Declaration Day (OPEN)

[balitiger23]

The streets were bare, the few street lamps that weren't blown flickered weakly against the dark. The night itself seemed to have a presence of its own, bearing down on any who dared walk within its shadows. Or maybe Setmi was just in a morbid mood. Yeah, that would about do it. He had found himself in front of the Westminster Cathedral. Or so said the sign in front of it. Now it very well could be a nest of vampires for all he knew. But the woman back at the hotel had left him metaphorically gnashing his teeth. He truly did not know what to think of her, but his pathological hatred of women at least made it so he was sure of one thing. She was a woman, and thus, inferior. No matter how much she may confuse him, he needn't pay her any attention if he didn't wish too. Easy as that. They were staying on completely different floors, and he wouldn't be caught dead knocking on her door for a spot of conversation. Good gods, no.

Grumbling beneath his breath, he kicked the large cathedral doors, eyes widening when the doors flew inwards, the one completely ripped off its hinges and the other just barely hanging on. The door that went flying clattered within the dark cavern of the cathedral, his boot landing with a thump somewhere even further in. His prosthetic leg clinked loudly in the sudden quiet as he lowered his leg. Apparently the cathedral was barely holding up, but damned if he didn't need his boot back. People had a tendency to look at him funny as it was. He didn't need stares from having a prosthetic leg meant for another species entirely too.

Peering into the darkness, he scowled. If there was anyone inside, they'd know he was there now. Grumbling, he stepped inside and narrowed his eyes, attempting to see past the murky darkness. His prosthetic leg clanked with every step he took, but the sound was swallowed in the vast belly of the building. Outside it had been loud, yet within it was like sound was eaten. How he was supposed to see anything in here was beyond him, but he wanted his boot back before he left. Apparently the cathedral hadn't survived as a religious icon during whatever had happened in the city. It was empty as far as he could see, and he could hear tiny skittering feet, which surely belonged to rats. Rats wouldn't be here if anyone else was, would they?

Cursing, he walked further in, pink eyes cast downward as he waited to trip over something and fall face first into a sleeping werewolf or something. Shit, the dark was getting to him already. It was starting to feel very claustrophobic, and that made him more afraid then anything that might be hiding within. He started to tremble, before stopping dead in his tracks and looking around. There was no light at all now, and he couldn't even see the doorway now. The street light outside must have extinguished. He whimpered loudly, his claustrophobia freezing him in place so that he couldn't move at all.

Then, and only then, did he start screaming.

[kyrarei]

All had been quite peaceful this night, except for the few wolves that had been after him. If it wasn't them, it was the vampyres, but to him, he couldn't tell the difference. One way or another they were there to kill him, or worse. He didn't want to go back to the lab. He saw a rather large building in the distance and began running towards it, his child legs carrying him as fast as they could towards his goal.

The boy ran farther, faster than he had in a long time. Though, as a human at this time of month, he could easily be caught by the ones chasing him. He dipped behind a building, running into an alleyway and hiding behind a dumpster as they ran right passed him. Good. He had a better chance now. At least, if they were human as well.

He poked his head out into the alleyway, his dusty blonde hair falling into place over his odd blue-violet eyes. This was his opportunity to make a run for it. He took off down the alley, then down the street, down towards the large building he had seen earlier, he had made quite a bit of progress towards it.

He ran farther, getting to the building and opening the heavy doors, running inside and hiding within the large rows of benches. He would stay here as long as it was safe. he saw a cross anyways. They tended to avoid such areas.

A small whimper left the boys throat, but he quickly silenced himself as he heard someone approaching. The loud "clink clink" noises of the man's leg made him a little curious. He could out run this person easily, so why send him? The boy lowered himself farther to the ground, the buttons on his stolen shirt scratching a little at the ground. He heard the door slam open and darted across, being easily scared by such a loud noise. Were they really coming for him? He nearly screamed and jumped out of his skin as the boot flew over and landed nearly at his feet.

He stood, staring wide-eyed into the light. If this man had a gun in hand, he was finished. He whimpered slightly, caught himself again, and stopped. He made way towards the other side of the church, his bare feet making little noise on the ground. This was supposed to be his safe spot.

The light on the outside of the place went out, and the boy whimpered lightly again, though still not very noticeable. Shortly afterwords, the intruding man began to scream. This was not good. The boy was not used to loud noises, and the sudden fear that maybe this man was insane, or maybe that there was someone else there... It frightened him nearly in place. He launched himself at the ground, taking cover beneath one of the benches and covered his ears. He too began to scream, though his was much higher pitched, and one filled with even more fear.

[balitiger23]

It took a few moments for Setmi to register the second voice screaming. His fear receded under a wave of anger, and he got up from the floor with a look of rage upon his face. How dare his hallucinations mock him like this? A deep growl trickled from his throat. "Where are you? Is that you Khemu? You bitch! You whore! I killed you!" He whirled in the dark, trying to pinpoint the sound in the echoing darkness. "You're dead! You hear me? You're dead!"

He ran into a bench with the back of his knees and toppled over, striking his head on the ground. He blinked at the dozens of golden lights that flared up before him. Apparently the flutters had decided to visit. Setmi scrambled backwards, whimpering. He knew to touch the dancing, twirling lights was to die, for they were the doorways to the other side. He never took his eyes off the flutters, and so when his hand touched something warm, he cried out and threw himself away, curling into a ball and making pathetic mewling noises in the back of his throat like a hurt animal.

"Leave me alone, oh please leave me alone. You're dead, you're dead! I killed you dead, oh why won't you just leave?" Setmi rasped, rocking himself slowly as he waited for the flutters to descend and steal him away from his physical shell and send him to the place all those dead waited for him. He continued his mantra, curled in a fetal position as he awaited the worst.

[kyrarei]

The boy yelped and scrambled away a bit, managing to land right underneath Setmi's place of falling. He yelped again as the male landed on him. He moved away against the wall, waiting to see what the other male would do, shaking a bit. After all, he was just a little boy.

He watched as the other male curled up into a ball and whimpered a bit. He could tell that there was something seriously wrong here. He whimpered some more. This was not going to go very well. He sat against that wall for a few more moments, then began to gather the courage he would need.

He slowly began crawling towards the other male, keeping himself as low as possible. He whimpered again, inching closer on his belly. He made it to the other male and whimpered lightly again, placing his hand gently on his arm, then quickly pulling it away, just in case the other would do something to him. Just then, the sound of rain began echoing through the building. The boy whined a little louder at the sound of thunder in the distance. He hated thunder. He yelped a bit as it grew louder, then moved under a bench, still close to the other male. At least, close enough to watch him.

[balitiger23]

Setmi shrieked when he felt a hand on his shoulder, until he realized that it was a tentative touch and there was no malevolence behind it. That made him pause more then the terrified sounds coming from what he had previously thought was nothing more then his hallucinations. Now, he wasn't so sure.

He stopped his mumbling and slowly lifted his head, squinting his eyes in an attempt to see through the blackness, the sound of rain loud in the nearly empty building. A sudden flash of lightning illuminated the inside of the cathedral for one brilliant moment, and his gaze locked on the tiny boy cowering beneath a bench just to his right. Then the room went dark and a deep roll of thunder shook the foundations.

From that one brief glimpse, Setmi had realized that the boy was no hallucination, as he didn't recognize him at all. His hallucinations had the tendency to repeat like a broken record, always showing the same people saying the same things. Very seldom did they vary, and when they did it was never something as harmless as a child.

Confused, he crawled towards the boy, forgetting for a moment he wasn't shifted. His nostrils flared as he tried to figure out just what the boy was, and even with his human senses he could smell the sweat and fear on the child. He sat back on his heels and frowned, arms hanging between his legs as he stared down at the place where he knew the boy was. Another flash of lightning and roll of thunder, and it sank in that the boy was terrified.

With the flashes of light to illuminate the dark cavern, his claustrophobia stayed at bay. He reached out as though to run his fingers through the boys hair, when he froze in place and spoke instead. "Shhhh, it's alright little one. I didn't mean to scare you." He rasped, his voice strained from all the screaming. He finally gave in and ran a hand through the boys hair, petting the top of his head.

[kyrarei]

The boy shivered beneath the bench for a while longer. The sound of thunder echoing throughout the large empty space. The acoustics of the place made the thunder louder, and the boy began to yelp a bit in fear of it. It wasn't just the man anymore, now it was something worse. Rain he liked, thunder he did not.

Another echoing boom and then the soft words from the male reaching out to him. Wasn't this man just yelling at him to die? He whimpered some more, until the fingers began to softly run through his hair. This was a new feeling to him, and he flinched away a bit, until he realized that he kind of liked it. He whimpered, then moved closer to the male. This was... Different. It didn't hurt? How strange, he thought.

Another crash of thunder, and he scrambled farther under the bench, nearly to the wall. He covered his ears and damn near howled in fear of the noise. He was shaking, hard. A night of fears this night was turning out to be, and obviously not just for him. He yowled every time the thunder crashed, tears nearly staining his cheeks. Though it was more or less that they cut through the dirt on his face. He was a mess, obviously used to living on the streets and such. On the edge of danger, as they would say.

[balitiger23]

Setmi felt pity for the small child before him, and as another crash of thunder shook the building, he realized it was not him the poor boy was scared of. The boy scrambled away from him, and without thinking Setmi fell back onto his hands and crawled after him. He paused when the boy stopped against the wall, cocking his head as he tried to see through the dimness. It was absolutely pitch black, and he wished he had thought to steal Malorie's lighter, to give him some light.

The boys wails and the scent of his tears let Setmi know where he was though, and Setmi crawled closer. He had fallen into animalistic behavior in the darkness; after all, he hadn't had the chance to be used to being human again, and he relapsed into wolf behavior often. Whining softly in the back of his throat, he bumped his head into the boys shoulder cautiously. He sat beside the boy with his back against the wall and pulled the boy into his arms, nuzzling the boys hair, his arms both trying to keep the kid safe and also ensuring the boy couldn't scramble off again. "It's alright, it's just noise, it can't hurt you."

Another crash of thunder sounded outside, but it seemed to be farther away, and the cathedral barely shook at all. Setmi rested his head on top of the boys head and gazed outside, watching the street light up with each lightning flash. He continued to murmur comforting words, rocking slightly as he tried to calm the young child in his arms.

[kyrarei]

The boy flinched at the touches of the other male, being used to nothing but pain and agony. The soft words and gentle touches made him wonder about this man. As the man drew closer, the bowl began to curl up, protecting what he could in case the man decided to hurt him. The soft touch of the man's head made him flinch a bit, as again it was something he was not used to.

As he was pulled into his arms, he tensed a little... Okay he tensed a lot. he was not used to such things. After awhile though, as the thunder began to quiet down and as he got used to the one holding him, he began to snuggle into the man. He realized that this person was... soft, warm even.

This new development was a rather interesting one to him. He had never been so close to another human being before. He snuggled into him more, enjoying the warmth the male provided. He nuzzled his face into the other male's neck and took in the scent of him. It was a little different than the normal, but that was fine for him. He made a tiny purring noise and nuzzled more into the other's chesrt, curling up on his lap much like a puppy would. Yes, what an interesting relationship this would be.

[balitiger23]

As the storm rolled past, seconds stretched into minutes and those into hours. With the warmth of the young boy curled in his embrace, Setmi eventually dozed off, his cheek resting atop the boys head, arms tightening around him to ensure the boy didn't attempt to run off while he was asleep.

His dreams were peaceful, filled with soft things that brought him comfort. It was a very nice change from the screams and bodies and death that usually haunted his slumbering mind. He dreamt of Ahn, his deceased beloved, but the Pariah dog was well and alive in this dream, and he and Setmi ran their old hunting grounds as of old. They were closing in on a family of rabbits when Setmi's eyes snapped open and he was awake.

Confused for only a moment, he looked down at the boy and tried to figure out his reason for waking. The dream drifted away in fragments as so many times they did, and he blinked his eyes at the bright sunlight streaming through the broken doors of the cathedral. Squinting against the harsh light, he once more looked down at the boy and smiled. Ah, now this was company he could enjoy.

[kyrarei]

The boy was squirming in his own sleep, soft whimpering filling his throat. His dreams were obviously not as pleasant as Setmi's had been. Though as soon as his eyes opened he began to wiggle around a bit, most of his limbs being asleep and starting that annoying tingling sensation.

He woke up, shaking horribly from head to toe. Though, as soon as the light hit him, he began wiggling more, trying to get out to the beautiful light, though to him it looked black. He didn't care though, it was the whole fascination of it. Something so warm, yet so dark. To him, nothing could resemble the sunlight. Not a lamp, not a street light, not anything. Nothing was good enough for him but the light of the sun itself.

Eventually he did wiggle free of the man's grasp and went to sprawl out on the ground at the front of the cathedral, in perfect position to soak up as much sun as he possibly could. He made slight purring noises, as he had heard a cat in a windowsill do awhile back. He had liked that cat. He wiggled around a little, resembling a dog with the way he held his hands and legs in the air as he wiggled around, scratching his back on the ground.