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 Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 12:36 am
Vivian had the day off. She had no plans. She didn't have the strength to visit Andromeda right now. She laid on her bed, still in her pajamas, with her arms splayed at either side of her as she stared up at the ceiling. Hmm... a glance toward the window told her this was a pretty nice day. Maybe a picnic? Or just lunch out? Ohhh, or a beach day? A beach day could be fun. But with who? Her gaze turned up to the ceiling again. Maybe a picnic day with a friend. Yeah. That could be nice. She grabbed her phone and started scrolling, humming quietly to herself until she landed on a name. Oh! Yeah! That could be fun! Rejam Text sent 10:24amKayText sent 10:26amKaaaaaaaaaayText sent 10:27amKay
Hi 👀
We're hanging out today ✨
I've decided this 🥰Text sent 10:28amUnless you have plans and then I totally understand 🥺
But if you don't have plans we're hanging out and I'm coming to pick you up
Let's get lunch or something
My treat ✨ Vivian finally sighed and rolled out of bed, tossing open her closet to– “********, I forgot about you,” she said to the jumpscare that was her own face staring back at her in stone form. A hat was placed over the statue head before she grabbed something to wear. A skirt would do, with some shorts underneath, and this top would work. Yeah. This was fine. She still wasn't sure what to do with the day but hopefully she'd have someone to not be sure what to do about the day with! Did he answer yet? She held an earring between her lips as she messed with the other one and leaned over to check her phone.
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 1:09 am
He rolled over from what could only be called sleep with a great deal of generosity, untangling the devil's claws and pushing her gently aside to fumble for his phone after the second notification.
A few days ago and the prospect of more than a week off work, paid, would have seemed like paradise. But it had been a grim prison sentence and he'd barely left his bed, let alone the house, marinating in an extremely uncharacteristic isolation and only posting a random Instagram story to avoid people blowing up his phone to ask if he'd died.
He scrubbed his hands over his face and debated malingering, right up until that last part. He had a firm policy of never saying no to free food, and he realized in the moment that his lack of appetite for the last couple of days had rendered him suddenly ravenous.
10:28 AM
yeah 🕺🏻
I need a shower
call it 30 minutes?
He dropped a maps pin without further ceremony.
Half an hour was less time than he really needed, given how scrungly he was getting, but at least he'd be clean. And he'd seen enough of Vivian's Instagram to know that he had no immediate personal gain in looking as best as he could manage, which was never that great anyway.
Still, it felt odd to be seen outdoors in less than his personal best, although surely no one could have noticed it but him. Maus on a bad day was more fastidious than many on a good one, and the lines of his clothes made the faint shadow of scruff and even the uneven edges of his mustache and still-damp hair seem like some sort of intentional affectation. The ugly bruise on his jaw, though - there was nothing for that. He rocked on his heels, blinking against the sunlight, and stood on the shitty ramshackle concrete square that passed for a porch in front of the shitty ramshackle single story building where he lived, where half the units had windows blacked out with aluminum foil and there wasn't a decent car parked in any of the unpainted spots, and he chewed the stick of a long-gone lollipop and made himself think of food.
He knew he was a little glassy-eyed, a little watery-eyed and flush-faced, on top of everything. But he'd always been very, very good at maintaining his usual smiling and chipper demeanor no matter what was going on beneath the surface, and it was always easy to blame allergies. So it was that there was nothing untoward or unusual in his smile - no oddity about him, really, except that bruise - when Vivian arrived, and he said cheerfully: “Are we celebrating? What's the occasion?”
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 1:34 am
Easy! Let's go! A celebratory air punch followed the text and address, and she continued on with her morning primping. Her upcoming companion might not have seen a need to present their best, but Vivian always did. She even updated her socials with a selfie of her fit for the day before she grabbed her bag and headed out.
Her car wasn't anything crazy special. A mini cooper from 2019 that had likely had quite a life in New York, but at least it was clean and taken care of. Vivian hardly bat an eye at where she was, more concerned with finding her friend. There was a big smile on her face as she waved and opened the door to invite him in, to which she caught sight of the bruise and briefly seemed to hesitate with something. No Vivian. He's asking questions. Answer him first. Not yet. Don't start with that. "Nothing really! I just have a free day and thought it's a nice day why don't we go out. And I thought sometimes it's nice to just have a nice impromptu let's figure it out as we go kind of day." Grinning again, Vivian waited for Kay to get settled in the car before she got the car moving again. "Plus we haven't hung out outside of you working. I wanted to go out and I wanted to see my friend!"
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 1:42 am
Distracted and unselfconscious, he pulled down the visor mirror to vaguely observe the unfortunate state of his mustache, giving it a futile smoothing pat before giving it up as a lost cause. Any other time and he would have been grateful to meet someone else who, like himself, made friends in the same way children did - by the easy expedient of simply announcing the friendship. And he was grateful, somewhere. But he thought with a certain bleakness that the patient exhaustion that welled up in the face of her enthusiasm was probably a great deal like what other people felt when he, too, rabbited off into cheerful and energetic animation. "I'm grateful for your charity," he said, laughing. "Dispensing social life to the underserved of Destiny City. Arms of the angel type s**t. My dance card has never been more empty in my life. Did you hear the ceiling collapsed at work?" He had a favored type of lie. It was to lie by telling the exact and most misleading form of the truth. So it was that he absently, apparently thoughtlessly, touched the bruised jaw as he asked this, suggesting a subconscious connection. "No tragedies, thank God, but they've got the place boarded up for at least a week."
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 1:57 am
"Charity?!" Vivian's eyes widened. "Are you in dire need, Kay? I could set up a GoFundMe." She chuckled then, never taking her eyes off the road. Despite looking comfortable in the driver's seat her gaze never once even threatened to stray from the road, as if compelled to be fixated on the distance ahead of her. But at mention of the accident her brow furrowed and she frowned, taking advantage of a red light to finally look his way. "Is that why the bruise? I was gonna ask. You're lucky your jaw isn't broken or anything." The light changed and she looked ahead again.
"There was a brief time where I was staying in at a place with a friend of mine until a room at an apartment I was applying for was ready. They didn't inform us ahead of time of the water damage and one night we woke up to the kitchen ceiling collapsing and this massive like... you know the giant plastic storage tubs? One of those was apparently in the upper crawl space collecting water from a roof leak for so long it filled up and got so heavy the ceiling couldn't support it, so it just collapsed. Flooded half the apartment." She sighed, shaking her head. "I'm glad you're mostly okay though. So you have the week off from work? Do you have another job or are you just gonna play it by ear?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 2:07 am
"I heard from a coworker that she had the ceiling fall in like that once and they moved her to an apartment across the parking lot. Same floorplan but flipped, so she kept getting up to piss at night and walking into her closet by mistake."
He waved a hand. "Owner is a mensch and told us we'd get paid as if we were working," he said. "More than I expected, but he can afford it. So I get a surprise vacation. No complaints. My sleep schedule is ******** wrecked," he confided. "I picked up a ******** kitten on death's door and now my entire life revolves around waking up every six hours to fight with her to eat enough medicine to not die." He sounded distinctly unhappy about this, in a way he rarely did. "You want a ******** cat?" He added, not very optimistic given what she'd told him of her living situation. "I am informed that she's cute."
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 2:18 am
Vivian barked a short laugh at that as she pulled into a parking lot of a restaurant, a small place that seemed to have local diner vibes without looking old or run down. Something local that had comfort food style offerings, as well as some random odds and ends you wouldn't necessarily expect in a diner to draw in curious tourists reading the menu online. "That would ******** me up too. Poor girl."
Grabbing her star bag and popping on a pair of pink heart-shaped sunglasses, Vivian climbed out of the car while listening to the explanation about the cat. She looked thoughtful, her lips twisting with a distant look and humming to herself. Normally she would actually love the idea. She had ever had a pet before. But... how would Creedence feel about another cat? Like, a real cat and not one that talks and uses jetpacks and eats nachos late at night? Would Creedence behave like a normal cat about it? Would she care? Would she be pissed? "Lemme ask my cat and I'll get back to you," Vivian said without thinking much of the statement. Surely people ask their animals all the time for their opinions. "You don't sound like you're much into cats. Dog guy?" She grabbed the door to hold it open for Kay, ever the gentleman. "Hope this is okay by the way. They've got great burgers, like that home cooked vibe but not, you know?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 2:44 am
His hunger was catching up to him, requiring an inordinate amount of focus to not betray exactly how desperate he was to start stuffing his face. Maybe if he ordered a salad instead of fries it would get to the table faster. Maybe it would be worth losing the delicious greasy carbs. He averted his eyes from a display case of diner desserts before they could linger on any one long enough to implant a craving he couldn't hope to have satisfied without a breach of basic politeness, and devoted a corner of his brain to scheming for how he could convince her that a milkshake or a pie was her idea. Ballerinas barely ate, right? All rigorous discipline. Certainly they probably weren't eating big slices of coconut cake and elaborate malts with biscuits stuck in them oh god that looked amazing. He played it off with an exaggerated curtsy for her chivalrous gesture as he joined the line.
He was unmoved by the idea of needing to ask another cat, aware of how people talked to their pets and uncomfortably aware that he'd found himself in one-sided conversations with the devil already.
“Not really either, but better a dog than a cat,” he said, practiced enough to keep the tone light. People got mad when you said you hated cats with a particular type of loathing in your voice, and while he didn't have much pride, he had enough to not come out and say that he was ******** terrified of them. “Rodents, really. Like - mice, rats. Don't keep them anymore, though.” And then, still cheerfully than he felt: “I'm going to bankrupt you, I fear. I'm ******** starving. Slept through breakfast. You must have been busy to find all the good spots already. You tried Rosewater yet, around the corner? Crazy samosas.”
It was good to want things. He'd probably return to bedrotting after this little outing and be able to look back, from that pool of apathetic misery, with appropriate appreciation for this moment of desire. He had been a creature of many wants, lately - wanted a cigarette, a hug, a better mattress, a new tattoo, a cooler haircut, a workout routine that would give him actual abs, a car, a girl with hands in his hair, a guy with hands under his shirt, a party - until a few days ago. Then the horrible run-in, and then had it all crashed down around into catastrophic misery under the weight of guilt and doubt - like a ceiling collapsing under the weight of too much water - leaving him bereft of a desire for anything but the ability to sleep until he woke up wanting to be awake again. Kay had never really known depression - certainly couldn't remember it, if he ever had Before - and did not have the words to fit around this strange absence of longing. He only knew that it felt good to look at a menu and realize he was real, real ******** hungry; he knew also that this feeling would be fleeting.
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 9:58 pm
The curtsy was answered with a giggle and a dramatic extension of her arm to invite him inside, so gracious and chivalrous of her yes yes, before she followed Kay in. Thankfully for just the two of them it wasn't long for a table, and now Vivian was either about to confuse Kay, ruin his day, or make him happy. As she sat down she shrugged off the little denim jacket she was wearing and draped it over her lap as she brought her legs up to sit criss-cross in her seat, and then picked up a menu to start looking through it. Oh that burger looked really ******** good. "Do you like milkshakes?" She asked as she skipped ahead to the drinks and desserts side of the menu, looking it over with a thoughtful hum. "I'll be honest, I'm kind of picky on the texture of mine. I find a lot of them to be like... too thin? Like, it's not just milk and ice cream kind of vibe, you know?" Her lips pursed. The picture did look promising at least. "The cat's a new development. I've never had a pet before, and this one just kind of..." Uhhhh... "found me." Yeah, that's it. "Though I wouldn't really call her a pet. She just kind of comes and goes, but enough so that I think I should be careful adding another cat... do you have a picture of the baby?"
While he spoke of his own animal preferences she looked up, her head tilting to one side. Hm. Made sense. Kay was kind of mousey in an endearing way. "I do think 'mouse' when I look at you," she said with a chuckle, then waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, really! I spend most of my time meal prepping and don't go out to eat as much as I used to, so this is a treat. I found this place just driving by a couple weeks ago to be honest. I like an oldies diner vibe from time to time, y'know? It's cozy~. Plus, I could go for a thick burger like the one I'm looking at over here, this stuff's always better when someone else makes it." She smiled. "But I haven't been there, no! We could go next time. Is that more your thing?"
A server showed up then, a twink of a guy that looked to likely be somewhere between Vivian and Kay's age. Difficult to tell, but definitely not under 20. Tall, skinny, with bright eyes and perfectly maintained blonde hair. He came up to the table, all smiles and energy. His name was Kenny. "So what can I get you started with, babes?" He asked Vivian after giving his introduction.
"Theeeee strawberry shake, and can I get the basket of onion rings and mozzarella sticks? And this burger here. Can I make it a double, please, with curly fries." She pointed out each item on the menu, smiling up at Kenny and then turning to Kay.
"And you, honey?" Kenny asked Kay with the same charming smile he had given to Vivian. The kind of smile where it was hard to tell if the smile was genuine or good customer servers and good tips.
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 10:21 pm
He relinquished his preconceived notions without much feelings besides relief that he could get a little greedy and not look insane, having barely glanced at the menu - used to making these decisions speedily, before someone could change their mind - and then occupied himself with obediently procuring photos of the devil while she talked.
He held them, however, while she ordered, giving the server a once-over of unmistakable assessment while his attention was elsewhere. The verdict was not so favorable as to add a need for flirtation to the pile of ordeals he was currently navigating. Still more of a relief, on the heels of receiving that well worn observation that he reminded people of small skittering things - something he'd made his peace with, and tried to lean into, but which always brought the bleak knowledge that he'd rather be reminding people of something more impressive. The "honey" was irksome, too, in a way it wouldn't have been on any other day. Something grating about being flirted with for tips, even if he'd normally have enjoyed being flirted with any reason up to and including their having been bribed directly into it.
He lodged his order - the most over the top shake he thought he could get away with without causing a comment, a pile of burger and carb, an orange soda - with a smile that had a suspiciously similar quality to the server's, bright and easy and ambiguously personal.
He waited til he'd left - with another sidelong appraisal that apparently still yielded no particularly strong feelings - to slide his phone across to her.
"I am told she's cute," he said again, apparently disavowing any personal opinion. And she was: scrungly, lanky, a little clearly underfed with watery greyish eyes not unlike her savior's in looking both expressive and slightly unwell. There was not an excess of photos to be skipped through before moving beyond kitten pictures and into outfit documentation, which she'd already have seen - albeit with a mouse emoji over the face - on Instagram. Whatever his benevolence in rescuing her, it had clearly not turned into the kind of affection that had him snapping a lot of pictures.
"You can't feed them," he advised, almost as an afterthought. "Or the coming and going turns into staying."
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 10:34 pm
The server was very far from Vivian's type, and didn't receive as much assessment from her. The kitten, however, got wide eyes and a pouty lip as she took the phone to get a better look. She zoomed in on the little face, cooing as she did. "Ohhhh! She's so cute! Is she sick? Or just super young?" She didn't scroll too far through the pictures, stopping as soon as something wasn't a cat anymore and then politely going back to the kitten. It didn't look like a picture she hadn't seen, but she wasn't about to invite herself to go through the phone even if it'd been offered to her. "To be fair, Creedence helps herself to food whether I like it or not. I don't think I'm the only house she stays at though, kinda like joint custody in a way. I'm assuming you haven't given the baby a name?" The phone was passed back, and Vivian settled down with her hands holding one leg as she swayed gently from side to side.
"So, got any plans for your sudden time off? Other than kitten rescuing and the standard sleep schedule destruction?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 11:02 pm
He glanced up for notifications that were not there - he'd uninstalled all the apps, after all - out of pure habit before pocketing the phone and turning his attention to observing, with an eye that - she wasn't wrong - certainly did have the quick alertness of a small animal's.
"I've just been calling her the devil," he said. "But her - like - legal name? I guess? Is Ari. She was a little sick. Mostly better. They said she'll be all runny everything for a while."
He needed something to chew on. The lollipop stick had been discarded ages ago. A straw now found its way from the table to being stuck between his teeth almost of its own accord, his hands folding up the wrapper while his eyes roamed. The only thing that kept him from seeming fidgety was a lack of nervous energy in his movements. As it is, he seemed only to gently require movement, as if he was some sort of shark that might sink and suffocate if denied it.
"I don't know. I don't have a car, but I can't leave anyway. Chained to the cat. I'm playing it by ear. Probably gonna go out and - like - enjoy the night life," he lied. "Some events coming up I might check out." Another lie. "Catch up on some TV. Not used to having this much free time, to be honest. I'm sure you know what that's like. Probably better than me," he added, his smile going wry. "Hope things have settled down for you." It was half a question, inviting her to elaborate.
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 11:34 pm
"The devil?" Vivian laughed, "is she that bad? Ari is pretty cute though. I mean it, I'll let you know if I can take her or not, I won't just leave you hanging." She watched him as he scanned the room, still idly swaying in her seat in a comfortable rocking movement. He really was like a mouse. Though Vivian had found herself also being more alert lately, more attentive to the things around her. Eyes moving in quick, sharp movements as they observed her surroundings. It was an odd feeling. Like constantly being on the edge of panic but strangely not in a bad way. Was this what superheroes in the comics felt? That constant 'be ready to run and change at any moment' feeling?
"You look like you'd be a moped kinda guy anyway, rather than a car. I've always wanted a vespa, they're pretty cute." That or a bicycle, but a moped sounded a little cooler. But she perked up at mention of events. "Oh! Really? Like what ones? I've been gone too long to really know what goes on around here anymore for like, events and stuff," she confessed with a small smile, one that twitched ever so slightly when asked if things had settled for her. "Kinda? Mostly. I'm still as busy as ever, I think I've just kind of finally started settling into a routine. I got permission from my students parents to include them in videos, so I'm back to doing my vlogs more regularly. But I've been looking at companies in the city to start doing auditions with for the winter season. The kids are great, but I know my time with them's only temporary. Plus, I honestly feel too 'fresh' off everything to qualify as an instructor, no matter how long I've been doing this. It's kinda weird. Papa's doing okay, all things considered. My sister-in-law's got like...a monthish left before she's due?" Which was both a relief and a dread, to be honest. It meant less help from Andrew, but it also meant that the baby would start being a person and he could eventually start helping again. There was a hill to climb, but a light could still be seen at the bottom of that hill. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, you just had to climb the ******** rainbow first. "So it's just been a matter of getting things back into a normal routine. It's getting easier."
She'd just leave out the night patrols. The space travel. The battle against Chaos. You know, your average everyday kind of thing.
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2026 12:07 am
He, too, had his mind on the usual stuff: guilt stalking him through two lifetimes, a literal ghost, a hand in his chest.
"Don't tell me I seem like a moped guy," he begged with a laugh, looking comically distraught. "I gotta hit the ******** gym harder or something."
He bit this sentence off short to accommodate the arrival of milkshakes, lest this be an invitation for more insincere flirtation, and only resumed when the server had whisked himself back off, assuring them food was near. He was the dividing his attention between trying to steer the conversation entirely to her and trying not to set to the shake with an unbecoming amount of ferocity.
"As for events - you know. Nothing exciting." He waved a dismissive hand. "Some sort of thing going on at Scandals. A few EDM shows." He brushed past this, lest he find himself in some way invited along and therefore compelled to actually attend, rather than just pretend.
"Congratulations," he said. "On the niece, or nephew." This, very warmly. Much more interested, it seemed, in hearing her news than dawdling over his schedule. "I think, though, that everyone worth being a teacher - like, any kind of teacher - needs to feel a little unqualified. I think if you think you're exactly the right person for a job you've never done before like that, then you're probably not. You get what I mean, right? It's always some - some overconfident a*****e that's the one making the mess of things. I'm sure they're gonna appreciate that you're not talking down to them, anyway." He said this with utter confidence, aware that he was not even remotely aware of how to interact with children without making an a** of himself. "So like, forget that I said this so you don't get too confident all at once, but I mean - you've told me what you were doing. I can't imagine you couldn't be qualified. OK," he added, mock serious. "Now forget I said that part."
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2026 12:49 am
"I could say you look like a bicycle guy. Do you want to be a motorcycle guy? People really dig motorcycle bros lately." Her brows raised, her head tipped slightly to one side as if to say 'I meeeeeean', and then she relaxed again. "Personally I think you're fine as you are. I mean, go if you're trying to just maintain your health and stuff yeah, but do you wanna be a muscle jock?"
Oh ******** bless. Green eyes widened at the sight of her drink and she clapped her hands and wiggled excitedly in her seat, passing an excited and polite thank you to Kenny before pulling her milkshake to her and start drinking. Oh, it was perfect. She nodded her approval, making a delighted little sound.
"I've actually never been to Scandals. I left for school as soon as I graduated Meadowview. So I left as a wee beb, just slightly too young to get through the door." But it did sound fun. She'd have to look into what he was talking about and see if she had time for it herself. And her smile brightened for the congratulations. "Unknown. It's their first, they just want to enjoy the fact that they're having a baby at all and not worry about whether they're a boy or girl, feels it overshadows things when people start freaking out about things like gender reveals or expectations of what to do if your unborn baby is this or that." She shrugged, then fell quiet to drink her milkshake and listen. He wasn't entirely wrong. She'd been doing ballet longer than any of these kids had even been alive, so she definitely had the experience. And it wasn't as if she hadn't had the occasional lesson as a kid with a younger ballerina. It was just... hm. Her gaze drifted for a moment, though she still seemed to be listening, she just seemed to be thinking on his words. But she perked up again and looked his way when he told her to forget what he said, her smile returning in full force as she playfully rolled her eyes. "I dunno it's just like. I'm not even thirty. These kids are like, tenish. They're literally only half my age, right? I'm basically still a kid, yeah? It's just weird to call them 'my students' or 'my kids', when I don't typically feel like much of an adult. You know what I mean?" She looked down at her milkshake, stirring it with her straw for a few thoughtful moments before lifting her gaze again, her expression softer and genuine. "Thanks, Kay. You're not wrong, I guess. I started going to ballet lessons when I was like four. So I guess that's like... even though professionally it's only been a little while, in actuality if you think about it, it's like almost twenty years? I'm just a girl, Kay." Just a girl with more responsibilities than she could ever have imagined.
And she was exhausted, exhausted and glad for the wonders of skin care and makeup.
"Now, I know I like to talk a lot, but I also think I'm hogging too much of the conversation. Thank youuuuu!" The final bit of gratitude was excitement for their food being brought out. Vivian made a point of pushing the basket of onion rings and mozzarella sticks between them, making a gesture of invitation while nabbing a couple herself. Ugh, it looked so good. She was going to have to behave for a hot ******** minute after this. "Anyway," she continued before taking a brief pause to enjoy a good cheese pull before popping it in her mouth. She brought her hand up to cover her mouth politely while she chewed. "With you being so good at sewing and mending. Is it just like.. a hobby or something to you that became a job? Or like, do you have dreams of being a fashion designer or anything? Tell me what is in the head of Cousin Kay Little. We've been talking about me too much." Plus it meant she could take a moment to take a bite from her burger. Goddamn diners knew how to make a good burger. She bounced happily in her seat, and one foot finally fell from her criss-cross position to instead sit on one leg while the other foot settled comfortably on the floor.
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