alex was barely aware that Jude had awoken sometime in the night. He didn't really react to it, simply swimming to consciousness for a brief moment before deciding it wasn't worth it and letting him fade back to sleep. Perhaps she was going to get a late night smoke or a snack or maybe she was going out to meet up with a friend, who knew. Not Alexander; their relationship had dissolved to the point where he sometimes ended up sleeping in the guest room after coming home late at night, slightly drunk, rather than bother with his martial bed. They hadn't been physically intimate in nearing two years, and he felt it was like only a matter of time before one of them ended up having an affair that would land them in divorce court. A pessimistic view of their marriage, which he was an enthusiastic participant in when they had first gotten married, when they lived in a studio apartment far less nice than the condo they currently inhabited. Everything was basically in the same room and everywhere they turned, they ran into each other. He supposed it was a good thing, that they enjoyed each other's company so much in the beginning of their relationship, though now, it just made the feeling of doom that they were hurtling towards the end all the more painful. He liked to think he didn't have rose-colored glasses on, that he could see clearly the divisions that had erupted between them. There was an ocean between them now, a large, expansive, suffocating space that made it so that they hardly spoke to one another.
The sound of Jude's shower woke him up good and well and he squinted at his clock to reveal the time, groaning at the early hour. Nonetheless, he crawled out of bed, shucking off his sleep-shirt for a white button-up, changing out of sweatpants into formal, pressed dress pants. Earlier, Jude would help him with ironing but neither of them were particularly good at it so once they had the spare money, he simply sent them to the cleaners. He looped a simple black tie on underneath his collar and pulled on a vest and a suit jacket before entering the bathroom once Jude had cleared it, brushing his teeth and slicking his hair back with some gel.
He entered the kitchen in time for Jude to head out, not bothering to look over as the door shut. She usually left before him, that wasn't new, but before they would linger a little bit longer, talk about their plans for the day for a moment, maybe give each other a quick peck before she went sprinting out. These days, he sometimes didn't even see her before he was left alone in their apartment to make himself some toast, which he smeared with cream cheese and roasted chili oil.
While Jude took the car, Alex took the subway down to the bustling center of New York City, to the dark, tall building that was his workplace. It loomed over the pedestrians, casting a menacing shadow. When he had first begun his career, he had been a little off-put by the almost violent presence of it, but nowadays it was like any other building on the landscape.
He scanned in, typed in his pass code, and permitted his fingerprints to be scanned before heading to the elevator, pushing the button for the fourteenth floor. A handful of people entered the elevator after him, dressed in similar formal clothing. Sometimes, he felt like they were all going to a funeral, and in the beginning, the morbid thought had unsettled him. Again, however, life had dulled his previous imagination and the sight was just familiar at this point.
Once he exited the elevator, he arrived at his cubicle. At it was his computer, an inbox that had a stack of folders of the samples he would need to pick up from the lab to go over, a cup of pens and pencils, an extra phone charger, and a picture from his wedding day, something that, again, had become just a point in his life, a prop in his cubicle. It held nothing for him sentimentally.
Hanging up his jacket in his locker, he picked up a sterilized lab coat from the ones hanging outside his appropriate lab, folders in hand, and begun the long, monotonous task of the day.
[/div][/div]
[div class=tagcontainer][div class=tag]mood: tired
location: home โ nyc office of examination
interactions:
jude (barely) and coworkers[/div][/div]
[div class=titleline][/div]
[div class=title]Alexander Liu[/div]
[div class=credit]code :: yousmelldead[/div]
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Alex was barely aware that Jude had awoken sometime in the night. He didn't really react to it, simply swimming to consciousness for a brief moment before deciding it wasn't worth it and letting him fade back to sleep. Perhaps she was going to get a late night smoke or a snack or maybe she was going out to meet up with a friend, who knew. Not Alexander; their relationship had dissolved to the point where he sometimes ended up sleeping in the guest room after coming home late at night, slightly drunk, rather than bother with his martial bed. They hadn't been physically intimate in nearing two years, and he felt it was like only a matter of time before one of them ended up having an affair that would land them in divorce court. A pessimistic view of their marriage, which he was an enthusiastic participant in when they had first gotten married, when they lived in a studio apartment far less nice than the condo they currently inhabited. Everything was basically in the same room and everywhere they turned, they ran into each other. He supposed it was a good thing, that they enjoyed each other's company so much in the beginning of their relationship, though now, it just made the feeling of doom that they were hurtling towards the end all the more painful. He liked to think he didn't have rose-colored glasses on, that he could see clearly the divisions that had erupted between them. There was an ocean between them now, a large, expansive, suffocating space that made it so that they hardly spoke to one another.
The sound of Jude's shower woke him up good and well and he squinted at his clock to reveal the time, groaning at the early hour. Nonetheless, he crawled out of bed, shucking off his sleep-shirt for a white button-up, changing out of sweatpants into formal, pressed dress pants. Earlier, Jude would help him with ironing but neither of them were particularly good at it so once they had the spare money, he simply sent them to the cleaners. He looped a simple black tie on underneath his collar and pulled on a vest and a suit jacket before entering the bathroom once Jude had cleared it, brushing his teeth and slicking his hair back with some gel.
He entered the kitchen in time for Jude to head out, not bothering to look over as the door shut. She usually left before him, that wasn't new, but before they would linger a little bit longer, talk about their plans for the day for a moment, maybe give each other a quick peck before she went sprinting out. These days, he sometimes didn't even see her before he was left alone in their apartment to make himself some toast, which he smeared with cream cheese and roasted chili oil.
While Jude took the car, Alex took the subway down to the bustling center of New York City, to the dark, tall building that was his workplace. It loomed over the pedestrians, casting a menacing shadow. When he had first begun his career, he had been a little off-put by the almost violent presence of it, but nowadays it was like any other building on the landscape.
He scanned in, typed in his pass code, and permitted his fingerprints to be scanned before heading to the elevator, pushing the button for the fourteenth floor. A handful of people entered the elevator after him, dressed in similar formal clothing. Sometimes, he felt like they were all going to a funeral, and in the beginning, the morbid thought had unsettled him. Again, however, life had dulled his previous imagination and the sight was just familiar at this point.
Once he exited the elevator, he arrived at his cubicle. At it was his computer, an inbox that had a stack of folders of the samples he would need to pick up from the lab to go over, a cup of pens and pencils, an extra phone charger, and a picture from his wedding day, something that, again, had become just a point in his life, a prop in his cubicle. It held nothing for him sentimentally.
Hanging up his jacket in his locker, he picked up a sterilized lab coat from the ones hanging outside his appropriate lab, folders in hand, and begun the long, monotonous task of the day.
[/div][/div]
[div class=tagcontainer][div class=tag]mood: tired
location: home โ nyc office of examination
interactions:
jude (barely) and coworkers[/div][/div]
[div class=titleline][/div]
[div class=title]Alexander Liu[/div]
[div class=credit]code :: yousmelldead[/div]
[/div]
low fidelity
๐๐๐๐พ๐ฝ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด
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[div class=name]JUDE.[/div]
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[div class=tag]location[/div] ;; mo's music shop โ coffee shop โ home
[div class=tag]interacts[/div] ;; store customers, co-workers, alex.
[div class=tag]tags[/div] ;;
FloatingAroundSpace
[div class=tag]outfit[/div] ;; cozy casual + heavy black boots.
[div class=tag]mood[/div] ;; stressed out, removed from reality.
[/div] [/div] [/div] [div class=right] [div class=scroll] The day was dreadfully slow, dragged out much longer than it had any right to be. Rainy weather meant business for the day would be minimal. Minimal business meant her employees scrambled to find something to occupy their time with. She wasn't cruel, they were free to sit behind the counter if they wished, but she appreciated that they at least got their daily duties done first and foremost. While Jude was the manager, she handled customer interactions just as much as her employees, and was the general know-it-all for their instrumental section. Misako, Francis, and her other employees all had some musical knowhow, but Jude was classically trained and had dedicated her education to music theory, composition, and technique. There was nothing quite as satisfying as a deep, thrumming bass line, something that could rattle her teeth if played on a good loud amp. And sometimes, her employees would joke that she mainly took care of the instrument sales to show off her skills. Which, sure, that was a fun perk. Nothing could bang out a quicker sale than when Jude's 'product demonstration' produced spontaneously short great tunes, leaving customers impressed, and her workers rolling their eyes. And there she was again, fiddling with the guitars set up for demonstration.
Sometimes, Jude questioned whether her career of choice was a wise direction to take. It hadn't exactly taken her down the path she had hoped for. The weight of the bass guitar was comfortable and familiar, fingers easily finding their places on the frets and strings, and the ginger briefly indulged in the dreams she had during high school. Like any other musically inclined kid, Jude had dreamed of making it big. Starting her own band, or even going solo, and doing basically whatever she wanted. And for a brief period of time, Jude had started a crappy little three-piece band with other schoolmates. The furthest they got was playing at a house party, drunk sweaty teenagers packed into a living room and having their eardrums blasted by the angry punk sounds. She vividly remembers the look on Alex's face. A wide smile, and while he winced at each sharp blast of guitar chords, he watched with some bit of awe. Jude treasured that, a sweet memory locked away at the back of her mind. It wasn't a realistic goal, of course. But, music came to her almost as naturally as her fire. Obviously, it did no harm compared to her abilities. But there were times, such as now with her marriage in shambles and the walls closing in, where Jude felt so removed from reality. Yes, she was a person that existed. The spaces she inhabited, the memories of her life, however, felt devoid of personality. Of what made her Jude. She felt as if the world could continue on without her, and the universe forced her to accept this as fact. Because Jude was inherently wrong, and deserved to suffer for it.
It was easy to think of these awful happenings as something cosmically created. Something, some kind of god or being, made these decisions and planned out every detail of Jude's fate beforehand. It helped her harbor that bittersweet denial that none of this was her fault. This line of reasoning did not hold up to scrutiny for very long, though. Jude was not the type to regret past decisions. Not every move and choice she made was thoroughly thought through, but she tried her best and kept moving forward. And there was always Alex. For almost her entire life, they were at each other's sides. A good balance, yin and yang. He helped her feel stable, less flighty and prone to throwing kindle into her flames. Yet, such sweet beginnings and happy livings faded into whatever purgatory they inhabited nowadays. Something went wrong, Jude would think, before realizing that nothing could go right if she was not right.
Her feelings of despair continued to steep throughout the day, tainting her usual 'boss lady but actually chill' vibes that she kept up at work. Instead of continuing to move and prod at the instrument displays, Jude eventually resigned to her office to mull through paperwork. If she couldn't contain her bad mood, the woman reasoned she could at least be productive. She barely noticed as her morning employees clocked out and her afternoon to nighttime shifts arrived. A knock at her office door came once again, briefly giving her deja vu, before a skinny, reedy woman poked her head inside. It seemed she already had a greeting on her lips, but refrained for just a second, sensing Jude's sour mood.
"You feelin' okay, red? I brought you a donut and coffee." Rudy stepped inside and pulled off her beanie dotted with raindrops. Her mop of short messy, mousy brown hair flopped out and she took a moment to straighten her glasses.
"Eh, you know how it is. Stressed and tired."
Mo nodded sagely, and handed Jude a chocolate donut with bright sprinkles on top. "I hear ya'. Days like this, you just gotta breathe in that fresh rain smell and try to relax for a minute. Don't be so hard on yourself."
"Ooh yeah, that sweet wet dumpster smell of New York, huh?" That gave Jude incentive to chuckle, and she waved off her employee with some of that sadness shaken off, just a bit.
There were days where Jude worked from open til close at the shop, a straight twelve hour shift to occupy her time and keep her productive. Today though, at her employee's insistence, Jude was out of the door no later than 7 p.m., and she was hesitant to head straight home. First, a smoke break in the alley the store's back exit opened to. Jude tucked the pack deep at the bottom of her bag. And then, along the way during her walk to the subway station, the redhead stopped at a small cafe. It was impulsive, really, given all of the caffeine she had that day. But Jude soon found herself ordering a warm black tea, mostly something to keep her hands warm as the bitter cold worsened in the dim nighttime. She sweetened it with some honey, and soon got on the subway to head back home, slowly sipping the hot drink.
The house was empty, which didn't surprise her anymore. Jude stepped inside with a yawn and hung her coat on the hooks next to the front door. She took a peek in the fridge and found some leftover pizza, and ate two slices cold without a second thought. The idea of cooking a meal crossed her mind, and Jude mulled it over for a long minute. She was still hungry, and how long had it been since her and Alex had sat down for a meal together? Over a week at the very least.
And so, by whatever time Alex would arrive home, he would find Jude asleep on the couch, T.V. playing some Spanish novellas. On the stove top in the kitchen, a warm pot of a thick, hearty stew with chunks of beef and potatoes to be served over white rice. It was meant to be an olive branch. [/div] [/div] [/div] [/div]
[div class=tag]interacts[/div] ;; store customers, co-workers, alex.
[div class=tag]tags[/div] ;;
FloatingAroundSpace
[div class=tag]outfit[/div] ;; cozy casual + heavy black boots.
[div class=tag]mood[/div] ;; stressed out, removed from reality.
[/div] [/div] [/div] [div class=right] [div class=scroll] The day was dreadfully slow, dragged out much longer than it had any right to be. Rainy weather meant business for the day would be minimal. Minimal business meant her employees scrambled to find something to occupy their time with. She wasn't cruel, they were free to sit behind the counter if they wished, but she appreciated that they at least got their daily duties done first and foremost. While Jude was the manager, she handled customer interactions just as much as her employees, and was the general know-it-all for their instrumental section. Misako, Francis, and her other employees all had some musical knowhow, but Jude was classically trained and had dedicated her education to music theory, composition, and technique. There was nothing quite as satisfying as a deep, thrumming bass line, something that could rattle her teeth if played on a good loud amp. And sometimes, her employees would joke that she mainly took care of the instrument sales to show off her skills. Which, sure, that was a fun perk. Nothing could bang out a quicker sale than when Jude's 'product demonstration' produced spontaneously short great tunes, leaving customers impressed, and her workers rolling their eyes. And there she was again, fiddling with the guitars set up for demonstration.
Sometimes, Jude questioned whether her career of choice was a wise direction to take. It hadn't exactly taken her down the path she had hoped for. The weight of the bass guitar was comfortable and familiar, fingers easily finding their places on the frets and strings, and the ginger briefly indulged in the dreams she had during high school. Like any other musically inclined kid, Jude had dreamed of making it big. Starting her own band, or even going solo, and doing basically whatever she wanted. And for a brief period of time, Jude had started a crappy little three-piece band with other schoolmates. The furthest they got was playing at a house party, drunk sweaty teenagers packed into a living room and having their eardrums blasted by the angry punk sounds. She vividly remembers the look on Alex's face. A wide smile, and while he winced at each sharp blast of guitar chords, he watched with some bit of awe. Jude treasured that, a sweet memory locked away at the back of her mind. It wasn't a realistic goal, of course. But, music came to her almost as naturally as her fire. Obviously, it did no harm compared to her abilities. But there were times, such as now with her marriage in shambles and the walls closing in, where Jude felt so removed from reality. Yes, she was a person that existed. The spaces she inhabited, the memories of her life, however, felt devoid of personality. Of what made her Jude. She felt as if the world could continue on without her, and the universe forced her to accept this as fact. Because Jude was inherently wrong, and deserved to suffer for it.
It was easy to think of these awful happenings as something cosmically created. Something, some kind of god or being, made these decisions and planned out every detail of Jude's fate beforehand. It helped her harbor that bittersweet denial that none of this was her fault. This line of reasoning did not hold up to scrutiny for very long, though. Jude was not the type to regret past decisions. Not every move and choice she made was thoroughly thought through, but she tried her best and kept moving forward. And there was always Alex. For almost her entire life, they were at each other's sides. A good balance, yin and yang. He helped her feel stable, less flighty and prone to throwing kindle into her flames. Yet, such sweet beginnings and happy livings faded into whatever purgatory they inhabited nowadays. Something went wrong, Jude would think, before realizing that nothing could go right if she was not right.
Her feelings of despair continued to steep throughout the day, tainting her usual 'boss lady but actually chill' vibes that she kept up at work. Instead of continuing to move and prod at the instrument displays, Jude eventually resigned to her office to mull through paperwork. If she couldn't contain her bad mood, the woman reasoned she could at least be productive. She barely noticed as her morning employees clocked out and her afternoon to nighttime shifts arrived. A knock at her office door came once again, briefly giving her deja vu, before a skinny, reedy woman poked her head inside. It seemed she already had a greeting on her lips, but refrained for just a second, sensing Jude's sour mood.
"You feelin' okay, red? I brought you a donut and coffee." Rudy stepped inside and pulled off her beanie dotted with raindrops. Her mop of short messy, mousy brown hair flopped out and she took a moment to straighten her glasses.
"Eh, you know how it is. Stressed and tired."
Mo nodded sagely, and handed Jude a chocolate donut with bright sprinkles on top. "I hear ya'. Days like this, you just gotta breathe in that fresh rain smell and try to relax for a minute. Don't be so hard on yourself."
"Ooh yeah, that sweet wet dumpster smell of New York, huh?" That gave Jude incentive to chuckle, and she waved off her employee with some of that sadness shaken off, just a bit.
There were days where Jude worked from open til close at the shop, a straight twelve hour shift to occupy her time and keep her productive. Today though, at her employee's insistence, Jude was out of the door no later than 7 p.m., and she was hesitant to head straight home. First, a smoke break in the alley the store's back exit opened to. Jude tucked the pack deep at the bottom of her bag. And then, along the way during her walk to the subway station, the redhead stopped at a small cafe. It was impulsive, really, given all of the caffeine she had that day. But Jude soon found herself ordering a warm black tea, mostly something to keep her hands warm as the bitter cold worsened in the dim nighttime. She sweetened it with some honey, and soon got on the subway to head back home, slowly sipping the hot drink.
The house was empty, which didn't surprise her anymore. Jude stepped inside with a yawn and hung her coat on the hooks next to the front door. She took a peek in the fridge and found some leftover pizza, and ate two slices cold without a second thought. The idea of cooking a meal crossed her mind, and Jude mulled it over for a long minute. She was still hungry, and how long had it been since her and Alex had sat down for a meal together? Over a week at the very least.
And so, by whatever time Alex would arrive home, he would find Jude asleep on the couch, T.V. playing some Spanish novellas. On the stove top in the kitchen, a warm pot of a thick, hearty stew with chunks of beef and potatoes to be served over white rice. It was meant to be an olive branch. [/div] [/div] [/div] [/div]
coded by shady.
FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
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Alex went to the pick-up window, was handed a Styrofoam box containing five blood samples, headed over to the centrifuge and placed them in, watching the monitor from the machine as they separated out the plasma from the rest of the blood, which he then siphoned out of the tubes and placed on thin, plastic sheets to then be read by yet another machine, watching the various lines and dashes dart across his screen. When he was finished and the machine hadn't started beeping, he slapped a "CLEARED" sticker onto the tube and placed it back in the box. Once he was finished with all five, he entered the lab where his workstation computer was, entering the appropriate information before placing the box into the drop-off window and picking up his next five samples. At first, he had been enthused, churning through as many samples as possible, trying to find tactics to make the search faster. He had even been in a few teams trying to figure out how to use less blood to identify the potential mutant genes, but whenever he went home and tried to discuss his workday with Jude, she would become upset. She never gave a particular reason why, but it reminded him if their biology class in high school, when she would always clam up when they discussed mutants. He had found her, outside their classroom, once, knees pulled up to her chest, sniffling. He had promised her, there, that if they had children that were mutants, that they would not be abandoned by them. He would do anything to ensure any little darlings of theirs was well taken care of.
In the years that passed, he had brought up children here and there, and at first, Jude had seemed enthused at the notion. They never legitimately tried but he figured that was because she was nervous about their financial state, which was abysmal for quite some time. But once that had stabled out, once he had gotten a job in the Office of Examination and she had become manager of the music shop, he had thought they would start trying for a baby. But any conversation he had attempted to have about it got shut down and becoming increasingly resigned to a childless, loveless marriage made him turn a cold shoulder, too.
Having a family hadn't been the main reason why Alex had married Jude. It was her passion, her enthusiasm, her smile, the way she did everything with all of her being-- heart and soul. She loved like that, too; all-consuming fire that swallowed him whole. But over the years, as their arguments built up before dissipating entirely, it had fizzled out and now, things were cold between them. Frigid.
He clearly had too much time on his hands if he was being this poetic about things.
Around lunchtime, he trotted outside dutifully to the local mildly-overpriced cafe with a few other of his coworkers, purchasing a mildly overpriced sandwich alongside his for-sure overpriced coffee, sitting at the usual table and listening to them drone on and on about this or that. One of them was getting married and was showing them a picture of their significant other standing next to them, and Alex blinked, struck by the thought of how happy they looked, their gaze warm and their smile wide, excitement oozing from every inch.
"Better luck to you guys than Alex," Geoffrey, the asshole that he hung out with even though he wasn't totally sure why he did, remarked. While it earned some laughter, chuckles that were nervous and low, he realized everyone was staring at him, waiting for him to react. Even Geoffrey's grin was now lopsided and slipping, as if he realized that the attack on his dissolving marriage, that he had brought up perhaps more than he should have while out on the town and drunk out of his mind, wasn't going to be welcomed.
"I need to go back to lab," he said, leaving his food half-eaten on the table, and slamming his chair in a bit harder than necessary before essentially storming off, causing his coworkers to glance at him nervously as he left. Later in the day, Geoffrey dropped by his cubicle with a muffin and an apology.
"You just, you know. Don't seem very happy," he had said with a shrug, negating the apology almost immediately. "I mean, I'm not even dating anyone and I see you as late as I am most days, and you're always out super late when we go get drinks, too, so I figured, you know, things aren't great."
It took a lot of control not to throw the muffin back in his face.
The subway ride home was actually mildly crowded-- he had gone home at a relatively early hour, given what Geoffrey had said. The other man must have seen Alex stomping around with a cross look on his face because he had made himself scarce for the rest of the work day and his light was still on in his cubicle as Alex threw on his jacket and exited. He sighed, leaning his head back so it thumped against the glass, staring down at his hand where a simple gold wedding band was. He twisted it uncertainty, feeling the weight of all that they were on him acutely.
Once he arrived home, he was surprised to smell food and to see their car parked in its appropriate spot. The television was on, some sort of telenovela, as Jude would call them. And she was sprawled on the couch, asleep, leaving him dumbfounded at the scene, which was almost domestic.
He perched on the armrest of their couch and stared down at her, threading one of his hands through her curls over and over again, like when they were younger and she was upset-- sad or angry-- and he was trying to calm her down.
"Hey," he said quietly, trying to wake her, albeit not too suddenly.
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[div class=title]Alexander Liu[/div]
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Alex went to the pick-up window, was handed a Styrofoam box containing five blood samples, headed over to the centrifuge and placed them in, watching the monitor from the machine as they separated out the plasma from the rest of the blood, which he then siphoned out of the tubes and placed on thin, plastic sheets to then be read by yet another machine, watching the various lines and dashes dart across his screen. When he was finished and the machine hadn't started beeping, he slapped a "CLEARED" sticker onto the tube and placed it back in the box. Once he was finished with all five, he entered the lab where his workstation computer was, entering the appropriate information before placing the box into the drop-off window and picking up his next five samples. At first, he had been enthused, churning through as many samples as possible, trying to find tactics to make the search faster. He had even been in a few teams trying to figure out how to use less blood to identify the potential mutant genes, but whenever he went home and tried to discuss his workday with Jude, she would become upset. She never gave a particular reason why, but it reminded him if their biology class in high school, when she would always clam up when they discussed mutants. He had found her, outside their classroom, once, knees pulled up to her chest, sniffling. He had promised her, there, that if they had children that were mutants, that they would not be abandoned by them. He would do anything to ensure any little darlings of theirs was well taken care of.
In the years that passed, he had brought up children here and there, and at first, Jude had seemed enthused at the notion. They never legitimately tried but he figured that was because she was nervous about their financial state, which was abysmal for quite some time. But once that had stabled out, once he had gotten a job in the Office of Examination and she had become manager of the music shop, he had thought they would start trying for a baby. But any conversation he had attempted to have about it got shut down and becoming increasingly resigned to a childless, loveless marriage made him turn a cold shoulder, too.
Having a family hadn't been the main reason why Alex had married Jude. It was her passion, her enthusiasm, her smile, the way she did everything with all of her being-- heart and soul. She loved like that, too; all-consuming fire that swallowed him whole. But over the years, as their arguments built up before dissipating entirely, it had fizzled out and now, things were cold between them. Frigid.
He clearly had too much time on his hands if he was being this poetic about things.
Around lunchtime, he trotted outside dutifully to the local mildly-overpriced cafe with a few other of his coworkers, purchasing a mildly overpriced sandwich alongside his for-sure overpriced coffee, sitting at the usual table and listening to them drone on and on about this or that. One of them was getting married and was showing them a picture of their significant other standing next to them, and Alex blinked, struck by the thought of how happy they looked, their gaze warm and their smile wide, excitement oozing from every inch.
"Better luck to you guys than Alex," Geoffrey, the asshole that he hung out with even though he wasn't totally sure why he did, remarked. While it earned some laughter, chuckles that were nervous and low, he realized everyone was staring at him, waiting for him to react. Even Geoffrey's grin was now lopsided and slipping, as if he realized that the attack on his dissolving marriage, that he had brought up perhaps more than he should have while out on the town and drunk out of his mind, wasn't going to be welcomed.
"I need to go back to lab," he said, leaving his food half-eaten on the table, and slamming his chair in a bit harder than necessary before essentially storming off, causing his coworkers to glance at him nervously as he left. Later in the day, Geoffrey dropped by his cubicle with a muffin and an apology.
"You just, you know. Don't seem very happy," he had said with a shrug, negating the apology almost immediately. "I mean, I'm not even dating anyone and I see you as late as I am most days, and you're always out super late when we go get drinks, too, so I figured, you know, things aren't great."
It took a lot of control not to throw the muffin back in his face.
The subway ride home was actually mildly crowded-- he had gone home at a relatively early hour, given what Geoffrey had said. The other man must have seen Alex stomping around with a cross look on his face because he had made himself scarce for the rest of the work day and his light was still on in his cubicle as Alex threw on his jacket and exited. He sighed, leaning his head back so it thumped against the glass, staring down at his hand where a simple gold wedding band was. He twisted it uncertainty, feeling the weight of all that they were on him acutely.
Once he arrived home, he was surprised to smell food and to see their car parked in its appropriate spot. The television was on, some sort of telenovela, as Jude would call them. And she was sprawled on the couch, asleep, leaving him dumbfounded at the scene, which was almost domestic.
He perched on the armrest of their couch and stared down at her, threading one of his hands through her curls over and over again, like when they were younger and she was upset-- sad or angry-- and he was trying to calm her down.
"Hey," he said quietly, trying to wake her, albeit not too suddenly.
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[div class=tagcontainer][div class=tag]mood: tired
location: nyc office of examination โ home
interactions:
coworkers[/div][/div]
[div class=titleline][/div]
[div class=title]Alexander Liu[/div]
[div class=credit]code :: yousmelldead[/div]
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