"Just A Shot Of Jack Daniel's. Or With Ice If You're Feeling Real Adventurous." She Wasn't A Whiskey

She might have mistaken the tap on her shoulder for just another celebrant making their way out of the crowded bar had it not been so determined. She looked down at her feet, immediately realising she was indeed standing on the poor woman's very impressive Ella Enchanted costume. "I'm sorry," she half-shouted over the music, immediately taking a quick step to the side and releasing the fabric from under her feet. Hoping she hadn't caused any damage, Zahra glanced at the dress as if inspecting it for holes and tears. "I didn't ruin it, did I?"

who: anyone! ( @aurorabaystarter ) where: sharky's monster mash

With a drink on her mind, Aylin walked in her heeled boots down the few steps that separated her from the rest of the crowd and beelined straight for the bar. Once she had a drink in her hand, she would attempt to find higher ground - not wanting to deal with anyone she knew just yet. But as she shuffled on her feet impatiently, her long dress was caught under someone’s shoe at the bar. Tapping them on the shoulder, she spoke without looking up from their foot placed on her costume. “Excuse me,” she said loud enough to yell out the DJ’s Halloween tunes. “You’re standing on my dress.”

my body is NOT. a “”temple””….it is a CLOWN CAR, and NONE OF THESE BITCHES KNOW HOW 2 DRIVE

Scanning the space with a positively neutral look on her face, Zahra didn't necessarily look like she was enjoying herself. However, she loved Halloween and was having an absolute blast people-watching. "Oh, it is creative, that's for sure," she commented as the other posed her question. Truly, she had no idea what she was looking at but it was obvious the costume had taken some time and effort. Zahra could definitely appreciate that. "Love the multiples, um, heads? I guess those are heads."

open - @aurorabaystarter

where - sharky's halloween party

Celeste wasn't really one for dancing (at least not while sober) so she happily stood to the side, leaning against the wall as she people watched, sipping on whatever bright red 'blood' drink she'd been given at the bar. "What the hell do you think that costume's supposed to be?"

cracking open a cold one with the girls except it’s my icy heart and they’re teaching me how to love again

"Ah, I see. Well, it seems to be a warm reunion, both literally and figuratively," she replied with a tired smile. God, it really was uncomfortably hot and the fact that she had dragged a small library worth of books from her home in Queens hadn't exactly helped.

Zahra's hand travelled to rub the back of her neck, clearly somewhat uncomfortable with the question and possible follow ups. "Research. I'm doing a postdoctoral fellowship, so, you know, a lot of reading and writing should be taking place."

"I love this library, I haven't been here in a while." Matt started explaining. "I was born in New York but upstate and then I lived in LA for over ten years so it all seems new to me now, even if I've even here many times before."

Matt looked at the volume of books and how big they were and turned back to her. "What do you do?" He asked curiously, always looking for a character in the people he meets randomly. It all helped his creativity. The best stories came to him in random encounters with strangers.

Zahra nodded in a greeting, evidently preoccupied by her predicament. Thinking through her options, she remained silent for a moment before registering the man had offered to help.

"Oh, no, you really don't have to," she replied hurriedly, "I got myself into this mess, I better get myself out of it." The idea of letting a kind stranger carry her very literal burden sounded nothing short of atrocious to Zahra. Still, she was tempted to accept the offer, if only for the fact that the bag would most likely give out before she actually made it inside. "Actually," she began through gritted teeth, "I could use some help. Thank you. I'm just returning these, so, you know, gotta get them inside."

Sometimes, during his work day in his new job, Matt needed some fresh air to organize his thoughts. Leading a team of writers was starting to prove a little overwhelming and the fact that he was back here in New York so close to his own ghosts weigh on him constantly.

Matt knew the city even before he moved to live here permanently, especially Manhattan. First as a tourist but now as a resident and as he walked around, he tried to focus on his surroundings. Doing a little of people watching always helped his creativity.

That's when he noticed the woman struggling with her bag of, assumingly, books near the public library. He let out a small laugh at her comment and stepped a little closer. "Can I help you with that?" he offered.

Zahra watched as Ryan went to pick up the bag, quietly grateful he had happened to be there and didn't seem to be in too much of a hurry. "I guess this is my sign to hit up the gym," she muttered, slightly jealous just how easily the bag had lifted. "God no", Zahra spurted as he acquired whether she had actually read the books, "but I can't be paying overdue fees on all of those." Doing a postdoc in humanities wasn't exactly the most lucrative of jobs and there were far more fun ways to spend a good chunk of money. She nodded as Ryan spoke. "Okay, good. There's certainly a lot of flammable material there," she mused, following him quietly. "I'm okay. Work's keeping me busy." It wasn't a lie, not really, even if she hadn't really achieved much in the past few weeks. "I guess you must have been equally busy?"

—those were a lot of books to actually be any lighter than they looked, which made him smirk a little at her argument. “hmm,” was the only eligible response he could give. lifting the bag with ease —contrary to her he has been doing a lot of heavy lifting, daily, and the bag basically weighs nothing for him— he looked at her, a little amused. “you’ve actually read all these?” he questioned before nodding a little to her query in turn. “just a routine check.” Ryan responded as he reached out to pull the library door open, and gestured for her to walk in first. “how have you been? it’s been a while since I’ve been around…” they usually met at unholy hours, that’s how he had ended up meeting her, but his work schedule had been busy lately, plus he wanted to spend more time at home with Neva when he could; it left little time to venture when he couldn’t sleep.

A sigh of relief. She wouldn't have dared to ask for help and was still eager to object, but there really was no way she would have managed on her own. Not when she was already beyond exhausted.

"Yes, attempt. Didn't get very far," she admitted, despondent. "Work stuff. I happened to be a bit overambitious when I checked them out." It was clearly and understatement and not something Zahra was particularly proud of. In the past she would have been able to make a considerable dent on her reading material, but lately the overdue fees and looming deadlines had not bee able to motivate her to work. "Thank you. I'm not sure how I got this far."

Henry was just heading into the library to try and do some research when he saw the younger woman practically lugging a huge tote bag into the building. Without thinking, he gently nudged her aside ever so slightly before picking it up with ease. "I saw you were having some trouble, so... I guess today's your lucky day, eh? Hopefully you're cool with me bringing it in for you." He chuckled as he grabbed the handle of the library door with ease, holding it open for the other. "Mercy... How does someone attempt to even read this much?"

Zahra remembered the first time she had been told she needed to ask for help when she needed it. She had been six and stuck in a tree for most of a family cookout, too stubborn to admit she was indeed stuck and not simply enjoying the solitude. She could now feel the same pride as an acid in her throat, tempted to lie and say she had everything under control. She might have just done it if her arms and back werent's quite so achey. "Yeah? Okay, that would be appreciated. It is pretty heavy," she admitted with a careful nod of her head. "And it is hot."

@ofzahras

Isabelle sucked on her lollipop slowly, watching her with a little look of amusement. It was too hot; the kind of hot where the air sticks to your skin like a hand, stifling and white-hot, scorching. Her neck was kind of red and there was the faint outline of her bikini straps on her bare shoulders. She had her hair gathered-up in a messy bun, and her sunglasses atop her head. She said, not really giving it much thought either. "I've nothing to do... I am just killing time, waiting around for my girlfriend to get off work, so I could help you." she offered, sticking her lollipop into her mouth again, shrugging one shoulder.

zahra hamed character inspo task

fox mulder (the x-files) cassie thomas (promising young woman) abby sciuto (ncis) jo march (little women) ambrose spellman (chilling adventures of sabrina) river tam (firefly & serenity) beth harmon (the queen's gambit) nomi marks (sense8)