It was a cold and misty day when Bran woke up. The alarm going off next to him didn't help the fact that he hadn't slept well last night. Not for lack of trying though, his brother had decided that imbibing one too many drinks and trying to sing his favorite death metal song would be a great way to end his last day of work for the week.

"Blegh" Bran smacked his lips together a few times then yawned, at least he had the 11:00am shift at work and not the horrendous 8:45am shift. Bran shivered a bit, yeah things could definitely be worse.

Getting dressed Bran got ready to leave grabbing his backpack with the work uniform in it and strapping it onto his back. It was a forty-five minute long walk to work and forgetting his uniform meant either trying to catch the bus that was never on time, or walking home and back for two hours. Bran opened the door and set off, slamming the door loudly just in case his brother was still trying to sleep. After all if Bran couldn't get a decent sleep neither could his brother.

Graduating high school had been a big step in both Bran and his brothers life, they moved from their hometown to a bigger city. With college tuitions expensive however Bran soon realized that one year was all he had money for hence the job he had. While not paying very well it gave lots of hours.

Coming out of his musings, Bran looked at his watch. He had an hour left, just enough time to grab a coffee at the Starbucks next to his workplace. Bran hated washing dishes with a passion, so some caffeine would be greatly appreciated.

Turning the corner Bran already had visions of a steaming hot mocha in his head, only to have those thoughts crushed when he saw a young woman crying on a bus stop bench. Bran was raised as a gentleman by his father after all, and he always had trouble keeping his nose out of other people's business. So he casually walked up to the lady crying at the bench.

"Excuse me miss, but are you okay?" Bran asked her.

The sobbing woman raised her head and looked at him with her tear-stained face.

"Yeah I guess I'm okay I just really screwed up." She sniffled as she looked at him.

Now Bran was never a Ladies man. The only girlfriend he'd ever had dumped him on prom night. While this situation wasn't quite as awkward... It was getting there. It only took Bran a moment to decide what to do.

"Well I got work in about an hour, but before that I was gonna get some coffee. I may not be a psychiatrist but I'm a good listener, so if you wanna come...?" Bran left the offer open.

"You know what? I will take you up on that offer!" The woman happily exclaimed, her tears all but forgotten.

Bran looked at her, the woman almost glowed with an eastern beauty, the tears doing nothing to hide her obvious Greek ancestry. The woman's long raven hair was in stark contrast to the apparent sundress she was wearing. It was odd, Bran thought. This woman was wearing a sundress in winter? While a bit confused Bran thought for a moment that maybe the dress was thicker, or warmer than he thought, even if it looked like some sort of white bed sheet.

"Want me to pose so you can get a better look?" The woman asked, noticing Bran's stare.

"Um. I'm sorry. I just thought you might be cold in that sundress." Bran mumbled, averting his eyes and blushing furiously.

"Nah, it's surprisingly warm." She said, doing a twirl and giggling, her earlier grief completely forgotten.

"So may I ask my knight-in-shining-armor's name?" The woman asked covering her mouth to stop the laughing fit she was having.

"Oh, sorry. My name's Bran. What about you my lady?" Bran asked as he made a deep bow.

"My name is Atropos. It means unstoppable in Greek. Weird name right?" She giggled at the confused face Bran made.

"Not as weird as being named after a cereal!" Bran replied laughing. Soon Atropos joined in, the both of them getting weird looks from a man across the street getting his newspaper. For awhile they continued like that laughing at small jokes and making small talk as they made their way to the coffee shop, until they got on the subject of work.

"At least when you make a mistake you don't change someone's life!" Atropos said.

"Oh really? Well then what great and important work do you do little miss "unstoppable"?" Bran replied.

Atropos became solemn, like flipping a light switch before her features warped in confusion.

"I'm a tailor, kind of? I'm really important though" Atropos said, withdrawing and becoming quiet once more.

At this point Bran had made it to the coffee shop, Atropos in tow behind him. Bran directed her to get a seat in the corner as he ordered them some coffee. Debating on how to breach the obviously touchy subject of her work with her he paid the barista and took the coffee to their table. A small secluded table for two, it was perfect for a conversation that others wouldn't overhear.

"So... What's been eating at you so bad that you would cry at a bus stop in the middle of the winter?" Bran asked, carefully prodding her for answers.

"Well as you may have guessed, it's about my job." Atropos said becoming teary eyed again.

"I messed up real bad, and I can't fix it at all." Atropos was starting to softly sniffle by this time.

"Hey there it can't be that bad. I mean we're human aren't we? We all make mistakes, hell god probably is regretting making me. Like have you SEEN this face? Bran replied, trying to cheer her up with his sarcasm.

"Is there any chance I can get you to help me fix it then? For some personal reasons I can't but you might be able to." Atropos asked looking up at him with eyes the size of saucers.

"Sure," Bran replied. After all, imagine the good karma for this!

The light flickered slightly above them as a tremor ran through the café. Bran looked around nervously, he had never experienced an earthquake before, even if this one wasn't very big. Bran looked towards Atropos to see her smiling, almost like she had pulled off some clever ruse.