The calendar in his lap stared up blankly at Ian "Illuminatiated" O'Keefe from upon his lap. Ian chuckled as he realized that he found himself with a little bit of spare time, which was something that he didn't often have these days. Usually what little spare time he did have was spent swimming, kayaking, or walking through the woods. It was his way of decompressing - remaining in tune with nature - and ensuring that he had at least some time away from other people. Hectic, stressful, exhilarating, rewarding, promising, profitable... all things which could be used to describe running a City, but it was definitely not a lonely job. 

Ian groaned as he took a quick look outside from his window to see that the weather was thoroughly abysmal; not quite feeling like doing anything outside in the awful wind and downpour, so, he decided that he'd visit one of the coffee shops in town. Ian left his entourage and associates at the HeadQuarters and made his way to one of his favorite places in town despite the vicious looking skies above. Across the street from the coffee shop, a dog chased after the leash behind it, the owners hands both tightly holding on to a newspaper held above his head. Ian chuckled as the dog spun in circles. It was adorable. 

He entered the shop and shook out his hair very well before taking a seat in one of the padded chairs at the bar. Taking a look down the line he couldn't help but to wonder what in the seven hells' had this particular group all together at the same time in this particular coffee shop. But sure enough the longer he looked the more he was quite certain of it; @Alina, @Gnoch, @LittleBunnyFooFoo and @KillShot were all sitting there eating and sipping upon different delicious foods and beverages. Was it fate that had brought them all together on this day? Or had each of their decisions that day just happened to equate out to them being here now? Fate...or free will? Ian pondered this deeply as his coffee appeared in front of him. He must have had a strange look upon his face, as the waitress was giving him a very peculiar stare. 

"WHAT?! Haven't you ever seen someone go through an existential crisis before? How dare you look down your nose at me like that!" Ian scoffed uncharacteristically, loudly enough for the people at the bar to look up. Taking a sip from his coffee he composed himself and looked over.

"What brings you fine folks here today? And you, Gnoch? I had quite hoped today to be able to escape the workload involved with This Thing of Ours!"

Alina had just arrived back at the Navy Pier on Chicago’s iconic lakefront.  She and a few business associates had just returned from a wonderful Steamboat cruise down Lake Michigan and she was to meet some friends at their favorite coffee shop.  Unfortunately upon returning it started to rain.  It was just my luck, fate actually a young man was running toward me and an older woman was chasing him.  Apparently the young man had snatched her purse.  Using my free will, I stuck my umbrella out and tripped him then hit him hard with the umbrella, almost knocking him out cold.  When the police arrive they said Tell me what you saw, for fucks sake! I told them I saw the man running towards me and the old lady running behind him shouting "Thief! Thief!".

That was enough for them to arrest the guy.  I headed into the coffee shop where @Illuminatiated, @Gnoch, @LittleBunnyFooFoo, @KillShot had gathered and told them about the ordeal I had just gone through.

Foo had woken up early that morning. She wasn’t sure why her internal alarm clock had rung so early but never the less she was awake. Foo steeped her morning tea and sat out on the balcony off her bedroom enjoying the birds singing and the morning sun warming her skin. These moments were definitely hers to relish, most her days were spent doing someone else’s bidding, so the morning tea time was extra special and this morning, being early as it was, would allow her to have extra relaxation time.

Foo looked down towards the street and saw Mr. Jones walking down the way. Mr. Jones was a sweet little old man, had to be in his 90s, widower of about five years, but his kids, grandkids and great grandkids came to visit him often and kept him spry. Mr. Jones waved up to Foo and just as she went to wave back, she saw a group of thugs coming up the other side of the road. Foo wasn’t sure what these punks might do to this little one man, but they were definitely eying him. She jumped from her chair to her night stand where she kept her revolver.  Just then, as fate would have it, the phone rang. In her haste, Foo knocked the phone off the receiver and scrambled to replace it before running out the door.

She was just in time to find those thugs demanding money from Mr. Jones. “Hey assholes!”, Foo yelled as she pointed her revolver at the group. “I don’t know why you have decided to go around picking on old men, but I have decided I won’t allow it on my watch. Get the hell out of here now!”. The group definitely were not expecting to be confronted with a gun and made a quick exit in the direction they came. Mr. Jones gave Foo a sweet smile and a quick hug before carrying on towards his house on his morning stroll.

Foo began to wonder who was on the phone during that madness, she figured someone would speak up or call back at some point. She went home and finished her tea, showered for the day and was in the middle of doing her hair when the phone rang again. Upon answering, she heard Hobbs’ voice on the other end. “What kind of foolishness is going on at your house this morning? I called 10 minutes ago and heard a bunch of noise then the line went dead”. Foo knew this is who had been on the line when she was getting her revolver earlier. “Sorry I hung up on you, I didn't mean to answer the call” she started and then went on to explain the situation out side of her house. Foo and Hobbs chatted for a bit and made a plan to meet up later to go over some business. After hanging up the phone a lot more politely this time, Foo finished getting ready and headed out the door.

As Foo walked down towards her meeting place for some business she needed to attend, she noticed a local coffee shop to her right. Her tummy suddenly rumbled with the smell of fresh baking. Foo then realized, that although she finished her tea, she had not eaten yet that morning. As she entered the shop, she saw some other mobsters were sitting at a table there already. She ordered a scone and joined them. “This has been a day directed by fate! I woke up early for no reason, saved my neighbour from being mugged and now stop in this shop I’ve never been to before and see you lot. At least I was able to make the choice of what to wear, what to eat and to step in on Mr. Jones’ behalf against those thugs. I guess some things are left to fate and others are definitely our own free will”.

Killshot was in a local coffee shop looking over at some folks beside him they looked familiar but when ian illuminiated" O'Keefe walked in he tipped his mug to him. He happened to hear a conversation which seemed to escalate in volume between what appeared to be a young lady and her mother. Trying not to eaves drop he took small sips and glanced over occasionally.

"Mom i want to wear a pants suit to my sister's wedding i don't care!  you give me one good reason i should wear a dress!" she burst out. Her mother replied sternly "if you don't wear a dress like the bridesmaids ill stop you from signing the marriage certificate as a witness." she crossed her arms staring down her youngest and perhaps the most stubborn and rebellious of all 4 of her children, Killshot shakes his head and finishes his coffee He looks over to Gnoch and nods to them "if that aint an example of free will i don't know what one is!"  they chuckled as most of the coffee shop could hear the mother and daughter arguing,

Killshot takes a look around wondering to himself. "how much does fate play in our every day lives?" why did he choose the life when he happened to stumble across a gentlman named Mark? what makes two people fall in love enough to marry one another?" glancing at the mom and daughter. what part did fate have to bring these 4 unique individuals to sit with him at this specific coffee shop? why do some people live longer than others? no matter how you live your life if fate decides its your time to go its yoru time.

All of a sudden he jumped up cursing loudly as his second cup of coffee ended up on his lap. he wiped up as much as he could, paid the lady plus a tip and went for the door nodding to @gnoch,@Littlebunnyfoofoo,@Alina and@ illuminiated who were trying to contain their laughter. Alina could not help herself as she said "bye hot pants!" they all burst out laughing. Killshot guessed that fate has decided he needed to change his pants.

Was it early in the morning, or late in the afternoon? Time was a bit of an outdated concept for Gnoch who mostly went through the motions of life hour by hour. The last time he was fully cognizant of the time it was a very bad two hours at the local library, where they found him sitting in a corner wistfully holding a book in his hands while murmuring about how one day everything would return to their entropic origins. "You can't hide from death." were the words he spoke most loudest, in a moment that was not quite his most prideful.

Before he could figure out the exact measurement of time, a knock on his door woke him from the deep thought of attempting to figure out if it was light out or not-- and the door opening suddenly answered his question, as the sun beat down onto his eyes and took the vision from him for a moment or two. "Hello there, sir. Could I have just one moment of your time? I've got these knives here..." Oh fuck, it was a Door to Door Salesman, the worst of the criminals, and Gnoch would know, as he fancied himself to be quite the criminal.

Gnoch's eyesight was taking a while to come back to him and there was a small ounce of worry that he was going completely blind, but in a moment all vision rushed back at once and the salesman stood there in front of him in full prideful display. He was a bit portly, but not too large, and he seemed to look the sort that would go around trying to sell folks items they didn't want. Thinking fast, Gnoch responded with a very quick sentence: "You know, I have an Uncle that looks just like you. In fact, you have his eyes. Let me go get a photo of him, I'll be right back."

But Gnoch would never return. Instead, he would rush out his back door and into the great outdoors, where he would eventually find himself at a Coffee Shop which at first was completely empty and he thought absolutely nothing of-- it was a nice reprieve from the salesman who was attempting to sell him items that he didn't want-- but eventually more and more people began to filter inside. First Alina who had been dealing with muggers, and then LittleBunnyFooFoo and Killshot, the latter of the two who eventually would run away from the situation in an embarrassing manner. All in all, these small things seemed to add up, and this inconsequential stop into the coffee shops seemed to feel like it had wanted him to be here, or was this again just all in his mind? 

"So what's going on here then?"