Where Minds Lay: Distances Between
#2 of Where Minds Lay
---This series is heating up with some fun ideas and characters. A lot more to be expect from this. Hope everyone likes it.---
Where Minds Lay:
Distances Between
Fred let me keep my job, at least. The terrible freaking headache is a small consequence for bigger favors. He insisted that I stop taking the Green's. They were two of the pills that had been taking along with the Red's. He didn't mind the Red's. That's the drug all dancers took. It practically makes our money. It's hard to keep a boner doing so much moving around, and Red's take care of that little problem.
Green's simply take care of my personal problems. They make the night life so much more exciting and colorful. It's a good feeling when every little burden you started with that day can be put out of your mind in a minute's time for as long as five hours. They just kind of enhance the Red's as a side effect. Not that I am complaining(quite the contrary judging from earlier). Maybe I took them with the Red's especially because they enhanced the effects.
Grabbing my bag from the dressing room, I start heading out. A white, loose shirt covers me half my ass, but tight shorts show the slim legs that still walk the way they did on the stage. It just becomes habit. Plus, it turns some heads which isn't always bad. Nefferus at the bar, an outgoing debonair wolf, signaled me to come over. He bares a gift to entice me.
I made quick work to go over and accept the shot. I downed it almost instantly and said thanks and goodbye. I couldn't stay very much longer in this place. It gets to you after being there long enough.
I move for the check out station. All the wads of bills that have been rubbed on my body and stuffed down my clothes(if they could be considered clothes) go to the Funding Station here. A snide rat, who always had a smoke between his teeth worked the station. He doesn't like any of us. I don't think he likes anyone, really. Fred is the only one that gets any kind of positive comments, but I believe that is his version of kissing ass. The rest of the time, he just acts like an ass to everyone.
"I need you to take your time with this. I'm in no mood to get home." I've made it a habit to lie to him. When I wish for something from this rat, I usually make it a point to reverse it. He's known for intentionally doing the opposite of our wishes just to spite us.
The rat goes fast about getting the bills from me. He unlocks the safe, punches and crunches on the computer nearby, and slides a card through. He hands it over to me with a little sneer, not even a word.
I finally have my credits(the only currency used these days). Plastic cards with designated amounts replaced the dollar soon after the Capital system became a co-leading party of the government. A paw full of big name companies produce too many of the jobs to be shut down for anything. The government found a compromise, and now they both are in it for the money. Where the citizens fit in... well, we keep our jobs and do our part to get by. Nothing much else can be done. They have the power, we don't. Enough said.
The over extension they have on our economy has produced a very intense social environment. The neons and hallo screens fill up all the space. The whole night life of the city is one big shining advertisement. From a bird's eye view the city would probably look like a mass of budding star lights.
You could probably hear the city from up pretty high as well. The streets are filled with a variety of low-middle classes. It's kind of packed everywhere. I try not to think about how some of them are waiting to scavenge off a weak fox like myself. I simply wiggle my hips and tip my chin, and I usually make it home safe.
Though, one fur in the crowd has been bothering me. For the past few nights he has been watching me. It freaks me out. I've been coming and going out of this place for years, and now I think I have a stalker on my tail. My roommate is completely unwilling to come and walk me home. Not a surprise. I don't have any other loyal friends in this city. It seems I have to protect myself whenever this hooded stranger in the shadows decides to strike. I just hate the suspense.
The little voice whispers an alternative defense when that time comes, but I bury it deep and don't think about it. I gave that up a long time ago. I refuse to use the... gift. It should be a curse, but it saved my mother. In retrospect, it drove her away from me forever. She fears me... and I miss her, but she is still alive. I think that's what counts... I think...
No, I have claws. I've been working out to get this body. I can take on some little pervert who judges me as a little girly fox. I just wish I knew how big he was. Only the small glimpses from the corner of my eyes tell me he's got no boobs, and his build is a little heavier than mine. The rest of his figure hides within the baggy clothes and hoody.
I find my way back to the apartment through depleting energy and a severe migraine. It takes all my willpower to keep from thinking how terrible it will be to come back. It's mostly hard not to think about what awaits me up there.
The stoop is surrounded with the usual homeless figures wrapped up in nasty garbs trying to sleep. I slide a key card through the entrance, and the big metal door beeps at me before sliding out of the way.
The apartment complex is complete with all the essential ingredients to make a horrible, low class living environment. The walls have a nice peeling effect, like some parts of the paint job are too lazy to stay on the wall. Bags of garbage sit by the sides of multiple and random doorways. They seem similar to the hobos out side, or is it vice-versa? Some of the doors are not even closed due to electrical malfunction. That's why the sound of screeching cubs fill the halls currently. The stairs that I go up have water leaking down from the rain that we had two days ago. Old rain stinks inside a building, something I won't forget ever.
I don't really know how bad it is further up. It might be better, or worse. It isn't much better up on the second floor. We have less trash bags and mostly because I complain about it a lot.
I use the same card on my door, and I get the same treatment as the downstairs door. My ears are welcomed with loud music and loud voices. My eyes have the unwelcomed sight of my roommate, Jav.
The older-looking gator has his white shirt unbuttoned and his pants undone and down past his hips. He probably just walked away from doing something that involved no pants. A head of black hair spikes down over one blood shot eye and around the rest of his head. White predatory teeth show between his big lips. That short stubby tail swings slowly behind him as he watches me.
"Hey, Dreya... we've been expecting ya'," he says. I merely watch him with intolerance.
"Tonight's not good, Jav." I start walking to my room, but he moves in my way to make it very difficult, slowing me down. "I almost lost my damn job, it's really not a good night."
"Look.." He glances back, lowering his face and backing me against the wall. His larger build makes it easy to trap me like a mouse(no offense my mousy friends). I'm sealed in between the wall and the wet, hideous-green of his scales. "There's a guy out there. He's willing to pay big bucks to fuck the lovely Dreya. Big fan of yours."
I heave a large sigh, shaking my head, but this only spurs him to convince me more. "We need this for the rent, Dreya. My boss pushed back my payday."
"Wait- what abou-?"
"I needed to buy 'other' things." He gives me a particularly vicious stare. It's a signal for me to just stop arguing and agree with him. It did not register tonight.
"You need to stop throwing parties and drinking so much." My voice rises a little by my agitation.
"I'm drunk now, Dreya.." He gives me this much more serious gaze. This gaze roots back to the days his species would spy its prey in the water. This stare scares me, because I know where it leads to...
"Look..." The simple word has a depression of its earlier strength. I check nervously around. "Will you give me a few hours, maybe?" Jav pulls a big grin. It's all cool, now; it says to me. Same thing that friendly paw smacking my shoulder says. It's all cool.
"Sure, babe! I can probably keep this group up pretty late, so you should be fine for a few hours. How wasted do you want me to get the guy? I'll be sure to 'prep' him for you, too. He should be good and hard when I get finished." Jav laughs, and thinks this is just a nice organization of ordinary business. For some reason, it's not so 'nice' and 'ordinary' to me...