Heās been alone for what feels like days. Lost in a blur of daily and nightly Somnium. Heās hardly been anything else. Approaching a place where he feels like he could forget Kato, maybe even for weeks at a time. Patrolling all day, stalking thugs all night. Coming home drenched and exhausted just as the sun is kissing the horizon. Time enough to drown himself in a scalding, long shower, then trip over his peeled-off Somnium gear and fall face down into his covers.
Getting up to do it all over again four hours later.
Heās taken some time off workāat Rouge, that is. Had done so in a desperation to throw himself into a job heād more or less been born into. One that had shaped the man heād grown up to be, influenced his life as both Kato and the shadow of a spritely, spirited boy. A shadow heād called Somnium, a long time ago.
It might have been his unsettling run-in with an old friend, now enemyāsomeone calling herself Nightingaleāwhoād incidentally managed to strip away layers of his carefully crafted armour, like a whittler does a length of cedar or pine. Heād watched the shavings fall, fresh and aromatic at his feet, and woken the next day, a little more numbed than before.
Or it could have been his fatherāthe anniversary of his death always leaves a mark in Kato, leaves him less himself for a few days of the week leading up to his annual trip to the manās grave. But never had it lingered in him this long. Never had he hidden away in the safety of Somniumās masked guard, to escape Katoās youthful and optimistic vulnerability. It was safer here, in an unrecognized heroās lair.
But in all honesty, it was likely a combination of the lot. One thing after another compounding until heād woken one hour in the middle of a cold night and been reduced to running from his own weakness. Just like that, in a blink of an eye, heād resorted to keeping himself busy in the shell of a person who was both familiar and foreign. Both fabricated and innate. Somnium. Like a reoccurring lucid dream.
Heās sitting on the floor of a fire escape about twelve stories up an apartment building in the middle of downtown. The city lights glitter, mesmerizing and reflective in his gaze, and as his legs swing the edge, sinewy arms folded over the middle horizontal bar, he lets sparks jump over his knuckles in an undulating waveālike a surreal version of rolling a coin over the backs of your fingers. A supernatural parlour trick. He does it absently, from one hand, to the next, and back again, hardly paying it any attention as he looks instead out over the cityās horizon, watching flashing lights dart to and fro, listening to the echo of wailing sirens. It would seem, that no matter how much crime he fights or prevents, the city never fails to provide, time and time again. Is it all pointless then, he wonders? All of this vigilante business? Is there an end to this unwinnable battle theyād all signed up for?
He hears the approach, but doesnāt turn around. Doesnāt bother to move at all. At this hour, this high up the side of a building, itās likely a vigilante, anyway. And if notāwell, heāll cross that bridge when he gets to it.
As the shadow nears him, standing and leaning on the railing next to him, he looks over slightly, at a set of legs, but doesnāt have the energy to look up at them from where he sits. He turns his face away again.
āNice night for some building scaling, is it?ā
That night the moon wasnāt full, no, otherwise she wouldnāt have been there, rather running off in the woods, hoping that she wouldnāt wake up covered in someone elseās blood. But it was getting closeāthree days and sheād have to make the painful transformation yet again. However, as the full moon closed in on her, her strength and her senses heightened, and it was these days that she was at her strongestāwell in her human form at least. Cool air pushed past her hair, as she pulled the half mask down for a moment, breathing in all the smells of the coming winter. The change of season had been hard on them, with Nathanās lungs not adjusting well to the cold. She knew it was going to be a long transition for him, and she could only pray it wouldnāt land him another hospital visit that they couldnāt afford.Ā
A scent catches her nostrils, causing the hair on her arms to raise in small goosebumps. It wasnāt often that she came across others while scaling the rooftops. It was a good vantage point for scoping out trouble, and it also kept her relatively away from others. That night however, the smell of someone else prompted her to pull the cover back up over the bottom half of her face, eyes scanning towards itās owner. It was familiar, someone sheād come across before. Shoes crunch against the roof of the building as she approaches, making her presence known. Eyes landed on the figure in the dark, her wolf senses allowing her to see better than most through the night.Ā
āIt is.ā She keeps her voice lower and even.Ā āHavenāt seen you around for a while, Sparky.ā She recognized the other vigilante, theyād come across each other a few times in the past while prowling the night. While sheād never considered herself much of a vigilante, the general public had branded her as one, christening her with the name Onyx. Really it was just an excuse for her to work off some of the pent up energy and anger that she harboured and take it out on assholes.Ā
Heād have recognized her even if he hadnāt seen her. Heād have recognized her had he not been able to place her voice, even. BecauseĀ āSparkyā was a name sheād coined for him when theyād metāsomewhere on the streets of Ceres, while putting a stop to some crime or another... it was all a blur, these days. Katoās years here had been longāSomniumāsĀ had been longer. Time tended to blink by when you spent so much of it tackling seemingly endless city trouble. Not that Somnium objected to being kept busy... he had left the Guild for a reason. Had set out on his own to do goodāand so thatās what heās doing. Apparently, Ceres was a good place to end up for it, too.Ā
Heād crossed paths with her enough to know she was known as Onyx. And though he knew very little about her story, he knew she was some kind of mutant of sortsāno one wandering around at night, in all the wrong places at all the right times, was ever just... up to nothing. Whatever she was, or whatever she did or could do, she certainly wasnāt justĀ the manager of a coffee shop.Ā
Because heād recognized her from that too. A frequent customer at Grounded, Kato had seen her plenty of timesātalked to her even. But so far, theyād only crossed paths outside of the cafe as Somnium, and at this point, heās not sure if sheās ever made the connection that sheās met him in his civies, too. Itās possible, of courseāhis disguise certainly isnāt fool proof, nor is it intended to be. But his mask and hood hides enough from distances that itās enough for his purposes. With his voice slightly lowered, his personality more subdued, he has yet to have simple acquaintances figure it out on their own. Itās when they become closer than that, spend time with him as either alter-ego, that they start to piece it together. And being in Ceres... thatās not as big of a deal as it had been when heād been back home. Back home, itād been too dangerous. Here itās... well, itās still arguable, but itās different. Here, there are so manyĀ gifted individuals, itās almost a given.Ā
He shifted her a brief smirkāa breathy, somewhat humourless chuckle.Ā āYeah. It has. Maybe I was trying to evade you long enough for you to forget the nickname,ā he drawled. But it was a tease, and with it he grinned again. Slightly more real.Ā
