Wei let out a frustrated groan as he smashed the buttons on his phone for the second time, trying to call someone, anyone, just to get some semblance of a response. The small simian child was--well--he was stranded.
He'd been out on a nice walk, just enjoying the autumn air in a way that only he could, his fingers tracing the could outer brick of the buildings as his eyes simply wondered at the reds and golds that swathed the trees ever so coquettishly and slowly fell to the ground in lovely piles. He'd be lying if he said that he hadn't thrown himself into one and gotten crunchy leaves in his hair and fur. Wei was born in the spring, but he had such an affinity for autumn weather and cool and warm mixing him in a coccoon of feelings.
He tightened his sweater and found himself walking down a street he didn't recognize. But everything was fine. He had his staff to defend himself, and even if he didn't there was no one that Wei couldn't out maneuver just by his incredible level of acrobatics.
Even saying that, he was wandering into a really nice looking neighborhood, filled with houses that were mostly glass and white marble with houses settled on the tops of hills looking down on the rest of the island. If anything, he felt a bit safer here. His experience with cities was that no one committed atrocities in neighborhoods like this--stuff like that tended to bring down property values, so the horrible perverted rich people find a gross little alley to do their dirty business.
The monkey let his feet lead him further and further up the hill as the sky opened with a sigh and there was a crack of lightening, a threatening growl of thunder following soon after. Now that he thought about it, the news did say something about there being a storm at some point. Perhaps he should have kept that more in mind before he decided today was a good day for a walk.
Looking back the way he came, he knew that he wouldn't be able to get back to the campus before the downpour started, but he might not get too wet if he started leaving now.
As he started back down the hill, he saw a boy standing there who was definitely not there before.
Their hair was bright red, redder than anything he'd ever seen before. His shirt was a white button up with no buttons done, the undershirt a vibrant green with a symbol he didn't recognize emblazoned on the chest. His wrists were weighed down by colorful bracelets. He couldn't have been older than sixteen... though, Wei thought bitterly, he was sixteen and looked the furthest thing from it. He must live in one of these houses.
"Hello," Wei said cheerily as he started back the way he came.
His path was blocked by the taller boy's arm.
The chinese monkey looked up at him quizzically.
"I've never seen you around this neighborhood, kid."
"Kid?" Wei puffed up his chest with indignation. "I'm sixteen!"
The redhead's eyebrow quirked. "That right?"
"Yes, and I'll have you know that I was on my way out of your neighborhood!"
The redhead hmm-ed.
"Not from around here, then?"
That gave him pause. This line of questioning was setting off alarm bells. He took a few steps back and moved more towards the middle of the road, circumventing his blocking arm. As he tried to keep walking though, he bumped right into the taller boy's chest.
How did he--
"Actually, it's funny you should say that. See, this neighborhood's had a string of arsons you know? And, you know, they said--get this--they said the perpetrator looked like some kind of wild animal. Barely even human at all." The boy stepped forward, bearing down on Wei. He wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light or his position looking up at his face, but it made his whole visage shift and undulate amorphously, and for only a second he was a beast with a million teeth and a smile so wide it split his head. "And--hehehe--hahaha--you know, you happen to look just like that, you know? Snrrrk! Isn't that--pffft--isn't that just..... wild?"
Wei's blood went ice cold. "I... I don't know anything about that I've never even been here before--"
"Oh," the boy said, his voice soft as he leaned towards Wei, his fingers caressing his cheek. "I know."
In the corner of his eye he saw something metal glint in the low lit sky. The monkey child reacted quickly, extending his staff until it was between the glinting weapon and himself. The force of the blow knocked him off his feet and sent him rolling to the other side of the street. For a moment he glimpsed what he's been attacked by--the redhead's own arm, lengthened and taking the shape of well tempered steel. That was all he saw before signals fired into his legs and he went careening down the hill again on all fours, his arms and legs clumsy and slightly out of sync, but anything to get him out of this situation.
"Aww, you're running?!" He heard him call from frighteningly close behind him. The child was faster than Wei anticipated. "You know, I was just gonna cut off your head. That would have been easy, painless--but if you're gonna make me work for it--"
Seeing a shadow that wasn't his own starting to bear down on him, Wei jumped aside and saw a large mallet slam into the ground, cracking concrete making his heart pulse so hard that he could barely breathe, he could barely see. The child was running on pure instinct. He had to get to the school. At least to the city. He'd be safe there. As long as he was somewhere with people--
"Whaaaaaat? You not into crushing either?"
Wei threw himself down an alleyway.
"You know--" his sickeningly immature voice bounced off the high brick walls. "--this isn't really working. Why don't you tell me how you always wanted to die, and I'll make that a reality. Like Death Santa."
Almost there--he was so close, so close to a population he could taste it.
He ran full tilt into a fence.
It was fairly high, with barbed wire hooping around the top. Wei ignored the coppery taste of something definitely bleeding and grabbed onto a wall to start climbing towards civilization--people--safety.
It felt like someone was ripping his spine out ashis tail was yanked and he fell away from the wall hard onto his back.
"You're really troublesome, you know," the redhead murmured, his left hand turning back into the sword of tempered steel. "How about this? I'll poke you like an acupuncture doll, and we'll see how long it takes you to bleed out. That sounds fun to me!"
Wei couldn't move. His nerves were unresponsive from his tail being yanked so harshly.
He could only look up as the boy with the eyes like madness pulled back his arm and prepared to drive it into his stomach.
Suddenly he started screeching.
Wei felt rain, fat and cold drops exploding on his face.
The boy screeched out a colorful range of expletives as he was rained on, a thick curtain of black mist billowing off of him in the beginning storm. In a moment he vanished with a pop, leaving behind the stench of lemons and brimstone.
The sky opened quickly, and soon buckets drenched him as he lay in a puddle of filthy alley water.
It was five minutes later that he shakily pulled himself up and slammed at the buttons on his phone. He needed someone--anyone--to come get him.
His first thought was to call Sid, but after attempting seven times, each time being met with a busy tone or his call being immediately declined, he eventually gave up and tried someone else. Wei slowly went down his list and got people who didn't pick up, or their phones were off, or he just kept trying to connect forever.
The monkey grew even more frustrated before throwing his phone on the ground and sinking to the ground with his back against the fence. Every part of him was shaking. He coughed--his lungs ached, and were likely half-filled with rainwater.
He wanted to cry.
Wei heard his phone ringing, a strangely lighthearted tune.
He reached over but missed the call.
11.03.15 7:18:43 PM — Missed call from Arren King
The monkey child's hands were shaky as he swiped his phone's screen to make it redial Arren, putting in his pass code wrong twice before getting it right on the third try.
He pressed the phone to his ear and waited. He was so happy he could cry when he heard the click of the phone actually being picked up. The boy's throat constricted so much he could barely talk.
"He-hello, Arren? I.... I n-need you to c-come pick me up...."
He'd been out on a nice walk, just enjoying the autumn air in a way that only he could, his fingers tracing the could outer brick of the buildings as his eyes simply wondered at the reds and golds that swathed the trees ever so coquettishly and slowly fell to the ground in lovely piles. He'd be lying if he said that he hadn't thrown himself into one and gotten crunchy leaves in his hair and fur. Wei was born in the spring, but he had such an affinity for autumn weather and cool and warm mixing him in a coccoon of feelings.
He tightened his sweater and found himself walking down a street he didn't recognize. But everything was fine. He had his staff to defend himself, and even if he didn't there was no one that Wei couldn't out maneuver just by his incredible level of acrobatics.
Even saying that, he was wandering into a really nice looking neighborhood, filled with houses that were mostly glass and white marble with houses settled on the tops of hills looking down on the rest of the island. If anything, he felt a bit safer here. His experience with cities was that no one committed atrocities in neighborhoods like this--stuff like that tended to bring down property values, so the horrible perverted rich people find a gross little alley to do their dirty business.
The monkey let his feet lead him further and further up the hill as the sky opened with a sigh and there was a crack of lightening, a threatening growl of thunder following soon after. Now that he thought about it, the news did say something about there being a storm at some point. Perhaps he should have kept that more in mind before he decided today was a good day for a walk.
Looking back the way he came, he knew that he wouldn't be able to get back to the campus before the downpour started, but he might not get too wet if he started leaving now.
As he started back down the hill, he saw a boy standing there who was definitely not there before.
Their hair was bright red, redder than anything he'd ever seen before. His shirt was a white button up with no buttons done, the undershirt a vibrant green with a symbol he didn't recognize emblazoned on the chest. His wrists were weighed down by colorful bracelets. He couldn't have been older than sixteen... though, Wei thought bitterly, he was sixteen and looked the furthest thing from it. He must live in one of these houses.
"Hello," Wei said cheerily as he started back the way he came.
His path was blocked by the taller boy's arm.
The chinese monkey looked up at him quizzically.
"I've never seen you around this neighborhood, kid."
"Kid?" Wei puffed up his chest with indignation. "I'm sixteen!"
The redhead's eyebrow quirked. "That right?"
"Yes, and I'll have you know that I was on my way out of your neighborhood!"
The redhead hmm-ed.
"Not from around here, then?"
That gave him pause. This line of questioning was setting off alarm bells. He took a few steps back and moved more towards the middle of the road, circumventing his blocking arm. As he tried to keep walking though, he bumped right into the taller boy's chest.
How did he--
"Actually, it's funny you should say that. See, this neighborhood's had a string of arsons you know? And, you know, they said--get this--they said the perpetrator looked like some kind of wild animal. Barely even human at all." The boy stepped forward, bearing down on Wei. He wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light or his position looking up at his face, but it made his whole visage shift and undulate amorphously, and for only a second he was a beast with a million teeth and a smile so wide it split his head. "And--hehehe--hahaha--you know, you happen to look just like that, you know? Snrrrk! Isn't that--pffft--isn't that just..... wild?"
Wei's blood went ice cold. "I... I don't know anything about that I've never even been here before--"
"Oh," the boy said, his voice soft as he leaned towards Wei, his fingers caressing his cheek. "I know."
In the corner of his eye he saw something metal glint in the low lit sky. The monkey child reacted quickly, extending his staff until it was between the glinting weapon and himself. The force of the blow knocked him off his feet and sent him rolling to the other side of the street. For a moment he glimpsed what he's been attacked by--the redhead's own arm, lengthened and taking the shape of well tempered steel. That was all he saw before signals fired into his legs and he went careening down the hill again on all fours, his arms and legs clumsy and slightly out of sync, but anything to get him out of this situation.
"Aww, you're running?!" He heard him call from frighteningly close behind him. The child was faster than Wei anticipated. "You know, I was just gonna cut off your head. That would have been easy, painless--but if you're gonna make me work for it--"
Seeing a shadow that wasn't his own starting to bear down on him, Wei jumped aside and saw a large mallet slam into the ground, cracking concrete making his heart pulse so hard that he could barely breathe, he could barely see. The child was running on pure instinct. He had to get to the school. At least to the city. He'd be safe there. As long as he was somewhere with people--
"Whaaaaaat? You not into crushing either?"
Wei threw himself down an alleyway.
"You know--" his sickeningly immature voice bounced off the high brick walls. "--this isn't really working. Why don't you tell me how you always wanted to die, and I'll make that a reality. Like Death Santa."
Almost there--he was so close, so close to a population he could taste it.
He ran full tilt into a fence.
It was fairly high, with barbed wire hooping around the top. Wei ignored the coppery taste of something definitely bleeding and grabbed onto a wall to start climbing towards civilization--people--safety.
It felt like someone was ripping his spine out ashis tail was yanked and he fell away from the wall hard onto his back.
"You're really troublesome, you know," the redhead murmured, his left hand turning back into the sword of tempered steel. "How about this? I'll poke you like an acupuncture doll, and we'll see how long it takes you to bleed out. That sounds fun to me!"
Wei couldn't move. His nerves were unresponsive from his tail being yanked so harshly.
He could only look up as the boy with the eyes like madness pulled back his arm and prepared to drive it into his stomach.
Suddenly he started screeching.
Wei felt rain, fat and cold drops exploding on his face.
The boy screeched out a colorful range of expletives as he was rained on, a thick curtain of black mist billowing off of him in the beginning storm. In a moment he vanished with a pop, leaving behind the stench of lemons and brimstone.
The sky opened quickly, and soon buckets drenched him as he lay in a puddle of filthy alley water.
It was five minutes later that he shakily pulled himself up and slammed at the buttons on his phone. He needed someone--anyone--to come get him.
His first thought was to call Sid, but after attempting seven times, each time being met with a busy tone or his call being immediately declined, he eventually gave up and tried someone else. Wei slowly went down his list and got people who didn't pick up, or their phones were off, or he just kept trying to connect forever.
The monkey grew even more frustrated before throwing his phone on the ground and sinking to the ground with his back against the fence. Every part of him was shaking. He coughed--his lungs ached, and were likely half-filled with rainwater.
He wanted to cry.
Wei heard his phone ringing, a strangely lighthearted tune.
He reached over but missed the call.
11.03.15 7:18:43 PM — Missed call from Arren King
The monkey child's hands were shaky as he swiped his phone's screen to make it redial Arren, putting in his pass code wrong twice before getting it right on the third try.
He pressed the phone to his ear and waited. He was so happy he could cry when he heard the click of the phone actually being picked up. The boy's throat constricted so much he could barely talk.
"He-hello, Arren? I.... I n-need you to c-come pick me up...."