Predatory Puddles (6) : Summer rains aren’t uncommon, so finding puddles dotting your path isn’t in itself particularly surprising or abnormal. However, as you walk past them, you feel the sensation of being watched, like eyes are on you. If you look into the puddles, you don’t see your reflection--nor the reflection of anything familiar to you. Instead, you see strange, decayed buildings, and odd, rotting plants. Something is watching you through the puddles, but before you can investigate, between one blink and the next, it’s all gone. When you look back, the puddles are oddly non-reflective, and then in the next blink, they’re all gone. The feeling of being watched doesn’t fade, though.
He was really lucky to be in the city while it was raining. Calaverite thought it felt like it had been a while since he'd been in a storm. It seemed like they didn't happen in Negaspace, or at least no part of it he could access. He was pretty sure he'd liked them, back when he lived with his attendants. It could be so quiet otherwise, as if his caretakers were afraid that any stray noise would disturb and rile their charges.
So it was nice when it rained, and droplets pattered against his barred window and thunder rumbled in the distance. It was like the world was whispering to him when no one else wanted to talk.
Sometimes it still seemed like no one wanted to talk to him. A lot of agents were so serious and only wanted Calaverite around when he could do something to further their assignments, which wasn't admittedly super often. He could be a good distraction, and his magic furthered that end, but he was less useful for stealth and recon, since he was not particularly interested in silence and he was too difficult for most of the younger and more inexperienced agents to control.
Calaverite wasn't often needed, but that didn't really bother him unless he was feeling bored and uninspired by his environment. But it was still just especially nice that he could be here for this: standing out in the cool wind and lazy rain of a summer storm.
He tipped his head back, letting droplets drench his face and tamp down his unruly, tangled hair.
Not too many people were out when it was wet like this. It wasn't a good time to gather energy or starseeds. Though Calaverite could still hope that a senshi might sense him and come out to investigate. A destroyed enemy would be worth his time. But when he pinched his eyes shut and pushed out his awareness, searching for nearby auras, he didn't feel anything. Not even a youma out.
So it was a start when he opened his eyes and glanced down to the puddles to see silhouettes of something different than where he was. He jumped slightly, before his body lurched forward with a snarl, stamping down into a puddle and whipping his head around to see if anyone was nearby.
He didn't see any more than he felt. There was just an ominous sense of something watching from someplace that had suffered great destruction. The puddle-windows showed something from another place: decaying buildings and brown vegetation. It may have even been here, where Cala was standing surrounding by office buildings and small shops. Just that everything looked much worse.
And then it was gone. One blink, and he could see nothing but puddles being splattered by the rain.
No visions, no auras, and nothing that seemed out of the ordinary.
The rain continued on, unabated, and Cala stood in the storm. Whatever place the puddles had showed him had lasted only a minute, and it didn't take Cala long to start to wonder if there had really been anything there at all. His skin still felt alive, as if something else was there, but since there wasn't, he figured it was fine to just disregard it. It wasn't important, anyway.
[WC: 550]
