#semsenir

Sem smiled. “Took you long enough!” He finally responded at normal volume again. “I was getting tired of wandering around.”

She smiled sweetly back. “I wanted to get a surprise for you!” She pulled back but kept a casual grip on his arm, close and familiar.

“Oh yeah? What kind?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?” She stuck her tongue out him.

“I suppose.” He exaggerated rolling his eyes in amusement. “Well, shall we start back then?”

Cyan nodded, and they started down the sidewalk together. After a few moments of quiet he shifted his eyes to her again and entreated her with a light whisper.

“What’s wrong?”

“A guy’s been following me.” She finally responded, keeping her eyes forward. “Can’t think of any reason other than bad news.”

“Gotcha.” Sem frowned to himself. He hadn’t known Cyan was nearby before she had pulled him from his thoughts. He’d only come to town recently, but he had no idea how long she’d been there. How long had this guy been following her? He decided to hope that this was mostly a stroke of luck for the both of them, especially with how his friend was acting.

They passed all kinds of shops that had settled on the edge of the square, one of them being an alternative fashion clothing shop with brightly colored mannequins in the window. Sem paused with a noise of interest and turned to look at them, pulling Cyan out of the walking path beside him as he did so. 

They marveled at the flowing outfits, but Sem flicked his eyes down the line of windows as they did so. Just beyond another display of mannequins, the road reflected off the windows frosting them in shades of gray. A few shops down he saw the reflection of a man who had just finished shifting to look in the window of a cafe. His clothes were plain, features sharp, his eyes focused intently on the hours chart in front of him. The man stayed planted as long as they did, patient.

“They’re cute, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely.” Sem’s eyes darted back to the displays in front of them, finding something reasonable to comment on. “Though I think a bag like that would be much more useful with a purse strap than left as a hand bag. It’d bring the color out more, too.”

“I don’t know why people only want to sell purses as handbags these days. Especially since less pants even have pockets these days so you have to put even more in them.” Cyan pouted. “This skirt doesn’t even have pockets, I haven’t gotten around to altering it yet. It feels next to worthless sometimes to have to alter all the clothes I buy, but the alternative is not having pockets.”

“Seems like a fruitful endeavor to me, then.” Sem smiled at her.

“Well sure, you don’t have to worry about spending the time and fabric on it.” She rolled her eyes in his direction. “Some dresses are so hard to alter. And some things look nice but they’re so shoddily made if you pull one thread the entire thing falls apart and you have to practically resew the whole thing.”

“At least you get to make the pockets as deep as you want when you do it yourself.”

“That is nice. I’ve gotten used to big pockets. Makes it even harder to go back.” She agreed, and they turned together back to the sidewalk.

Sem listened for the steps of the man behind them, but it was hard to pick them out over the sound of cars passing them on the road. His shoes didn’t click, and he kept a leisurely pace behind them. He was tempted to slow down, but there was no assurance that he wouldn’t slow down as well and make them both look suspicious.

Cyan tugged his arm and pointed to a sign ahead of them. “Look, there’s an ice cream parlor! Do you want to stop for ice cream?”

Sem beamed. “You know, that sounds like a great way to end the day. Sure, let’s do it, my treat.”

She tugged him up and through the door of the parlor, a bell chiming happily as they entered. They stepped up behind the few people in line and looked over the menu, shifting to be casually holding hands as they did.

“Do you think they have many fruit flavors?” Cyan looked up at him.

Sem craned his neck to look through the glassed-in counter to see the barrels of ice cream. “I think so. Plenty of interesting colors, too. They should have something tasty, at least.”

They stood in line, idly chatting as the groups in front of them got their orders. As they progressed, Sem felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. There was a flicker of a shadow on the floor, but they kept their eyes on the line in front of them. He listened for the sound of the bell, but the sharp chime never cut through the conversations of the patrons.

Sem forced himself to smile as they reached the counter, and Cyan looked into the freezer and told him about the options. Soon they paid and turned to find a spot to sit, ice cream in hand. He looked up at the large windows at the front of the store, but they were empty, the sunlight shining through them unperturbed. People passed a few feet from the front of the store, but any trace of the man he’d seen earlier seemed to be gone.

They slid into a small table near the front of the store with a sigh of relief. Cyan glanced out the window and down the street as far as she could see, but shook her head.

“Good riddance.” Finally she relaxed and dug a spoon into her bowl of strawberry creme, well formed scoops of white ice cream crisscrossed with ruby red veins.

“Hopefully that will be enough to get him to leave you alone. Thankfully most people lose interest if they think you’re in a relationship.” Sem agreed, taking a bite out of his chocolate chip cookie dough, scoops piled high on top of an individually fashioned cone. They ate a few bites in silence as their nerves settled.

“So, how have you been, Sem?” Cyan asked finally. “It’s been a bit.”

He shrugged. “I’ve been better, but it hasn’t been… too bad recently. Getting used to a new coworker is always a trial.”

“Oh, yeah, how has that been going?” Cyan looked up at him more attentively.

“Well… He’s better than the last guy.” Sem chuckled.

She frowned. “That’s an incredibly low bar.”

“I know. I’m trying to be grateful.” Sem sighed. “I think he’s doing alright so far, but he’s already decided we’re enemies and is sticking to this idea, as far as I can tell.”

She blinked. “How’d that happen?”

“Suddenly and without warning.” He cringed at the memory. “Apparently we have a few moral… disagreements. A few particular areas where he’s more, let’s say conservative than I am.”

“Conservative? Conservative how?”

“Conservative in the ‘fish that grew up in a small pond thinks the big ocean is a salty hedonistic wasteland’ way. I’m hoping that he’ll get over it given a bit more time, but for now he is looking for comfort in the familiar and not finding it. And on our second meeting I happened to introduce him to a few of my major hobbies that he did not much agree with, so now I guess he’ll never agree with me on anything.” Sem rested his head on his hand tiredly.

“Oof.” Cyan furrowed her brow sympathetically.

“He’d probably get along with you great.”

“Well, I’ll let you know if I ever run across him. That’s a better starting point than the last one at least, but hard to say how he’ll turn out.”

Sem nodded. “For the moment he has a goal and he’s busying himself with pursuing it. No telling how long it will last, but he’s figuring things out, and he’ll get the hang of it in his own time. At the very least, I think he’ll last. Not that he’d probably be given a lot of option to bow out at this point.”

Cyan ate in thoughtful silence for a minute.

“What about you? How’ve you been?” Sem prompted in kind.

“Mostly the same old, same old.” She picked at her ice cream as she talked. The intricate blue crystalline bracelet folded around her wrist glinted perfectly in the sunlight as it poked out of her sleeve, filling it with colors as if it captured the light and stored it as vibrant hues. “I found a clinic I can volunteer at, but I have to give my ‘advice’ on the down low. Getting a first aid certification is easy enough, but at the moment I’m loathe to work out the actual paperwork I’d need to be a practicing doctor around here. They want a lot of paperwork, and it’s not even interesting like it is in other places. Just schools communicating and filing, all the worst parts of a medical degree. So for now I just give advice if they ask for it. I think I’ve helped more cats with injuries recently than I have people.”

“Sorry to hear that.” Sem said, imagining Cyan kneeling down and putting a bandage on an ornery cat’s leg. “Do you think you’ll stick around here long?”

“I’m not sure yet. I was originally planning to be here for a while, but the competition’s pretty high and people are fairly healthy. If that keeps up, I’ll probably just cut my losses and go looking for employment opportunities elsewhere.”

“If that’s what you’re feeling, then it makes sense.” He agreed. “I know I’ve seen some places on the outskirts lately that could use someone with your kind of qualifications around, I’ve found the new guy and myself spending more time there lately. Could be something for you to work on there.”

“I’ll consider it. Maybe I’ll check it out when I feel like I need a change.” She nodded.

With a few more bites they both finished off their ice cream, picked up their trash and exited the shop after Sem left a nice tip for the workers. The sidewalk was clear, the sun slowly working its way towards the horizon.

“Do you want me to walk you home the rest of the way? It wouldn’t be any trouble.” Sem asked her, stepping between the buildings, away from the glass panes of the ice cream shop.

Cyan smiled. “I think I’ll be alright the rest of the way, you’ve been more than enough help. And thanks for the ice cream, as well. That was a nice change of pace.”

“Of course. It was well overdue.” Sem beamed. Cyan stepped forward and hugged him, and he gently wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. He felt her squeeze him, gleaning what more comfort she could from his presence before she finally eased up. After another moment he let her go and stepped back.

“Hopefully I’ll see you again, sooner this time.” 

She nodded. “I hope so too. It’d be nice to hang out again. But unfortunately someone needs to at least try to keep an eye on our new coworker, and gods know that Scar isn’t going to do it.”

“That’s an understatement.” He frowned, but smiled again before long. “See you around. Take care.”

“You take care as well. Stay out of trouble – doctor’s orders.” She crossed her arms and gave him a meaningful glare.

He laughed and gave her a salute. “Doctor’s orders. Got it.”

They parted ways, Cyan continuing the way she’d gone before and Sem taking the alleys, hands in his pockets and a spring in his step.

He followed with quiet steps, making sure that he wasn’t noticed before he was out of the way enough to have a private conversation. Sem turned the corner into the alley and kept close to the wall. He glanced around to find where the man had gone, but only saw a dark figure further in. Hands in the pockets of his jacket, he sped up to catch them.

What he found in the shadows of the alley was the man in black from head to toe, including boots, a black trenchoat over his dark outfit, and a black hat with a pointed, swallowtail brim. In one of his gloved hands he held a bloody knife, and the man in the leather jacket laid at his feet, blood leaking down his front from a deep slash in his throat. The man on the ground was limp, eyes glazed, the life already gone out of him.

Sem blinked. “You killed him?”

The main in black looked up. “Oh, it’s you. What are you doing here?”

“Why did you kill him?” Sem looked back at him incredulously. “You didn’t need to do that!”

“He was going to assault someone important tomorrow,” the man stated matter of factly.

“I know! I was going to talk him out of it, it would have been fine!” Sem sighed.

The man rolled his eyes. “Yes I’m sure. You’re certainly annoying enough for it.”

Sem pressed his hands together and rested his index fingers against his lips. “What name are you going by right now?”

“Dusk.”

“Great.” Sem closed his eyes, trying to figure out how to word his questions. “Why would you jump straight to killing someone?”

A rough noise came from in front of him, and Sem opened his eyes again in alarm. Dusk had grabbed the man’s body and was dragging it further into the alley towards a dumpster.

“What are you doing?” Sem sighed.

Dusk gave him an annoyed glance. “What do you think I’m doing? I’m disposing of the body so it doesn’t look suspicious. Do you want it to look suspicious?”

Sem watched in silence for a moment. “Sometimes I forget that you tend to have problems with morality. I’m not sure how. I would think that fact would stick in my head by now.”

“I’m better than the guy before me.” Dusk pointed out.

Sem crossed his arms, but couldn’t argue. “That’s probably it.”

“Are you going to come help me with this?” Dusk called back to him as he hoisted the man’s body up into his arms.

“What? No!” Sem told him in a harsh whisper. “I’m not encouraging this by helping you clean it up!”

“Ugh, fine I’ll do it myself.”

Dusk flicked a gloved finger at the lid of the dumpster. It tipped up on its own, slowly pulling up until it rested against the wall. To anyone else it would have looked like ghosts, or like nothing. But Sem could see the slight warping of the air, the space around the lid as it moved, the slight glimmer of invisible strings as his powers moved the lid, and then reached down and tugged on some of the bags of trash, pulling them up and out of the dumpster so that Dusk could hide the body underneath them. With the bags still floating in the air, Dusk rifled through his victim’s pockets.

“He had a family.” Sem entreated, hoping to at least get him to acknowledge what he’d done.

“Everyone has a family, Sem. That doesn’t make him special.” Dusk didn’t even look up at him. “He wasn’t even important, just another thug in a big city.”

“He had a girlfriend!”

“And I’m sure she’ll have no trouble finding someone who treats her better than he probably did.”

Sem braced himself. “Do you think your girlfriend would feel the same way about losing the person she loved?”

Dusk’s head snapped around to look at him. His voice dropped to a predatory register, calm as death as he responded. “Keep her out of your mouth. You don’t know anything about her, so don’t pretend you do. If you try to use her to manipulate me, I’ll make you wish we had never met.”

Sem shut his mouth. An appeal to empathy would almost never work. He should have expected this, but anything was worth trying once, right?

Dusk returned to rummaging, eventually pulling back with wallet in hand. Finally the garbage bags floated back down on top of the man’s body, hiding him from sight.

“His wallet?” Sem questioned quietly as he stepped closer, skirting the smear of blood on the alley ground and staying out of reach.

“Going to plant it across town in a dumpster there. Run down area.” Dusk responded in his normal tone as he opened it and removed the cash. “The police will chalk it up to gang violence.”

“And you’re taking his money?”

“Well, he doesn’t need it anymore.” Dusk shrugged as he pocketed the bills.

“Neither do you!” Sem frowned.

“So? It has its uses. I’ll probably use it as a distraction or something.” Dusk furrowed his brow at the shorter redhead. “I don’t have to explain myself to you. You’re just questioning all my choices now because I killed someone.”

Sem opened his mouth but quickly closed it again, reconsidering. “But… anyone else who found it would be more likely to need it for groceries, or something,” he trailed off.

Dusk gave him a long hard stare. “If you’re not going to be useful, you should leave.”

“Well, I was intending to be useful before you killed that man.” Sem glared back defiantly.

“You misunderstand me.” Dusk straightened up and stalked up to Semsenir, towering half a foot above Sem and casting a shadow over him. His cold blue eyes burned into the other man, smaller in every dimension. “I killed that man because he got in my way. He was going to cause trouble, and I stopped it in its tracks. If you are going to cause trouble, then I will not hesitate to do the same to you. I will do whatever it takes to make sure you will not interfere with my work. So, if you are going to interfere, then I suggest you leave this planet and do not return until I am finished. Understand?”

Sem swallowed, his arms hanging tensely at his sides. The man in front of him he knew was violent, dangerous, and laser focused. He was filled with a drive that Sem hadn’t felt for eons. Sem stood no chance against him, not in an even fight and certainly not in a back alley without his weapons.

Sem nodded slowly. “I understand.”

“Good.” Dusk kept his unblinking stare. “Then we are done here. We did not meet tonight, we did not talk. That man died to gang violence, and I do not exist. Is that clear, Semsenir?”

“Crystal. Nothing happened here, and I didn’t see it.” Sem agreed, voice small.

“Acceptable.” Dusk let his eyes relax to a stony neutral again. With unmatched confidence, Dusk stepped around Sem and walked out of the alley. “I hope we don’t meet again soon.”

Within moments his coattails whisked out of sight and he was gone into the night. Sem exhaled, finally releasing the tension he’d been holding. Once he was calm again, he placed a gentle hand on the dumpster.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t soon enough to help you.” He whispered, sharing a secret only between him and the recently deceased. “Maybe I can at least get a bank error to pay for your funeral. Please rest peacefully.”

His respects paid, Sem turned away and made his way out of the alley. He put his hands in his pockets and kept his head down, blending in with the rest of the people on the street after sundown. Tomorrow, he decided, he’d leave after he’d tied up his loose ends. Tonight however, he’d stay out of the way by going back to his house and getting drunk. 

Something caught Sem’s eye from across the grassy courtyard. A striped tail flicked, and he turned his head to catch it. A wolfen stood with her master, still as he rested his hand on her head. His pale skin stood out against the brown horizontal rings of her hair and his blue suit contrasted against the forest colors that decorated her body where no fur covered it to speak of. Her luxurious soft striped tail swept gently from side to side in a lethargic fashion, a movement he’d seen often before. The pale hand gently scratched behind her fuzzy round ears as her master chatted with another couple about proper fur care.  The green leash in his other hand lead to an emerald green leather collar around her neck, one marked similarly to Sem’s own.

His heart stopped.

He recognized her ears and tail, that of a ferret born of the woods. He knew her.

His muddled mind stirred. Sem hadn’t seen her for such a long time that he could barely focus on her, but his body remembered the feeling of her tail wrapped around his leg, when she held him close and they strolled through the forests side by side. His mouth remembered the taste of hers, the taste of the wild and of meat and musk, a scent he’d very much grown to love.

She couldn’t be here. It had to be a mistake, a trick of the light, or even just his own mind showing him phantoms. He’d been away for a while, he knew somewhere in the back of his mind, but he was nowhere near where they’d last been together. He was so far away, he’d been sure that no one would ever find him, even her.

Even Taijana.

The ever-present icy grip of fear twisted its hold on his gut. If she was here, then what did it mean? With a collar like his, he could only imagine that she had come here looking for him and found these people who were happy to pick her up, for a price. The feeling of his master’s hand on his throat flashed through his mind, how long he’d held it there while Sem’s own hands struggled against the ropes securing them to the back of the chair, cutting lines into his wrists until they bled. He was used to it; this wasn’t the first time that he’d wound up like this, and he could recover. But Taijana… If they had broken her, he feared the worst.

He had to help her. He had to do something. His master wouldn’t like it, but he couldn’t leave her like this. He repeated her name in his mind as the fog pressed in at the edges of his thoughts, threatening to engulf him again. His hand shook as he tried to think and plan, to remember any way that he could help. His knife? No. That was long gone, nothing but the name of a relic from a distant time.

He had to figure out something. She needed him. He raised his hand, keeping it close to his body, hoping that he could keep his concentration long to do something, anything.

As he worked to keep his eyes focused, a butterfly flitted past her. Her face followed it, instincts drawn by the movement, brown eyes glinting in the sunlight and hair swishing behind her.

Brown eyes. BROWN eyes.

His hand stopped dead as he stared, trying to make sense of it. Was he seeing things? Was it a trick of the light? He saw her eyes flick again, the sunlight dappling them a deep golden brown. No, he was sure that time.

His hand dropped to his side again. A numbness ran over him, the fear and determination fading as he reoriented himself. Taijana’s eyes weren’t brown, they were purple. This wolfen, this ferret, was not Taijana.

Her master’s hand tensed on her head, and she turned back to him, looking at his feet as her face flushed with embarrassment. Her hair settled with it, down along her back. He noted it with a certain analytical distance, adding it to his list. Brown eyes. Long hair. The curves of her body weren’t quite right either, he noticed now. It wasn’t her at all, that girl that he remembered. It was just another pet, like him. As his hand hung limply at his side the pet’s eyes flicked to him for the briefest moment, and he saw in her the familiar fogginess, the haze that he felt seep over his mind again, and this time he didn’t fight it. There were no recognition in her eyes. There never had been. He was only fooling himself. Just as he thought, no one would find him here.

A sharp tug on his collar caused him to turn back to his master. “Hey, focus Sem. What did I tell you about paying attention?” He lifted his hand and made a pronounced snap in front of his face.

Adrenaline shot through him. “Ah, I’m sorry Master!” He bowed his head in shame. “I was distracted for a moment. I won’t do it again.” He kept his voice low and soft, hoping not to attract attention. 

Would his master punish him here, in front of all these people? His mind drifted to the discipline tools that he knew his master had, the blades and the electric baton he kept with him just in case. He could imagine his master pulling out the baton and driving it into his gut, causing him to drop to his knees and spasm in front of everyone. His master would be furious, after he’d been so good up until now. He’d be kept inside forever, or maybe sold again to someone that didn’t want to show him off, and didn’t need to keep him nice to enjoy him as a pet.