Like Puzzle Pieces • •

[mnemosyne asteria ramone]

Mnemosyne loved being out on the road, away from the hassle that came with living and working with a family that often looked down on her. She also loved coming back to New York City where her Kawasaki was in the private garage of her apartment complex. If she wasn’t in her truck then she hated being inside any kind of concealed vehicle. It got claustrophobic and made her feel sickly. Her truck was like an escape, while she was still working. The last order of new freightliners had been almost identical to the last; white, with the company logo in red and black. Mnemosyne had paid for one of those cabs to be painted in a dark teal and kitted out a little bit differently to suit her own personal needs. She had wanted her own truck, one she knew no one else would drive while she was based in the city working with the data the company pulled in on a daily and weekly basis. Making hers stand out was a surefire way of ensuring it stayed untouched. Her father had been displeased given that her brothers shared trucks with the workers, but Mnemosyne didn’t care. Trucking was her escape from the cage she felt her family tried to keep her in. She wanted it to be familiar, to smell how she wanted it to smell, and not reeking of stale junk food and body odour from long hours on the road.

Instead, she had a blueberry scented air freshener infusing her truck, and all food waste was disposed of at the first chance she had. Her bed in the cab had the same blankets and pillow that she was used to at home, and the music was always whatever happened to be favourite on her Spotify at the time. Anakin was always with her for company (the only company she wanted at the best of times), and he was good as gold sitting with her, or dozing behind the mauve curtain she had hung herself. It was thick enough to keep out any early morning sunlight just in case Syn was actually able to have a good night’s rest. It happened more commonly when she was on the road, waking up in the middle of places she had never been before. Yet, at home in her cosy apartment it was almost impossible for her to sleep peacefully through the night. It often meant she was at the office hours before anyone else, or wandering the streets before dawn just trying to find something to entertain her loud mind.

The city was just coming to life with commuters and students when Syn left her apartment feeling refreshed. She had arrived back in the city late the night before and while sleep eluded her, the hot bath and Netflix binge helped her feel human again. She threw on the first semi-professional clothes she laid her hands on, and locked up her apartment once Anakin was snug on the sofa with his blanket and chewed up teddy. Her ride to the office wasn’t as bad at this hour, and the traffic was only just building up for the day ahead. She was shocked though when she arrived at the modest looking building that she had worked in since college graduation. There was scaffolding up and sheets covering most of the front. Using her key on the door, she was surprised that it was already unlocked. People didn’t usually show up until after nine, choosing to sleep in and work that bit later instead. “What the hell is going on here?” The interior was stripped bare, and if it wasn’t for the construction equipment in places, she’d have been certain the place had been looted overnight.

She knew her family did some crazy things without telling her, but stripping out and assumingly revamping the office was ridiculous! Did they just expect her to sense that nothing was there, that the place was unworkable. She had reports to run, and while they could be done from a laptop at home, she needed to get some files off of her desktop first. It was going to be impossible since she noticed her office was as sparse as everywhere else. Syn wanted some answers, but it took her two flights of stairs and three more doors before she stumbled upon another living being. The man had his back to her, but she knew enough from that to tell it wasn’t one of her brothers. “Hi, who the hell are you and where is all my stuff from my office?” Syn demanded, wanting some kind of answer from anyone. Moving her stuff without warning lit her short fuse, and right now Mnemosyne was ready to explode.

• • •

TAGGED! Hayes Matthew Marner
WORDS! 795!
LYRICS! Such Great Heights - - - AS IT IS
NOTES! <3

[Hayes Matthew Marner]

Hayes generally had a rule about doing work for friends. As in he didn't do it. There were only a few he would bend that rule for and he could count them all on one hand and have fingers left over. Lelantos was one of those very select few. He'd been there when Hayes was going through all that leftover grief and that deep depression. Being away at school, away from his childhood home hadn't been enough, neither had to try to find solace in the arms of random women but he'd tried that, too. In the end, it had taken a friend's willingness to listen, go to group therapy with him and treat him as though they were brothers, not simply just friends that brought him around. He had a much different view to his friends family life however, has come in much later in life. He could see that Lelantos was trying but those bridges had already been burned and rebuilding them would take forever and a day. Still, as Hayes had been grieving, he'd also been introduced to Lelantos's younger sister. The whole awkward situation was the reason Hayes suspected his friend was trying to do right by his sister. He also suspected that a stubborn young girl, who was too headstrong and too verbally and mentally abused by her family had walls higher than the tallest buildings and it would take brilliance and time to build a door.

Hayes had always felt a connection with his best friends little sister. He wanted to protect her much like he'd wanted to protect his own sister while she'd been alive. He didn't believe anyone should be treated that poorly by anyone at all and so he stuck with her whenever he'd been invited over. Lelantos thought he did so because he'd been missing his sister so much and there was this young girl, about her age and though he would have been partially right, there was more to it than that; he just wasn't going to explain that to him. There was no point since he wouldn't have understood it anyway. Honestly, if they hadn't been friends before Lelantos had invited him round for that first Thanksgiving holiday, he wasn't sure if they would have continued to stay friends; not after witnessing what went on in their childhood home. But they had been friends, the best of friends before that trip, which was why Hayes found it so difficult to put the man he knew and the big brother of Syn together as one person. The man he knew wasn't such a dick, though perhaps it was a change of perspective because of Hayes family issues that had initiated the change in the other man and was the man Hayes knew and considered his best mate.

It was solely because they were best friends that Hayes had agreed to this renovation job. He hadn't needed the money or his name on the build but Lelantos was a friend and the Ramone family had been good to him over the years. So he did as was asked of him and in one day, he'd had his crew take out everything that would be in the way and shove it all in a storage bin he'd had delivered to the yard so he would be certain it would stay on property and be watched carefully with their own security kit. He'd gotten the scaffolding up with the tarps and plastic and had the jobs for the next day sorted out before they'd knocked off for the night. He'd gone home, showered and headed out for a late dinner with his mother before returning to his home once again and falling asleep before his head even hit his pillow. He was up, dressed and on his way to the worksite before the sun rose the next day. Lelantos had given him a key so he could get onto the site whenever he wanted and this way he didn't have to wait for someone to open the doors for him. He still occasionally suffered from insomnia and as long as it wasn't a residential job he was working on, often went in whenever he was awake to get more done. He could be there hours before his crew some days and others he was walking into the site with them; it just depended on the day. Today, he was there before the sun rose, having had a good but short night's sleep. He had ideas and he wanted to see the space empty before they really got down to business. He had no idea where all the employees were supposed to be working while all this was going on but there was currently no space for them there, and wouldn't be until he was finished. He heard her voice before he saw her, easy to do when he was faced the wrong way. Smiling to himself, he lifted the disposable coffee cup to his lips. "Good morning to you, too, Synderella."

♦ ♦ ♦

TAG; mnemosyne asteria ramone
WORDS; 839
LYRICS; Wildfire --Lindsey Ell
NOTES; <3

[mnemosyne asteria ramone]

Syn had the talent and the confidence to strike out on her own, away from her family, but the trucking company was where her heart was. She had put all of her adult life into improving it and building a rapport with some of the drivers who worked for them. She knew there were employees who would rather deal with her than go to her brothers or parents. She was business focused, a little less ruthless and short if someone needed a good sit down chat about whatever troubles life was handing to them. She couldn’t always fix them since her family didn’t enjoy listening to her much at all, but Syn had grown up learning to be sneaky. She could do a subtle rota swap or change up someone’s routes if they needed it. The other Ramones might not appreciate it, but they had reached a point now where they knew arguing with the stubborn brunette would only make her grind her heels in more and fight harder. For all the years of being bullied and pushed down by her family, none of it had made Mnemosyne weak. It had made her resilient, made her immune to their words and actions. She did as she pleased, knowing that – for some reason – they wouldn’t kick her out or tell her she didn’t have a place in the company. Maybe, deep down in the bottom of his black, rotting heart, her father knew that she was the only child who actually pulled her weight and cared about the company most of the time. She didn’t slack off and her sick days were once in a blue moon when she was completely unable to pull herself from her bed because of a horrific chest infection or bout of flu. She had even spent three days fighting a stomach virus in the office bathroom with her laptop on the tiled floor because she knew no one was going to do her work for her if she did call in sick.

And now no one had told her they were doing work on the offices. It was like she had been gone a month and not half the week. There hadn’t been any calls or an e-mail. She wasn’t totally off the grid when she was in her rig. She had a signal most of the time and she checked her e-mails at most of the stops she made. There was really no excuse for letting her walk in to an empty building like this. She felt ridiculous, and angry, but she didn’t know which one was the winning feeling right now. Calling her dad would be pointless; there was a stronger chance of hell freezing over than the man apologizing to her – or even explaining this to her. It was moments like this that reiterated how fucked up her relationship was with her family. They would have a plan, some procedure in place to keep everything running smoothly but nothing had been communicated to her. She was just supposed to know. Either that or someone was hoping she never came back to the office again after this. Alas, for that poor moron it would take more than this ridiculous stunt to get rid of Syn. All this did was make her blood boil. Again.

Hearing that ridiculous nickname and that familiar voice managed to calm her down and irritate her all at the same time. Syn folded her arms and shifted her weight, fixing Hayes with a stern glare. “I didn’t know you had an 8am death wish, Hayes.” Glancing around the empty space again she sighed and then looked back at one of the few people in her life who she didn’t consider to be an asshole. Hayes was one of the only people she actually liked. He had never gone along with her brother’s cruel words to her despite being his best friend. “So, can you explain what is going on here or do I have to have another typical fight with my family?” With nowhere else to sit down, Syn knelt on the floor, tucking her legs to the side. If she had to bump into anyone here, she was glad it was Hayes.

• • •

TAGGED! Hayes Matthew Marner
WORDS! 708!
LYRICS! Such Great Heights - - - AS IT IS
NOTES! <3