"Nothing Better Than A Good Character Study, Especially If Absolutely Nothing Happens. Sometimes It's

"I highly recomend it. Works better than any melatonin or sleeping pill I've tried." Admittedly reading academic literature related to her research project before bed had caused some rather anxious dreams for Zahra, but sometimes restless sleep was better than no sleep at all. She was still hopeful a breakthrough would eventually come, and the smart, logical part of her that was highly unlikely to happen if she evaded sleep any more than she already did. The chapters she had written while completely sleep-deprived were hardly worth keeping and not anything she wanted to share.

Zahra nodded, grateful Birdie didn't seem to expect any more words of praise for helping her out. "It's kind of the only thing that is really expected of me at this point, you know. Well, that and writing," she explained, "so realistically I should have enough time to get through them." She definitely hadn't.

As much as Birdie liked to learn all about all sorts of things, the title of the book wasn't one that held her attention. "Sounds like it." A snort followed her comment before she continued, "You might be onto something there with the bedtime reading. If I read something like that, it might put me right to sleep." Maybe that wasn't such a bad idea. Her sleep schedule had been a mess for who even knew how long at this point, so honestly she would be willing to try anything to get it even remotely on track again, even if it meant reading something that might bore her to tears.

"It's no problem." She brushed off the thanks as she looked over the books in her hands. Even when she was younger and on track to becoming one of those gifted kids she didn't think she would've been capable of getting through all this material. "Jeez, how do you even find the time to read all this? I'm lucky if I manage to find the time to read two or three books in a month."

She should have expected it, and in a way she had done. Still, she hadn't exactly prepared, too engrossed in her work or at least in avoiding it to the best of her ability. She had planned a relatively easy day for herself, a few hours in the archives going through the records for the Center for Religion and Media, something she could certainly find some joy in even on the worst of her days. Apparently the universe had other ideas and Zahra's simple day took a turn just as she was reaching the steps of the archives. She stopped, took a look around as if trying to figure out where the voice was coming from even though she had absolutely no doubts. At least it bought her some time. "Azhar," she replied, involuntarily amused by the anagram of their names once again. She was sure her voice shook ever so slightly but hoped it would simply seem like a sign of being out of breath. "It's me. I'm, uh, just heading in."

closed starter for @ofzahras , on campus at new york university near the library / archives.

sighing,  azhar  ran  a  hand  across  his  head  before  adjusting  his  beanie.  although  the  autumnal  weather  had  yet  to  hit  the  streets,  and  the  leaves  were  not  changing  except  for  slight  yellow  and  orange  tints  at  their  edges,  he  was  prepared  for  the  brisk  wind  that  promised  a  temperature  drop.  deep  in  thought  about  that  thesis  he  had  begun  reading,  having  been  asked  to  proofread  it  by  one  of  his  students  for  their  presentation  upcoming,  and  his  head  ached  in  the  place  that  he  couldn't  knead  out.  reminded  him  of  so  much  agony,  really.  how  he  spent  too  much  time  on  it.  or  not  enough.  but  he  didn't  want  to  be  held  down  by  his  past,  intending  on  heading  home  and  relieving  devi  of  her  watching  -  duties  earlier  than  intended  as  a  surprise.  that  was,  until  azhar  himself  was  surprised.  dressed  in  the  dark  brown  suit  jacket  and  casual  blouse  of  his  lecture  earlier,  he  paused  when  he  spotted  a  familiar  visage.  slowly  blinking.  (  am  i  seeing  things?  )  “zahra?”  too  old,  and  exhausted,  to  waste  much  time.  (  not  to  mention  his  heart  ached.  in  a  strange  way.  right  there,  in  his  throat.  )  “did  i  fall  'sleep  back  there  or  is  that  really  you?”

It was a relief how Julia seemed to understand exactly what she was going through and didn't ask any awkward follow up questions. Their careers were evidently very different but there were similarities as well. The constant need to learn more and keep researching even when that was the last thing you wanted to do. Zahra truly appreciated Julia's company in that moment, glad she had ran into her.

"Oh yeah. I thought it would be useful if I had to take her to the vet or something. She's not the smallest of cats so carrying her isn't exactly fun," she explained. Her face seemed to lit up as she talked about Circe and the corners of the mouth twitched towards a smile. "But I've been too embarrassed to use it. She's real loud, too, so I'm sure no one would think I had an actual baby in there." That being said, Zahra would undoubtedly change her mind the moment she saw someone else prancing around with their cat in a stroller.

She nodded eagerly, clearly delighted by the prospect of accomplishing something small yet meaningful. "Absolutely. Sounds good," she agreed, already heading towards the returns. "It's ideal, really. I doubt I will be too tempted to pick up any medical books. Wouldn't understand most of it. The Latin and Greek I studied wouldn't get me very far with those terms."

Julia smiled softly, understanding the issue being described because she’d been there herself - more times than she’d care to admit because you’d think she’d have learnt her session after the first. “We’ve all been there.” As they headed into the vast library Julia was relieved to feel the familiar wash of calm the old building brought with it. A place that housed so much knowledge with no expectations on it apart from that you feasted to your hearts content, she could slip away in here for hours on end. Reading while the outside pressures melted away until it was time to walk back out the doors again. “You have a cat stroller for her? Oh my goodness, I’ve only ever actually seen those used on television. Is it common for people to take their cats out for walks? I thought they were more inside pets. Especially in the city.” Not that she’d ever had one, though they were very cute and occasionally the thought had crossed her mind to keep her company in the times she wasn’t at the hospital, before she remembered that those hours were extensive and it wasn’t really conducive to looking after a pet. 

The offer of help was one she’d happy accept though, enjoying Zahra’s presence because it felt like they had a lot in common, even if the information they’d shared with each other was limited. It was just a sense the doctor got. “I’d love that, thank you. Why don’t we put yours all back in for return and then we can head up to the medical section?” Her voice lowering as they were now in the confines of the library. @ofzahras

Even on her most evasive of days, Zahra was unlikely to turn down an offer to meet up with the selected few people she had managed to genuinely befriend. She had sensed Vismaya might have been in need of a good venting session, and no one could fault Zahra for her listening skills. In fact, she often preferred it, finding great comfort in being able to offer some solace even when she couldn't offer anything but her time.

A smile smoothed over her sharp features the moment she spotted her friend. "Oh, you're one to talk. Look at you," she laughed, the absolutely delight of seeing Vismaya evident in her voice. "Are you sure you're not filming an ad campaign for the place? It should be illegal to look that beautiful when eating pizza." Despite her proclivity for awkwardness, compliments came easy to Zahra when they were steeped in truth. "I'd love some pizza. Let's start with that, yeah?"

closed starter for @ofzahras | around 7pm, the newsroom bar in queens

Work, work, work, that was the bittersweet life sentence that Vismaya had imprisoned herself within-- at least it felt like a prison, after a particularly grueling week in the office, and weeks without being able to see her friends. She needed this night out, even if it was just a bunch of overpriced drinks in an overcrowded bar on a tuesday night. Because of her need to be away from her apartment as soon as possible, Vismaya had arrived at the newsroom much earlier than she'd asked Zahra to meet with her, and was already three slices deep into an exorbitantly priced pizza margherita. Just as she finished off her first glass of champagne, she spot her friend out of the corner of her eye, and lit up like a christmas tree. "Z!" she called, all too enthusiastically, standing to wave her friend over to their quiet corner table, champagne and excitement turning her into a true spitfire: "I'm so happy you're here. Did you get even more beautiful? You did. You always do. How are you? I hope the traffic getting here wasn't too bad. How's school going? Do you want some pizza?"

A brief smile appeared, softening her angular features as she handed the bag over. "So you've had training. Lucky me, I guess. I've seen some of those law books, those are pretty hefty, both in size and texts." While her parents would have been overjoyed if their only child had gone into law, Zahra couldn't imagine anything more daunting. Making her way through the doors, she turned to speak to him. "Yes, just this way. I'm returning those. Again, thank your for your help. It's very kind."

Matt shrugged with a smile on his face. "Happy to help. I have a sister who's a lawyer. She made me carry her big books when I was a teenager so I'm no stranger to this." He chuckled before approaching her and offering his arms to her. "May I?" He asked and once he was allowed, he slipped his hands inside the bag and picked up a few of the books to unload the burden. "Lead the way."

Zahra smiled briefly as she nodded at Eleanor. "A wise choice. I am not entirely sure I could explain what's going on here," she admitted, almost cringing as she studied the contents of the bag. While she had checked out the the majority of the books with the best of intentions of actually reading them, Zahra now had real trouble of even remembering the titles or why she had picked them. "But I guess carrying these around constitutes a workout. So, it's not all bad."

Eleanor had spent the better half of an hour searching for a particular book that the library said they carried. It wasn't where it was supposed to be on the shelf and she had almost given up on her search when she just happened to see it on the shelf. She found a spot to sit and read the first couple of pages before deciding she wanted to check it out. Getting up, she made her way to the check out line only to be joined by Zahra a few moments later. Eleanor smiled at her, glancing over to see the huge bag of books she was carrying. She was about to ask what was up with that when Zahra spoke up. A small laugh escaped her lips and she shook her head. "Fine," she said. "I won't ask."

Despite her stubborn streak and tendency to insist on doing things by herself no matter how difficult, Zahra could not hide her relief. Besides, a slipped disc didn't necessarily appeal to her. "Oh, hardly. It's definitely no more than a quarter of my size. And it's lighter than it looks." That was a bold-faced lie and Zahra was definitely grateful Ryan had offered to help her with the books. "That'd be nice, thank you. Can't say I've been doing much of heavy lifting lately." She shook her head slowly. "You're working? Nothing serious, I hope."

—dressed in a casual uniform, black pants and standard FD t-shirt, he walked up the stairs leading to the library meaning to check on a call; they did claim it was a false alarm, but two of them had been sent anyway to ensure there were no issues. a standard procedure for such a call, they needed to do an inspection of the building; this was a library after all, a fire break out in this place would be a pain, for many reasons. “what are you doing?” he laughed as he noticed Zahra —first he had noticed the bag, to be fair. looking at the massive blue bag she was carrying, he arched an eyebrow. “this is twice your size, Zahra,” he teased, laughing. “may I?” he inquired, gesturing towards the bag.

While she had never been great at accepting help, Zahra was grateful she had run into Julia, and even more grateful she seemed to be more than willing to offer a helping hand. "Thank you," she sighed, still catching her breath.

Zahra pulled an amused face at Julia's suggestion. "That's not a terrible idea. Although I hope I won't have to do this sort of a walk of shame anytime soon." Yes, she could have made multiple trips to the library, but somehow that had sounded even more laborious before she had actually started her perilous journey. Now she wholeheartedly regretted making said decision. "But I will definitely keep that in mind if I do end up in a similar situation." Glancing at Julia, she managed a brief yet knowing smile. "I see you're leaving empty-handed."

Julia didn’t know Zahra well - they were both in the library together on multiple occasions seemingly browsing or reading the same section, meaning she recognised her face as they came across each other at the door of the public library. As for judging her for this many books? That would be the pot calling the kettle black so instead she just gave her a small smile. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Here, you take one handle and I’ll take the other.” Luckily she didn’t have any books with her right now due to being on the way to pick one up, so her hands were free to attempt helping. Not that she was particulaly strong. 

“You need to invest in one of those wagons they put kids in to pull them along.” She joked lightly. @ofzahras

"I wouldn't dare to try. You're evidently much braver than I am," she chuckled in agreement. "I know. I used to think I was pretty good at all that stuff, knowing what's new and hip. And now I'm the sort of person who uses the word hip unironically." She waved her hand flippantly at Violet's compliment. "You're one to talk. I am sure all the heads turned when you walked in." It didn't seem like an overestimation by any means, and Zahra had never been good at giving out meaningless words of praise.

She could feel her cheeks warm up as Violet inquired about her dating life. "Not a chance. Not that I'm against it, but I just haven't even thought to consider it," she admitted. "Oh, no, can't have you do that. How about you? You have your eyes on anyone?"

"God, and then you try to explain landlines to them. Oh do I feel old then! I like being in my thirties honestly but with the way tech moves sometimes I feel older. Still, we look beautiful, you especially." Violet said as the day unfolded around them with pleasant chatter. "So anything else new? You seeing anybody? Or is the thesis your one and only right now? I have some people I could introduce you to if you're interested."