Nathaniel was excited. Never before had he met another who was capable of harnessing the power of darkness like he could, and now one sat right next to him, gingerly sipping her tea. She did try to kill him, but he wasn’t about to let something insignificant as that scare him away from possibly the first ever person he could relate to!
“How long have you been able to do that!” He asks with an ecstatic grin. Why, he couldn’t keep down his delight even if he wanted to! “I’ve never seen anyone else use it like you. I mean, sure it pours out of some like a fountain, but for someone to actually be able to use it, albeit different from what I’m used to, is so cool!”
The lynx simply sighs as she gets up from her seat at the cafe. Wordlessly, he leaves more than enough money behind to pay for her half finished drink as she heads for the exit. Despite his eyes being continuously shut once more, he can sense that she’s leaving and decides to pay for his drink as well and follow after her, never noting that he never actually asked for the cup in the first place. Under normal circumstances, he might have wondered if he had actually taken someone else’s drink, but this wasn’t a normal circumstance.
“Do you think you could teach me how to do that?” He bursts out as he follows Clover via scent. Despite being faint, he could already distinguish her earthy scent from the others. While not necessarily overbearing, she did stink just a little. Did she bath today? Well, Nat didn’t either, but he just got into town and has yet to find a proper inn to rest in.
“You can’t already?” Clover inquired as she leaped down into a canal of sorts with a splash. Nat’s nose wrinkled up as the smell that was on his feline associate had suddenly grown stronger and even more foul.
“Well… no. Not exactly.” He gingerly follows after her and shivers as he becomes ankle deep in foul water. “I’m able to infuse myself with darkness, allowing me to perform feats that are seemingly improbably or outright impossible. Like in the ally. Not everyone can just hang off a pole by one leg or change their momentum and direction in midair, y’know?”
“Huh. Never thought of using it like that.” Clover thinks aloud as she wades through the water, creating enough sound to unknowingly provide a way for Nathaniel to follow since the smell of the sewer canal had overloaded his senses. “I harness my powers for the use of creation. Well, only inorganic matter. If I can think it, I can make it. In fact, I actually made this whole kingdom.”
“Wait, really?! All from the power from your eye?!” His tail begins to wag frantically as his excitement immediately peaks. Before he can get an answer, he’s suddenly tackled by a coat of sewage water, some of it even getting into his mouth. “Ugh… What-?”
“-the hell, kid?!” Clover jumps to her feet again and audibly socks the kid across his head. “Watch where you’re going!”
“S-Sorry miss!” A boy replies back with childish squeak after being punched. “I’m just really in a hurry!” Down the way, the sound of multiple people splashing towards them can be heard. The boy turns to flee again, but is pulled back via his arm by Clover. “Let me go!”
“Look, kid. Clearly these guys are chasing a moth like you down for a reason, and judging by how you carelessly knocked me over, I doubt to see how you’re on the right side of the law. How old are you, like seventeen?”
“I’m nineteen!” He cries with a futile yank. “I’m not some homeless punk and I didn’t do anything wrong! So let me go! If they catch me...” He looks back down the canal and can see the group of wolves and coyotes approaching. “Please!” He says with a sob, but cannot escape from Clover’s iron grip.
Nat stands behind, awkwardly listening to the whole exchange as he tries to sort out the smells. With the sewage directly on his nose, it was a bit hard to sort everything out. However, after a few sniffs he could instantly recognize the scent that hovered over the boy like a cloud. “Clover, let go. This kid’s only a victim.”
“What?” Just as she turned to face him, the trio were already caught up. By now, the moth child was a mess of tears and sobs as he bawled his eyes out, knees deep in the water.
“Ah, I see you caught the little brat.” One of the coyotes says with a sneer. “Hand him over.”
Clover cautiously looks them over while Nat seemingly ignores them with a dismissive flick of his ear. “Why?”
“That punk owes us a favor and didn’t deliver.” A wolf grunts while taking an aggressive step forward. In response, both Clover and Nat take a step forward as well.
“Then we’ll just take him to the guard for you.” Nat says with a fake smile. He’s trying to hide the contempt in his voice, but it easily seeps through.
“No need. This is a personal affair between us and him.” The wolf begins to take another step forward, but before he can Nat tackles him to the ground. “What the-?” He’s cut off as Nat lands a solid, powerful punch across his muzzle.
“Like hell I’m letting bastards like you take him! You know the rules! One go per person! You got what you paid for, so stop guilting me into more!” With each sentence, he punches the wolf, finishing with a two-handed jackhammer that left him as an unconscious, bloody pulp. Nat hops off of him and turns to the other two. “Still wanna try and take me away?”
He hears a step from one of them and instantly is upon them. With a knee to the gut, the first coyote is already on his knees and out of breath. The other is on his back before he knows it, gasping for any air he can manage. “How do you like it?! Asphyxiation isn’t so hot when you’re the one who can’t breather, huh?”
“Nathaniel?” He doesn’t hear as he bores all of his concentration into keeping the flailing canine down. His eyes focus on the coyote’s as it stares at him, wide-eyed and scared for it’s life. “Nathaniel?!” He can hear the sound of cracking as it’s eyes roll back, unable to keep up it’s futile will to live.
“NAT!” But it’s too late. It’s dead. He grins as a feeling of relief and ecstasy washes over him. He leans back with a sigh and lazily turns to look at Clover. His afterglow is cut short when he sees the overwhelming darkness that seemed to burst from both of Clover’s eyes and cover both her and the moth in darkness.
“Shit.”
