Snippet #2412557

It was freezing. Though Lucien had bundled up, as per his usual style, the cold managed to locate all of his apparel’s weak points. Icy fingers crept down his turtleneck, brushing against jaw and cheekbone. The few centimeters of space between leather glove and trenchcoat.

But Lucien didn’t particularly mind. Though the steadily increasing winds blew his bangs from his eyes and tugged at the belt of his coat, to Lucien it only served as a reminder that he wasn’t as alone as he’d like to think. Stepping silently as ever in rubber-soled jumper boots, the whooshing that filled his ears offered some distraction from the sheer emptiness that followed him whenever he traveled alone like this.

‘Manically depressed’. The term lingered in the back of the eighteen year old’s mind, but it didn’t have much of an impact on his dull, static-ridden thought processes. When the internal weight has hit him two weeks ago, Lucien had tried to remind himself that this mental state was simply a thing that had to happen, but with little success. It didn’t take very long before he quit fighting it and instead began to invest what little energy he had towards enduring.

He hadn’t slept last night. Or the night before. Blank, meaningless stretches of time spent staring at the ceiling of his surburban lair. It would probably be best if he tried again at Micah’s place. With a hurricane coming, it would probably be a smart idea to do so anyways. Though Lucien had been wondering if some group interaction might take his mind off things, everyone had separated to go gather supplies before the storm hit. Alone at home, alone in a group. Not much of a difference. Lucien was by himself either way.

Though Lucien kept habitual awareness of his surroundings, he wasn’t too worried about encountering Shadows. Whether it was because of his natural stealth or perhaps even his already damaged mind, they never seemed to be as attracted to Lucien as they were to the others. It wasn’t that big of a difference, not enough to make him safer, but just enough to be noticed. However, when he was depressed the Shadows rarely appeared before him. He was too lifeless, lacking the warmth and creativity that drew them to humans. Which was good, in a way, because Lucien might not be able to bring himself to run if such a situation were ever to occur. Though the thought may be strange to some, utter insanity was less of a motivator than death. Lucien didn’t care about living. As long as his heart was beating, even if he was frothing at the mouth and attacking people, as long as he was not dead, Lucien was fine.

Or, at least as fine as a manically depressed person can be.

Gloved fingers loosely hooked in the handle of his water jug (his offering to the anti-hurricane supplies), Lucien proceeded with his mission to find someone else in his group. He hadn’t been paying attention when they decided on a meeting place, or more likely he had but forgot. Failing memory was one of the many benefits of Lucien’s current mood frame. But in any case, if Lucien ever managed to locate another human being in this vast, desolate city, he would prefer the human to be Micah. The new one... Elara... though sweet, was likely to be as lost as he, and Nadezda seemed to be a magnet for trouble. Micah was not only the most reliable, but was also the only one who knew about the cyclothymia.

As Lucien turned a corner, his purple eyes were assaulted with bursts of color in the distance. Black, brown, and mint instantly marked out his companions, but who were those people beyond them? A pink haired human was shouting something about books, and a library.

Ah. The unfamiliar humans were seeking a fantasy world. It would be tough. The areas around places of creativity were always infested with Shadows. Though there was a library close by, a wiser choice would be to find a privately owned residence, and look through the books and paintings available there. Fewer options, but it would be preferable to insanity at any rate.

Being closer to the said library than he was to the group, Lucien automatically gave the building a look over and was surprised, to say the least, by the more color. A browned girl traveled from roof to roof with alarming speed, quickly landing atop of the library. If he had been in the mood, at this point Lucien’s eyebrows would be closer to his hairline. She appeared to be fiddling around with some unseen device, but to what end?

Then the top of the library caught on fire.

As soon as he saw the first Shadow flee, Lucien knew exactly what she was doing. The girl must have heard the pink-haired human as well, and known that a distraction would be needed for any safe entry to the building. Clever.

“THAT’S YOUR CUE TO RUN!”

Lucien’s heart jumped, and survival instincts took over. If someone tells you to run, you sprint. The eighteen year old sprung forward, veins awash with adrenaline and rubber soled boots creating more than enough friction for needed speed. Though the area around the library would be cleared of Shadows, that meant that everywhere else would soon have the opposite happen. Therefore, the library was the safest place to be at the moment.

The girl finished her descent just as Lucien was racing by. Without pause or thought, his free arm flashed out, gloved hand latching onto her wrist. Pulling the unfamiliar human behind him, Lucien rounded the library’s corner, turned his head and shouted for the first time in a while. “Micah! Get the girls in here!”

Lucien bounded up the stone steps two at a time, yanking open the handle without any thought to whether it was locked or not. But luckily it wasn’t, and the two refugees sprinted inside without any major problems.

Though the ones that were farther away might have greater difficulty.