Blue Eyes
Oct 7th, 2013, 09:55:38 AM
It was dark in the city.
The night was a wire: a narrow band of darkness rolling across the sky, through which everything flowed unseen, conducted through the blackness with great effect. Distant illuminated sights shone out like literal beacons, visible from far further than they would ever have been at day. Headlights sailed down highways like lotus candles floating on rivers; wing lights blinked, red and green in the sky above. Noises travelled further, louder. Scents stood out stronger on the crisper air.
There was steam in the subway as he scampered into it's tunnels, rising from the ground as if the earth was on fire. The subterranean maze of catacombs weaved an intricate web beneath the city, speeding him towards his destination almost completely unseen. Clattering sounds of midnight trains echoed down the tunnels, but he knew that he was safe; safe enough at least to leap from trackbed to platform effortlessly long before a train would arrive.
He crossed the platform, ascended the stairs with lightning speed; ducked the ticket barrier. No one noticed. No one paid any attention.
Nothing to see here.
He crossed a street; his icy blue eyes settled on a woman loitering on the corner, a tattered red dress hanging loosely from her meth-addled frame, skin cracked and wrinkled, eyes sunken, soul gone. Pheromones and desperate body language rolled off her, trying to convince anyone that passed that you want me. He found it hard to believe that anyone would. She was oblivious to her surroundings, mind so eroded by her addiction that she couldn't even hear him breathing. He advanced, moving even closer behind; it would be so easy to strike, so easy to put an empty shell such as her out of her misery -
He stopped himself. No. That wasn't what he did. That wasn't what he allowed himself to do.
He scampered away, bounding up on boxes, crates, bins, a few clanking strides up a fire escape to bring him onto a low rooftop. He sprinted on, vaulting the canyons between buildings with ease. He knew where he was going, vaguely; but even if he'd had a specific address he doubted he'd be able to tell one apartment building from another in this city. Fortunately, he had other methods.
He leapt, paws absorbing the impact with the sidewalk with ease. Back in touch with the ground, he resumed his hunt. His senses scoured the world around him for any sort of clue - a scent, a sound - but nothing; too much confusion, any hope of a trail lost in a crowd. A low snarl escaped him, personal frustration and instinctive anger conspiring against him as he straddled the line between his animal and waking minds. He mustered his self control and continued on, traversing the cluttered alleyway behind a nightclub. An unpleasant wave of sound assaulted him as it's music blared, an unpleasantly persistent rhythm wrapped in vaguely heard lyrics and discordant rhymes.
Two blocks later and he finally saw her; caught a scent a few moments before as she climbed out of a car a little too new and formal-looking to be a taxi. His gaze swept around him, suddenly self-conscious of being seen. Cover was lacking; his only option was a grocery store, door propped open by a weighty box. Scents of food wafted from within and made his mouth come alive with anticipation; but he wouldn't indulge himself, he would resist.
He bounded inside, the clerk fortunately half-asleep and too distracted by the news to notice the large wolf wearing a backpack that scampered past the bank of juices and wines that lined the back wall. He slipped through a doorway into the store room, found a secluded corner where less sticky with neglected spillages than anywhere else -
The night was a wire: a narrow band of darkness rolling across the sky, through which everything flowed unseen, conducted through the blackness with great effect. Distant illuminated sights shone out like literal beacons, visible from far further than they would ever have been at day. Headlights sailed down highways like lotus candles floating on rivers; wing lights blinked, red and green in the sky above. Noises travelled further, louder. Scents stood out stronger on the crisper air.
There was steam in the subway as he scampered into it's tunnels, rising from the ground as if the earth was on fire. The subterranean maze of catacombs weaved an intricate web beneath the city, speeding him towards his destination almost completely unseen. Clattering sounds of midnight trains echoed down the tunnels, but he knew that he was safe; safe enough at least to leap from trackbed to platform effortlessly long before a train would arrive.
He crossed the platform, ascended the stairs with lightning speed; ducked the ticket barrier. No one noticed. No one paid any attention.
Nothing to see here.
He crossed a street; his icy blue eyes settled on a woman loitering on the corner, a tattered red dress hanging loosely from her meth-addled frame, skin cracked and wrinkled, eyes sunken, soul gone. Pheromones and desperate body language rolled off her, trying to convince anyone that passed that you want me. He found it hard to believe that anyone would. She was oblivious to her surroundings, mind so eroded by her addiction that she couldn't even hear him breathing. He advanced, moving even closer behind; it would be so easy to strike, so easy to put an empty shell such as her out of her misery -
He stopped himself. No. That wasn't what he did. That wasn't what he allowed himself to do.
He scampered away, bounding up on boxes, crates, bins, a few clanking strides up a fire escape to bring him onto a low rooftop. He sprinted on, vaulting the canyons between buildings with ease. He knew where he was going, vaguely; but even if he'd had a specific address he doubted he'd be able to tell one apartment building from another in this city. Fortunately, he had other methods.
He leapt, paws absorbing the impact with the sidewalk with ease. Back in touch with the ground, he resumed his hunt. His senses scoured the world around him for any sort of clue - a scent, a sound - but nothing; too much confusion, any hope of a trail lost in a crowd. A low snarl escaped him, personal frustration and instinctive anger conspiring against him as he straddled the line between his animal and waking minds. He mustered his self control and continued on, traversing the cluttered alleyway behind a nightclub. An unpleasant wave of sound assaulted him as it's music blared, an unpleasantly persistent rhythm wrapped in vaguely heard lyrics and discordant rhymes.
Two blocks later and he finally saw her; caught a scent a few moments before as she climbed out of a car a little too new and formal-looking to be a taxi. His gaze swept around him, suddenly self-conscious of being seen. Cover was lacking; his only option was a grocery store, door propped open by a weighty box. Scents of food wafted from within and made his mouth come alive with anticipation; but he wouldn't indulge himself, he would resist.
He bounded inside, the clerk fortunately half-asleep and too distracted by the news to notice the large wolf wearing a backpack that scampered past the bank of juices and wines that lined the back wall. He slipped through a doorway into the store room, found a secluded corner where less sticky with neglected spillages than anywhere else -