Thread: Run This Town (Rory+Ishu)

The sun was going down and Cade stood at the window watching through the old, weathered plastic shades as it made it's descent, burning the horizon of the cityscape and painting everything red and orange. The man who owned this apartment hadn't come back yet and Cade knew he probably wouldn't, not for a few days when he was sure the Gamatom had left. As soon as the afternoon light had started to darken, he'd turned on the lamp in the living room, and had gone to the window to stand watch, waiting and letting his thoughts wander. In just an hour or two - maybe less with how fast the sun was moving - the gang would be meeting back at the drop-off point, gathering together to rile each other up for the evening hunt. And there would be questions if he didn't show up. Always questions and still, so many uncertainties fluttered through his mind. Even as the coming of night excited him naturally, the call of the hunt filling his veins, he did not want to leave her, held fast to this room by her presence. Physically, there had been nothing wrong with her, so all he could do was wait and as the hours passed, he grew more restless. Impatient for the night that was coming and anxious about whether she would wake and be well. Broken bands of orange light criss-crossed his face as he looked outside through the shades, soothed by the sounds of her unconscious breathing, occasionally the tempo increasing as she was assaulted by things in her dreams. Finally, there was a change and he turned from his place at the window to watch silently as she sat up, her face twisting with a wince of pain. For a moment, he was shocked to see her moving at all and stood frozen in his shadowed corner, unable to move as she took his breath away again. Then she was sitting up, placing her feet to the floorboards and it got him moving, suddenly scared that she'd want to leave him and wanting to stop her before she did. As he approached the couch again, he did so with a wary step, hoping that this time they could take things calmer than before. Also hoping that whatever she'd done in the store would not be repeated in her panic, the memory of the cash register flying into the meats burned into his mind with a stark and clear anxiety. When her eyes drifted to him as he entered the light given off by the lamp, he gave her a reassuring and cautious look, stopping to stand a few feet from her, not wanting to get too close. I'm not going to hurt you, he said softly, those words feeling like alien syllables coming from his mouth, especially to someone like her. Licking his dry lips, he tried to think over what he wanted to say before continuing. Something... something occurred today that's never happened to me before and I'm at a bit of a loss trying to figure it out. I was wondering if you might have a few answers for me... Suddenly, everything he'd wanted to ask - Who are you? What are you? What have you done to my brain? - dried up in his throat as he looked at her in the golden yellow light from the lamp, shadows creeping in upon her features and giving her an almost lost and lonely look. So, he stood there, unsure of what he wanted from her or what he'd expected but curiosity still tickling at the back of his mind. Glancing down at the coffee table beside the couch, he remembered how hours before he'd made that man get water for her and he motioned to it now. If you were thirsty, I thought... his words dying down, unable to finish that sentence as the awkwardness of offering her something settled upon him. What is your name? he asked in a careful voice, still not daring to close the gap of distance between them, but his body tense and ready to move if she decided to run.