my memories hardened and are bright as chrome [OPEN]

[myheartglows]

WHO Doll!Tony and [OPEN]
WHAT The Magistrate's power stays with the soul.
WHEN Sunday the 19th, all day and night.
WHERE All over Bete Noire. Seriously, he can go and stumble into anywhere.
WARNING: sexual creepiness and implications in first thread

Comments

[geniusmanchild]

Topher hates being out in the city. So many weird smell and sounds and everything is all bright and garish and there's nothing above him but sky. Okay, not freaking out. Just don't look up, Topher. He's had to venture out to visit Ba'al again and is returning with a bag full of goodies. Mmmm, starchy goodness.

He decides to cut through a back alley. Stupid idea in hindsight. Then he sees someone curled up against a wall. What the hell? Homeless person or...

"Tony?"

How did this happen? Where's his handler? What's going on? He crouches down to see if he's okay.

[myheartglows]

The Doll has pressed himself into the wall, head ducked into his arms and legs tucked in tight, turned away from the mouth of the alleyway with all its noise and commotion. A hiding place, while the city reaches in with clawed hands to pull him back out, lead him to another place. Tony curls up tighter, teeth bared in a panic, but then he sucks in a gasp when Topher startles him, and he stares wide-eyed before he recognizes him as a friend.

His breath comes short and fast. The air is too hot, too wet, nothing like the comfortable coolness of the mansion. The ground hurts his feet. "I don't like it here," he whispers to Topher.

[geniusmanchild]

Tony looks in bad shape and it rattles Topher to see him like that. A doll showing fear. It's not how it's supposed to be. His brow creases and he hesitantly reaches out a hand to attempt a petting gesture on Tony's shoulder. He hopes it's comforting.

"It's gonna be all right. You just have to come with me and I'll take you back to the mansion, okay?"

[myheartglows]

The furrow in his brow deepens, and his eyes lower, darting around, before they raise again. He stumbles over his words, reluctant: "I'm not supposed to listen to you..."

[rightawaydoctor]

Walking home from work, Christine is focused on her path and moves at a fast clip. Even though this part of the city is better than most, the whole place is dangerous and she doesn't like to linger.

Waiting to cross the street, her eyes drift across and spot Tony, standing alone. That's an immediate red flag to her, because he shouldn't be alone. Where was Uhura? Or one of his caretakers?

The Walk sign lights up and she jogs across the street to him.

"Tony? It's Christine. Do you remember me?"

[myheartglows]

People walk around him and cars pass by on the street, but Tony just stands there; just stands still. His eyes flicker from each thing with a wild sort of awe--the stoplight, the signs, the lit windows at the top of skyscrapers, the busy people with hats pulled low under the summer sun. The sheer sight of it assaults all five of his senses, all at once.

It takes time to gain his attention. His eyes are unfocused, a little see-through. (When a man waited beside him at the crosswalk earlier, Tony looked to him and said, with sudden revelation, "You're a bad man." The guy sneered and threw his cigarette butt at Tony's bare feet.) But he blinks and they clear when he finally turns to Christine. Her voice cuts through the rest. He refocuses. "I remember you," he says.

[rightawaydoctor]

Her brow furrows in worry until he speaks, and then she lets out a breath in relief. He shouldn't be out here alone, and she's wondering if he wandered away while his handler's back was turned.

"Good, I'm glad you do. But I don't think Uhura would be pleased to see you out here alone. Do you know where she is?" If that was a fact he was able to comprehend, then he could tell her, and Christine could take him back to Uhura. If not, she would just have to see if she could get him back to the mansion.

[myheartglows]

His attention wanders still. A car rushes by and draws his eyes away from her. He stares at it disappearing down the road, but his brow wrinkles, worried, as Christine's words process past the fog around his mind that the voices create. "She said she would be back soon," Tony tells her.

[likely_evil]

The city talks to Sam too. Sometimes he ignores it, but sometimes it won't stop talking until he goes where it wants him to go. And tonight it is giving Sam a headache so instead of going home from the library, Sam goes to wander the streets.

He's not sure where the city is leading him at first. He just walks and listens. Listens and walks. And then he sees the man walking into the alley and the voices tell him to follow him. So Sam does, not sure what he's supposed to do, but he follows him. Waiting to see what he would do. Find a way to talk to him.

[myheartglows]

The sun is setting, and Tony stops just inside the mouth of the alleyway, his feet bare and burnt from sizzling concrete. A faint smell of decay wafts out from the shadows, and flies buzz around a woman's body lying prone against a garbage dumpster. The sunset covers the scene in a pinkish tint before it washes out into gray.

Tony lowers himself to his knees. He doesn't want to wake her. (Blood stains the front of her mini-skirt, the side of her head.) He crawls along the trash-filled ground on his hands to curl up against the wall. Maybe she needs to hide, too, he thinks, but he keeps a distance. Something about her upsets him.

[likely_evil]

Sam was not that far behind him, and he watches as the man called Tony crawls along the ground. He just stands at the end of the alley and watches a moment before he speaks.

"Do you know her?"

[myheartglows]

The more the sky darkens, the more the shadows stretch. Tony feels more than he sees the man standing over there. Night is when everything bad comes out. He has his knees up ad his arms on top, his head ducked down to see the light in his chest. "No," he answers, careful not to disturb the woman. He spares her another glance. "I found her sleeping."