Stoic and sturdy and Destined to everlast. Sticky sweet insides Shrouded by emerald spines; The sun casts a warm glow My skin doesn’t allow me to feel.

Nia’s feet were cold. They were always cold. But something about now, something about tonight — the still obsidian of her chosen alleyway stoop, the haunting silence of the late hour. The absence of even a single sliver of moon… An insidious sense of…something…needled the skin behind her ears. She tried to brush the sensation away with her unfeeling fingers, but it lingered, unfazed. Like the fog always shrouding the city above.

The shadows were relentless, as always. Their whispered chorus badgered Teddy as a dense cloud amidst a darkened night sky, the bright azure of Lequian hour quickly fading into a deep, unforgiving black. 

Nia couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt her toes. It was hard to care about them, if she was being perfectly honest. Not when the yowling alley cat that was her stomach refused to be quiet. Still, she didn’t want to lose them. It was hard enough to traverse this labyrinth of a city with the nine she had left. She had to imagine any additional losses would make it considerably more cumbersome.