Singing the hit the road BLUES, open

Hank let out a long low sigh as he allowed himself to crash onto the bench at the bus stop. He brought his hand up to his neck to loosen the tie he was actually wearing with his olive green dress shirt. He hated dress shirts and ties but when going for interviews the key was to dress to impress, but clearly he did not impress enough. Hank could tell from the interview that he wasn't going to get a call back. He hated the whole job search gimmick and at the rate things were going he was not going to have a job by the time his lease was up. He needed to have have a job, how was he suppose to support his family if he didn't have a job? Let alone support himself? Really he should be considering himself first because he only had six months and he needed to have his life under control to be able to prove to his family that he could be there for them. How he was supposed to do all that, Hank didn't know. He was a failure at life. He hadn't been on his own for long and he was almost ready to give up.

Hank glanced at his watch, it was late afternoon early evening. He needed to just get home, change out of his shirt and burgundy tie and put on something infinitely more comfortable. Once that was done he would get something to eat and hopefully feel better after that. Of course, once he finished that thought his mind drifted to that bottle of whiskey he had hidden and the idea of breaking that open sounded so good but the moment his mind drifted he rebuked himself. He would drink water, water was good for him. It was clean and he was going to be the same as well. He couldn't go back not now not when he had worked so hard and someone decided to help him out. Not when he needed to get his family back. He needed to get rid of that bottle in his apartment, and he planned to do such once he had his family once more.

Though he had looked at his watch Hank looked at it again. Only a minute had passed by and the bus wasn't due for at least another seven. He dropped his hand letting out another sigh. He thought for a minute about walking to the next stop just so he wouldn't be sitting and waiting but knowing his luck the bus would pass him along the way and then he would be stuck walking all the way home or waiting a good fifteen more minutes. Neither sounded good to him considering how hot it was outside. It was then that Hank noticed another person approach the buss stop and out of politeness he shifted from his center position on the bench to one side so the person could sit down as well if they wished.

Within ten minutes, the colourful rubix cube had been solved three times, mostly due in part to the blonde being distracted. Slender fingers worked on twisting and turning the cube to match up the colours as her gaze was on her surroundings. Early evening, and Apolla was on her way home after a busy day. With her work shift having been in the morning and early afternoon, she spent the rest of the afternoon in her favourite pastry shop, doing some calligraphy while having a snack. She hadn't wanted to go home quite yet, and her first line of thinking would've been to contact Charles and see how he was holding up, but she couldn't get a hold of him. She was also pretty sure that Luna was busy with her own job, so that was another person that the blonde couldn't bother hang out with. Luckily, she didn't mind entertaining herself for the few hours. She'd been slacking on practising her calligraphy anyway.

Apolla walked casually towards the bus stop, not at all in a hurry as her gaze traveling up to the sky to watch the setting sun. It was definitely a beautiful sight, and brought on a faint wave of nostalgia. It reminded her of times when she watched the sun set when she was younger; one of the more delightful memories. She didn't know why she loved watching the sun set, but it was soothing nonetheless. At one point, she may've said that it had something to do with her name. While she didn't know why her parents named her Apolla, she came across greek mythology in a foreign film she watched. One of the gods was named Apollo, who was said to be associated with the sun. A fleeting thought had her assuming that her parents derived her name from that god and made it feminine. It would explain why she loved sunsets, but then again, she didn't always love the sun. In any event, it was something to ponder during those times when she had nothing else to do.

Arriving at the bus stop, Apolla's gaze turned from the sky to her surroundings. The bus wasn't there yet, and now that she was paying attention to it, the blonde wasn't even sure when the bus was supposed to show up. Had she missed it already? Her attention landed on a man -- the only other person there really -- sitting on the bench, and immediately her faint smile turned up into a bright one. "Bonjour!" Apolla chirped in a cheerful tone as she took a seat next to the man. Looking him over, it seemed as though he'd just gotten out of work, or anything along those lines, and Apolla's thoughts went back to wondering if she could get a hold of Charles now. Well, she'd have to wait a bit before trying -- it'd be rude to just call someone after she'd started talking to this guy. Speaking of whom... "Do you know when the bus should be arriving? Or have I missed it? I hope I haven't... You look exhausted! Was it a rough day at work?" The blonde blinked and pressed her lips together to keep from continuing on and to give the man a chance to respond.

When Hank had shifted his position on the bench he really hadn't expected a conversation. He acted in a polite manner and he anticipated that the girl would sit down maybe thank him for moving he would wave off the act he'd done and then he would continue to sit in silence and pick apart his failures and short comings as he had been doing. But the girl greeted him in an unusually chipper tone, at least he thought Bonjure was a greeting, French wasn't it?

If the girl had left things at asking about the bus it would have counted along the same lines as the conversation or lack there of he had envisioned. 'When is the next bus' and 'Have I missed the bus' were common phrases at the stop. Yet she remarked on his state of being as well which launched things from general pleasantries to conversation, and it surprised him all the same.

"Hmm?" came his initial response as it took him an extra second to process what was being said as it wasn't all exactly normal, but he picked up very quickly after his first question where there was no chance for a person to repeat what they said if so inclined as his mind caught up with the conversation practically the moment the 'hmm' left his lips. "Oh, no you didn't miss the buss it should be here in few minutes." he answered generalizing rather than being specific though a few was usually reserved for 3-5 and this wait was seven but really seven didn't rank as several as that was over 10.

"Honestly, I am a little tired, but if only it was work that made me tired, then I think I'd be a pretty happy man. It was a rough interview actually." answered Hank his mouth running a bit ahead of him and he realized it as he finished his complaint. He was immediately embarrassed by his actions.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't unload my problems on you. You seem to be in a good mood and I'd hate to ruin that with my melancholy." Hank smiled kindly at the young girl. She seemed like she might be about the age of his eldest maybe a little older. His mind filtered to his children for a moment and wondered if they were okay. He hated them fending of their own even if Deborah was old enough to take care of herself. She really shouldn't have to be caring for her younger siblings as well. What he did to his kids wasn't fair and particularly so to Deborah as she was the one who had to always step up and be the adult while he was gone. At least Hank assumed that was the case based upon her recent actions of getting custody of Zachary and Melissa. She missed out on her childhood and that pained Hank. Maybe he was still able to pick his life apart despite being in a conversation with a complete stranger just the same as if he were sitting in silence.

There really was no reasoning behind Apolla's bright mood and conversational mood. It just happened, and she wasn't really inclined to stop. Granted, she didn't really want to annoy the man, since he did look exhausted, but it didn't seem like he minded. She hoped he didn't. It would be awkward to sit there and wait the rest of the time for the bus with some sort of awkward tension between them. At his response, however, Apolla was just about to repeat her question - probably in a slower tone than her excited one - when he answered. "Oh! That's good!" So she hadn't missed the bus after all; excellent. Though the man didn't give a specific time, a 'few minutes' had to be soon. She was sure it wouldn't be too bad waiting.

The blonde blinked as she listened to the man continue on. Apparently she'd been wrong about him being at work. Or, technically wrong. He appeared older than her, but he was unemployed? She vaguely wondered what could've happened for him to not have a job. What if someone had gotten him fired like she had to Charles? A small frown took over her lips at the memory. No, no, that just wouldn't do.

"No, I don't mind at all!" Apolla shook her head, eyes practically sparkling with ideas. Before she could stop herself, she was making comparisons in her head between this man and Charles. They were both unemployed and needed a job. It wouldn't be that hard to have them both in the same boat and applying at the same places. Yes, it'd be so easy, and she could help them both! Though..there was that small voice in the back of her head that told her that she couldn't, that she needed to calm down before she ended up making things more rough for this poor man. She didn't even know that much about his situation either. That small voice was mostly ignored, however.

"Say, you know, if you're having trouble finding a job, I could help! I'm helping a friend of mine find a job as well!" Friend was a strong word, and now that she thought of it, she had to wonder if they could be considered friends now. He was more like her client, but she had no problems with calling him her friend. ...Yes, that was it. He was her client friend. Much simpler. That revelation aside, she didn't think it was necessary to inform the man that she hadn't quite been successful yet in finding her 'friend' a job...or the fact that she was the cause for him losing one in the first place.

"I'm Apolla, by the way. Me llamo Apolla Yubara. It's nice to meet you," she smiled at the man, nodding her head in greeting. It didn't hurt to introduce herself to a potential new client.

It was good to know that the girl wasn't upset with him and his verbal diarrhea. Why he decided to unload a bit to her was beyond him, things must be getting to him more than he actually thought, he just wished there was something he could do about it. Getting a job would help but what company wanted a recovering or rather as the term technically was recovered alcoholic? He'd lost a job not once, not twice but three time to drinking. It did not look good at all, not that his resume screamed the reasons why he lost his job but he was asked and he was honest, not to mention his former jobs were probably called for a reference and he knew those were far from glowing. Maybe he should have gone back to school. He was an old man now and it was too late but maybe... Oh what was he thinking he couldn't afford schooling even if he wasn't too old he was just getting by as it was with a Good Samaritan paying for his housing which would be up before he knew it.

Hank's thoughts were pulled away from where they were as the girl next to him offered to help him find a job and introduced herself as Apolla. He didn't blame her for going by her middle name of Apolla rather than Mei-Yammo. What were her parents thinking when they named her that? "It is nice to meet you as well Apolla. My name is Hank Shimizu." He nodded his head in a return greeting not feeling the need to give his middle name like Apolla seemed to do, but then again he didn't have an odd name like she did. Mei-Yammo, wow, why she even bothered telling people that? "I appreciate the offer to help me out, but really I couldn't impose." He shook his head part of him wanted to take the girl up on the offer but another part of him knew that it wasn't possible. She really couldn't help him. She knew nothing about him and he was a hard sell. Beside it was possible that she would want money in return for her services and he certainly didn't have any of that to spare. He just had enough to get food to live and that was about it. Money was tight, it was why he spent a fair bit of time looking for jobs though he was getting tired of it. Maybe he needed a day off from it, though wasn't his whole life a day off right now? Besides what would he do with his free time? Go see his children who wanted nothing to do with him? That would be a treat. There was slight frown that crossed Hanks' face as that particular thought crossed his mind.

Realizing that his mind was traveling down a path he didn't really need to let it go down he started to look at his surroundings and had his eyes fall on a slight shimmer on the ground. It was a few feet off and was in the same direction that the girl had come from. He tried to ignore it but the light bouncing off it it kept pulling and drawing his attention. "Excuse me," he spoke to the girl finally giving up on ignoring the shining object and walking toward it.

He stood there and stared down at it and studied it for a moment. It was an odd little thing and he wondered how it had gleamed so brightly before because it didn't seem as capable of doing that now that he looked down at it. Finally Hank decided to pick it up. He turned around to take it back to the bus stop and ask the girl if it was hers to realize that the bus was already at the stop and he had walked farther away than he originally thought he started to rush toward the bus but it was already pulling away and it seemed the driver was not in a giving mood. Hank let out a low curse as he stopped rushing toward the stop and watched the buss drive on by. This was not his lucky day, not his lucky day at all. With a final sigh he shoved the odd little crystal into his pockets and figured if he ever saw Mei Yammo or rather Apolla again he would try to return the item to her because surely it was hers right?

phase i: catch a falling star

chosen one, a star of power has fallen from the sky. it has been brought down by an imbalance in the universe, and you are destined to wield it. this star will grant you a specific power, and with it you will be able to protect the planet. but beware, with great power comes great responsibility, and great temptation. chaos is lurking in the shadows, and it too craves your power. but if you are strong enough, you will find all five pieces of your star... and perhaps then destiny will choose you to be part of the crystal kingdom.

UNLOCKED POWER: WIND

congrats! hank is all set for phase i. have a question? just pm me!