Sarah paced across her apartment floor, her cell phone clutched in her hand.  She was nervous.  She had just sent out a Wanted Ad to several websites and newspapers to begin her new project.  She already had one sketch done and a rough draft of a painting drawn out.  But she was worried about starting.  If she didn't get more people to agree to model for her, the project would flop.  She didn't want to pull from her imagination either.  That wasn't the point of the project.  She needed real people.

However her phone was a little lacking in local mutants.  At least to her knowledge.  She wanted to call Juliette, the woman she had met and had coffee with one rainy day.  Sarah could admit to having an itch to draw the woman since Juliette had held a ball of light in her hand.  She had held off then due to not wanting to ruin the friendly chat they had going.  With Odessa on the news though...

Getting her nerve together, she scrolled through her contacts for Juliette's number.  Then she clicked call.  "Briiing~ Briiing~"

Days off were the best. Sleeping in, no responsibilities, and just a general lack of things to do. Of course, that always meant that the things she had pushed off during the week needed to be done.

Juliette's time had been stretched incredibly thin of late. Between the hospital and volunteering on a semi-regular basis, she had hardly had time to think, much less clean. So, that's what she was spending her day off doing. Cleaning.

What fun.

She had music blasting through her small apartment to make dusting a little more bearable, but it still wasn't what she would have like to be doing. But such was adulthood; responsibilities and things you didn't want to do.

Suddenly, the beat of her music was thrown off by a different rhythm. It was her ringtone. Weird. She hadn't been expecting any calls that day.

She picked up the little device and turned off the music. She pressed the little green answer button and held it to her ear, neglecting to check the caller I.D.

"Hello?"

>>"Hello?"

Sarah took a deep breath before talking into the receiver. "Hey, Juliette, it's Sarah. For the coffee shop? I was wondering if you could do me a favor. I would owe you big for it." Best to get to the point. Sarah didn't want the other woman to think she didn't plan to pay back Juliette for her time. "I know it's a little out there, but would you agree to model for me? Nothing risque. I just-" She blew out some air. This was hard. "I've had this idea for a project and with everything that happened at Odessa, I thought it would be a good idea."

If anything sounded better than cleaning, it was chatting with a friend while doing nothing for a few hours. A perfect combination. Especially if it resulted in something beautiful or helped support the mutant cause.

"Sure!" Juliette enthused almost immediately. Anything to get out of a day of cleaning. She supposed it would just have to wait another week. Oh well. "Is there somewhere I can meet you? It would just be like sketching and painting, right?"

If she thought about it, helping out Sarah like that would be a selfless act. If her cleaning had to suffer for it, that was just the way of the world. She was helping people by doing this.

Sarah slumped in relief. She had another person willing to work with her. She could do this. It would happen. A big smile broke out on her face. "Yeah just some sketches and the like. My apartment doubles as my studio so, you can just come here." She rattled off her address, with instructions on how to get to the apartment from the street, since it was above the gallery.

"How long do you think it'll take you to get here?" It wouldn't take too long for her to set up her things. The dining room area was basically her artist's studio. The windows let in a great amount of natural light.  But she should probably get some snacks or something for Juliette.  This could take awhile and it was already near lunch time.

"Not long," Juliette shrugged, despite the knowledge that the body language wouldn't translate over the phone. "You're just on Oak street, right?"

She grabbed her purse as she stepped out the door, locking it on the way out. Oak street was within a walk-able distance, so she wouldn't even need to worry about taking the subway. So, so much better than cleaning. Walking gave her the extra chance to spend some time out in the sunlight. "Maybe fifteen, twenty minutes?"

"Yeah between 17th and 19th," Sarah agreed. Juliette gave her estimated time. Which didn't sound too bad, though she wondered if the other woman would be walking or grabbing a cab. If she lived nearby maybe they could meet up more often. "Just come on up when you get here. The door will be open."

While Juliette made her way to Sarah's apartment, Sarah started a pot of coffee and finished her trail mix snack. She went to unlock her door before she forgot. After she had that done, she went to her dinning room/artist studio to get her sketching materials out. She also grabbed some paints in the event she wanted to test a few colors against reality. She made her all her pencils were sharpened and her eraser wasn't hiding, as it was wont to do. She pull out her big sketch paper instead of her usual sketchpads.

Juliette made her way down the stairs and out of her apartment so she could walk to Sarah's. It was nice to be out of the house, really. Especially on such a nice day. The walk was pleasant with the sun shining down on her for the majority of the time. It went quickly, with few stops or distractions.

It was strange, really. Lately, it had seemed like every time she stepped out her door there was something dangerous on her tail. Though, that may have had to do with with the recent attacks. It was a dark thought, and she tried not to dwell on it too much as she went to her friend's place.

As she walked up to Sarah's door, she knocked quickly, only to find that it was already open. She opened the door and called out.

"Sarah? Is it alright if I just come in?"