Hey readers, last chapter of my 'start' week, and most likely the last binge writing i can do till my next days off.

I can already tell i need to get better at pacing, as one chapter has now become three!

Hope you enjoy!~

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Alex sat in the seat that was far too ‘comfy’ to actually be comfortable. His butt began to hurt every two or three minutes, which caused him to shift awkwardly into different positions while staring out the window. His parents had made some slight chat now and then, but the ride to wherever they were going was extremely uncomfortable in every sense of the word; worse still, his eyelids were beginning to grow heavy at the lack of stimulus. His eyes almost closed at one point, before his father’s cough woke him back up.

“Alex, i hear you graduated college recently. Tell me, what was it that you majored in?” His father asked, which caused Alex to turn and finally look at him in the eyes. Strangely, Alex couldn’t remember his name for the life of him.

“...Criminal Justice, focused on the Criminal Minds Division.” Was all he could get out, the line he had repeated the most of when he talked of his college days when asked; it seemed to have become a reflex in his sleep deprived state.

“Oh, really? So you are an officer of the law?” His father asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.

“Technically. I went the detective route.”

“Really, dear? So what was it they taught you in college that helped best for this job?” His mother asked, nudging his father in the ribs with her elbow. He had to think on his mother’s name, but he believed he was close with ‘Elise’; he wasn’t sure, but knew it wasn’t a ‘basic’ sounding name.

“...To get in the mind of the criminal yourself. Become one to find one.” He stated, repeating his Mentor’s favourite line.

“O-Oh. So did you...”

“We didn’t actually become criminals, so i’m innocent.”

“Ok, good.”

“Wouldn’t want to tarnish the name o-Ugh.” “Victor!” His father began to say, his mother elbowing him again in the rib. She sent him a harsh glare before smiling at Alex, beginning her next question. Alex at least knew his father's name now, which was good.

“So, Alex dear. How’s life been for you recently?”

“...Fine. More sleep would be... nice.” He said, a yawn stretching the last word out as he reflexively stretched a bit. He had to force himself to stop for fear of having looked too much of a slob. It wasn’t a lie that he was begging for sleep now.

“Oh, so the force has been keeping you busy then? Elise, what was that man’s name from the force we met several days ago?” His Father asked, trying to not be the odd man out; At least, Alex hoped that’s why he was asking such basic questions. He had remembered his dad wasn’t this...boring, before he left. He was beginning to think he remembered a lot of things wrong now.

“I’m not sure, Victor. Has the force been too hard on you, dear?”

“No, i’ve just been really busy the last few days. Ended up not getting much sleep.” Alex stated groggily, his eyes cast back out of the window. It had begun raining now, The slow pitter-patter Alex liked to sleep forever cooped in his apartment with. He was beginning to think the universe was giving him a hint. The limousine went silent again, but Alex didn’t care; he was too sleepy to worry about others thoughts on him.

His eyes began to slowly close as he watched the rain slide down the window.

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“Alex! Alex dear!” A voice called to him in the pitch black behind his eyes, which woke him from the nap he had somehow taken. Embarrassment instantly hit him as he opened his eyes, finding Elise with her hand on his shoulder shaking him. She sighed and sat down next to him as she looked worried, eyeing what he thought was the blue veins under his eyes.

“...We’re almost at the restaurant. I figured you’d want us to wake you up before you had to leave the limo, so i woke you early. I’m sorry.”

“No, no… it’s fine, i hadn't… planned on sleeping anyways.” Alex spoke in his broken sentences, with the hope there wasn’t any drool on his mouth; Thankfully, he was safe in his quick check of his mouth. “How long was i out?”

“Around an hour or so. Right, Elise?” Victor replied back as he looked out his own window at the sidewalk and stores nearby. Alex could guess by their different positions in the vehicle that they must have talked about something while he was out; That, or just had a very quiet fight amongst themselves. Elise glared at Victor for a moment and then shook her head.

Alex sat quietly for some more time as the silence lingered, and waited for the limo to stop at their destination. It seemed they were close too, judging by his parents tidying up their clothing and hair to be ‘presentable’. Elise even reached over without much thought and brushed his stray hairs down with her hand, only realizing she had done something awkward until after she took her hand away satisfied.

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The limo finally stopped completely, and the three of them exited the limousine with Alex being the last one out. The lights in the surrounding buildings blinded him for a bit, but the blur quickly faded to a gorgeous section of the city thriving with people. The rain had stopped, and every direction he looked as they walked the red carpet had all kinds of shapes and sizes of people in their high class clothing; not to mention the rather ‘eccentric’ types with the strange frills and weird eyelashes stuck on like peacocks. That, he believed, was the banshees, sirens, succubus’, vampires, mermaids, and other similar races dressed up to attract the opposite sex. He could safely mock the ‘peacock’ effect, as some of these women were gorgeous enough to turn his head just by wearing plain clothes.

Alex and his family soon arrived at the door to the restaurant, a humongous building several stories tall. When he entered the building itself, everything seemed made of black and gold upon every surface in the building; strangely enough, there was only one floor in the extremely tall building, which caused the ceiling of humongous chandeliers to feel extremely intimidating. There also didn’t seem to be any huge walls separating the dining tables and the reception area, making it a wide open space with a full view of the floor. He guessed to himself that the chandeliers were either made of pure glass, or of a very refined diamond, but both versions would take forever to create with a lot of skill and talent.

His eyes wandered back to the floor, where he eyed the many races and upper class denizens of the city had decided to eat here tonight; wherever, and whatever, here was.

“...Where are we?” He asked as he looked as his clothes uncomfortably, feeling extremely out of place in his black jacket and pants. He hadn’t shaved in a couple days either, so his face must look extremely haggard and dirty to the surrounding people. Victor simply patted Alex’s shoulder with his right hand as they walked the golden carpet, which led up to the receptionist desk before them.

The receptionist, a woman in a black dress with layers of gold, bowed to the family as they walked up to her. Alex got a good look at the woman's face, and she all but appeared to be human; asian in appearance as well. He figured at this point, however, that the truth was usually that people he met weren’t human, but ‘human-ish’.

“How may i help the esteemed Rosemary family this evening?”

“Table for three, please. My son recently returned to the city, and i’d like to celebrate that.” Elise  stated as she gestured to Alex beside her. Alex gave an awkward nod at the woman as their eyes met briefly, the woman the first to break eye contact. Alex didn’t much care of her lack of interest in him, but was slightly annoyed at her ignoring his existence as if he was a pole between Victor and Elise. The receptionist nodded, and motioned for the three of them to follow behind her.

Alex stepped out behind the three he was following, the last to walk around the tiny wall behind the reception area. The ambience that hit him felt like a refined but playful one, with many people quietly talking and laughing joyfully with each other seated at their tables. He walked along behind the others, or maybe staggered as he wasn’t sure how he looked to them, as best he could while trying not to look awkward. He felt it wasn’t hard to overhear any conversations as the surrounding tables all went quiet when Victor and Elise passed them; His own wandering gaze caught eyes with several people as they whispered amongst each other, most likely wondering who he was.

Finally arriving at the table furthest in the back, he saw that it had a small oriental looking divider covering it from the others view. He hoped he could take the furthest seat, the one that put his back to the wall and hid him from most of the floor. Thankfully, his parents chose the two closest seats and began to sit down as Alex walked around the table. He heard Elise thank the receptionist as he reached the golden seat with black cushions, and sat down into it as quickly as he could.

When his gaze went up to his parents, he caught a glimpse of the receptionist as she looked back in his direction. He had hoped that wasn’t a look of disgust in her eyes, but he had seen it enough that he just knew what it was.