Ass O'Clock (Ricio)

[Alista Sabina Castillo]

Alista plopped her ass down on the bench, breathing deeply and taking in the cool morning air. It was one of those 5AM mornings, where she had gone to sleep very early the night before and had woken up before the sun. They were rare - what was more common was staying up until 5AM - but happened nonetheless. There was something about being awake in the ungodly hours of the morning, when everyone else was asleep, that was almost magical. Now and then a car drove by the nearest street, but for the most part it was silent. She rubbed her gloved hands together and looked around contentedly.

She had sat down in a public park, the dark of night lifting but not yet gone. Faint outlines of trees and soft hills were visible if she squinted her eyes. A slight mist covered the ground, rendering everything in shades of grey. It would be a while before the cold lifted, but that was alright. Alista was dressed for it, several layers of jacket protecting her skin from the cold. She was sitting on a basic park bench, and-

HOLY GOD THERE'S A MAN SLEEPING BENEATH ME

"Holy-" She leaped up, careful not to step on his face or something. Fuck, she should have thought to check beneath the damn bench before she sat down. Shut up, you idiot! You'll wake him up! Alista quieted and stood still, waiting to see if she had awoken the stranger.

[Ricio Miller]

Ricio was known for sleeping in random places. Although he usually stuck close to less crowded areas, it wasn't a rule. And if he felt like a nap in the middle of the day, he would pretty much plop down anywhere that wasn't the middle of the street.

Although he usually picked a place to bunk down for the night where he could see the stars, it had been drizzling a little the night before, so he had taken shelter under a bench. Although he couldn't feel cold, it was still uncomfortable to wake up soaked.

Speaking of uncomfortable, he awoke suddenly to someone shouting. Before he remembered where he was, he tried to sit up and bashed his head on the bench. Yelling out in pain, he rolled out from under the bench holding the growing lump on his head.

"Can I help you?" he asked. He hadn't made the connection that the woman was yelling about him yet.

[Alista Sabina Castillo]

There was a loud bang as the bench-sleeper man tried to sit up and failed. He rolled out groggily, holding his head and asked, "Can I help you?" He sounded a bit dazed, considering he had just bashed his head on a bench right after waking up. Aww, shit, she had just made it worse.

"Uh-" Alista had been about to ask if he was okay, but... well, obviously he wasn't, he had a giant bump on his head. Her mind went to the other day when she had met that emo kid at the library - the encounter which had left her with a giant fucking bruise on her hip. Seemed she was in the opposite position now, feeling just as awkward and clueless as the emo boy had acted. "Shit, sorry to awaken you, I, uh... wasn't looking down." Okay, that sounded weird. She at least tried to speak softly so as not to hurt his head, even if she wasn't making much sense. "Can I, uh, get you some ice or something?" Alista felt as though she at least owed it to him to make the offer, even if it would take some time to get and she would have to carry a giant gross drippy bag of ice to get it to him. Ah, well, she would find a way to deal.

[Ricio Miller]

"No worries," Ricio said, pulling himself up to onto the bench with one hand. And still rubbing his head with the other. True, it wasn't the best way to wake up and he was sure he'd have a headache for the morning at least, but at least he had some excitement.

"No," Ricio said, laughing and then immediately regretting it because of his headache. "Ice doesn't really work on me." He grinned and was glad that at least that expression didn't hurt.

"Got a light though?" he asked, pulling a slightly crooked cigarette from his pocket. Because if you were going to have a rude and painful awakening, at least you could have a smoke.

[Alista Sabina Castillo]

"No worries," the man responded. Well, he still looked in pain to Alista, but at least there were no hard feelings. "Ice doesn't really work on me." She breathed a sigh of relief. No disgusting drippy bag of ice for her, not today. But what did he mean, ice didn't work on him? Did he have similar hangups around water? "Huh, how so?" she asked, still keeping her voice down.

Lighter? "Uh, lemme see. Lighter?" she murmured as she searched the pockets of her multiple jackets for a lighter. She wasn't sure why she would be carrying one, but who knows... Her hand met cold metal, and she pulled it out. How the hell do I have a lighter? she wondered. It's not like she smoked, and she didn't spend tons of time around people who did. Must have been one of those things she figured would be useful for something at the time. "Guess I do," Alista responded, handing him the lighter.