Scene of the Crime [ closed/ Angeni]

Hunger. It was ever present and whipping her like some task master gone amok. You either got up and answered the call or died. The debacle the other day; who knew how long ago it had been for her mind had wallowed in despair for what seemed an eternity. She could have perished that day, it was still a very plausible option. At least until the hunger could drown out her sloth. Then all was pain from deep within which refused to be ignored.

Bony hands gripped the edges of her subterranean lair and gangling muscles within both her  limbs pulled and tugged until her hairy mass began to inch its way out and into the daylight. The area was bereft of habitation, being outside the sprawl that was Karakura Town, and each step toward that center of civilization was a burden nearly beyond bearing.

She had bolted a soul she found in an alley, some homeless wretch standing over his broken body blinking like a fool. Unfortunately, clarity had long ago left his mind and though he stood looking right up at her, he had no sense of horror but rather a look of peace she understood all too well. Acedia hadn’t even bothered to torment him before sinking her gaping maw over his soul and inhaling the meager sustenance he provided. After her failure she couldn’t be choosy.

It had been enough to sustain her through the bulk of her pity party, her growing hunger at war with her need to slumber as much of her existence as possible, warred within her. She needed minions. How much easier life would be if she could just lie here waiting while others ran her quarry to her waiting clutches. Then her eyes drifted down to the empty husk of his body and she found the thought of transitioning from this existence to another much too exhausting to endure. She would live a while longer.

Shifting her hairy mass forward, she would trudge her way through the city not even bothering to walk around the buildings but instead drifted in a bee line for the hospital. It was a good gathering place for souls, people dying from once illness or another. Those were the ripest souls, the people who had time to realize that death was all they had, and she would loom over the bed exuding her despair quenching the promise of God and an afterlife with every ounce of her being.

There were two today. The first had been killed in a freak accident dying on the operating table depriving her of the joy she took from feeding his hopelessness. He wasn’t aware of the Hollow until he died and saw her salivating over the table in anticipation. It was fortunate she had found him first for his essence gave her the restraint that came with the lessening of her hunger. Then she was free to torment the old woman in the last moments of her life heightening her dining experience.

Knowing that it was best to move along for she was not the only of her kind to feed at this establishment, she was hale enough to pursue something other than her hunger. She needed knowledge and hopefully some trace of the Reaper’s essence would yet linger in the area. Anything she could learn would help her one day be able to feast as never before.

Despite all her internal moaning and groaning, her long strides did carry her fairly swift to the place where she had encountered the Shinigami. She hunkered down watching the area, letting her cavernous maw hang open breathing in the air to sense for any heightened essence. Once she determined it was safe to proceed, she moved from her place of concealment and paced about the location. The gouges were still present in the pavement. Those long rents were made by the raking of her claws hurling chunks of concrete at the injured Reaper.

Further along the sidewalk was the place where the girl had fallen and the man had put that strange barrier of soul energy over her body. Just the faintest traces of their spirit lingered and once more she was given a perspective on time. There was a past. There was a present. These things he had learned, figured out through her cautious observations of the world. As for the future, however, it was too unstable to be pinned down. Her oppressive nature saw little there to...wish for.

Wishes were a new thing for the evolving Hollow. Each step along the path toward greater sentience added yet one more piece to the puzzle. Sometimes pieces came that didn’t seem to have connection to anything. Other pieces fit securely into place and unlocked more words in her mind, brain, memory? No that was not right; she thought because she had become aware of memory quite a time gone by. Pondering she settled upon word basket and left it at that. Turning her focus back to the faint traces left by the meal that got away, she shuffled about the street wishing...wishing for more.

Angeni stood in the doffing area in the surgical suite, her gloved hands gripped the metal rim of the sink. The normally powder blue nitrile gloves were layered with blood, as was her isolation gown. A film of perspiration was gathered on her forehead behind the face shield which, like the gloves, had been spattered with droplets of blood. She wore a solemn expression as she peered down at the steady stream of water that circled down into the dark depths of the drain.

She and her team had tried done their best, attempting everything they could for the unfortunate man, but in the end it had been without prevail. Their eyes had actually met and she had felt the exact moment where his life force had left him. The process of calling the time of death and resigning to the fact that nothing more could be done got any easier no matter how many times she had experienced it throughout her career. Even if it wasn't a common occurrence, when it did happen, there was a noticeable sense of defeat and empathy for both the deceased and their family members left behind.

Angeni sighed and raised her sullen gaze to peer at her exhausted reflection in the mirror. In a few minutes she would have to go inform the family that their loved one had passed, and the part of her that was separate from her professional self dreaded it. But it had to be done; she knew that. Removing the protective equipment was a subconscious effort for her at this point. But as she began to remove her face mask, she froze and her brow furrowed. She felt a dark presence back in the operating room, or specifically, she felt its lascivious hunger.

She had not yet been able to perform a blessing for the deceased man, and she knew that the recently deceased were beacons for Hollows. She had made it a point to keep her nature as a spiritually awakened mortal separate from her career; that was the entire point of her home office. She quickly glanced around to ensure none of her coworkers were nearby before rushing towards the operating room doors. She had only barely caught the large mass as it slipped away from the covered body and phased through the floor. Her hands clenched tightly on the door handles as she watched the Hollow move away.

"Damn it, I was too late. But it's still here, I can sense it. I have to get it away from these people and fast." Angeni released the handles and sprinted for the stairway. Her spiritual senses reached out through the hospital attempting to track down the Hollow. She had managed to make it down to the medical surgical floor before she sensed it again. Her hurried pace earned some curious looks and inquiries from hospital staff, but she was so focused on getting to the Hollow that she unintentionally ignored them. A moment later the code blue alert rang out through the intercom system and she knew immediately; she was too late.

She stopped in her tracks and her jaw tightened.

"Damn it, twice within the same hour....I need to get this thing out of the hospital." Angeni muttered as she hurried off once more after the Hollow's spiritual presence. Thankfully, it seemed to have had its fill of victims from the hospital and was instead making its way towards another area of the city. Closer and closer she drew to the Hollow's presence until finally she sensed that it was just around the next area. Turning the corner, she immediately stopped and felt repulsion at the sight before her.

What appeared to be a large writhing mass of fur on gangly limbs slinked back and forth along the ground, as if in search of something. She had encountered different types of Hollows before and knew that they tended to look unique from each other, but this one was....abhorrent. Her expression twisted with visible disgust at the creature; she couldn't help it. Eventually she regained her composure and took a few steps to approach the creature.

"You! Why'd you do it? Those two back at the hospital, why them?" She demanded with a deceptive amount of authority, though there was still an underlying feeling of revulsion. What kind of tragedy in life could have created this thing?

Sensing as she was, searching and perpetually on the lookout for food, she felt the spirit moments before it addressed her. Without even bothering to turn her form around, she seemed to turn herself inside out so that her horns of her mask parted the fur upon her back before letting the visage of her beady stone cold eyes over the gaping maw assume dominance upon the hairy landscape. Her arms unhinged and reversed direction as well, bony fingertips protruding through the pelt of hair and extending all the way down to brace her bent form upon the broken sidewalk.

This one smelled delicious and her jaw hung a bit lower so that she might inhale its essence more fully. An image of letting wine breathe in a glass before drinking flitted through her head before she understood. It was all about the vintage. It must have sprung from a good vineyard for it walked forward and cast questions in her direction. The words would have made her blink had her eyes been cursed with lids.

Speech was not usual for her and her raspy voice expelling words in a plume of fetid breath might prompt this woman to think about asking questions again. ”Why?”, the hoarse words parroted back to the woman. It seemed to dumbfound Acedia for had she ever asked why of anything? She must have at some point in time for the words did not require explanation. ”Why’d you do it?”, she continued to mimic in slow and measured mockery of the woman’s need to understand. What were the last words she had ever spoken out loud? Her lips drew back into a richter grimace as she recalled what she had said to the Shinigami.

”You killed her”, little knowing that indeed it had been this women who failed to save the one in the operating room. This conversation was boring and the woman had an excellent bouquet. Arms darted forward with deadly speed grasping in a bid to catch hold of this delivery meal, her spindly fingers spread wide creating a cage like trap she hoped to snap tight round her body. Then she could let this Wine breathe and increase its flavor. Yes, this time she could dine in a style to which she was more accustomed.