"Looking for something to do this Thursday night?
See the best of Elementopia tonight at our annual town photo cruise!
Set your camera to exploration mode with the dazzling CBD. Capture the quaintness of Pebblebrook. Make memories at our gorgeous Coral Isle. But most importantly, be a part of the vibrant Red Light District- a must for any Elementopian.
Tickets and spaces are limited, so get yours--"
Feed lost. Refresh?
"What the-"
Morning #4. Blessed with a rather comforting evening the night prior, both Wade and Ember found themselves in a better headspace. But perhaps not at this moment, as the two found themselves minutes from starting work for the day.
Over at the EBID HQ, Wade sat slumped on the couch in the staff area, surfing through his phone to use up the last few minutes before work. That is until an advert on his Elementsagram feed broke his flow, triggering his anxious tendencies...
"Dang phone... what's with this thing?" he queried.
That wasn't the first time the damned thing played up that morning. In fact, on the bus on the way there, his cell service kept dropping in and out. Had this happened to Ember a whole lot of elemental folks would be in trouble. But this was Wade; keeper of the cool, goer with the flow. Mostly. This was certainly a test of his patience.
"Ripple!"
Wade instantly leapt up out of his slumber, straightening himself up as Mutrick stared him down, like always. Wade got to his feet, standing straight like a soldier.
"We got a quiet day today, so you're Groucho's problem," Mutrick told.
Wade dusted himself off, looking at Mutrick with a face of perplexion.
"Groucho's problem?" he asked.
"Somethin' about a job for you. I wouldn't know. The guy's an enigma." Mutrick answered.
Wade slung his satchel to his torso and stood slightly hunched in curiosity. Mutrick's eyes locked dead on as his bumbling subordinate walked over to Groucho's office - the two exchanging such looks after a while. Wade stared at Mutrick defensively as he pushed the office door open...
"About time."
"What? I thought I was on time?"
"Oh- you were. I just felt like saying it."
"Oh-kay."
As it turned out, Ember's current dealings weren't too dissimilar to her dewdrops. She arrived to work, walking into the little study room she worked in the day prior. She slung her bag to her torso, taking a seat at her desk.
Luckily for her, her superior had already parked himself to the side of her desk. Already feeling pressured from the get-go, she slowly looked toward Phil in a standoffish, thrown-off manner.
"My apologies, Ms Lumen. I'm just- inquisitive." Phil apologized.
Ember raised an eyebrow as she put her bag onto her desk, unpacking her items including her exam draft design.
As she laid it out on the desk, Phil hovered over her shoulder.
"Mhmm... uh-huh... hmm!" he sounded.
Distracted, Ember sternly put down her utensils sharply, slowly looking at Phil in an antsy way.
"Could you stop doing that?" she requested.
"Doing what?" Phil asked.
"Hovering! It's really stressing me out!" Ember complained.
"Oh- ho-ho! Is that how you speak to a superior?" Phil sassed.
"Ugh- sorry."
"Look, it's fine, Mr Ripple. These things happen."
Sat in Groucho's office back at the EBID HQ, Wade slumped in his chair with his satchel at his chest, holding it in protection.
"W- which part?" Wade queried.
His superior looked over at him blankly.
"The closure papers you handed into that shop yesterday?" Groucho pressed.
"Oh! Hehe- right." Wade recalled.
Groucho raised an eyebrow at his odd subordinate. He handed over a small clipboard with some notes on it.
"Their management contacted me this morning saying that one of our guys came into their store yesterday handing in a foreclosure notice." Groucho notified.
Wade let down a heaving gulp, slumping further down into his chair. Groucho leaned forward at him - almost in sync.
"Mutrick sent you on this?" he queried.
Wade's expression of fright soon slipped off of his face. His shoulders raised, and his satchel lowered to his lap. Wade let out a big sigh of relief, nodding quickly in confirmation.
With his query answered, Groucho leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers.
"As to be expected," Groucho answered.
"Wait- so this isn't my fault?" Wade questioned.
"Can't be. Superiors order out these forms, so in these cases, it's no one's fault but theirs," he replied.
He slid over a new form, akin to the one Wade delivered to the store yesterday by accident.
"But you will be responsible for delivering these new forms I've made for them as an apology," he told.
Wade took the form and held it up, looking it over.
"I'd like this done before midday, if possible."
"Midday?!"
"Yes, Ms Lumen. I'll review it with a few superiors, and give you some feedback by that time."
As if the two lovebirds had exchanged feelings, Ember slicked her flames in a stressed reaction to Phil's request.
"Not to worry, Ms Lumen. Feel free to lend a hand to anyone that needs it, or take the time to brush up on your Glassitecture theory." Phil told.
Ember shot him a concerned look in shock. Phil let out a playful scoff with a smirk, departing the room with her exam draft in tow.
Ember spun around in her chair, slamming her head onto her desk in a panic. The room fell dead quiet as she rested her head on the desk, looking to her right with a blank look of stress.
"Pfft- review it. It shouldn't take hours to review one exam draft." she scoffed.
Following nearly 10 seconds of blankly staring at the wall, she got her phone out of her bag and brought it up to her face.
THWACK!
Now tasked with hurriedly scrambling to fix the sham job the day before, Wade raced out the door of EBID HQ with papers in tow, sprinting as if his job depended on it - which it did.
In the midst of his marathon, his phone perked up with a call from Ember, causing him to scramble to answer it.
"Ember! What's up?" Wade swiftly yelped.
"Hey, Wade. It's slow at work this morning. How's yours?" Ember said.
"The complete opposite. I gotta go to Pebblebrook and back to work by midday." Wade panicked.
"Midday?! Whoa. Honestly, I'd kill for something intense right now. All I'm doing is sitting, waiting for my higher-ups to look over my exam draft." Ember told.
Wade came to a sharp halt - partly due to a set of quad-elemental walkway lights.
"Your exam draft?! Does that mean you're doing it?" Wade exclaimed eagerly.
"I guess so," Ember confirmed half-heartedly.
The moment the walkway lights turned green, Wade resumed his sprint along, phone firmly at his ear.
"Ember, that's so good!" he exclaimed.
"Wade, are you running?" Ember queried.
"What? Why?" he replied.
"You're hard to make out at the moment. All I can hear is wind." Ember observed.
"Look- I might be a little behind with work at the moment. I don't have a company car because Dusty and his entourage took them again." Wade complained.
"What?" Ember queried in concern.
"What?" Wade sharply retorted, a bit panicked.
"Who's Dusty?" Ember asked.
"Oh! H- he's- never mind!" Wade stammered.
Almost as if she were mirroring him, Ember started to do the same, albeit in a more jagged sense.
"Wade- I- tell me-"
Suddenly, the call hung up without rhyme or reason. Wade looked down at his phone with a face of perplexion mid-transit.
"Dang it. Cell service." he barked.
Much like how Ember would react, he huffed angrily, trying to redial her just to be sure. Thankfully...
"Wade? What happened?" Ember began.
"Cell service is being a butt right now," Wade admitted.
"Huh- wha-"
Once again, the call completely dropped out.
"Man!" Wade cursed.
He brought up his phone to his face with a frown, violently shaking it about. It let out a short vibration, along with a 'connected' notification.
Contingent to calls dropping out his cell service, Wade had a better idea and went to send his love an SMS instead.
Hey, Em. I'm really sorry, but my cell service isn't being cooperative with calls atm. I'll see you later. I hope you have an awesome day!
Still hurrying to get to Pebblebrook in time, Wade refocused, slipping his phone back into his satchel and racing along.
Little did he know, the phone let out one sharp vibration he didn't account for...
Sat in her study room bored out of her mind, Ember put her phone face down following her call dropping out for no reason. Her arms lay folded on the desk, providing a nice nesting ground for her head. She nestled into it, exhaling one big breath.
Suddenly, her phone let out a sharp vibration with a notification. She sharply got her head out of her arm's nest, picking it up in hopes that her dewdrop had gotten back to her.
It was a loved one alright. A message from her father, whom she hadn't heard from the whole week, came up. She lit up, beaming with a surprised smile.
"Ember! I told phone to say hello to you!" Bernie's message read.
"Ashfa! Oh- I miss you so much! How's Mom?" Ember replied.
"Your Mother good! She busy telling customer if they match or not." Bernie replied.
"Haha! Classic Mom, on the grind!" Ember quipped.
"Grind?" Bernie's message read.
"Oh- it means 'to be busy'!" Ember clarified.
"Oh! Like- hanky panky?" Bernie queried.
"No, Dad! Oh, my flame." Ember cringed.
"Ha-ha! Much to learn, little flame. How go Element Pier?" Bernie asked.
"Elementopia?" Ember corrected.
"Agh- schutz! Coal-nut, Kol-nut." Bernie quipped.
"Eh- Elementopia is good, Dad! I got big news!" Ember said.
"Yes?" Bernie said.
"I'm already going for my exam tomorrow. I'll be a Glassitect!" Ember admitted.
"...Glass-a-wha?" Bernie questioned.
"Glassitect. You know, a glass architect?" Ember clarified.
"That thing where you spit out glass?" Bernie replied.
"Uh- yeah. Sure." Ember half-heartedly confirmed.
"Ah, my daughter. Finest glass text in the whole world." Bernie admired.
"Glassitect, Dad." Ember corrected.
"Whatever. Talented daughter, regardless." Bernie reinforced.
"...thanks, Dad." Ember appreciated.
Suddenly, her deep trance into messaging her father was sharply disrupted by a loud knock on the windowed walls behind her. Like a student caught cheating, Ember threw her phone into her lap and hid it. She sharply turned around, only to see Lin waving excitedly at her from afar. Ember returned a half-hearted, awkward wave in return, chuckling.
With Lin on her merry way past again, Ember let out an exhale of relief, turning her attention back to her father's messages.
"I'm gonna have to text you back later. Duty calls!" Ember said.
"Okay, my daughter. Love you." Bernie wished.
"I love you too, Dad." Ember reciprocated.
Feeling fulfilled hearing from her Dad, she gently slipped her phone into her bag. But soon enough, another mystery threw her flames off slightly. She quickly grabbed her phone once again.
She opened her lock screen, staring at it for a moment. There were no further notifications, giving her a good look at her lock screen background; a picture of Wade slicking his hair back in a pose. She loved the photo so much, she had to have a constant reminder that it exists. She chuckled as she admired it, leaning her hand onto her hand and letting it tilt. The only thing distracting her from it was the time, reading 9:41 am.