The Greater The Shadow
"You mean that things real?" I blurted out without thinking.
"By thing, I assume you mean my tail. Yes, it is very real, and it was what you stepped on, not my dress." She seemed a little annoyed, so I apologized profusely again.
"Alright, enough... I have been growing it out and forgot to keep it up, so I'm partially to blame." I noticed she was wearing a delicate dress, and she indeed had been growing the fur on her tail out. It was a golden color with frosty tips. It slowly swung side to side as she spoke. With my poor impulse control, I reached out to stroke it. Not to my surprise, it was the softest thing I had ever felt. I couldn't help but run my fingers along the length and grip the frosty-tipped end that seemed bushy than smooth.
"You are quite the audacious little girl, aren't you?" I look up to meet the gaze of the fox lady. Her features were flawless, and her eyes seemed to glow with a vermillion iridescence. Her golden hair now had two pointy ears that seemed to perk up whenever our eyes met. The brilliance of her eyes pulls me closer before I feel a tug on my scarf that yanks me away.
"Sorry about her, Lady Nari. She's new to magic." Kairo placed his hand on my head, making me bow.
"I hope she didn't inconvenience you any." Lady Nari dons a devious smile.
"And if she did, how would you provide recompense?" She asked with a devilish tone.
"What would the lady ask of me?" The grip on my head slightly tightened, prompting me to squirm.
"Allow me to take her... Just for the week, I'm returning to Japan for a holiday and I'm in need of a consort that's New." A chill ran down my spine with a similar feeling I had before like something slowly pulling me towards her.
"I'm sorry, my Lady, but she just joined the Devil's advocates, and I'm finishing her initiation." Nari bit her lower lip in frustration.
"Joker seems to have all the best fruit in town... Fine, when I return, I would like a visit from you both as recompense, understood?" Her tone was severe. I knew I had met someone similar to Joker. The grip on my head grew tighter.
"Mercy, mercy!" I pleaded. This made Lady Nari giggle. Her kind nature from earlier returned.
"Don't be too rough on her. She and her family have a thing for Therians, especially wolves and foxes... Give ash my regards." With that, she takes her leave, entering a train that appears on the tracks behind her.
"I was right. You are bloody trouble." Kairo spits out before turning and finding a bench to plop down on. I follow suit and sit next to him.
"So, who was that? And how did she know my grandmother?"
"That was Lady Nari, and she is one of the mistresses of the Midnight district. She owns one of the most famous brothels, and I assume your grandmother visits her from time to time." The ick grew in my chest and reached my mouth, but I managed to hold back the gagging.
"Alright, and so I'm going to have to give her my body for recompense." This made Kairo laugh hard, which I wasn't sure he could do until now.
"You're a part of the Devils Advocates now, which means you do jobs for the heads of districts... during the day, the district heads deal with each other and their issues the best they can in front of the public, while at night they come to us to fix their problems in a way that's less friendly to the public." While sitting, I notice others waiting on their trains, side-eyeing us as we wait for ours.
"Is that why people are staring at us..." Kairo takes a look around, causing the starers to look away swiftly.
"No, that's probably because..." Kairo grew silent, and his gaze grew past the station. I noticed then he had one amber eye, and the other was an ice blue
"Because?" I asked, yanking him from his thoughts.
"Oh right, three years ago, we lost our leader, and we've been kinda out of sorts ever since." His melancholy tone reminded me the world kept spinning for everyone as I spent the last three years looking for my father.
"I'm sorry to hear that. What were they like?" Kairo paused for a moment, really giving thought to the question.
"She was brutal, ruthless, but somehow, she always stayed kind to those who deserved it." A warm smile crept onto his lips as his fonder memories of her surfaced. I allowed him to sink into his thoughts as I switched to people-watching. All sorts hurried through the station on and off trains that I slowly realized were all different from time to time. I saw the usual city train car, but sometimes it was French or Japanese trains that showed up to spirit people away. Soon, the number of people dwindled, and then it was just us left.
"Did we miss ours?" I asked a dozing Kairo, spooking him back to life.
"Miss our what?" He looked dazed and confused as if he had been somewhere else just now.
"The train? To the black forest..." Realization slowly returned to his eyes as he looked around.
"Right, right, it shouldn't be much longer now." A cold chill rushed out from one of the tunnels.
"The train to the Black Forest is appearing." Played loudly over the intercom. A low rumble and the loud horn of a train followed the frigid air pouring from the tunnel.
"The Black Forest train is always the last one because of the chance of it bringing something torrid with it." Right then, a blur of mass and metal passes by us, kicking up more of the cold chill as it does. It comes to a slow, and I can finally make out what's in front of us. The train we had been waiting on consisted of many different trains from different times and styles. I watched as the patchwork train seemed to breathe, inhaling and exhaling slowly like a giant serpent.