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Fire Candy: Sushi Muffins and Kannanomaly's Thread
There was something about the city in the middle of the night that made everything so much more appealing. The windows of the skyscrapers glowed like demon eyes in the darkness while the noise of wailing sirens and bloody street fights polluted the air with some sickly sweet perfume. Nights like these, the kids would go racing.
Mayura crouched at the sidewalk's corner, a cherry dum-dum half chewed in her fangs while she drew pictures on the asphalt with a jagged rock she'd picked up. Always the first one out on the streets, just waiting for everyone else to finish strapping on their own machines so they could get going. Her morotized roller blades whirred impatiently below her and candy went crunching between her sharp teeth. Yellow eyes the like of a wild animal stared back up at the great flat where the rest of them were all getting ready. She growled and threw the stone away, standing up. Tonight, Mayura wore a ripped up black belly shirt and ratty jeanshorts, showing off her scraped knees and bandaged elbows. Her fire candy straw hung around her neck on a silver chain, its blue plastic glittering the the sickly, yellow light of the street lamp she stood against. She'd inherited it from her big brother, who gave it to her just minutes before he exploded in a destructive mass of flames and blood. She didn't cry, though. No one cried. That's just how it was. "Fuking shit!" she yelled up to the open windows, "hurry it up!" |
Katsu let out a steady sigh as he pulled the last strap tight on his skates. He growled as he heard someone below yelling up curses about them taking a long time. Some people were just too impatient... Pulling a little packaged stick of beef out of his pocket, he headed down the stairs, almost tripping about a thousand times on his way. Why did he always make the mistake of putting them on before he went down the stairs? He would really have to try to remember that next time... But he always made it. Not once had he ever in his life fallen down the stairs there. Well, not for that reason. It wasn't like he could live in that place without falling down those stairs for some reason... "Don't get your panties in a bunch..." He spat as he got to the bottom, Slim Jim sticking out of his mouth. Some of the other kids were down there too now, but that comment was directed at Ms. Impatient over there on the curb. "We gonna go now or what?" Gnawing at the jerky in his mouth, he revved the little engine on his blades for emphasis. He was ready to get that wind in his hair... |
"Shit, if they're gonna take forever then that's their problem," Mayura cackled, stamping her foot against the pavement. "I'm riding!" There was a sharp growl of the little engines and she took off laughing, a few of the others tailing after her, some of them yelling about how they should wait for the leader, Shinzo, before beginning. Of course, she just screamed curse words back at them, ficking them off before doing a complete 180 and zooming back to where she started.
"Hey, Wulf," she called to Katsu, flinging her lollipop stick off into a gutter, the other kids bitching at her in the background, "Akira said that if I beat you tonight she'd give me a bottle from her pure stash. So you better watch your ass 'cuz I'll be flying right past it!" Mayura grinned broadly, a devious intent in her eyes. |
Wulf leaned agaisnt the wall and folded his arms over his chest as Mayura showed off. With a shake of his head, he chewed at the Slim Jim, sucking in some air to get some of the spicy out of his mouth.
"Psh. That's nice. Weird how people make deals without even asking the other person involved..." He snorted, pushing off the wall. Although he was a little jealous of the chance to get some pure, he figured it was all a little silly. He wondered if there was something that would happen if she lost other than the fact that she didn't get the pure... But if she wanted to try, she could give it her best shot. Wulf couldn't help it if he was one of the faster racers. It seemed like people challenged him a lot even when there wasn't a bet or prize involved. It was actually sort of silly to him. Like a little foot soldier in a war wanting to kill the captain so he could be the big hero. Well, it wasn't like he hadn't been beat before... |
"Let's gooooo!" Mayura tugged impatiently on Katsu's arm, trying to get him to line up so the two of them could take off at a fair start. "I'll tell you what, if I win, I'll give you half, okay?" She grinned and pulled up her long, honey-brown hair into a high ponytail before snapping her goggles over her eyes.
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Wulf sighed, revving his machines enough to get him lined up with her. With a little grin, he pulled the beef jerky into his mouth with his tongue, swallowing it quickly so he wouldn't choke on it later.
Leaning down, he kept his narrowed, silver-blue eyes straight ahead as he waited for her to be ready. Letting his senses take over, he listened to every sound his sharp ears caught, his eyes darting across the street as he licked his lips. "All ready yet...?" |
"YeahGO!" Mayura took off again, practically throwing one leg after the other as she raced down the street. The darkness blended into the lights and behind her goggles, her yellow eyes gleamed. The wind cut into her throat as she sailed, mouth open to swallow the flavor of the city in all of its disgust.
Sqealing to the side, she hit the hairpin turn down a different alley, the normal route to get out of the labrynth of buildings and into the open air. Losing speed for only a second, she crouched low and shot down the brick hallway. |
With a little grin, Wulf took off when she gave the signal, pumping his legs at a comfortable pace. No point in wasting all of his energy at the first stretch. Even if she was currently ahead of him, that wasn't the point. What mattered was the fastest at the end, not the beginning...
Taking the turn wide, he continued right behind her, always staying hunched over with his head lower than his hips. With a little growl, he pushed the machines a little faster, finally evening them out. But this was still the beginning. He needed to remember that. If he got all pumped up because she got ahead it would ruin his focus. No; this wasn't a race against her at all. It was a race against himself. She wasn't even there. It was just him and the street... Just him and the street with the wind in his hair... |
The wind screamed and howled in Mayura's ears and she howled right back, laughing to punctuate it. Out into the city, down the boardwalk where people clustered and gathered. Obstacles. Only hurdles she'd have to dodge. Mayura wove between the throngs and maneuvered her way out of the crowd, cackling madly.
She glanced behind once to see how far Katsu was from catching up. The designated finish was just up ahead; the end of the bridge. Mayura gritted her fangs and lunged forward, her wheels scraping harshly against the gritted pavement. |
There it was up ahead; not the finish line, but the destination point. It was time for that boost he had been saving up for since he started. With a gravelly, growling laugh, he pushed forward even faster, feeling as if he was launching off the ground with every pump of his legs.
Ducking around a pedestrian, he was now even with Mayura, a fangy grin spread over his features. His slitted ice eyes almost completely shut, he pushed on harder. This was where it was all up to their legs. No longer was there the possibility of sneaky maneuvering. But this was what Wulf lived for; for the feeling of the adrenaline pumping and your heartbeat throbbing in you ear as you lunge into the dark stink of the city air. There was no way you couldn't enjoy that. It was everything he thought of when he heard the word 'freedom'. This was how it felt. But this was not a race. Not against the girl next to him. It was a race against himself. To push himself as far as he could as he did every time he strapped the skates to his feet. For what sort of life would it be if there weren't challenges every day and in everything you did...? |
And then Mayura came to a very important conclusion about her situation and her future and some of her past mistakes. They all seemed to add up to the fact that suddenly, where it had never been previously, there was a pothole. And she, of course, not being used to the sudden change in terrain, accidentally stepped in it while trying to rocket off to the bridge.
So, instead, she hit the street, face-first, and went skidding for a few meters before she actually stopped. And then she was very still. After a few seconds, she unstuck her face from the ground and roared, trying to stand back up. |
Wulf almost tripped over himself when his thinking pattern was slightly disrupted by a something to the side of him fell over, sliding to a slow stop. In the shock of it all, he almost stopped as well. But if he stopped now, he'd be called a quitter. On the other hand, if he didn't make sure she was okay, that was being a little selfish. A fall like that could rip a person's face off if taken the wrong way...
The finish line was only three yards up. That was it. He went for it, still at a fast pace, wanting to get there fast despite the fact that Mayura was still trying to get back off the ground. Throwing his foot out to stop himself at the invisible line across the road, he turned and went back to her, wondering if she needed any help... "You okay?" He asked, reaching his hand out for her even as he came up to her. "That was a nasty spill..." |
"Aw shit," Mayura cursed. She pushed herself up to standing, a bit too quickly, making herself nauseous. So she fell over again and vomited a bit on the ground. "Ew..." Blood dripped down her face and she spit onto the pavement. "That's just my luck, you know?" She just sat on the ground for a bit laughing and bleeding, wiping stomach acid away from her lips.
"So, you won, Katsu! Good job!" She really was excited for him, smiling with red gashes on her cheek and forehead. A bit reluctant to pull the goggles off. "What do you want for a prize then? I can give you my glass charm." She held up her wrist where a thick metal band was clamped that was full of little rings. Practically each ring carried a tiny bauble. The one she referred to was a piece of smooth, polished glass that was an entrancing color of pink. Her grin led to blood from her busted lip dripping onto her teeth, turning them a rosy color. |
Scrunching up his nose in a flinch, Katsu offered his hand to help her up. "I don't want your damn prize. That's not why I accept challenges..." He snorted. The prize she offered was a good one, but if she didn't want to give it up he wasn't going to cry about it. "You look like someone just dragged your face fifty feet over shrapnel, you know?" Wulf let out a gravelly little chuckle. There were only a few times when his face had looked that bad. But he still remembered how much it stings.
"How about we get you something to throw on it and then find some party to crash, hmm?" Leaning down a little, he grinned at her, his hand still stretched towards her. With his free hand, he pulled a long, thin package from his pocket and tore it open with his teeth before sticking the snack between his fangs. Most people would avoid spicy food right after racing; what sort of a way to cool down was that anyway? But Wulf wasn't 'most people'... He would have offered some to Mayura, but even he didn't like to eat Slim Jims when his lip was busted open. It was like torture. |
"Aw, really?" She grabbed his hand and accepted the help, slowly getting to her feet this time. "Come on, the cats-eye marble then!" She laughed a bit and stood upright, pulling her goggles off to hang around her neck. "I mean, you weren't gonna get anything if you won, so you should take it." She unclipped the black and red bead from her bracelet and pressed it into his hand.
"Yeah, I better go slow for a minute. That'll suck, but at least I won't puke again." She gently wheeled over to a nearby bench and sat down, picking little pieced of gravel out of her raw arm and licking at the gashes. "Shinzo's gonna yell at me again," she grieved with a chuckle. |
With a sigh, Wulf shrugged. "Alright, alright..." Rubbing the little bead between his pointer and thumb he studied it for a moment before shoving it in his pocket with all the other odds and ends he picked up from either racing, or from just picking things off the street that caught his eye. He had a thing for collecting and had a whole shoebox full of stones and nuts and marbles and little screws and pieces of metal and whatever other neat little things you found on the street or in the dumpsters.
"I would suggest staying away from Shinzo for a while then..." He said with a snort, rolling slowly behind her to the bench. With his hands akimbo, he stood next to the bench, watching her work on her arm. It was going to be a little harder to do that to her face, but he was sure she'd find some way to get it. All he knew was that he wasn't going to lick her face... How awkward would that be...? |
"Yeah, no kidding," Mayura said, spitting blood that had accumulated on her tongue off to the side. "He's already pissed aat me for riling everyone up too so late at night when they're sleeping. And that one time when I hid his straw. Haven't apologized for that either." She licked the the back of her hand and started cleaning the scrapes on her face.
"I guess I really need to chill out sometimes. Can't stand it though, staying on one place for too long. It bugs me. Feels like I should be out doing something instead of rotting like meat in the darkness." |
Wulf snorted and nodded slowly. "I hear ya there..." He said quietly, looking up at the dark sky. He had never been comfortable calling a place "home". Through the sixteen years of his life, he'd never found a place that really fitted and deserved that term to him...
But that might be a little different from what she was talking about. "It's just nature." He said simply, his eyes scanning the streets for nothing in particular. Pulling the beef jerky out of his mouth, he inspected it, chewing on a chunk thoughtfully for a second before throwing the whole thing in his mouth. "You about ready...?" |
"Yeah," she said, getting up after smudging a bit of dirt across her unscathed cheek. "So, where's this party we're crashing? Should we head back and get the guys or just plow forward?" It was obvious which one Mayura wanted, grinning when 'forward' escaped her lips. Her engines revved and she pulled on her goggles again.
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"Up to you..." Wulf grinned, knowing the answer already. Leaning forward a bit, he revved his engines as well and dancing forward a bit. It had been a while since he'd gone party-crashing. Especially duo or trio party-crashing. It was so much more fun that way than with a bunch of people. More of a challenge. And this was a big party too. All sorts of people were going to be there from what he'd heard. Perfect for duo crashing...
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"Then lead on!" She jumped forward a bit, all too eager to take off and cause trouble. That was Mayura, though. Ever the dare devil, troublemaker and loudmouth. Charging forward with barely a second thought backwards. But she had no regrets. And that was a life terribly worth living.
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With a growling laugh, Wulf took off down the street, glancing back once to make sure she was following, but other than that, keeping his attention straight ahead. It was a good thing they had raced here; it was only a short distance from the party. From what he had heard, this party was worth crashing. Great location, plus he had heard rumors that they had some real Fire Candy there. If someone actually let that information out, they were just asking to be looted. Katsu knew more than one or two kids who would kill to get their paws on some Fire Candy. And that wasn't an exaggeration...
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Mayura burst out laughing and she dashed right after him. She refused to actually hit her top speed again, because she didn't think she could handle it, but she kept up his pace well enough. Party crashing was definitely one of her favorite things because she got to fuck around with people's heads. There was nothing more entertaining than screwing with humans.
((Going to bed. See you later!)) |
{{~*Okey g'night. ^_^*~}}
There it was up ahead. He could already smell it. It wasn't too long before you could hear it. The loud music, the yelling people, all of it. Coming to a halt on the side of the building, he leaned against the wall and pulled out another Slim Jim as Mayura caught up to stop. The door was just around the corner now. "Ready now..?" |
"Yeah, let's go, let's go, let's goooo!" Impatient as ever, Mayura revved forward just slightly at each interjection. She reached down into her back pocket and pulled out a pearl sided switchblade that she had snatched from a pawn shop some years ago. Her weapon of preference when threatening to and/or slashing throats. Already, the thoughts of making them cry was making her giggle.
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