January 3

Who: Danny and Cheyenne
Where: the streets
When: Midday

Danny shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Being on patrol when there was nothing going on was easily the worst thing about being a cop. Most of the other guys complained about the millions of other things that they deemed worse, but Danny never bought it. A slow day on patrol was like being on a stake out without the drama and excitement of actually being on a stake out. Which was saying something because every cop knew stakeouts were far more boring than they seemed on television.

Who: Brett and Eris
Where: Eris' loft apartment
When: Morning

It was the early dawn when Brett woke with a start, bringing his hand up in front of his face, feeling almost surprised that it was empty. He'd been dreaming again, but the details of that dream were fleeting. He didn't remember exactly what had gone on in it, but he knew it had left him feeling... No, he didn't know how it had left him feeling. Didn't know at all.

It didn't take a lot to wake Eris. She slept fitfully at best, and she was paranoid as all hell. Plus, she'd stopped drinking on account of Brett the night before, and had gone to bed with only a light buzz on instead of the usual passing out she tended towards. So when he woke up, it roused her enough that she shifted, making a soft incoherent noise as she opened up her eyes. It took her a moment to adjust her gaze, so the first things she noticed was that the bed was warmer, there was someone next to her, and she felt fairly exhausted. Then she focused and saw Brett. Which really, should have taken her a lot more by surprise than it did. She didn't remember straight away going to bed with him, but there he was. It took her a moment of gazing at him to recall that that had been on purpose, and it hadn't been for anything like intimacy. Which would explain the whole still clothed situation. She noticed he looked a little...confused? Something. "...you 'kay?" she asked, voice a sleep-hoarse murmur.

Who: Henry and Hal
Where: The offices of the City Echo
When: Mid-dayish, sometime after lunch

Henry was his usual nervous self as he wandered the halls of the City Echo. He'd been doing freelance work for the paper for some time now, and a last minute cancellation (family portrait, no fun in that) had finally given him the free time he'd needed to head up to the paper and pick up his check. Which was good- while he wasn't exactly hurting for funds, it never hurt to have a little extra cash for his "extracurricular" activities.

"Mom, Eddie thinks the worlds ending." A blond haired girl whirled into the room where a woman was watching the television. There was some sort of dancing and flag waving, maybe an old end of apartheid historical thing.

"Not another one." The woman rolled her eyes and looked at the child. "Does it SEEM like the world is ending? Don't listen to one of those fringe religious nuts." The woman had a photo album in her lap, turning the pages slowly. Lingering on a wedding picture here, a family photo there.

Who: Jakob and Michael
Where: The Alexandrian Library
When: Afternoon

Lunch was never spent in the station house, nor whichever diner Jakob chose on any given day. He was something like a social creature, needing to be immersed in the lives of others just as much as he needed the food he was eating. Of course, the weather today meant Jakob couldn't even walk and observe, he couldn't hang around Fontaine Park or just walk the streets and observe.

Michael sat alone in the dark, staring up at the flickering light in front of him. In bright, vivid color, he could see cheering in the streets as the newsreel announcer intoned that the dictator of an African country whose name he couldn't make out was announcing the disbanding of his country's militia. A large black man, in full military regalia, stood behind a podium, a great smile on his face exposing his slightly yellowed teeth.

Daddy was coming home today! The mere thought sent shocks of sheer glee from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, and she couldn’t help but dance a happy dance for the millionth time that day. Now if only Mommy would finish getting ready, they could run and meet him when he got off his plane. MEET HIM!!

She danced again, squealing in excitement as she clutched Mr. Fluffles to her chest. Daddy had been away since she was a baby, fighting to protect her and Mommy, so this would be her first time meeting him where she could actually remember him. And wouldn’t he be surprised, she was a WHOLE five-years-old! Not a little baby anymore, that was for sure. And Daddy was all done fighting, she and Mommy were safe, and Mommy said everything would be alrig-

Who: Garret, police and OPEN
Where: Harbor area
When: Mid-morning

Garret pulled the collar of his trench up a bit then covered his mouth and nose with a hanky cupped in his hand as he crouched next to the remains. At this point it was hard to tell if it was a woman at a glance. The body had been in the water a long time. The smell was horrific and a good portion of the body had been eaten away by the fishes from the water and the scavenger birds where they’d floated above. What remained was blotched and tinged green and black with algae and rot.

He'd named them each in his mind at some point in the past, each and every one of them. There had been no choice, because he'd never know their names otherwise. So each of them, after the shooting stopped, had been given a name. The others laughed, they told him that simply counting the kills was easier, or that he could just ask the young men they took whenever they found a village. Of course, he couldn't actually do that. The conscripts were usually warped on janja, and if they weren't?

As she looked out the cracked, dust-caked window, she dragged the healed stump of her arm back and forth along the window ledge. Her other arm, the good one, which had been her off-hand until she'd had the other hacked off by one of the local war lords, that was propping her chin up as she watched all of the trucks going by. Before, she would have ducked down, ducked and hid, a loose panel in the wall hiding a hole that she and her sister could fit inside. They wouldn't need to anymore. There'd be no use for that room but a hiding place for games.

Who: Angelo and Calix
Where: Nighthawk's
When: Mid-afternoon

He'd been staring out the window for a good portion of the day. Rain wouldn't go away. It never went away. So he remained standing there staring out the window hoping it would. Hoping that if he imagined it would go away than the whoever of whatever in the sky would make the rain stop so he could go out and get done what he needed to get done. A little idealistic of him. Well, no he really didn't believe any of that nonsense would work at all but he hoped really hard.

He sat in the shade of a tree - not that the mostly-bare branches gave much shade. But, looking up at them, against the backdrop of the perfectly blue sky, he could see hints of green, little shoots where fledgling leaves were slowly curling through the bark, life beginning again, rebirth. Hope for what was coming for the future.