prompt
Prompt 5: Though Destiny City is a busy metropolis, dense forests encircle the city. It's uncommon for wildlife to wander into the city--especially larger creatures--but something is making its mark on Destiny City. Large footprints, humanlike but far too large to belong to any ordinary human, are appearing around Destiny City. They always lead to the woods, and back again--and the strange part is that no one seems to be able to see what has caused them. Cameras distort, and anyone who thinks they've come into contact with the creature can only make out a thick, white fur and something easily nine feet tall. Oddly enough, any surface near the tracks are covered in a sheet of ice, as though whatever passed close to them was so cold it left a frosty trail.
The last time Calaverite had been let out into the city, he'd gone in only his fuku, with half his chest and most of his arms and legs exposed. He'd said he wasn't worried about the cold! He'd warm up eventually. When he'd returned to Negaspace, his fingers felt particularly numb, and his throat was burning from inhaling dry, frigid air.
The next morning he'd been dizzy, stuffy, and achy. An unpleasant experience to say the least. When he'd complained about it, his general had said, "That's what happens," and left it at that, making Cala further grouchy.
He hadn't expected literally anything else to come of it, but when he saw his general after that, it was to be greeted with an armful of heavy, down coat.
It was surely the most extravagant garment Calaverite had ever been presented with. He'd had coats to ward off the winter before, but this one was as long as his knees, ringed in fur around the collar, hood, cuffs, and bottom. The wind-breaker fabric was a little scuffed in some places, and the fur was kind of clumped up like it had gone through a washing machine, but Cala thought it was magnificent, and it was so warm on his skin.
He was told it was one of his general's old coats that had been sitting in the closet for years. The man didn't need it, anymore, since he'd already gotten a new one. Calaverite should wear this one when he went out to the city. It would keep him warm, and it would hide his fuku so fewer people recognized what he was.
Calaverite had wanted to try his new coat immediately.
He'd been allowed back to the city with the caveat that the coat wasn't a gift: Cala should expect to work hard to earn it. Sounded fine to him. Calaverite promised to try very hard, and he was dropped near the park to gather energy from anyone who was out that night.
The wind tousled his long hair, and the chill nipped at his face and ears, but the rest of him stayed perfectly comfortable. He snuggled his nose down into the high fur collar and set off through the snow in search of victims, humming delightedly as he did.
He didn't have to go very far before he spotted the first signs of activity: footprints. Huge ones!
And they were shaped like feet, like bare feet. They must be very cold! And if they were cold and weakened, Cala would surely have no trouble draining them, no matter how big these feet (and consequently the one walking with them) might be. He scampered off after the trail.
The snow crunched beneath his feet, crackling in a way that suggested ice was under his boots, splintering as he stepped. He crackled with every step, all the way to the treeline, where the forests beyond were dark, snowy, and seemingly untouched by anything besides whoever had left the trail. Calaverite wasn't afraid of the dark, but he couldn't help but pause once he'd entered the forest enough that the moonlight above was completely obscured. He couldn't see any of the lights the lined the sidewalk in the park.
It was dark, save for some shadowy ambiance.
Something crackled, and Calaverite swiveled toward the sound, red eyes wide as he tried to spot anything lurking. In a flurry of fright, he whispered his magic, and two small bats appeared. They fluttered disjointedly around him, and Cala thought that if there was something lurking, it would see his creatures' movements and attack...
But nothing happened. There was only the shift of large snow piles off in the distance. Something rumbled, but Calaverite didn't see a person anywhere that could have made the sound.
He decided it was better left undiscovered, and he scurried back from the woods toward the lighted areas of the park, where he could find someone more his size to harass.
[WC: 662]
