Cradled in his hands was a medium-sized cup of hot chocolate – well at this point a mostly finished cup of hot chocolate. It was a testament to how quiet patrol had been – the dark-haired senshi didn't always get to finish the hot drinks he bought to tide himself through patrol.
Thanksgiving was coming up. It wasn't a holiday they celebrated in the UK, although from what little he'd heard a big meal seemed to feature pretty heavy in the whole thing that and family relatives – kind of like Christmas without the Christmas presents he guessed. From the way Saffy had been going on about it, Thanksgiving certainly seemed to a big thing and his cousin had explained that Uncle Phillip was expecting the two of them at his place for the duration of the Thanksgiving period.
“You're part of the Laith clan too, you know.” His cousin's voice had been matter of fact as she'd brushed of his suggestion of staying in Destiny City. “And Thanksgiving is a time for family.”
Athene shook his head at the thought, finishing off the last few sips of hot chocolate. His cousin was planning to drive them down to his Uncle's place later on today. He just hoped that Saffy didn't get too annoyed if he ended up dozing most the way – senshi patrolling meant that he tended to get dozy later on during the day.
It was as the dark-haired senshi was looking around for a bin in which dispose of the now empty cup of coffee that it happened.
Energy – not senshi, or one of those knights... Definitely not youma either, but there was a lot of it – a huge amount of it.
Then for a moment nothing.
The empty cup dropped from nerveless fingers as Athene suddenly started to feel tingly, very tingly. There was a sensation of melting, of the ground getting closer – although maybe that was just his imagination.
When it was all over, Athene found as an unpleasant shock that the ground getting closer hadn't been imagination – it was a lot closer.
A white object loomed in his vision, someone's abandoned cardboard cup – smelt like chocolate. Wait? Chocolate?
Athene took a step forward, or at least tried to as he stumbled over his paws. Wait? Paws? He looked down – yes paws – he had honest to goodness paws, with brownish socks.
Taking a cautious step forward and then another, Athene moved slowly down the street. Pausing as a glimmer caught his attention. A nearby shop window, a cat padding by. A handsome little fellow, despite the odd colouring.
Wait cat?! Wide eyes stared at the cat in the shop window for a moment and then a sound, very much like a scream of denial escaped onto the empty street.
(501 words)
