Mad Monday Dash (Open, casual)

[TOMMY "THANATOS" KRISTOFFERSON]

It was one of those between moments. He didn't know what to do really besides drink his coffee real slow and wait for the minute hand to move a complete circle. Tommy raised the white, diner standard coffee mug to his lips and sipped. It was bitter and dark, burnt and disgusting. Face void of emotion, Tommy returned the cup to its original position, rotating the handle to point East. Back in place, where it belonged, Tommy picked up his fork and took a lack luster bite of under-ripe fruit. He wasn't hungry, he was eating to pass the time.

Unhealthy his medical schooling told him snidely. To eat just to eat but not to survive was very, very unhealthy. Tommy needed to stay in shape so he couldn't go and get into less than pristine form because he was bored.

Resolved, Tommy sat his fork down again and pushed the plate back again.

"Everything okay there sugar?" The waitress, Dolly asked, coming over to Tommy's booth with her bubble gum pink tipped hand perched on her slim hip.

Tommy gave Dolly a polite smile. "Everything's fine ma'am. I just don't have an appetite this morning," He spoke soft, like he was prone to doing, and Dolly took notice.

Dolly picked up the plate and looked it over, obviously not approving of its contents. "Real sorry hon. Can I get you anything else? We got some real nice pie if you'd like some," Dolly said, her Southern tinged voice high and velvety. She'd be a good woman to earn, Tommy decided.

"No thank you, ma'am. I'm just going to enjoy my coffee and be on my way," Tommy folded his hands on the table and nodded, still smiling his small, welcoming smile. Dolly returned the smile and gave Tommy's shoulder a pat.

"If you change your mind, give me a holler," With that, the waitress walked off, shouting at the cook to start doing a better job of cooking. "We're serving human beings, not farm animals!"

Tommy chuckled quietly, picking up his coffee mug again. Some of the men in the diner were no better than farm animals. There was a beer belly in the corner, cocaine still clinging to his overgrown moustache, a greasy Italian with his hand down his female companion's shirt. They were human beings of the lowest order. Tommy commited their faces to memory and took another sip of his coffee.

Still bitter and dark, still burnt and disgusting.

[MONA LISA DRAGOTI]

Mona was stressed out of her mind. She felt like she was drowning and could catch a breath to save her life. She rushed into the old, run down diner with her arms filled with papers and files. She sat down in a booth as far away from the dirty men and women who filled the bar stools. She didn't have to work today but the doctors and the hospital had given her case reports to fill out and memorize by the next day. And then she had all her AP classes for school to do, not to mention write a letter to one of her pen pals who was on the suicide watch. Mona let the stack of papers and files fall upon the table and winced when it made a loud THUD sound. Mona couldn't believe they gave her 60 cases, she had homework for every class and so many people she had to save from killing themselves. how was she supposed to do all that and keep from not dying herself. Mona just wanted to scream and throw everything off the table.

Mona didn't get stressed out often, but when she did it felt like everything in the world was falling apart. She was mess, something that people didn't see from her. That was why she was in this run down diner, so no one could find her. The smell nauseated her , and most of the men there looked at her like she was something to eat. She didn't think she looked good, her dark jeans tucked into black lightly heeled boots, with a deep purple, flowing top. She covered up with a gray double breasted coat which now laid on lap. Her hair was just down, she didn't do anything to it, she couldn't function right at the moment. Her hands shook slightly as she saw a woman coming over to her.

"Hello sweetheart, what can I get for you today?" The waitress asked her. Her name tag read Dolly

Mona's stomach lurched at the thought of food in her system, but she just put on her smile and looked up at her. "Some water would be greatly appreciated ma'am." She said politely

"Sure darling, anything else I can get for you, we have some great pie" She said pointing to some pie that sat next to a dirty man with a beer belly.

Mona almost gagged at the thought of touching anything that sat near to the man who was eying her like that. Mona smiled at Dolly "No thank you maybe a little later on" Mona kept smiling until she walked away before turning her gaze towards the man. The man looked back at her and lick his lips provocatively and looked her up and down. Mona gave him a flirty smile until he looked back at her face. Then she pointed to him, in the most private of places, and made a snapping motion with her hands. No longer was her smile in place, instead a deep glare of hatred pierced his, until he paled and turned away from her. This was a moment where she was glad she liked women.

Mona smiled at Dolly again as she was given her water, but didn't take a drink. She looked back down at the paperwork that sat on the table. She imagined it burning and then her dancing in the ashes. It was a very nice thought for a short while but then died away quickly. Mona felt her stomach twist in knots and do loops as she grabbed a pen from her purse and click it on. Her hand shook with the stress of thinking about doing all that paperwork. She felt like she was going to die. She reached for the first file and opened it. Her pen fell from her hand as she looked at the mere amount of writing she was required to do.

Mona let out a quiet sobbing moan before letting her head fall on the table. she brought her coat up to her mouth and let out a quiet scream into the fabric. She was falling into the sea, and about drown.

[TOMMY "THANATOS" KRISTOFFERSON]

Tommy was done with his plate and he stood slowly, cleaning up his table as he went. He took his plate over to the counter and passed it off to Dolly who took it with a smile. Not wanting to take up too much space, Tommy also brought his coffee mug so he could sit at the counter, safely out of the way. Not wanting to sit near the filth, Tommy took a seat near the young woman who had castrated the drunk effortlessly.

"I hope you don't mind," He said quietly as he sat down. "I just need a place to finish my coffee then I'll be out of your hair," Tommy spoke so softly that he doubted the young girl could hear him. He couldn't tell what sort of woman she was yet. She wasn't a temptation, she easily disturbed other men, swaying them from intercourse with her, but that didn't automatically make her an award either. She seemed very abrasive; no man would want that.

Tommy shrugged and turned back to his coffee. He didn't have any where to go so he took his time with it. His quiet enjoyment of the vile liquid was cut short when the woman gave an overdramatic cry and flopped forward. Tommy watched her, nonplussed by her outcry but still feeling obligated to help somehow; he was there and he liked to be useful.

"Pardon me, miss, but is there anything I can help you with?"

[MONA LISA DRAGOTI]

Mona turned her head as she heard someone speak to her. She looked him up and down and was apprehensive in talking to him. she didn't really trust random strangers, it was a rule you live by when growing up in New York city. He didn't seem to be looking at her the same way the other man did, with lust in his eyes and dirty thoughts on the brain. He hadn't commented on her freak attack that she had moments before he spoke to her. She was embarrassed over the way she was acting. She was no longer seven years old, she should of handled the stress in a better more productive way. This screaming and dramatics was not something that was expected from her. She was going to become an accomplished therapist , if she couldn't handle the work then she didn't deserve her dream to come true.

She lifted her head off from the table and sat up straight, she fixed her clothes that got twisted in her fit. She turned toward the man and gave him a smile to hide the stress that she was feeling. She put her hands on her jacket that sat in her lap. She kept her face in it's happy smile as she thought of something to tell the man, without him thinking that she was crazy. She gripped her hands and took a deep breathe.

" I don't think so , Unless you know how to do Doctor case files, keep people from killing themselves and know AP and College level Sociology in our society today. Other then those things, I don't think anyone could help me, but Thank you so much for asking. It's more then most people would do." Moan kept the smile on her face while talking. Sometimes she wondered how her mouth didn't just fall off from smiling so much. Or why no one seemed to notice that it was fake.

[TOMMY "THANATOS" KRISTOFFERSON]

The girl was on edge and lying through her teeth. Tommy was a smart man, he could tell when someone wasn't being perfectly honest with him. He shrugged. "I can give it a shot. It's been a while since I was in school but i know that social sciences don't change much," It had been part of his ciriculum. As a doctor to be, Tommy had been required to take sociology and psychology; it had been a while since Tommy had tried to remember any of it but he knew it would probably come back to him, no problem.

"I took sociology back in the day in med school. Probably hasn't changed much since then,"

His curiousity was piqued with this girl. She put on a good show, a good smile to make others leave her alone. That meant she was hiding something inside that she didn't want others to ever find. Being in between things, Tommy wanted to keep him mind active and delving for that secret would do so. It would keep him busy and as entertained as Tommy could get; whether he discovered the secret or not wasn't of consequence to him. He honestly didn't care about it.

[MONA LISA DRAGOTI]

Mona turned her gaze toward the man and felt her smile fade away. She kept her eyes steady on his for a few seconds before looking back at the papers that sat in front of her. She didn't know what to think about this man. His tone was one that seemed like he didn't care about anything at all, yet he offered to help her with this mess. No one helped Mona with anything. She was out in the world on her own now that her parents kicked her out. She was used to being on her own but it was stressful at times for her to deal with. She wasn't even a legal adult, yet she paid the bills, lived alone and worked so many jobs. Not to mention High school, NYU classes and Volunteer work. At times it just got way to much for her 17 year old mind to handle, though most of the time she felt like she was middle aged, not a teenager.

And then there was those times where she felt like a child lost in the world. Now was one of those times, where some of the emotions that she worked so hard to keep inside came out. The fear and doubt that she had kept away from everyone else could be seen on her face. Her eyes cast downward, and hands clutched tightly in her lap. Her smile had vanished and was replaced with a small ,sad frown. It was moments like this that made Mona feel like she was 7 again. Too old to be ignorantly happy, and too young to pretend that she was strong. She knew that it was silly of her to become suddenly sad over the offer of help, she should of been jumping with joy. Yet the offer of help just reminded her that she couldn't do it alone. But she did need the help.

Mona kept her head and eyes down, her hands clutched so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her voice was soft and laced with slight sadness as she asked "Could you please help me?"

[TOMMY "THANATOS" KRISTOFFERSON]

A sense of pity for the girl crept over Tommy. He didn't pity people often but when he did it was for good reason. It was because they were beyond hope or happiness and stood on the precipice of losing it all. Tommy had never gotten there but he hadn't felt hope or happiness either. He didn't have to worry about those emotions. It made it easier to get through a day with having to worry about any of those things; it came with no guilt. No guilt was good. No guilt meant he could do his job, his real job, without having to pay for it mentally. A soldier was worthless if his mind was comprimised and Tommy wasn't going to let that happen to him. He didn't feel guilt, shame, pride, hope, happiness, despair. It made it easier to march on.

Tommy glanced at the beer-gutted swine out of the corner of his eye. He was going to help this girl, she was like a pup tossed outside and left to starve. The pig was watching her dying and not feeding her. That was no way to treat a prize, a precious reward that ought to be protected and worshipped. Tommy turned away from the pig after committing his face to memory and faced Mona again.

Moving slowly, he leaned in a looked at her work, making it very clear that he was harmless while doing so. He had no intention of taking advantage of her. Before he even addressed the work though, Tommy held out a hand gingerly. "Name's Tommy. I'll make sure to help you out the best I can,"

He was going to help her out and she'd never know it. Maybe she'd look at the news and see beer-gut's face and feel relieved, but she'd never suspect it was him. Soft spoken, gentle Tommy Kristofferson wasn't capable of such violence. Oh, no.

[MONA LISA DRAGOTI]

Mona kept her hands in her lap, but let them ball into tighter fists as the man leaned over to look at her work. She knew he didn't mean any harm, but Mona didn't like people near her. She definitely didn't like people touching her, Lo was the only person that should could stand touching her, and even then she always felt uncomfortable. If she wasn't lying to herself she would diagnose the cause of the problem as a tragic childhood, but most of the time she told herself to shut the hell up and pretend like everything was fine. It wasn't healthy for her to pretend like everything was fine when she knew it wasn't, she of all people knew that. Yet she continued to do it. it was a bad habit that she had no intention in stopping. The man was so close to her now she could practically feel his breath on her face, and she almost let out a sigh of relief when he moved back. It wasn't him, she acted this way with anyone who came into her space.

Mona released the grip she had on her jacket before looking at the hand that the Man held out. Tommy was his name. Mona looked at Tommy's hand and reached out towards it with her own hand. She shook his hand gently but also firm, not loose. She had learned from her father at a young age that you need to show people you are strong from the handshake you give them. It was one of the few things she had ever learned from her father. She looked at Tommy before saying , "My name is Monica, but everyone calls me Mona due to my middle name being Lisa"

Mona looked down at the stacks of papers before her. She shouldn't of asked Tommy to help her. It was unfair to ask for someone's help for a work that she should of done herself. But she would also feel rude for rejecting the help he offered. It was a double edged sword, either way she felt uncomfortable with her emotions. Mona wasn't used to having to face emotions head on, but today was so stressful that she couldn't keep her fake smile ,that was famous for being flawless, on her face.

Mona sighed and looked back up towards Tommy, "Thank you for helping me...I'm not used to anyone actually offering to help." She looked down embarrassment on her face.

[TOMMY "THANATOS" KRISTOFFERSON]

Tommy shrugged and pulled some of the papers towards him. "Nice to meet you Monica," Mona, a nickname, was not appropriate for him to use. He had no interest in the girl at all, not in friendship or even companionship, he was just being polite. That dictated that he simply refer to her by her given name even though she would call him by his nickname. No one called him Thomas, most people never though that deep. They assumed he was named Tommy, or Tom, but Thomas was never considered.

He began to flip through the papers, reading what was on them in passing. Basic college work and some easier work, probably from an accelerated high school course. "You have a heavy load here," He remarked lightly, trying to recall the information he had to learn when in school. He couldn't really remember most of it despite his remarkable ability to remember most things. He hadn't paid attention to psychology or sociology while in college. His entire focus had been on learning medicine. "I'm not sure what I can do to help, but I'm willing to try,"

It was unfortunate that he had nothing else to do for a while. Stagnation was horrible for Tommy. Stagnation gave him too many options; it let him observe, take note, plan but he couldn't act on it right away. It took too long for all the pieces to fall into place. It taunted him, showing him all the wrong-doers in society without letting him take care of them.

Beer gut on the opposite end of the counter, for instance. It would be easy to eliminate him now but he couldn't. He had already given away his spare time to Monica and besides, it was daylight. Tommy never killed during the day, it was too easy for passerby's to identify him.

[MONA LISA DRAGOTI]

Mona didn't know why but Tommy calling her Monica made something in her chest tighten and twist. It hurt but not in a way that most things hurt her. She had only ever been called Monica when she was a baby and only by her Father. Mona was a nick name she got from her middle name, Lisa. People thought it was funny that her name was "Mona Lisa". But Mona just wanted to be normal, and a nickname seemed like the way to do it when she was young. But she truly just liked the name Monica once in a while. She'd gotten so used to Mona that she just told everyone now that it was her name. She guessed that it was her own fault that no one called her Monica, but it was too late to stop it now. Too many people already knew her as Mona.

Mona looked at her work before grabbing some of it. She guessed that she should just be thankful that it was only this much. She could of have even more work from the Therapist office that she worked in. She would rather do this then have even more work. Mona knew that most people couldn't do the work she did, even people with a medical background didn't understand what she was doing. Then again most people thought that she was crazy for having so much stuff to do, Advance high school classes, Early college start classes at NYU, interning at hospitals, working with suicide patients, and then working as a beginning therapist. She couldn't count all the times that someone asked her when she had time to sleep. The answer was really simple, she didn't sleep during the week. Maybe an hour or two but most of her sleep came on the weekends. In fact that was all she did on the weekends.

Mona Looked at the case files with a sigh. "Um if you like you can just read over it and summarize what it says. That would be a great help." Mona didn't make eye contact and kept her head down pretending to look at her work. In truth she was just completely embarrassed about needing help.

She took her glass of water in hand and watched as it shook a little before taking a drink. She also didn't eat during the week. Well she ate, but not as often as she should. Mona was the opposite of a nervous eater, she couldn't even look at food when she was nervous of stressed, She felt sick to her stomach and had her running from the room as quickly as possible. She knew that it wasn't healthy not to eat, she had been told hundreds of times by the doctors she interned with, but Mona just couldn't break the habit. It made her hands shaky sometimes and her to get dizzy when standing, but that was it. She didn't have a eating disorder, she knew that. She loved food and when she wasn't stressed or nervous she would eat many different types.

Mona let out a quiet sigh before starting to read the first page in front of her. She hoped that Tommy didn't mind helping her as much as he said he did. She would feel terrible if he was stuck here when he had something more to do.

[TOMMY "THANATOS" KRISTOFFERSON]

Tommy nodded mutely and took the offered papers. He didn't look particularly smart, in fact, Tommy looked like he was a bit on the slow side. It was because of his eyes and his forehead, he learned. His forehead, high and broad, paired with his sunken eyes made him look like a Neandrathal. Cavemen weren't smart, they were slow and clumsy, programmed to hunt and kill rather than think and plan. Humorously, Tommy mused that he was part caveman after all.

He thought and planned in order to hunt and kill. Tommy was the evolutionary gap between their ancestors and their weakling current forms. Tommy was of the same mettle as the great generals and leaders who conquered the world. Stragey met carnage on the battle field, now it melded together on the streets, in the alley ways, bleeding together into one masterpiece. One ultimate goal.

Tommy started to read over the papers, already feeling quite bored with it all. It took him no time to finish the first section, summarizing the contents succinctly and then moving on. The time went by relatively quickly like that. Tommy read the papers and translated all the information into a smaller package before telling Monica about everything she needed to know. Occasionally he'd throw in something that wasn't even on the page, something that was relevant but had been forgotten for some reason. Inadequate study materials and the schools believed that the youth would be prepared for the world? Laughable.

[MONA LISA DRAGOTI]

Mona made sure that she had her small notebook and pen out beside her as she read and summarized what was on the pages. She focused her attention on her pen leaving Tommy's words on the paper. She was organized, neat, and almost perfect. Mona's mind worked a mile a minute, the wheels and cogs spinning in a never ending clockwork fashion. Mona was a hard worker, she always had been and always would be. She wouldn't of gotten as far as she had if she wasn't one. She was unusually smart for someone her age , and never took that fact for granite. She counted as her intelligence as a blessing, no matter how many times it seemed like a curse.

Mona made sure that her notes were all straight and aligned. She liked to look back over her work and feel proud that she was able to keep everything in a orderly fashion. She kept reading and writing as she listened to what Tommy told her and wrote down what he had. She was incredibly grateful to him for doing this for her.

"I can not tell you how much I am grateful to you, sir" Mona could of used his first name , Tommy, but she always felt as if it was disrespectful to do that, especially for someone who had offered to help her though he didn't have to. This man deserved her upmost respect and that was what he would get from her. "If I can ever, help you in anyway, I would gladly be at your service."

[TOMMY "THANATOS" KRISTOFFERSON]

Tommy held back his derisive snort at her offer. She wouldn’t be able to help him. The things he did, the way he lived, was best done alone. He didn’t need some overachieving teenager’s help. Especially one who couldn’t even help herself. Tommy brushed off her comment with a small smile and a polite declination.

“I don’t have much anything else going on today so I really don’t mind,” Tommy explained after summarizing yet another page. It was a bit bizarre reliving certain aspects of his college life but he didn’t mind. It gave him something to actually think about that differed from his norm.

While he liked routine, even Tommy grew tired of it. Tommy needed the structure to survive but he needed variety as well. In limited amounts. His world was carefully controlled and when he did mix things up, he did so with caution. Tommy refused to take unnecessary risks, even if those risks didn’t endanger his mission. He just wasn’t like that.

Tommy finished reading from the stack of papers Monica had given him and passed them back. “Anything else?”

[MONA LISA DRAGOTI]

Mona looked down at the stack of papers that sat next to Tommy and was amazed on how much they had gotten done. No how much he had gotten done. He was the one that did all the work. All Mona did was listen and take notes, not a hard to do. It must of been boring for him. The subject at hand was not one that most people found fascinating, even Mona found it boring and over used. She much rather liked psychology better. It was after all what she wanted to go into.

Mona knew that it was hard to become a therapist, but she was already so close to fulfilling her dream that she couldn't even stop to think about quitting. She would push forward, even through her loneliness and abandonment.

"Thank you, No there is nothing else"