6:30 AM, October 7th, 2017. Oceanview, Delaware.

First impressions mattered a lot to Peony. Ever since her childhood, she had made a point to dress sharply and professionally. It made her stand out among the crowd, for better or worse. And anyways, authority seemed to respect you more if you looked like you know what you’re doing.

The impressions Peony would make today were especially important. Today was her first day at Diamond Line Communications Firm. She had worked so hard to get hired here- it was by time Peony had got herself a stable income instead of doing odd jobs for relatives.

Peony stared at her reflection as she brushed her long auburn hair and gathered it into two neat buns on either side of her head. She had worn that exact hairstyle for longer than she could remember, it had become the default for her. After her hair was perfectly in place, Peony put on her eyepatch. It was a simple square cloth embroidered with a maroon heart. The eyepatch made her think of Rose, and what she did and-

Peony shook her head. “Nope. Not thinking about that today” She put on the eyepatched and looked at herself in the mirror again. “Today’s a new day of my new job and I can’t spend my time angsting about things that happened years ago.” Content with her peptalk, Peony stood up, left her apartment, and set off to her new job.

Oceanview was a fairly large city. Large enough that the buildings towered over Peony’s head, but not large enough she couldn’t see the sky, which was a stormy-gray today. The promise of rain seemed to linger over the entire cities head- Peony seemed like the only one making any effort to stay positive.

“Kinda wish it was a bit nicer out” Peony muttered to herself.