We're all rotten, buried and forgotten,

Living it up underground

Thud. Thud. Thud. The music clamoured to assault every last one of her nerves. Someone was blasting the worst possible music on the face of this earth and it was grating against every last grain of her already precarious sanity. She was organising some final touches to her new apartment, making it hers, despite the uncanny resemblance to her old apartment that she shared with her old roomie, Isolt. It felt oddly quiet despite the incessant hammering and the thought made her feel that pungent reminder that nostalgia seemed to leave behind. It felt fairly close to pain. It had been several years since they had lived together but damnit, she missed her. Their friendship now was so very different and the thought agitated the already trigger happy woman, hell she had to trick her into seeing her. Oh, how time changed things.

Angrily, she stood up abruptly nearly scaring the living shit out of Ace, he whined at her in protest. His chocolate coloured eyes glaring at her in his own form of irritation. The music seemed to not bother him, perhaps it was because the poor guy was going deaf. "Hey don't blame me, buddy. It's that damn awful music's fault." She walked across the old worn wood flooring as it creaks beneath her footsteps, grabbing a glass of water before groaning loudly. Thud. Thud. Thud. Mutter. Mutter. Mutter. Okay, that was the very last straw. She promised she would be different, to let sleeping dogs lie, but she simply could not think over the music that corroded her last ounce of patience.

The woman whistled to her sweet old companion. "Ok Ace, I need to you to appear menacing." He gave her his best version of puppy eyes, yet they seemed to say 'seriously?'. Slowly but surely the dog tried to get up. The pain of his hind shaky legs made it tough, groaning from arthritis that took hold of his joints. If she thought about it too long, it only brought that painful sensation that felt oddly like her lead heart crumbling. He wasn't going to leave her today but she knew that day was coming soon. She could see it in the way his eyes creased and the way his hind legs shook while he ate. She took a steadying breath, deciding she would take her frustration out on the jerk who obviously didn't give a damn of forcing their assaulting music on the world.

Not bothering to look in the mirror to see if she looked presentable. She wore the usual fitted washed out black jeans, a printed deep red tank top. Ace followed her right out the door that she locks behind her resolutely, she would be a fool to leave it unlocked for even a second. Carrying her keys in her right hand she struts forth to the neighbouring house. The big black loyal beast of a German shepherd did not dare leave her side, he was at least 100 pounds of dog that you wouldn't want to piss off. But to Harley he was the closest most cherished creature to her. She didn't want to picture the world without him because quite simply because she couldn't.

With her fingers pulled into tight fists she climbed up the steps of her neighbour's apartment, her violet eyes alight with her signature irritation that mirrored within her features. She takes that closed fist and knocks loudly against that wooden door, an almost identical duplicate to her own. Her intentions are to give whoever was on the other side a piece of her chaotic mind. Anyone with such poor taste in music deserved a little reality adjustment and she was exactly the woman to do it. This was war.

Suddenly the door unlocked with a hollow click and hesitantly opened exposing a surprisingly familiar face and a glimpse of a strange looking machine. It was an intricate steampunk-looking orrery which stood near the entranceway of the apartment. The raven haired woman could simply not help but gawk at it in disbelief for a moment. After a brief time, she lifted those fiery violet eyes to gaze at the man that stood there, remembering she had a bone to pick with the person which the loud incessant music. Ace sat disinterested at her side but his sheer size was all the intimidation that she needed. Not that she needed much with a scalpel blade tongue like hers. The person she found was not what she was expecting. "Sterling? What the hell are you doing here?" She finds her anger quickly retreating as surprise takes hold, it had been some time since she had seen that familiar face that hardly changed. Never once did it occur to her that they could be neighbours. ".. and what the hell is that?" She points at the odd contraption, lifting a pointed brow.

It was all at once she realised that the obnoxiously loud music was not coming from his townhouse but from the neighbour directly beside him. Well, somehow for the time being she could care less. Having found her friend was surely better than getting to rip some poor asshole a new one (which in her eyes was just another Monday).

Harlequin Ray Westward