“… You know… you’d think there was nothing worse than a spider crawling on your face in the morning…” Keyah groaned and nursed the mother of all cat scratches across his nose.
“… I suppose it’s that time of year to call the exterminator?” Bram chuckled and carefully closed the book he was reading for now, the marker safely in it’s place.
“No… Ernie’s got it covered. Which leads to the worst thing to happen to your face in a morning.” Keyah kissed his cat on her nose before letting her run around the ground floor on the hunt for more beasties. “She’s pretty good at it… don’t be surprised to feel half dead spiders climbing up your legs for freedom… she drops them on feet and runs away.” Keyah ruffled Bram’s hair as he went to the kitchen for breakfast.
“I see… She hasn’t got her bell on… I don’t know where she is…” Bram mentioned off hand as he went back to his book, he had been tempted to add something witty about only being able to see shadows… but then even Keyah had a hard time locating his cat when she wasn’t wearing her collar.
“Shit… sorry, Pitā took it off, didn’t give it back” Keyah shrugged and stood in the doorway with his cereal, what Bram couldn’t see wouldn’t earn him a scolding.
“Alright, she’ll come to me when she wants to.” Bram mumbled, past the point of really caring. The automatic litter boxes took care of her messes and she had food and water in dispensers on every level, heck she was perfectly capable of being alone in the house. Bram’s presence should only provide the occasional obstacle.
“Hey, if she’s a nightmare with the pup, I’ll see about keeping her on my floor or something…” Keyah glanced at his cat as she wound herself around his feet before excusing herself to the kitchen box. “I’d take her with me, but the trainer said she’d like them to meet.”
“Don’t forget, you need to pick up batteries for your father.”
“I’ll swing Lyka by the hardware store or something, no sweat.” Keyah shrugged, as if it were normal to ride one’s horse into the retail district and buy shit they needed.
The stablehands were happy to see Keyah and more than one of them remarked that it had been a while since they’d seen Shiva coming to pick up Kali, she wasn’t on active duty anymore but out of respect for his wallet and prior position they let him keep her in her home. He brushed off their comments as quickly as he could and didn’t feel he had the right to tell them anything…
Keyah knew the fear, he knew the pain of memory of a near death experience. Knowing you have to go somewhere you don’t want to go. Knowing you have to look inside your own mind for more than the fraction of a second, as it associates what you once knew and loved as something terrible. He let Kali out and left her to do her own thing, she was docile enough to just follow Lyka and turn back to the corral when they were getting too far for her liking.
Eventually Shiva would be able to get back on her again and give her the strength she was missing, for now, she was still well looked after and cared about. Lyka tossed his head on her depart and plodded between the trees a little crestfallen, Keyah had a hard time figuring out if he saw her as a potential mate or the mother that she was. Oh well, down to the store, he used as many side roads as he could and made sure to keep Lyka out of the way of too many cars.
Lyka glanced around a little as he was being tied to the parking meter outside the store, it wasn’t too unusual for him to be left occasionally and he decided to nibble on one of the patches of grass at the base of a growing tree. He ignored the small group of people that eventually surrounded him and took pictures, they were noisy and seemed to start shouting when Keyah returned to him and loaded one of the saddle bags with his purchases.
“What, either that or I tie him to a tree and leave him in the middle of the sidewalk.” Keyah shrugged to the loudest and most confrontational of the group and hopped on the back of his horse. He ignored everyone that tried to argue more sense into him, something about a horse not belonging on the main streets… when horse drawn carriages and mounted officers were a thing… Oh well, he didn’t give a rats arse and started heading back home, he knew that he looked after his horse and he acted within the city law.
It was fun to be greeted by one of the mounted officers as they were on their way to the football stadium, she pulled her horse over so the equines could say their little hellos too. She regarded the small crowd with a smirk and shook her head before she pulled away safely, there was nothing she needed to say and Keyah’s grin said it all as she left.
It seemed people took you more seriously when you were allies with people of some importance… Keyah made Lyka stop as they touched the woods that led to his home. He shouldn’t have to ride the coat tails of his friends, he was a skilled man and, and, who was he kidding. It was in a sport barely any people he knew even gave a shit about. He looked down between his legs for a moment, then it hit him, time for them both to run off some steam.
Keyah urged Lyka on and reached the lakehouse in a short time, he tossed his shopping to the living room and bolted up the stairs to grab his shit together. In no time he was being watched by the puppy trainer as he saddled up his horse with his custom archery saddle.
“She’s fascinated with him…” Keyah scooped up the pup and got her out from under Lyka’s feet, the stallion was starting to get impatient with the swatting and barking. “Aw, you’re getting big now… Don’t expect anyone else to lift you like this…” Keyah chuckled as his nose was licked by the dog, she was just about her full size and a little on the podgy side still.
“You know… If you ever want a career with animals…” The handler rested his shoulder on the doorframe.
“Vet’s already snagged me. If I retire as a teacher I’m promised to her.” Keyah laughed and set the pup down with a command to go inside. He smiled as he watched that wagging tail retreat. “Say… You’re not the woman that called…”
“Hm, Sal’s the boss. She makes the appointments for us so we know where to go and when. And, we’re pretty interchangeable when we need to be. Me n Dove look after three between us.”
“I see… I couldn’t foster like you do, I’d never want them to leave. Sure, Ernie’s a little shit sometimes, but… I wouldn’t give her to anyone.” Keyah whistled to prove a point, his cat came sprinting out of the house and run up his clothes to settle on his shoulder. “She’s the culprit.” He pointed to the healing scratch across his nose, one of her claws had got him pretty deep.
“If you can forgive a cat that… Alright, sold. I’ll entrust Cami to you guys.”
“Wait… what?”
“You’re the only one I’ve not interviewwed. Abraham and Shiva have both sat with me as they’re the ones applying. You… you just happen to live with them… but…”
“Hey, I get it. You need to know if I’m safe, use your own judgement, I mean… Hell knows what they said about me.” Keyah laughed and set Goldern down before he hopped on Lyka’s back “You should see the damage this one’s done to me over the years. He’s the reason I can’t go through airport checks without setting everything off.” Keyah patted his horse’s neck before he head off back to the school.
It took some setting up, but eventually he managed to get a mounted range all ready to go. He encouraged Lyka to run steadily and focused on the targets, they weren’t moving… but he sure as hell was. At one point this used to be easy, he hadn’t realized just how rusty he was… A lot of his shots went wide and barely hit the outer rings at all.
By the time he was happy he was able to hit the eyes every shot it started to rain, the crowd that had emerged out of the woodwork left as soon as the water started falling. He cupped his hands a while as Lyka cooled down and munched whatever greenery took his fancy and caught enough rain to wash at least some of the sweat from his brow. The crowd had given him some comfort, they had been supportive once they realized he wasn’t just going mad and making his horse run in a small circuit over and over…
It was odd how much as Keyah he craved the acknowledgement, as soon as he put the gear on he was more or less telling the world to fuck off. The rain hadn’t let up all that much and he was almost soaked to the bone, his gear was water resistant not waterproof, he wasn’t made of millions and it wasn’t worth the repair bills every time he got into a fight.
Oh well, the Blue Arrow smirked as it was time to move spots, he traversed the rooftops he had access to with moderate slippery difficulty and kept an eye on the streets below. As far as he knew there were no major incidents to spy on and get involved in, he was done with all of that bullshit… his revenge complete he slipped back into the shadows and looked after anyone in need of more immediate and less dangerous help.
He debated calling it a day, not many people were out in such weather. He’d helped a few people cross the street among the heavy traffic, he’d helped a cat down from a tree… the usual mundane shit besides firing off a few warning shots to assholes that thought mugging others were good ideas. He and the Harlequin usually alternated days, and he was aware of a couple of others that operated on the small scale.
It didn’t pay to get too well known, they’d all had to see what happened when the more prepared and more financed criminals wanted to make examples… The unwritten code was to leave them alone and nobody got hurt. If someone was already hurt however, it was free fucking game.
“You alright there..? You…You’re growling…” A voice snapped Keyah out of his thoughts and back to the noodles he had bought from the vendor.
“Shit. Sorry sugar. Least Mr Pho’s used to it. Ain’t that right Phobun?” Keyah’s brain scrambled for banter, he had to remember that he was supposed to be a cocky asshole with a fondness for flirting with EVERYONE that breathed.
The vendor shook his head with a sad little smile, he had become used to seeing the vigilantes here and there and sometimes saw them when they were at their worst. This was one of those nights where he just wasn’t sure how the Blue Arrow was actually faring.
“Right… Um… You sure you’re not on day release?”
“… You know… I don’t have anything witty to say to that…” Keyah shrugged and chomped into his noodles, they were starting to get cold.
“That’s it, no biting back?”
“Why should I sugar?” Keyah smiled and actually looked over to the voice that had reached out to him.
“I dunno, masked dude in the middle of the night…”
“Criminals don’t bother with masks these days. Trust me, they love the notoriety or make sure there’s no witnesses sugar.” In a way to combat the vigilantes the criminals hadn’t bothered with escalation and used the vigilante’s outfits against them. In the real world who was more trustworthy, the honest people or the ones that hid behind the masks and personae.
“Touché…”
“… I’m having a hard time figuring you out. Researcher?” Keyah raised a brow, he assumed who he was talking to was a rather androgynous male, not a laborer and from the look and smell he didn’t work in any of the local 24hour stores.
“Architect… Qualified two years ago… I helped with The Sanderson.” The male responded, his speech turning into mumbles as he tapered off.
“… I see… Well, that’s…something sugar.” Keyah wasn’t sure why he was being told, but hell, it beat the usual small talk.
“Laura. Laura Prentancost.”
“They call me the Blue Arrow. Call me Blue if you want.” Keyah resisted all temptation to just tell the lad his name.
“… I see…”
“Want me to walk you somewhere safe? I’d like to say it’s not a rough area but, hell, I’m not everywhere at once and they know it sugar.” He waved to the Harlequin as he saw him approach “One moment”
After a brief information exchange it seemed that Laura was waiting to take up that offer of a walk, well, why the hell not. If things turned nasty Keyah was more than capable of breaking one of those thin arms. He found it odd that his hand wasn’t taken when it was offered, not even for a parting handshake, odd enough he doubled back to ask.
He tapped Laura on his shoulder gently and immediately found out. He hadn’t meant to make the lad have a panic attack and it was scary to watch how suddenly it had come on… and how quickly the dark haired male recovered from it.
“Sorry… I… I have a thing… I can’t. And…” Laura was frustrated and stumbled back up to his feet, making sure he had all his belongings as some had scattered on the floor. “Pathetic right…”
“No, sugar, don’t. I’m sorry. I guess it works both ways huh?” Keyah backed up a little with his hands up, however much he wanted to help Laura to his feet he knew he needed to back up. “So… that explains the hours and the profession then…” He tried to back off… and be his normal flirty self, he couldn’t let himself be too concerned. It scared him how instantly he’d taken a liking to the male… who, from that drivers licence… was older than him.
“Thanks… Say, Arrow?”
“Yeah..?”
“What’s your favorite bird?”
” The pe-wee. Greater Pewee.” Keyah smiled, he almost slipped up and said peacock, but hell, the little flycatchers were decent to look at.
“I see…” Laura retreated with an oddly understanding smile.
A few months later and the scaffolding around one of the newest skyscrapers, it seemed that the gargoyles were modeled after a rather familiar looking bird. It seemed that the architects must have had fun with the more Gothic and more modern elements when it was all coming together. In a way, it was a shame he didn’t say peacock.
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