While she had been walking to the diner earlier that morning, when the sun was barely peeking out from behind the gargantuan skyscrapers that littered the city surrounding her, she noticed something that made her freeze. This stall in her step was caused by an item her eyes chanced upon while she was sauntering to her job; a sign, white and large, plastered on the front window of the store she had been walking by. Upon the sign there was depicted a face in black ink, with white eyes and pointed ears, staring blankly forward. Across it, there was a large red circle and a slash right through it, and underneath the picture, a sentence. She continued to gaze at the sign and the words printed below for quite some time, before, in fear of being caught, resuming the few remaining steps she had left to her workplace.

Tension.

"I knew it."

She turned to the direction of the voice, breaking from her reverie. "What?"

"You said it wasn't a guy, but I saw you two earlier…" The brunette stated, leaning in closer to her coworker. "And might I say, not a bad catch."

"What are you talking about?" Margaret asked with fake annoyance, cleaning off the table she was near and removing the plates and cups from the surface.

"That blue jay!" The other replied, cleaning up the table adjacent to her. "You two are obviously a thing." The robin chuckled.

"Mordecai?" She shook her head as she began to wipe down the table. "Nah, he's just a friend." Dianne raised an eyebrow at her friend, to which Margaret scoffed and continued to clean. "Really, he is."

"Whatever you say," the human said, picking up some cups. "And besides, you still got that other guy, what's his name?" The other froze. "How are things going with him?" Her movements stopped completely, and she remained still for quite some time. "That well, huh?"

"Text messages," she said through gritted teeth, picking up the towel she had been wiping the table down on with vigor. "Who breaks up through text messages? I mean, I knew he was prude, but that-"

"Come on honey, you're better off without him," Dianne said, cutting the other off.

"You might be right, but still…" Margaret sighed, resuming her cleaning duties. "I don't want to be alone the rest of my life. And sometimes I wish I could be oblivious and not give a care in the world… kinda like you."

"Sorry, I blanked out for a second there, did ya say something?"

"Never mind…"

"Don't worry about it." The brunette gave the bird an empowering pat on the back. "Love isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"Who said anything about love?" Margaret asked, carrying the dirty dishes back to the kitchen with her partner. "I just want someone to be with."

"Again, I don't understand you, kid." Entering through the double doors, they set the objects in the sink for the other staffers to take care of them. "That's not a one way street. You have to give if you want something in return."

"You and Bill, for example," Margaret continued, seemingly ignoring what Dianne had just advised, "you always say how you hate him. How you wish you two had never been married. But you always have him. He's always there. That's what I want. Minus the hating."

"Girl, you have to understand something." Dianne began to grab a few trays with food on them. "He and I… we get into fights. We yell at each other. Hell, there are days when I wish we'd never met. But…" She smiled complacently toward the bird. "I'd never leave him. And it's not because I don't want to be alone. I've shown that I'm perfectly competent on my own. It's because I love him."

Margaret groaned as she too began to grab several trays. "That's what I thought about Slasher, too. Turns out I was just being ignorant."

"Are you saying I'm ignorant?"

"Of course not!" Margaret retaliated, setting the trays down momentarily as she rubbed her head ferociously.

"You look angry."

"He said he didn't want to be around…" She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence as it had originally been intended. "…people like me. In public. Because of the bad rep "our kind" has been getting around here lately," she finished, air quoting.

"Like I said; he's a jerk. Not for you. Move on."

"How can I "move on" when the person I thought could be the one I would spend the rest of my life with has just told me that I'm a…" She stopped as before, shaking her head. "I'm just not ready for a new relationship. Especially not now."

"Hey!" The two turned as their manager again yelled across the kitchen. "What did I tell you two about slacking? Get back to work!" They nodded as he disappeared.

"I can't believe we still work here, you know."

"I can't believe you do," Margaret said, picking up her trays and preparing to take them out. "Bill has a job, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but I'd go crazy if I was cooped up in that house all day," Dianne replied. "Gives me some kinda purpose in life, I guess. What about you?"

"This job is all I have left. Without it…" She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. She didn't want to know what may become of her if she lost her job. It seemed to her that it was destiny for her to just work in that coffee shop for the rest of her life, and that she was useful for nothing else. It was as if she was only a cardboard cutout of her true self… a real part of her that the rest of the world would never see.

"Well, you might want to make a move on that blue jay soon. Or someone else might," the other said in a teasing voice before leaving the kitchen, removing herself from Margaret's line of vision.

Margaret liked Mordecai's company. She thought that he was a cool guy, and great to be around. She smiled to herself as she thought about the other bird's seemingly constant happy attitude whenever she was around him. But the more she thought about it, the more she began to fear.

Did she like him? Not just as a friend, but… as a lover? Her feathers began to stand on end as she continued to ponder the situation. Did he like her the same way? What Dianne had said began to get under her skin. Mordecai had been wanting to spend more time with her lately… usually it had been Rigby and Mordecai together all the time. It was always odd to see one without the other, in her eyes. She contemplated the meaning behind all these acts.

Her mind was beginning to drive her insane. Why was she only now thinking about Mordecai on terms of a higher relationship? Had it been what Dianne had told her? Was it the fact that the only long-term boyfriend she'd ever dated had just broke up with her? Or was it simply that they were of the same kind; birds of a feather, so to speak? She scoffed at herself for using such a common and moronic adage. Her thoughts continued to wander, not knowing whether or not relationships were for her… not knowing if that one boy she had known for so long could possibly be the one for her. She liked him… but she didn't know if…

"What is this?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I asked for the omelette with no yolks."

"Oh… I'm so sorry, I'll have that fixed right away."

"That's why you're just a waitress."

"Right… sorry again. Can I get you anything else?"

"No, we're fine. Thank you." The voice was stern and uncompassionate.

"Okay. I'll be right back with your food." But as she left, she could hear the low whisper that the crass man tried to conceal.

"Can you believe they still let them work at places like this? So incompetent."

She passed through the double doors and stopped moving. She thought she had lost control. Her love life, her social status, everything… it was almost as if it had already been set out for her. That she would never fall in love and get married, and that she would forever be seen as someone who could never accomplish anything because of the way she looked like. Because of who she was. The sign she had seen at the beginning of the day implanted itself in her mind - an image she could never erase. And that one sentence below it that made her body cringe. She hated it with a passion, and yet, at the same time, her body remained limp as it stood still, as if it had lost the will to keep moving. To live. She didn't want to continue life in this world; she wanted to huddle in the corner of the room, cry into her knees, and fade away from the earth altogether. After all, who would miss her? She felt so worthless, so insignificant…

She continued to walk. She wouldn't let it beat her. Not without a fight.