Memories Return

[RayanStiger]

The murmur of dull voices and the shuffling of feet across the stone pavement filled Karunii's ears. Karunii glanced about him in wonder: in between the bulging swarm of bodies he could see shops of all kinds, with sweetly aromic food, sparkling drinks, and gleaming weaponry, as well as foreign objects he had never seen before. The shop owners all stood at their large tables by the side of the streets, shouting out to passer-bys. Everywhere his gaze met the glorious glow of sunlight, though impeded in places by marshmallow clouds with black-cooked outlines, descending from the teal and sapphire sky enveloping the city.

Karunii's hand melded into Tira's, preventing him from getting left behind and lost. She pulled him behind her like a piece of luggage with achy, stumbling legs. Karunii bumped into strangers at nearly every turn. At times, Tira's sleek coat of crimson was all he could see apart from the crowding bodies around him.

At length, they came to a clearing in the universal body around them, and Karunii's arm slacked as Tira came to a halt. As she stood partially facing him, Karunii looked at her face. It was beautiful in form; soft white skin, graced by dark, untidy twirls of hair hanging over dark, dangerous eyes that she kept mostly tucked away under a large, dark hat. Karunii said nothing at first, assuming she wanted time to think. At last, he spoke to her in an underwhelming voice.

"Tira, where are we going?"

[Tira]

Tira gripped Karunii's hand protectively knowing exactly how dangerous the city could be...considering she was one of those dangers. Karunii was the only being that had any sort of personal connections with her, and she planned to keep it just at that. Today she felt extremely aggravated, probably because this city was too bright for her. She thrived off darkness, but that doesn’t mean that the light made her weaker in any sense. She just had less patience, which is usually one of her strong points.

Her other hand looked like it was constantly flexing, but that was only to the untrained eye, which was everybody. In fact, Tira was slowly weaving her roll of wire through her hands. She occasionally snapped off a piece and aimed it at anybody who she deemed dangerous. Anybody who got too close to Karunii would receive a sharp piece of wire impaled in whatever limb that was closest to Karunii. Anybody who gave Karunii an interesting look was grazed by her wire at the corner of their eye. The cut would be just deep enough to draw blood. Pickpockets received the worse treatment of all. Tira wielded her wire so well that she could pin all the fingers together with just a single piece.

Occasionally she would look at her victim from the corner of her eyes, and a small and cruel smirk would appear on her lips just for an instant. Most of the time, her eyes were directed straight ahead, scanning the area for a bar that she had heard about. It was called Avalon, and the only entrance to it would on the ground. Karunii’s voice drifted into her eyes, softening her just a little bit.

"Avalon,” Tira said without turning around, but she gave him a reassuring squeeze with her hand.