<span style="color: #FF0000">Lupe scratched at his notebook furiously, attempting to pen all of his waking thoughts before they escaped. Those were always the hardest thoughts to make sense of, the ones he woke up with. During his dreams, he'd often stumble upon beautiful poetic expression, but it was never so clear cut that he could write it out eloquently after waking up, and it always seemed that the longer he took to write out what he remembered, the more he forgot what he had dreamed. In the end, he ended up with a couple of phrases to work with: "My radio antenna recognizes when I head to the poor side of town" and "a stalk of algae floats in the water, sticking to its rocky shore, it's daughter. dark green smeared against bone-white." He smiled at the words. This is why he loved his poem idea journal. It wouldn't mean absolutely anything to anyone else, but the words held a lot of meaning for them, and they were just waiting to be fleshed out into poems.<br/><br/>As he put the journal down, he caught a scent of food wafting in through the doorway. <span style="font-style: italic">Janice must be up and cooking already,</span> he thought to himself, slightly guilty. He hadn't been living here long, and he wasn't very familiar with everyone around, so he wanted to make a good impression. Helping with breakfast would have been a good way to start.<br/><br/>He tucked his pen into the journal and put them into a pouch that already contained a lighter, a pack of cigarettes, a pocketknife, and a few books. Slinging the pounch onto his back, he walked out of the room and into the hallway of his new, still unfamiliar home. Lupe went toe the bathroom to clean up a bit, wiping crud off his eyes, wetting his hair and face, and brushing his teeth. A loud growl came from his stomach, and he began to follow the smell of food towards the kitchen. <br/><br/>"Morning, Janice," he said to his roommate, offering a timid but genuine smile. "I can do the dishes after if you want. I don't have work today. I was also gonna help clean around the living room a bit, though I can't vaccum just yet..." he trailed off, looking askance at Michael, who was still lounging on the couch. He began to serve himself a bit of everything from the food Janice had made, feeling guilty once again as he had not provided any groceries of his own yet. "Thanks for the breakfast, by the way. I'll probably go shopping for some food soon, maybe later today."</span>