A Day In The Life of Stephanie (Marcelo)

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie hadn't slept the last night, having spent the whole night finishing up both her papers for school and a policy draft for Shaw Industries, both of which had to be finished and sent off to the appropriate recipients by 8:30 am that morning. Stifling a yawn (it'd been three solid days without sleep and she was starting to feel tired), Stephanie went off to classes, picking up some fast food for breakfast along the way. Classes ran from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, including one of the many surprise tests that she was fond of giving. The one half-hour stretch she had consisted of delicately balancing shoving the nearest food at hand into her face and engaging in a frantic phone call with Shaw Industries personnel about yet another crisis.

She was also very nearly caught texting in class. But intead of sexting her boyfriend like half of the other students, she was arranging for food deliveries to the shelter.

Immediately after class was finished, she had to rush over to Bistro Provencal to run a job interview for a sous chef there and shortly thereafter, to La Navarra to have a dinner meeting with city officials regarding her plans for expanding the facilities of the 8th street shelter. Soon after that, she was at Shaw Industries, filing paperwork and making sure that nothing else hideously corrupt or evil had in fact transpired that day. Tuesdays and Thursdays were better days for the Shaw Industries work- she only had morning classes on those days and could put more effort into her primary business holdings.

Shaw Industries work more or less done by 3 am, at which time she finally got home, having to find the list of 24-hour food delivery places because she was desperately underfed. By the time she'd eaten, she realized that she had to be up and about for another day in only four more hours and that there'd be no immediate respite until the next weekend.

Marcelo wasn't home- probably on patrol. And Sancho for his part seemed almost hesitant to come near her, as if frightened she was simply going to disappear again.

There was a desperately sad little meow from her furry baby.

That was when Stephanie broke and began sobbing into the substandard Thai food she'd ordered.

I can't do this anymore. I can't. I don't know how I'm going to do this.

Comments

[vesper_verde]

He didn't know when cultists and demons became the norm instead of drug-running gangs, but he had a hunch it was in the last few months. His gear was holding up well to the mundanely physical, but he had some bruises than burned as they healed. His ribs had been protesting that all night. He needed to get in contact with one of the other Defenders about if there was some sort of cure outside of letting it heal on its own.

Lots of things had changed since he had taken down Shaw. Most particularly the state of his marriage. After the euphoric celebrations, things Stephanie had to do became more frequent than him getting time to even talk to her. His phone was full of texts for postponements and cancellations.

Vesper winged his way toward the penthouse. He needed to get some sleep before going into Veridian in the morning. Though he would likely sleep on the Murphy bed in the Vesper den like he had been for a couple months now. He had seen no point in sleeping in the bed he and his wife supposedly shared.

He swooped into the entrance into the lower floor. He wasn't listening around or as cautious as he should have been. He was just worn down. It was as he was peeling off his Vesper gear that the sounds around him filtered into his consciousness. He blinked and turned slightly.

That was...

He tossed the rest of his gear on the bench and grabbed a soft, black Henley. It would cover his bruises as much as his leggings already were. He pulled it over his head after pulling the door open. He cautiously padded barefoot down the hallway.

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie didn't stir until well after noon that day.

In that time, she received 55 emails and 105 text messages.

Not that she was aware of that, because all of her devices had been hidden. Which she wasn't immediately aware of because she'd just blinked awake and seen the time. She immediately sat up in blind panic before remembering that she was going to take the day off. That she had to take the day off- maybe more than that. Because it really was killing her, mentally and emotionally if not quite physically yet.

She looked over to see if Marcelo was next to her and, for that matter, Sancho.