Child's Play (Open)

April 24, an hour after sunrise

The day started off like any other spring day in Librium. The sun had just glinted off the rooftops. Birds were chirping. Flowers were in bloom. Most importantly for allergy sufferers, the rain from the day before had washed all the pollen out of trees and off of cars (for those fortunate enough to own one in the city). Yessireebob, today was going to be be-A-utiful.

A cloud formed in the sky directly above the city. One cloud in the entire sky was a small price to pay for such a lovely day. It wasn't sinister looking and probably wouldn't last long. That would be true if it was a normal cloud, for the breeze was enough that it should have kept trucking along the airy sea. But this cloud seemed to stay put.....and then wiggled back and forth.

A white powder began to softly fall. Snow in May? While it was true that yesterday's storm had coalesced into the fluffy white cold stuff in northern areas of the country, it was obviously out of place here. The first flakes weren't even cold. Nor were their brothers up above. Florists all around didn't want to take the chance and hurried to bring their arrangements inside. A sudden chill now could ruin their entire inventory.

And that's when it got even weirder. Children on their way to school did what all children do in the snow. They cheered for joy and hoped the Divine Collective was going to cancel classes for the day. And then they tilted their backs, stuck out their tongues, and squealed in even more joy. The warm snow flakes were extremely sweet. As if Librium was one giant funnel cake and someone was blanketing it in confectioner's sugar.

In fact, someone was doing precisely that. A loft apartment somewhere within Librium housed a full scale miniature version of the city. Every detail was exact down to the smallest graffiti tag in the most obscure of locations. It was a perfect replica of Librium complete with every edifice in the real version. The miniature had taken the better part of the last ten years to produce and was constantly upgraded to reflect any sort of change, including a debris field where Dr. Kuniya's apartment used to be. It even had caution tape surrounding the immediate neighborhood.

A lone figure stood hunched over the diorama. The builder gently tapped a sieve repeatedly to make sure every scale inch within the model's city limits received a healthy dose of a diabetic's nightmare. An alteration like this wouldn't overlay for very long. The builder could already feel a significant drain in metabolic energy. Not even the sugar would be enough to stave off fatigue. However, that didn't stop the reality artist from taking a moment to observe the scene just outside the window.

Librium is a canvas just waiting to be painted.

What was only a faint dusting on the miniature was still a significant accumulation in the real world. By significant, it was really only two or three inches. The 'snow' would only be around for the next few minutes as it technically didn't exist. It was like leprechaun's gold and would vanish without a trace. The artist moved back to the model to start sculpting the next phase.

Time ticks.

On and one.

Foot steps sound.

Again and again.

Small shoes pounded the pavement. Hurry hurry. It was always hurry. No one seemed to ever care the world passed them by faster than they would like. Lives, no matter how long, always seemed so short. So many, taking that life for granted. Living at the speed of light.

Rushing, always rushing.

But in the midst of the rushing was a girl that seemed to take her time. Walking in her leisurely way. Never late, she always arrived precisely on time as much as she could control it. There were times that traffic, accidents, or random attacks on the world would change the ability to arrive in a timely manner. The blonde did not let those moments bother her. Why should she? They were out of her control.

There were so many things in life out of her control. Mana. Other people. Her powers. She controled nothing but her own actions. Then sometimes, not even those. Like the day that the rift had happened. The beast had come forth. And somehow, some way her powers had expanded beyond her control, beyond her wildest dreams of how far she could expand her aura. Silencing the entire city until she had passed out.

Carried out on the arms of a angel.

Kimber traveled a great deal. Always rumbling from one city to the next. Playing music. Doing her part to bring the world what she could. The slight girl was slender, tiny even, and wearing a soft pink dress. Her outfit was simple but lovely. In a way that accented what her body had but only barely. She dressed modestly, unlike many in the city. With her flat shoes, her knee length dress and a cardigan over it. The only jewelry she had was under her cardigan and was the armlet that her grandmother had given her. The one that had given her the gift of music back when the mana had turned her world into a silent one.

Her violin lay in its case. She had many, but today she had decided on the white one. Her case was black, there was no need to color coordinate things like that, her violin was not an accessory, it was a tool, it was a beautiful extension of who she was and what she could do.

As the young woman walked, she was surprised when she began to notice the small flutterings all around her. Like snow. And yet, it was spring. Spring was flowers and shower. Rain and droplets. Splashing on petals and making beautiful music and beats against the metal in the city. It was not a time for snow and it most certainly was not cold enough for snow. Her dress proved that. She feared, perhaps magic at work. Perhaps the cold was coming. The girl stopped her feet from walking and paused.

Children squealed with delight that only children could have. As they ran around catching the flurries on their tongues and squealing about how sweet they were. Flourists rushed to bring in their displayed flowers. Other stores brought in their carts and things, people came out from businesses looking up at the sky trying to figure out what was going on. The murmur of voices was low but filled the space sufficiently.

Kimber lifted her free hand, a flake had landed there, stayed there. It was not cold. It was not melting. It was doing nothing but waiting. Lifting it to her lips, her tongue slid out and tasted.. sweet. Gritty. Disolved. Like.. sugar? But large, on such a large scale. Her brows furrowed in confusion. Snow was like water. Gritty river water, but water. This was not snow. This was something else. But what made snow, sweet?

"Really guys, there is no need for this." The trio of knuckle-draggers didn't seem to interested in talking. Really now, hadn't he gotten past this sort of thing. Well such was the life of a career criminal. When you couldn't solve things by talking, it usually came down to cracking skulls. Or in this case having his own skull cracked. And this was suppose to be such a simple matter as well.

Ducking under the first punch thrown, Styx pushed his attacker into the second guy coming after him. He managed to send the two stumbling briefly as the third tackled into his side. His back slammed into the alley wall as the man slammed a couple of punches into his ribs. The thief responded with a head-butt that shattered a nose and sent the man reeling back dripping crimson down his face. By then his other two attackers had recovered their balance and were after him.

Grabbing a metal trashcan lid from one of the garbage bin, Solomon blocked a fist heading for his face. He then pulled the lid back and slammed it across the face of the second man. As he dropped like a sack of bricks, the first recovered enough to land a hay-maker across Solomon's jaw. The thief's head was ringing as his back ran into the alley wall again and he had just enough presence of mind to duck as the second punch tried to smash his nose. His attacker howled as fist ran into unyielding brick, bones cracking in his hand. A quick knee to the crotch and the last man was down for a bit.

Bending quickly, Solomon ruffled through the pockets of the man he had just knocked down. Inside his coat he found the small package he had been trying to negotiate for and quickly placed that in his own coat pocket. The man on the ground groaned and reached up to try and stop the thief, but Styx simply stood up strait and slammed a booted foot into the side of the man's head.

As he wiped some of the blood from his lip from where the hay-maker had caught him he noticed the white powder falling from the sky for the first time. The mix of the white powder with his own blood left a mixture of metallic copper and sweetness in his mouth before he spat to the side. "What the hell?"

Hearing the sound of feet approaching through the Alleys, Styx decided to ignore the falling sugar-like substance for now and concentrating on getting the hell out of there. His boots thumped the asphalt as he ran out of the alley and ducked into the street. He didn't stop running until he was a couple of blocks away and well mixed in with the crowd. Turning to look over his shoulder, he didn't notice anyone following him. He also didn't notice when he bumped into the lithe form of the Maiden of Silence.

He was a stocky fellow, despite only being 5'9" he weighed over 200 lbs. His quickly moving bulk would probably be enough knock over the slight girl in the unexpected collision. If it was the thief would turn his attention back to the girl. "My apologize miss, I wasn'...." The rest of his words would be drowned in silence as he reached down to help the girl up and his touch fell upon the mysterious woman. A surprised look passing on the face of the thief as he tried to figure out what just happened.