CHAPTER 3: A New Coat Of Paint On This Lonesome Old Town

[hopeorfaith.livejournal.com]

It's been two days since the explosion, and I'm beginning to feel a bit more myself. That bomb really panicked me, I reckon, cos I - Well, I can't bloody remember what I did when I got home. Know I must've gone home, and think I must've just gone to sleep for hours and hours. Woke up naked in bed and it was nearly the evening of the next day. I don't know why I get like this about these things. I mean, when I was a kid - But if I think about that I get these blank spots, like I zone out for a few minutes. So I'm not thinking about it, alright, cos I've got a lot to do, especially since I missed two calls from work while I was - sleeping, or whatever. They were pretty pissed off about that, though I think I looked clammy-faced enough they believed me I'd been sick. Maybe I was. Think I could've been running a fever. Yeah, that would explain a lot. I've taken a lot of vitamin supplements and I'm feeling a lot better.

Anyway. Came over to Angel Corp, as we call it affectionately like, in the morning. Big complex we've got here, the Academy on one side of a big green square and the Headquarters on the other with all the offices and meeting rooms as well as all the nice stuff like the gym, and Research and Development filling in the rest of the gaps. We've got a bloody ton of research labs, though I don't tend to like walking by them. Silly really, but they just give me the willies. Did my classes over at the Academy this morning. Could have lunch in the Academy cafeteria, but although it's a lot better than the Uni food it's still not brilliant - bet the cafeteria at HQ proper is better - and so I go and sit out on the green with a sandwich. Put my netbook next to me, cos if I've got documents open that's nearly as good as reading them, right? Fuck it, I've never been that keen on studying, at least not since I was a kid.

I stretch out my legs, and if my skirt rides up a bit, well, that ain't so bad. Might have to look professional when I'm training, but that doesn't mean I can't look a little bit sexy.

Chapter 4: Summer Rain Seems To Last For Ages

[nansekam.livejournal.com]

The same day, slightly later in the afternoon.

Work's been busy since the bombing, of course. I've been on nights, but I pulled a double shift yesterday so I did twenty hours all told. Fell into bed dizzily at fuck-knows-o'clock and when I woke up it was the afternoon. Fucking starving, so I've come here to the Miskatonic. Not a bad cafe. Semi-respectable but not Corporation, in the outer districts but not buried by the outlying walls or pressed up too close to the Dome. The sort of place almost anyone can have an excuse to be, which is why it suits me - whether people think I'm a cop or something else, they can explain away why I might be here without any need for suspicion.

There were a few casualties the other night. Not as many as I hoped, but really, deaths weren't the point. It was a test to see how the Guardians would respond, and I'm getting a good hold on the pattern of their response. Useful thing to know for future crises. Learn where their weak spots are, and what areas this'll make them shore up. I'm hoping to meet up with my brother operative soon - and fuck, it pisses me off sometimes that I can't remember his name until I see him. For the best though, discretion-wise. Just - got a feeling we might be mates, and it's not like I have many of those in this fucking town. Sod it, I'm just feeling homesick. I order a mint tea to try to make myself feel better. Doesn't taste right. Sandwich and fries is good, though.

It's raining again, a warm hard rain you shouldn't get in your eyes, not when the wind's coming in from the east. People come in and take off raincoats and goggles, coat rack steaming. Think I'll stay here til it clears up, if it does. Got six hours til I have to be at work.