Half an hour into Aurum's morning shift at the Full Circle, he knew something was wrong. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize there'd been a fundamental shift in the nature of Full Circle's operations. Something was drastically different. What, you ask?

Well, for one thing, Shin showed up.

He hadn't seen Shin in a while. Not since Shin had popped in to tell the fill-in manager, Rosali, he needed to use his vacation time. He'd been serious when he said it. Aurum had noted Shin's 'serious face'. Rosali could see it too, and in a move totally opposite that of what Ghost, or anyone with a heart would have done, she told him he could have his vacation, unpaid, and she'd find a replacement.

That didn't mean firing. Aurum was pretty sure Ghost wouldn't have allowed that. But Rosali still seemed bitter and grumpy about the whole deal.

At the time, Aurum had wondered what could be so important for Shin to don his 'serious face', and tell the fill-in manager he needed several weeks off on holiday. He hadn't suspected the worst. He'd thought Shin literally needed the holiday. Maybe he'd been stressed. Maybe he had family to spend time with. But seeing Shin's return that morning, Aurum had another thought.

Aurum hypothesized that something bad had happened. Where once Shin had had a bounce in his step, and that characteristic swagger that brought customers from all corners of the city, today there was no such bounce. There was no such step. Shin was pretty apathetic about the whole 'movement' and 'job' thing. He just stood there, at the counter, ringing people up silently. He didn't even notice Aurum had hauled out the badger from the storage area in the back of the shop to try and cheer the poor guy up.

Frowning was contagious.

Today, badger waves were a lot less like the language of Hawaii, it seemed, because when Shin was mopey, that blue forest critter was waving at customers to steer clear...

The badger said 'go away.'

Aurum finished a customer's order just in time to turn and see another one leave.

A sigh escaped his lips. Dammit, Shin...

Dammit, Shin... Why wasn't he more chipper today? He'd tried to smile! The corners of his mouth just didn't seem to wanna curve up... it was like he was putting in all the wrong values for the slope. No dip. Just a mountain, lonely and cold.

The morning so far, to put it simply, hadn't been easy. He woke to light streaming in from his windows. For some reason, that hurt far more than he was used to. Shin barely managed to stagger over to the curtains, and close himself off from the blinding sun.

Then, during shower time, he got dizzy. Also not normal Shin behavior. So totally unlike him. The steam had been hot. As he smacked his lips and prepared for the tasks of the day, his eyes had focused on the dots of shifting moisture hanging in the air. The moving, twisting, floating, misting, dizzying shift of countless moisture dots. He finished up his shower as quick as he could after that, eyes closed, race track speed. No time for dilly dallying. He had a Full Circle shift to complete. It was his first one in a long time, too. He had to show them his best stuff.

Had to show Rosali.

As he arrived on time, slightly nauseous from the surging crowds he'd watched out the bus window, Shin ducked Rosali's eyeline. His back was exactly two inches below her eye-beam 'radar'.

Did eye beams even have radar? Did that even make sense?

He quashed the thought and checked in with her. A weak smile and a wave.

Anyways.

There was no time for ducking hypothetical radars when the eyes had locked onto him the second he popped his head through the door...

From check-in time, until near closing time, Shin wore a sucruse smile, sugar-sweet, with no substance, and did his best to do the job. Each customer was different, and after a while, their faces blurred into numbers. The distance from his position. The angle of one man's nose. The exact distance from the right eye of this woman to the left-most nostril on her face... his eyes may have wandered. His mind may have been distracted by the calculations. It may have been training, but it certainly didn't feel like his normal 'training = fun' equation. By the time he'd calculated the distance Aurum traveled from the register to the coffee machine for the umpteenth time, Shin had had enough.

Thank god it was nearing closing time. He could take his mind off trying to be a good employee, and go back to moping and dealing with bright light sources and being miserable!

... or so he thought.

But then, She walked in. Shin had the sudden urge to duck out the back of the Full Circle, and get somebody to cover him. He didn't want Her to feel what he felt.

The Full Circle. At this point it was pretty much the crossroads of Kealey’s universe. All the different little strands of her life seemed to come together in a perfect little bow above the independently owned book store. There were always friends here, now, and Kealey had a smile ready for all of them as she made her way down the street. Sam frequented the shop, and his brother worked there with Aurum , Shin worked there when he wasn’t on vacation and apparently the whole shop was owned by the woman who was married to the man who owned her apartment. It was an interesting little tangle, but a good one.

Sketchbook in hand, on a rare day off from library, clinic, and school, Kealey walked down the street, doing her best to concentrate on her own feelings as opposed to everyone else’s. Her coat was blue plaid and hit her in the middle of the thighs, and a matching page-boy hat sat over hair she’d left down and curled that morning. Her pants were black and skinny-legged, disappearing into long boots that folded over just under her knees. Her shirt didn’t necessarily go with the whole black motif, but it was cute nonetheless, a simple slim-cut turquoise t-shirt that stopped at the top of her thighs over a black long-sleeved shirt. A fashion student had to at least look put together in public, right?

Finding herself in front of the shop, Kealey paused for a moment, ready to see the sights and smell the smells of a familiar place. She wondered if Aurum was there, if nothing else, his emotions provided almost constant distraction…and an indicator of when a well dressed woman entered the shop. Kealey grasped the handle and pulled, walking in. Immediately…something felt wrong.

Kealey couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but it felt like there was a little black cloud centered over what was usually a cheery and warm atmosphere. The badger was back too, Kealey smiled slightly and let her head follow the path of the waving for a few passes…even that didn’t feel exactly right. She moved towards the tables in the back, and a sudden thought occurred to her. If the badger was back….

Blue eyes scanned the small shop until they fell on the familiar figure behind the counter. Kealey almost started walking that way, but then she realized the source of the little black cloud and stopped dead in her tracks. She hadn’t known Shin a long time, and she probably wouldn’t have counted him among her closest friends, but Kealey knew emotions and she’d never seen him this…depressed? It wasn’t the right word, but that escaped Kealey and she changed her trajectory, making her way towards the coffee bar in the shop. As she’d suspected, Aurum was there making coffee and feeling a bit mopey under his usually chipper exterior. The blond approached the counter, shrugging out of her jacket and pulling her hat from her head. Over her arm the coat went, and into her hand the hat, ”What’s with the little black cloud following everyone around in here.” she asked, frowning slightly, and only glancing at the menu for a moment ”White chocolate mocha.” she ordered. Hey, ifAurum was working, it didn’t matter what else was happening in the shop…coffee was a necessity.

>>”What’s with the little black cloud following everyone around in here.” ”White chocolate mocha.”

Aurum moved to prepare the drink. With his back turned to Kealey, he offered uncertain answers. "It's Shin. He came to work today like that. It isn't like him... maybe he got dumped?" Or a family member died, or someone important to him had been hurt. He hadn't gotten around to asking. Rosali usually deterred all conversing between employees during business hours with that silent glare of hers.

He turned back to her, and gave her the drink. Money passed hands, purchases were completed. Aurum swung his head to look towards Shin.

"Maybe you could talk to him for me? I'm a little worried, but I can't pop off my post with the fill-in manager watching. He needs some cheering up... or maybe a drink." A good strong helping of alcohol to get beyond his blues. And maybe some company to rant at while he was drinking. Maybe after he got off the clock, he'd drag the kid to a bar.

... Didn't want her to feel... Okay, maybe she'd already felt. He was probably a wash of emotion, rolling over her like the tide on a tidy-cat beach. A tidy-cat beach that stretched for miles, big enough to get lost in, where every footstep spelled out an equation that pulled out infinitely, like taffy, and-- okay. Maybe he needed to stop distracting himself with weird metaphors that made no sense. Especially when cats were involved.

Shin's eyes veered away from the blond woman with the curly hair. Gosh, he hoped she'd wander elsewhere, and wouldn't walk over to make conversation with him. It was nearly closing time. He'd nearly escaped having to explain himself. Why couldn't things be easier around friends?

Why'd they actually have to care?

Kealey nodded to Aurum when he pointed out that Shin had shown up to work in the same morose state of mind he’d seemed to be in when Kealey had entered the shop. Dumped? Kealey could definitely empathize, even setting powers aside. Was that what this was, though? Was Shin really that upset over a girl? It just seemed…strange. Kealey frowned, all the depression was starting to seep into her. That simply wouldn’t do.

Aurum finished her drink, Kealey paid, and he handed it over. The blond sipped, turning her head slightly to look at Shin again. The feelings had changed, and not for the better. If anything, Shin felt worse. There was a listlessness there, and depression, and frustration, and finally this absolutely desperate need. Kealey didn’t know it was the need to get away from everyone, but the feeling was still there. Aurum’s words sunk in and she turned her head, raising an eyebrow. ”Drinking won’t solve the problem…” she said, ”Trust me, I know.”

She looked at Shin again, though, and sighed at the rush of emotions from him. ”It does loosen the tongue though…and while the drinking doesn’t help…talking does.”

The blond took a deep drink of the white chocolate mocha, ”Geez Aurum, that’s good.” she said, then sighed, her mood quickly starting to droop. It was time to move.

Across the store Kealey went, right up to Shin. He didn’t want her there, and Kealey knew it, just like she knew that he needed her there even more. The coffee cup was set on the edge of the counter and Kealey weaved her head around until she was looking at Shin in the eyes, ”As soon as you can get this place closed down, we’re going out.”

Kealey knew he was going to resist, and she shook her head and leaned close, voice low enough that nobody else could hear, ”Don’t try to say no, because as surely as I know what a mess you are…you know I can make you as compliant as I want. Make it easier on yourself and just say okay.”

>> ”Drinking won’t solve the problem…” Kealey said to him, ”Trust me, I know.”

A nodded agreement. There was definite truth in that, and he knew it, too. Idly, he wondered how she'd learned. His had been a nasty breakup. Nothing too candid. Just... a her... and a her leaving him... and then, maybe a few shots of alcohol, when he'd been young. Hadn't solved much. Didn't really come off logically that it would. Now, manly talking-to's (Especially with father figures), those could solve things. It seemed Kealey and Aurum both agreed on that, as well.

"I couldn't agree more," He nodded seriously. Then, she made her next comment.

>> ”Geez Aurum, that’s good.”

Aurum's ego flashed a moment of overconfidence. "I couldn't agree more there, too." He commented. "But, seriously. He needs a friend."

Kealey sighed, and made her move. Even though he'd been appreciative of the comment, he darn well knew Shin's emotions were the important thing. They were probably overpowering.

>>”As soon as you can get this place closed down, we’re going out.”

Deers in headlights don't often match the wide-eyed shock that triangular pupils can hold.

"W-what?" He stammered. Why was she... offering to take him out? He had a... well, he didn't know what he had, or what he was going to do, but...

>> ”Don’t try to say no, because as surely as I know what a mess you are…you know I can make you as compliant as I want. Make it easier on yourself and just say okay.”

She was dead-set on taking him out, so.... Shin nodded dumbly. "Okay..."

He was thoroughly confused!!

While she didn’t feel a desperate need for Aurum’s approval of her actions, Kealey still appreciate the sentiment. Even if the man hadn’t really intended to give it, his emotions did. In some ways, that was even better approval than spoken encouragement would have been. What was better encouragement, was the way Shin reacted when Kealey spoke to him.

It didn’t feel odd to Kealey that she’d just informed Shin that they were going out. She was a little fuzzy headed from his confusion, though. Sure, she’d never really done anything socially with Shin, but they’d talked about books several times. That was about as well as you could get to know a person. There were people who would disagree, but the type of book a person liked was a window to the soul only rivaled by the eyes.

”Good.” the blond said, then grinned, ”I’ll wait over in the tables until you’re done here.”

She turned and made her way away from Shin, glad that his emotions had swung from the absolute desolation she’d felt in him earlier to the utter confusion she felt now. It was a testament to how bad things were before that this was an improvement. Aurum came back into view and Kealey grinned at him, using her free hand to give him a thumbs up before settling into her favorite table to people watch until it was time to go.

It seemed all had gone according to plan (or at least, good enough to merit a thumbs up). Aurum nodded, and swung his focus back to preparing the order for yet another customer. That was good. Shin would have someone to talk to. He appreciated that he could help the guy out. More-so, he appreciated Kealey's willingness to help.

He glanced back over at Shin as the guy shook off 'deer in the headlights' look, and replaced it with a thin smile. The guy wasn't 'going through the motions' anymore, it seemed.

So, he guessed she was waiting, then? Shin smiled weakly. "Okay." He supposed she could wait. Though for what, he didn't know still. Didn't know much of anything anymore. Had she been...?

But, no... she couldn't possibly be... could she?

He swung his attention towards the next customer, and rang up a book on child psychology.

Naw, naw... They were friends. That was all. And she was pretty, but he didn't think of her like that. It was completely innocent. He waved off the thought as the cash register dinged. Couldn't possibly.

And he had Kasumi, so... but she was Kasumi, so... and he still didn't understand what her being Kasumi had to do with anything, other than that he was being hard on his friends while he worried about her...

so...

Shin waved off all the silly thoughts as he hopefully helped the next person pick out a book. He wouldn't worry about it. Hopefully, it was just dinner. Maybe they'd go to Aurum's restaurant and get curry... and maybe they were just trying to cheer him up.

Could they do that?

The time passed by quickly, and closing time came around, but he still hadn't answered that question for himself. Could they? Could they, really?

And did he want them to? Such were the thoughts burbling through his stream of consciousness as Aurum and the Asian ran through the closing procedures. After everything was done, they both stepped out onto the pavement in front of Full Circle. Aurum looked to Kealey.

Shin tilted his head.

"So."

Kealey read and sketched in silence, keeping a close mental eye on the emotional climate of the store after she’d insisted to Shin that they were going out after closing time. The confusion shifted back and forth between curiosity and the same morose depression that had so clouded everything when Kealey had entered the shop.

The blond hadn’t ever been at the shop this late and as she alternately watched Shin and Aurum cleaning up and doing all the things that needed to be done before the closed sign was put up. Suddenly there was a…woman in front of the blond telling her in no uncertain terms that the shop was closing and that it was time to go. Kealey opened her mouth to let the…woman know that she was waiting for friends, but was cut off with another certain reminder that all customers needed to leave.

Kealey glared at the woman, tempted to teach her a quick lesson in humility and customer service, but settled for simply standing her ground and taking her time as she gathered her things. Then came her coat, which she fastidiously buttoned and straightened before settling her hat on top of her head and stalking out of the shop. It would be nice when the real owner came back.

Once she was outside, though, and the…woman had locked the door with a click of finality, Kealey simply stood and waited. It wasn’t that cold though and for the most part, the blond waited patiently. It was even more obvious away from Shin, what a bad way he was in and Kealey was even happier about her decision to force the guy out for a night. She even knew where they were going.

The door unlocked and Kealey’s two companions exited the shop, and she grinned at the two of them. ”This way.” she said, then turned and started walking down the street.

Shin was curious where they were going and Kealey simply shook her head without looking over her shoulder, ”You’ll see.” . Aurum was there, but comfortably simply following. Kealey was pleased and after a while, they were walking up to a not so little bar that Kealey had been to once, but had thoroughly enjoyed.

It was a weeknight, so there wasn’t a line, and Kealey, Shin, and Aurum walked in easily. Kealey recognized the man behind the bar, but was sure he wouldn’t know her from the one time they’d met. Stopping once they were inside, and working at unbuttoning her coat, Kealey smiled at her companions again, ”Do you guys want to sit at the bar or at a table?”

It was a bar he hadn't been to. Aurum looked around at the place as they entered. It didn't seem so bad. The lightning was good, everything looked clean, and most importantly, Kealey had chosen it (so he knew it had to be good). Aurum glanced back at Shin, and decided for the kid.

"A table should be more private." If they were going to be talking, they'd want that. It wouldn't do to help Shin through his problems by shouting. Not that the crowd by the bar was booming right now. He glanced towards the sports bar, just out of curiosity's sake. "It looks friendly."

Uncertainty coursed through his veins. Where they were taking him, he didn't know. Kealey had avoided giving answers each time he'd asked. Aurum had been no help. Nobody was telling him a word. So, when they arrived at the bar, suffice it to say, Shin was stunned.

Shin hadn't been out drinking much in his time. In his long life of 22 years, he'd been more the 'Milk Bar' type. Never alcohol, never at sports bars. Though, when he'd been boxing, and occasionally with friends like Fausto, he'd found reason to drink. He seemed to recall something ten years from then... he'd been singing. Other than that, his 'bar resume' was fairly blank. He wasn't a 'bar virgin'. It just hadn't been his style. Why they wanted him here now, he could only guess.

"Is this an intervention?" And so, he did. Usually, interventions took the drunk out of the bar. Not the other way around. Then again, Aurum and Kealey had never seemed the type to march to any other drumbeat than their own.

Aurum seemed to think that a table would be the most appropriate and Kealey nodded her head. Matt the bartender had a tendency to be incredibly friendly if she remembered correctly, and that wasn’t exactly what they were going for here. They were going for a conversation, a conversation to determine exactly what was ailing the youngest of them. Kealey frowned a little, surely Shin wouldn’t have let them bring him into the bar if he wasn’t of legal age…right? Surely he was 21.

They moved to an available high-top and Kealey looked around, the place was as nice as she remembered. Nice, but not pretentious. It made her remember the swanky bar Jacen had taken her to. The one he’d decided he’d tried to teach her to flirt in. All that had done was lead them to kissing for the first time. Kealey realized thinks were getting better…it only hurt a little bit to think about that. Pulling herself back to examining their surroundings, Kealey’s eyes followed the line of the bar to the stage that was not currently in use. The lighting was all cool and fluorescent accent lights of light blues and greens gave the bar a friendly and smooth ambience. They were in the table area which was to one side of the bar and flanked on one side by the dance floor, also not in use during the week. Both Shin and Aurum seemed pleased enough with the choice of location and Kealey was pleased...apparently she knew what she was doing.

Shin asked if this was an intervention and Kealey turned to him, smiling as she draped her coat over the back of the chair, followed by her purse and climbed into the seat. She nodded ”Yep.”

She wondered whether or not it was wise to say anything more at that moment, but shrugged her shoulders, ”I’ve never felt you feeling that way. Something has to be up…and if nothing else…you need a drink. What’s your poison? I’ve got the first round.”

Almost on cue, a waiter approached, and asked for their orders, ”Chocolate Martini please….and whatever the gentlemen are having this round.”