Hi, My Name is... [2037]

"...Yeah, I'm back in New York. My plane landed a few hours ago. ...Yep, I'm coming home soon. I'm just taking a walk first. ...Was that dad? ...He does know he's nowhere near middle-aged, right? ...Aren't we all. ...Alright, love you too, mom. See you at home."

Zylen reached up and pulled the Bluetooth device out of his ear. He slid it into his pants pocket and sighed with a tiny smile on his face. It had been almost a month and a half since he left the tall, weathered buildings of New York for buisness work-study in Beijing. Admittedly, he was happy to be finally be back. Beijing was nice, but the Asian mages who had populated the area didn't seem too comfortable with him for some reason. They had been friendly enough, but he mostly got the impression that they weren't really his biggest fans. The mortals he had worked with seemed more transfixed by his tattoos.

Zylen rounded a corner and found himself just barely making it across a crosswalk in time, the hectic city cars not really too keen on waiting for him to cross even though he still had the right of way. He was trying to make it to his favorite bakery without having to walk through Times Square; that place was like hell on Earth at this time of day. He avoided the grumpy New Yorkers that crowded the sidewalk he was on, finally ducking into the entrance to a small but clean building that housed the bakery he had set out for. He took a look behind him and held the door open a moment, just in case there was a person trying to get in the same building as he was. The sidewalks were cruel and unforgiving places and sometimes an open door made all the difference.

Poppy wandered through the streets of New York, no specific goal or place in mind. Her short, red hair was scruffy and unkempt from days of pursuing a group of Liberators to the area without rest. She had followed them all the way from the scene of their last culling. Sometimes it never stopped; sometimes they would kill day after day and she would work herself ragged trying to save the few that she could.

But then there were days like today; days where she could finally stop to think and take in the world around her. She had been to so many places in her quest for some form of justice, but she had never truly experienced majority of them. If Poppy had to choose one regret about her way of life, that would probably be it.

Step by step, Poppy made her way along one of the long city streets until finally with a small breath she chose to sit down on the steps of the nearest building, the windows of which had been sealed with wooden boarding indicating it's closure or condemnation. Taking a short break to rest her aching legs, Poppy leaned against the decorative metal fencing that lined the edge of the steps, her blue gaze dancing across the street with vague amusement as she watched people flock into a popular bakery. Though it was right here in plain sight, no one seemed to notice the single condemned building on the bustling street. It was almost funny to think about it.

Zylen emerged from the bakery around ten minutes later, toting two bags containing his purchases with him. He had bought one pastry for himself, and the other bag was filled with things he had bought for his family. As he waited for an opening in the foot traffic, his attention was directed to a girl nearby leaning up against a metal fence. "She looks tired," he observed, "I wonder why?"

Being as friendly as possible, he approached the girl with a curious sparkle in both his eyes. He hoped she wouldn't find his right eye too intimidating; it made a lot of people find him intimidating and untrustworthy. He was used to it, but he didn't like being judged on his exterior so very often.

"Hello," Zylen greeted her. "You look awfully tired. Are you hungry?" he asked, offering the pastry he had purchased for himself. He wasn't really that hungry, anyways. She looked like she needed it more than him.

Poppy's eyes traced the people coming in and out of the bakery for a good few minutes, catching her breath and resting her legs as she did so. Being almost invisible like this was in a way empowering at the same time as demoralising. No one would know your name, but at the same time you'd know more about them than they would of you.

After a little while she grew bored of watching the throng of people and instead turned her gaze to the sky, tracing the outline of a passing cloud that she could spot through the tall New York buildings. Distracted by the natural beauty of the white cloud against the blue of the sky, she didn't notice Zylen's approach until he drew closer. At this point, her gaze slowly switched back to the earth and she looked the male up and down as he approached, noticing his eye but making nothing of it.

At Zylen's offering of the pastry, Poppy couldn't help but smile ever so slightly.
"That's a nice gesture, but I wouldn't want to take something that you were looking forward to eating," she replied, nodding to the bag that the pastry was in. Judging by how popular the bakery was, she wouldn't be surprised if it was more expensive than your average pastry too.

Zylen raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" Zylen asked, "It wouldn't be too hard for me to get another one." He shrugged and looked back at the bakery. "I did a couple favors for the owner; We're buddies now." He looked back at the girl for a moment before directing his attention back to the busy street. He watched silently for a moment, then smirked slightly.

"Pretty busy this time of day, eh?" he remarked. "I've been gone a while, but I'm not really all that surprised at what I've come back to. Not much has changed." He leaned back a bit more, taking on a more relaxed pose. "The same busy people coming and going on the same busy street. Now that I think about it, what kind of business brought you to this part of town?" Zylen asked curiously. "You seem pretty tired; are you a building inspector of some sort?"