Home sweet home [OPEN]

Alex's apartment complex, March 1st, afternoon.

The red flames danced in the eyes of the smiling man known as Alexander Stone. There wasn't much to smile at, but the man insisted on smiling anyway. It didn't matter to him that his apartment was on fire. It didn't matter to him that about 50,000 pounds was lost in those flames. It didn't matter that he was now homeless.

None of that mattered, because Alex knew he was still alive. Sure, he had some pains in his body. He never really recovered well after that attack he had saved the lady Adel from. His back still ached and his right arm shook from time to time. But that was fine, he had saved her life, and it was all manageable. Still... This was terrible. His home was burning down, and there was nothing Alex could do. His smile was strained, resigned and sad, but it was still a smile.

So it was with a heavy heart he walked away. Lately, he had been walking everywhere. He was too cheap to buy a new bicycle, and so he was forced to wander on his feet. He decided he'd go to his job and tell them the bad news. And so he walked, it took about an hour, but he reached the supermarket, only to see his boss outside.

"Allo there, Chapman, I've got some terrible news..." Mr. Chapman, his boss, just shook his head.

"No no, Alex my boy, don't tell me any bad news. I've had enough. The market's being shut down."

Alex, was quiet. His smile got even more strained, and he felt broken inside. He had just lost his home, and now his job. "T-thank you for telling me, Chapman... Good luck..." Alex turned, ignoring the world, and walked away. He walked and walked, aimlessly, not caring where he was going. Idly, he minded the law in his wanderings, as to not get ran over, but his feet just took him around town in a daze. Homeless and jobless.

As he was wandering, he heard something in the telly from a window shop. Something about local identity theft. His face flushed of all color, he went right to his bank. Once there, he got even more bad news. He previously had 150,000 pounds or so in the bank. Now, he had nothing. He'd been robbed blind. Leaving the bank, he sat down on a bench nearby. His smile looked maniacal now. His home had burned down, his job shut down, and now he had no money. It was like he was a child all over again. He wasn't sure how he would survive, really. So he just sat there, smiling into his hands as tears poured from his eyes.

The first bird songs of the year floated by unheard by most as they moved about on the busy London streets, and for those that did hear they did not care for what time did they have to stop and enjoy the natural music that surrounded them each and every day? Unnoticed too went the buzzing of the worker bees and the newly green and budding plants that had once again been born into the world. For the first time in months true, new life was born into the natural world and the people of the world where so wrapped up in their own minds and their own business to care or even give a passing glance to a true miracle that was being preformed all about them. Not a soul cared that is, aside from one. And that single soul enjoyed watching the world about him unfold in new and familiar ways more then enough to make up for those who walked by uncaring. Yes, he hummed along with the bird song and smiled in joy when he saw a bud that brought with it the promise of new life. The man could not help but laugh as he watched newborn squirrel and chipmunks climb from tree to tree, none gracefully as of yet but that would come with age.

This soul of course had a name, not that many cared to know it, and it was Kaede. He was obviously of Asian decent, and though he was well dressed he did not draw attention to him self. In fact the only thing that anyone would notice, the only thing that caused him to stand out among the hundreds of people on the street was his completely disarming smile. No matter where he looked or whom he looked at, his cheerful demeanor did not fade. But what was more, it was not  a false smile that he held on his lips, and everyone who bothered to take a second look knew that. No, his was a smile that came from a happy soul and that could be seen in his warm brown eyes.

For him, it was hard to imagine that anyone could be sad among so much beauty. After all how could anything but tears of joy come to your eyes when you looked at how glorious the world could be? And that was why it hurt him so to see a man crying not tears of joy, but those of pain. How profound that pain was he could not say, but any at such a joyous time was unthinkable to the priest. It was because of this that he found him self sitting down there with him, and as he waited for this stranger to calm him self at least some he watched the world pass them by."It's beautiful isn't it? That's all he says then not wanting to bother this lost soul tell he was ready to be bothered.

It was here, alone while being surrounded by the city, that Alex heard a voice. he was lost in his misery, trying to figure out what to do, when suddenly a voice cried out to him, among the millions in the city. He heard it clear as day, as the person was by him. It jolted him out of his current state to look up at the man, a faint, bittersweet smile on his face still.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

Alex looked up and at the city. He took in all the life, of everything he could see. He saw it all, and understood. It WAS beautiful. Everything was a struggle for life, and death was only part of the cycle. Alex saw and understood, it was all beautiful. It was what Life was.

His smile was a bit more real now. "Yea... It is beautiful..." he responds, momentarily distracted by this other person.

"Now don't get me wrong son. The world is a hard place to live in at times, seeing as it is filled with all sorts of hardships that seek to bring us to our knees." The world was such a cruel place at times, filled as it was with more hardships and stormy weather then clear sky's and relaxation. But that in part was what made living such a wonderful experience, and what made the small pleasures in life so worth seeking out.

"But lets face it, if life didn't try to take you down... What would be the point in living?" In the natural world, this struggle determined who would live and who would die and while humans often thought them selves above nature that just was not the case. A kind smile and an out stretched hand fallowed after those words."By the way my names Kaede, it's nice to meet you." And it honestly was, But the priest enjoyed meeting new friends more then he enjoyed most things in life. "And if I don't miss my guess, it looks like you could use a friend."