whilst spirale was indeed a place of majesty from the grand + picturesque locales to the simple aesthetics of the markets, the trails and pathways to the diverging branches, it was not a place free of trouble + strife. as much as jakurai was welcomed to the island he was also warned quite sternly of the suspicious islanders present, those who did not have the public’s best interests at heart, those that might take advantage of a fresh-faced newcomer. he had thanked them for their advice, which included remaining in the well-lit areas at night and not immediately rushing into the darker parts of the island. simple advice, but even he understood that it was often the simplest suggestion which made a difference between life + death.
with that in mind, when nightfall did come and the doctor was left wandering back towards cotes, it seemed that even that simple suggestion would soon become tested. although it wasn’t particularly late at night, merely a low hang into the evening with the sky a still rather warm shade of purple, the lanterns were aglow + people were beginning to filter back into their homes, thus leaving the streets bare. a few wild foxes sprinted across the road, darting into the bushes. the hoot of an owl overhead could be heard, along with the sound of jakurai’s heel as he walked.
but the sound stopped. blue eyes had caught sight of something drifting along in the river feeding beneath the bridge. in the darkness, it looked almost too difficult to discern, but after squinting through the blackened waters, he spied it was a series of floating bandages, stained with something he could not make out from such a distance. perhaps it could have been nothing. all sorts of things get washed into drains, lost in the sewage and fed into the ocean. but a loud groan caught his ear and the doctor continued across the bridge at a quickened pace.
a bloody trail greeted him at the other side of the waterway, splotches of deep red against the pale wooden decking which led down into the river itself. and yet there was no body or even the suggestion of someone being there at all. puzzled, jakurai ventured forward along the bank, sliding down from the path of the street to the darker area below. with no lanterns to guide the way, he was almost fumbling in complete darkness, until he spied a bobbing light in an underpass up ahead. a person? was it the injured victim, or someone else on the trail of whomever the blood belonged to? “ excuse me? are you alright? there seems to be quite a bit of blood loss. if you requite medical attention, perhaps i can be of assistance... “ ♬ ¦ starter for @beckonsosweetly
