[That could have gone better, he thinks, opening his eyes on a sandbar for the second time in his life.
But it also could have gone a hell of a lot worse.
Atem doesn't fly home right away, from the sea. He needs to eat, recover his strength, his energy -- and, lucky for him, the bars are just closing as the fog rolls into Vandare. There's an altercation outside one of them; it ends with a gunshot, one soulless body, and one too-drunk woman having her address patiently and painstakingly coaxed from her. She'll wake up safe in her own bed.
The sun's coming up by the time she's settled. Atem takes off out the third-floor window, feathers brushing the dirty sides of the frame uncomfortably, but there's nothing he can do about that -- and, with all the energy he feels he can spare just before a fog, travels too-fast-to-see back to Bavan.
He lands impossibly lightly on 806's fire escape. His clothes are dry by now, but there's sea-salt crusted on them; somehow, he manages to smell like the ocean but nice, instead of dead fish and seagull and sand. Atem still wants to get clean, though. It'll be obvious to any awake, temporarily canine roommates (aware-wolves, if you will) that something unusual has happened: who dunked Atem in the ocean, an ocean that's miles and miles away?]
first morning of the second November fog, action
But it also could have gone a hell of a lot worse.
Atem doesn't fly home right away, from the sea. He needs to eat, recover his strength, his energy -- and, lucky for him, the bars are just closing as the fog rolls into Vandare. There's an altercation outside one of them; it ends with a gunshot, one soulless body, and one too-drunk woman having her address patiently and painstakingly coaxed from her. She'll wake up safe in her own bed.
The sun's coming up by the time she's settled. Atem takes off out the third-floor window, feathers brushing the dirty sides of the frame uncomfortably, but there's nothing he can do about that -- and, with all the energy he feels he can spare just before a fog, travels too-fast-to-see back to Bavan.
He lands impossibly lightly on 806's fire escape. His clothes are dry by now, but there's sea-salt crusted on them; somehow, he manages to smell like the ocean but nice, instead of dead fish and seagull and sand. Atem still wants to get clean, though. It'll be obvious to any awake, temporarily canine roommates (aware-wolves, if you will) that something unusual has happened: who dunked Atem in the ocean, an ocean that's miles and miles away?]