Private Finished Stalking the Night

The night life of Manta Carlos was something of a different nature than any of the towns or cities she'd been in. Well, barring the fact that the sight of supernatural beings here was as common as the sight of natives, with humans having the same frequency as foreigners in any given fancy establishment back home. The Strip was a place she would never have found anywhere in the Philippines. There were clubs and among those were clubs of the stripping variety, but full on sex houses? Brothels? Those things existed in secrecy but never advertised on neon lights. She enjoyed this place actually. Not that she'd taken advantage of the new freedoms this place afforded her, no, her income couldn't cover for that as she barely had one. Maybe one day she'd find something for her. But first she'd have to find that hairbrush she misplaced. She had turned the whole apartment over trying to find it before giving up. It'd turn up when she wasn't looking for it. Missing things always tend to do that. Red strolled down the street, bathing in the nocturnal lights of the red light district with her coat's hood over her head. She just wanted a peaceful walk and draw as little attention to herself as possible. While she had come to terms with how she looked, her eyes could only roll so many times before it gave her a migraine. And it honestly made her look spookier, especially in the dark. So those people who are easily scared just stay back. When someone would dare accost her, well, at least she enjoyed that boldness.

Red stopped for a moment, her head tilting up towards the sky as she felt something oddly familiar. Maybe it was her imagination, or she just felt a little underappreciated. Back home she had somewhat of a following after her escapades caught ghost hunters' attention. For a few weeks now, she felt things watching her. It was different than the stares when people see her bleeding or took a peek at what was under the hood. It was strange and weird but familiar. And she liked it. Something about it made her feel nostalgic. But knowing her condition had changed her from the girl she once was, she had to take it with a grain of salt and accept that she's slowly going insane from acting like a good girl so they wouldn't throw her back into that correctional facility. Speaking of which, she'd have to find the woman who caught her and threw her there. Catch up and thank her for years of captivity maybe? She took a glance at all the darkened alleys and felt her heart tugging towards the darkness once more. Memories of dragging people there, screaming and kicking flooded back in nostalgic waves. Well, people do say to follow your heart, so she thought why not let the darkness take hold of her once more? She walked into an alley between a bar and a nightclub. Two of her favorite places to be. Well, two of the places she'd be around when looking for easy prey. Her fingers pressed on wall to her right. She dragged them as she walked, little tendrils sprouting from the back of her hand and licking the graffitied structure. A little chuckle escaped her. This felt good. This semi-isolation. And knowing that inside that structure, she could have found some easy prey to take down.

"Is someone here?" she asked in a sing-song voice as she stopped a few steps into the alley. Perhaps her mind was warping what she was seeing again, but she was sure that she saw something shift in the shadows. Was it an animal? Or maybe it was a tendril that floated in front of her face? Nonetheless, the thought of cornering something small and helpless made her feel a bit of excitement, and that excitement made more tendrils sprout, wrapping around her whole body until she looked like a walking shadow. Well, a walking shadow with dozens of blinds eyes dotted sporadically about. She'd sink half-way into the ground and in the most unsettling manner, slithered from one wall to another knocking over some boxes, lifting trash lids, and looking behind bigger obstacles like a pile of trashbags. Nothing. So it must have been her imagination then. The coat of tendrils slowly faded away as she decided to fall back against the wall she had been touching. She was disappointed, and a little antsy. Irritated perhaps. Living like this was driving her insane.

Oh she was definitely starting to lose it now, she thought to herself as she saw a floating mask in the darker part of the alley. Was it shaped like a butterfly? She elected to ignore it before a split-second recollection caused her to smile. This place was full of fantastical creatures. "Hmm... you must be what I thought I saw in here," she'd walk forward, tendrils slowly engulfing her again. Some of them looked like strands of smoke being blown towards the mask, elongating slowly. "Are you alone?" Her voice sounded soothing, but then it changed to an ominous one. "Are you afraid?"

Red's smile widened. Her approach halted, with her back foot half-way lifted off the ground and her body tilted forward, ready to give chase should this one try to run away. "That is a good question," she chuckled. Ahh, could this be someone just as dangerous as her? Maybe a bit more? It was hard to tell when it was just the shadows and mask. She couldn't properly assess the person in front of her but that added a little excitement to the encounter. She continued her approach until she was at half an arm's length, if the creature didn't back away by then, body leaning forwards like a puppet being dragged by the strings. The tendrils would stop short of touching the mask, but the longer strands flowed around it. "Would you like a reason to be?"