"Girl Code," She Explained, Showing The Older Woman Her Book, "it's A Book For Female Entrepreneurs.

"Exactly, I think it'd make the place cozier," Leyla said with a bit of a laugh. She had found it endearing. As an only child, she hadn't shared a lot of space before, except with lovers, so it had been...dare she say, a fun experience. "A therapist-mechanic, that's quite a career choice, well, if you're as good a mechanic as a therapist, I know where I'll take my car if I have trouble," she offered, only a light passing reference to the fact she knew he was a good one. "Well, that's true, some people overdue it. When people don't know what you're talking about, that's a problem. I like that name, is there a meaning behind it?" She always liked hearing people's stories behind why their animals were named certain things. "Wow, that is decent-sized. I guess they're probably somewhere around here today too?"

"Nothing inspires trust among roommates quite like setting up cameras to catch them doing all of the things that they thought they were getting away with," he teased, broad smile on his face. He also couldn't see Leyla being too uptight about someone snacking during off hours… although people could be picky about their food. "When I'm not a therapist, I'm a mechanic -- in a garage full of men with big appetites. You learn how to get creative," especially if you didn't want your food to just up and disappear, and Josh didn't. His father, alone, wouldn't hesitate to eat his goodies. "Apparently we can be! I try not to be that kind of person, though -- I've already had conversations with people who are talking about 'my son' this or, 'my kid' that, and then it takes me far too long to realize they mean a dog. But mine's Toshiko. Toshi for short. And I hope, for your sake, you never have to part from the adopted dogs," he teased, letting out a laugh. "She has four kids, so a pretty decent sized family."

"They are," Leyla assured, "I've sampled them all myself before putting them on the menu, so you can't go wrong." She was leaving nothing to chance, putting her whole being into making this concept work. There were a couple of bars in the area, so she had competition but no one was doing exactly what she was doing. They might have non-alcoholic options, though. That's why she had to work extra hard to make her place stand out as something special. "Great choice!" She replied, beaming, "I leave that menu then." As she began to make the drink herself, she decided she should probably strike up a conversation like any other bartender would do. What would Sam Malone do? "So what do you do?"

"They all sound kinda good," Che said, eyeing up the menu. He'd often spend time like this at bars with alcoholic beverages, but it was early and it was a work night and he was trying not to be the worst. "Go with the strawberry basil one, then." He smiled over at Leyla. "And then maybe something more smoothie-like afterwards for my second drink."

All Leyla had been reading lately was business-related, and she thought it might be time to mix in something new again. Not like it would save her from being the workaholic she was, but she'd look a little less like her entire personality was entrepreneur. She was browsing one from Jodi Picoult when she heard a voice. "Hi," she sort of mumbled at first, before answering the question posed to her, "oh, it's called The Pact. One of Jodi Picoult's if you've ever read her before. What sort of genre are you looking for?"

Location: Bookends

Status: Open

Context: It's after work on a Friday and your character is witnessing Summer winding down in a book store looking for a new recommendation

Tagging: @merrock

Books were something that Summer loved to indulge in and right now she was quite literally flying through them, then again the recommendations she had been given weren't exactly the thickest of books but it still excited her to even think about taking a trip to the store to find something new to read, the problem now was what exactly; "Excuse me, sorry to interrupt you there but I was wondering if you could tell me what you're reading?" turning to the person beside rather invested in the book they were holding.

Leyla Tehrani, End of Summer Beach Bash, August 25-26, 2023

Leyla kind of wondered if Darrius was bothered at all by a house full of women, whether he hoped a guy would take the free room and make it even. He'd never given off that impression though, so she hoped that meant he didn't mind it. "Coming right up," she replied, a hint of a grin back. It was easier to keep people at a distance in New York, but she was going to have a harder time here. Still, there was something warm about Darrius that made it easy to feel comfortable. "Always," she half-joked, "entrepreneurs can't really keep regular hours. You teach, right? So I guess you know a little about that too, huh?"

Darrius's living situation had been a bit of a whirlwind throughout the course of his life. Growing up with siblings, sharing bedrooms, and then living on his own when he moved to Michigan… only to come home to that childhood bedroom all over again. Then his own apartment in Merrock, and now a home. With three women, granted, but he had come to love that. Especially when they offered to make him tea. "I'll take some, yeah," he smiled, having chosen a small bowl of fruit that he had cut up a couple of days ago. Turning towards the island in the middle of the kitchen, he popped a grape in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully before speaking. "Were you working?"

"I've never seen anything quite like it," Leyla commented, "it's like one great big family who actually like doing things with each other." She wasn't sure yet how she fit into it all, but if her roommates had any say in it, she would in time. "No, afraid we haven't. I'm Leyla Tehrani," she introduced herself back as she took his hand. "It's nice to meet you. Is the real estate firm yours: Bardales, Inc.? That's who I used when I purchased my space for Mawk Tales."

"End of summer, beginning of summer…" he let out a laugh as he shook out his beach blanket and laid it out next to his new company's. "Fall, winter, spring, we make a big deal out of everything," noto that he was going to complain. It meant a lot of opportunity to see people he otherwise didn't see, meet new ones along the way. That, and he actually was looking forward to playing volleyball. "I don't think we've had the chance to meet, have we? Rafael Bardales." He held out a hand, keeping the same polite, warm smile in place.

"Boss with a painful tendency to micromanage and not leave work back at the booth where it belongs," she joked, "all these beautiful pumpkins and I'm thinking about whether I need to grab more cinnamon sticks on my way back." Work was still her main--and sometimes only--priority, but she really was trying to enjoy Creek Fest fully. This guy had actually probably done her a favor by bumping into her. "Good," she said with a light laugh, "and yes, I am offering. What do you need such a big pumpkin for anyway? Or is it some 'go big or go home' thing?"

Vince picked up the phone and handed it to her with a smile. He was glad that they narrowly avoided making the situation more awkward. Chuckling softly, he nodded. “Boring work call, I presume?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. Vince laughed softly again, dropping his head. “Thankfully the children won’t be scarred by me being a clumsy fool,” he smiled. “But I could use some help if you’re offering too,”

It was important to Leyla to be here, to give back. She had never been good at receiving, but giving came easy. Besides, she'd get to be with horses, what could possibly be wrong about that? Nowadays, she often preferred animals to people.

"Really? That's great," she said as the woman confirmed they were always looking. It perked her up a bit as she patiently waited for the application. "I also own Mawk Tales, down by the coast, so if you ever want to do any sort of fundraiser, let me know," she offered, before gratefully accepting the clipboard. "How long have you been doing this?" She asked as she started on the form.

As much as Livvy loved working as a physical therapist, she enjoyed her work with the horses even more. Getting to watch children get up on a horse's back for the first time, riding around a little arena, being led by the volunteers, going out on trail rides when they had the experience and could handle it; every day, she went home feeling good abotu what she did. That wasn't always something she could say about her time in the office.

"Oh!" she looked up from where she had been polishing a saddle, buffing and buffing at the leather to make it look like new again, and breaking into a smile. "We're always looking or volunteers, actually. As for applications, uhm, give me one second," she set the saddle aside, and scampered into the office, snatching a piece of paper out of one of the drawers and attaching it to a clipboard, turning to make her way back out into the aisle. "Here we are!"

"Some of these comments sound like high school all over again," Leyla joked, though she liked seeing everyone in town get so into the competition. Like a really big family. "Please do," she offered, "I guarantee atmosphere." She smiled as the other woman undersold her job a bit. She was not the most tech-savvy, so she admired people who were. "My business relies a lot on technology, so I'd say it's a very sexy job and now I know who to call if my systems go down," she teased.

"Can I? Sure, but I think it makes for a lot messier of a situation." Which was true, but obviously they couldn't control who drank or didn't. Most people could handle it okay but obviously it only took one person going too far. "I would love to stop by sometime, see what it's like and honestly it sounds like a perfect atmosphere , I like quiet sometimes." she said. "Oh." she cleared her throat, it wasn't something she could explain being a hacker, "I work in IT security, an analyst." she shrugged, "Not a very sexy job."