I watch from across the street as Anise fumbles with her purse to get to a keycard. The glass doors at the entrance to a modern apartnt building glare at from this angle, making it hard to see clearly.
> But she seems to be managing well enough. Now I can go back to my own place and pretend half of this whole evening didn’t happen. <
When the door closes behind her, sothing hard taps against my ankle. I jump and spin around, my heart slamming back and black fur bristling up my neck. And I see a long white cane as the culprit.
"Oh! My deepest apologies. I didn’t realize anyone was standing there. I was just making sure the corner of the building was... where I thought."
The voice that speaks is unmistakably familiar and so is his dark glasses.. He’s holding his cane back with both hands now, looking distressed at having startled .
"Edgar? It’s... it’s . Citra."
Still trying to calm down, my voice cos out uneven but his face lights up with recognition anyway. Because of the adrenaline my eyes are still darting around trying to find what sort of trick or trap this all is.
"Citra! Well, what a delightful surprise... for . You sound startled. I really am sorry. Did you... end up settling down near here this ti?"
"I found a place, but it’s actually a good walk from here."
"Ah, a sha. I live just over there and was on my way back."
> What are the odds? Of all the apartnt buildings in this city... of all the people here, two people I’ve t separately live in this one. <
I’ve had similar experiences in my world, but we did not build quite so vertically in my kingdom. So it was usually eting people from the sa small neighborhood that sprawled outward rather than climbed upward.
"I was just... making sure a friend got ho safely. They apparently live here, too."
"What a noble heart. Though I hope you weren’t planning to stand out here all night keeping watch?"
"No, of course not."
"Well, forgive for thinking so. You were so silent and still when I approached that I could have confused you for a street fixture. Compared to who is coming this way. Young woman, by the sound of the footsteps. Purposeful stride, but tired."
I turn to look down the sidewalk and see a figure approaching under the streetlights from quite far away. Then back at him with a raised eyebrow. I can hear it with my enhanced senses if I focus too, but then again... I am not human.
As she gets closer, I recognize who she is as well... and the keycard she has in her hands looks the sa. Have I found so sort of popular location? Or is every one of these people conspiring together in that building to befriend ...
"Mira?"
The Pineheart woman stops short when she hears her na, squinting in our direction. When she recognizes , her expression moves through surprise and curiosity.
"Hel-... Citra? What are you doing in this neighborhood at this ti of night?"
She glances at the back of the man beside while she is walking up in a set of professional attire, with a dark green blazer draped over her arm. Probably a little light on clothing considering the chill, but our kind does run hot.
> Can’t wait to get out of this jacket, actually. <
"...Do you two know each other?"
Mira approaches more cautiously, and I can see her taking in the scene - lurking at a corner outside an apartnt building with an old man who may well be ’mugging’ with his cane as a weapon.
"Yes. We’ve t a few tis. I was walking a different friend ho, she’d had a bit too much to drink."
I feel a bit defensive when I say this... and also hope no one else shows up that I feel the need to explain myself to. One benefit of being the known Fox Princess was that I rarely had to explain anything.
"That’s... nice. I was just getting ho from work myself. Long day at the museum."
"The museum? How wonderful. My late wife used to volunteer there occasionally. Linguistics work, primarily. She always said it was one of the most rewarding places in the city."
Edgar’s old face brightens considerably as he begins to speak. Of course it would, any ti he could rember the person he lost for the things she loved to do must be quite... sothing.
"Oh! What was her na, if you don’t mind? I might know of her work, even if it was before my ti. I look through a lot of records as a Junior Archivist."
"dha Miles. She specialized in regional dialects and historical language preservation of the native tribes."
"dha!"
Eyes glow yellow and widen, the werewolf being so enthusiastic about a deceased woman’s na that it kind of frightens .
> I wonder if I can just... leave. Let them talk and get back ho. <
"You recognize her work?"
"Yes, we still reference so of her docuntation. She contributed greatly to our collection of oral histories from immigrant communities. Her work on preserving the fading dialects was incredibly important - for the Stonewater and Cloudtail Tribes especially."
"She would have been so pleased to hear that. She always hoped her work would outlast her."
I find myself watching this exchange with so small fascination. Here’s this blind old man I t by chance, whose late wife’s work is still valued by a werewolf archivist I t at a clinic by chance. Which I only discovered because, by chance, I decided to contact Anise in the first place.
> Small... world? Or maybe that’s just how cities work - everyone’s connected sohow. Helene had read about sothing called degrees of separation... <
The connections people form seem to spiral outward, crossing at new junctions that spiral further still. All of it forming the weave of the universe through which the will of the self tugs and is tugged to do the work of the will of all.
...I shouldn’t be thinking too much into the philosophy of it right now, I’m just on edge for being stuck here between *their* spiral. My wolf howls and makes fun of my lack of courage to just storm off like I did earlier.
But that was different, there is being rude in turn - and just being rude!
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