shining shimmering [Rooftop/open]

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Ali leaned on his elbows against the railing separating him and the edge of the USBC building, and watched the steadily brightening city skyline. He really liked coming up here to the roof of the building – but it was rare that he actually got the chance. During the day and most of the night the place was backed with tourists and fans, who were either here for the view or for the chance of seeing a celebrity. And really, Al would much rather avoid the hassle.

Not that he didn’t appreciate his fans – because he really did. It was just difficult for him to deal with unexpected attention. Those interactions with fans were mostly documented as awkward comments transcribed on twitter or the dozens of vines of him stuttering or looking like a deer in the headlights. Surprisingly this actually boosted his popularity – with female fans in particular (they thought it was ‘cute’) – but it didn’t do much to help his reputation or his nerves.

Fortunately, the roof wasn’t always packed. There were occasions when the roof was closed to the public and times when tourist traffic naturally died down. During these times, if Ali was at the studio, he liked to come up and take a moment to breathe. Right now was an especially good time. It was early – around 6:40 AM - way earlier than he needed to be here, really, but, as Ali expected, the roof gave an excellent view of the sunrise over the city skyline.

It wasn’t the best sunrise he’d ever seen – though part of that might be bias, since he always pictured the best sunrises as those from his hometown in Ontario – but it was still beautiful. He’d been standing there for several minutes, immune to the cold air from being so high up so early, watching the sky fade from black to blue to orange, just thinking about his career and his life. He was so lost in the view and his thoughts that he didn’t notice someone else coming up to the roof.

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Jyothi had sometimes come up to the roof on her breaks, before. Not often, that was true--most days it was so thronged with tourists that it wasn't relaxing in the slightest. But when time came for her first break after she'd opened up the cafe at 5 am--catering to the crewmembers and workaholics who actually got in that early--she'd seen Ali-f***ing-Alamir get in the elevator as she was morosely plunging a green tea-bag up and down in a tall paper cup of hot water, and it had taken him straight to the top. So naturally she swiped the nicest scone she could find and fished her tube of lip-gloss out of her pocket for a touch-up before she scurried on after him a minute later.

"Be cool, Jyothi, just be cool..." she muttered to herself as she went to the door and shouldered it open, waiting a beat before she let herself feign surprise--and she was good at feigning just about everything she needed to.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize anyone would be up here!"

Smiling her sweetest, friendliest smile, she blew on her cup of tea, the jasmine-scented steam already blowing away in the cool morning breeze, already biting back the questions she knew would make her sound desperate. One day she was just going to start screaming at people from behind the pastry-case. WHO IS YOUR AGENT? ARE THERE ANY OPEN AUDITIONS? WHAT ABOUT CLOSED AUDITIONS? GIVE ME A DAMN BREAK FOR THE LOVE OF THE LITTLE BABY JESUS. Whereupon she would slump sobbing into the fetal position on the floor, her parents would come to collect and/or murder her, and New York would add another notch to the club with which it destroyed people's dreams.

"You want half a cranberry scone?" she asked, holding out the paper bag towards him.

Nice, Jyothi. Real slick. You've got this. Don't blow it. Again.

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“Mmmm!” He just barely muffled what might have been a spectacularly embarrassing yelp as he turned to face whoever it was who was up here so early. As it turned out it was a particularly cute girl, about his age maybe (had he seen her someplace before? Perhaps she worked around here?).

For a moment – a really awkward moment at that – he just stared at her, trying to figure out exactly what he was going to do. When his brain refused to actually function properly, he gave up on intelligent thought and just started talking,

“Aa, no – sorry – I…” Why was he apologizing? He had no idea.

“I didn’t think anyone would be here.” That was just repeating what she had said. Also, it didn’t make any sense for him to be saying that since he was here first. “…Either, I mean. Sorry.”

Another odd apology, but… that was actually relatively painless. At least it wasn’t the sort of odd jumble of words that usually came out of his mouth when not rehearsed. He might have said he actually did pretty well.

Then she offered him a scone, which was really very nice of her, but something he really could not accept. Which meant he had to refuse and thus he had to actually speak some more.

“Oh… n-no-” He shut his mouth as soon as he heard the stuttering. It wasn’t something he could control when he was nervous, but if he just took a breath and tried again… “No, I don’t-”

Crap, he hadn’t thought of an excuse yet. Frankly, taking food items from people he didn’t know was something he’d been warned not to do. Of course, this girl didn’t appear to be some sort of crazed fan – she actually didn’t even seem to recognize him, so she was probably just being friendly.

“I mean to say, I-I’m not…” His hand flew over his mouth. Damn stutter, again. He finished his sentence, slightly muffled by his hand covering his mouth, “…I’m not hungry. But, thank you.”

Well, now to plan how he was going to get out of this without looking either like he was running away (which he really was) or like he was brushing her off (which he really wasn’t). Maybe she was here to watch the view as well, and he could slip away unnoticed once her attention was off of him.

ooc: aw, she's super cute! ali's not prepared xD

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For someone who was both used to being largely ignored by people, and wanting to be noticed by them all the same, Jyothi found it a little surprising that she almost wanted to squirm when Ali just stared at her. Of course there was nothing in particular behind it--he didn't know her from a hole in the wall--but when someone you're used to seeing emote soulfully from a screen stands right in front of you, looking at you, specifically, it...was almost unnerving.

Jyothi didn't want to let herself get unnerved, though. If she missed some kind of breakthrough because of a few butterflies, she'd never forgive herself.

His words didn't come out the way his lines on TV did--but then Jyothi supposed that was life, as opposed to fiction. At it wasn't even 7 am, to be fair.

"I get it," she said with a soft laugh as she sauntered up beside him at the railing--not too close, that would be weird, wouldn't it?--and looked down several stories at the pavement below, where the city was already waking up, delivery trucks and cabs slipping through the brightening streets with muted roars and rumbles. "I can't get my head right until I've had a shot of caffeine, first thing. But then I've gotta pace myself for the rest of the day or I get the shakes," she said, blowing on her cup of tea before she took a tentative sip, the sleeves of her sweater pulled down over her hands to keep them warm.

"...so you work in the building too, huh?"

Okay, so pretend ignorance was kind of a lie. But it wasn't the sort of lie that hurt anyone, really. And it wasn't the worst lie she'd ever told. Or lived.

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“You do?” He replied when the girl gave a chuckle and told him she ‘gets it’. Gets what exactly? It would probably be too much to hope that she understood his skittishness. This odd nervousness he got whenever he was expected to be himself and not somebody else. Everything was so much easier when he was playing a role, and his feelings and actions and speech were all there in the script for him to perform.

Soon enough, though, she explained what she meant – apparently she had attributed his faltering speech to not having had enough caffeine. Well, that was a... generous way of looking at it.

When she came closer – to the railing, of course, but also to him – he tried not to look too suspicious with taking a step back. He didn’t want to seem rude, but he was having enough trouble getting by in this conversation now without having her right beside him.

“Oh. Right, that’s- yes. Caffeine.”That made no sense whatsoever, but hopefully it got the general idea of agreement across. “I mean, I shouldn’t. Be drinking it. But, uh…”

That wasn’t much better. Why was he even still talking?

“Yeah…”He finished lamely, staring over the edge of the railing as well. He focused his gaze on one of the street-vendor carts down below instead of making any sort of attempt at eye contact. He knew if he tried he’d just get even more fidgety, and that wasn’t very cool.

Then again, maybe the expectation of being cool wasn’t there after all. When she asked him if he worked there, that just about confirmed his original thought that she didn’t actually recognize him. That was… kind of bittersweet. Ali, of course, had no illusions over his own popularity. He had a lot of fans – as far as he was concerned – and the show he was on regularly was fairly popular, but he was never in any break-out roles. His fame came mostly from the fact that he made several Hottest Actors Under 20 lists in various teen magazines (before he finally graduated to the Under 25 category when he hit his 21st birthday). … But, at least if she didn’t know of him she couldn’t be disappointed. That was something.

There was a moment of silence.

Oh, right, he was supposed to be answering her question.

“Y-ye-yes.”He clamped his mouth shut - it was getting worse. After a breath, “I do, actually. Work here.”

That was… accurate at least.

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She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and realized he probably wasn't going to be immediately forthcoming about the details of his work. Which was fine--she could understand if people with even a modicum of fame didn't want to discuss it with strangers on rooftops. She could be a psycho or something. A psycho with a cranberry scone and some green tea. And it was to Ali's credit that he didn't seem to be the bragging type.

Jyothi wasn't certain about herself--she probably was the bragging type. But when you weren't famous, bragging was just another word for self-promotion. More than anything, Jyothi wanted to stop wondering what it must be like to be recognized, to be in demand, and find out for herself. She wanted to know for sure, and from her own experience. All experience would make her a better actor, wouldn't it? Maybe she wasn't getting callbacks to auditions because she just didn't have the kind of emotional depth or range of experience people wanted--but she was just some kid from the suburbs. Not even cool New York or Los Angeles suburbs...the Chicago suburbs. The city which was only really known anywhere else for being the windy one.

"I'm stuck in the cafe," she said with a shrug, pulling the wedge-shaped, cranberry-studded scone out of its paper bag and biting into one corner. "But someday I'll be...upstairs. Somewhere. On a show." Just then it hardly mattered to her which--and surely she could play any part required. "Sure you don't want some?" she said, the words half-muffled by the bulge of scone in her cheek as she offered to break him off a piece.