Nebular cracked with a chuckle. "Oh Nox, you're so charming"
He snapped back to reality the cold breeze cooling his head. "Shut it Neb. I was just teasing around."
Nebular flicker light white for a moment as if trying to be honest or sincere. "Were you?"
Nox wasn't responding for quite a while. "Look at the City, as dammed as it is, sometimes its got its charm…"
Nebular flickered pink in his pocket, heavily vibrating.
"Do you wish to talk about it?"
Nox, trying to maintain his balance on the roof, nearly toppled off at the sudden voice.
"Woah, that was close… about what.. The City's Charm?"
Nebular responded dryly.
"About Zee."
Nox stopped for a moment. From his position, he could see inside Luten's tea shop.
It was busy with people. Today seemed to be a good day for him. The shop had an old wooden interior, rare in Coreline, and even rarer in this sector. The front door was a push door, though it was sometimes stuck in place. Then Luten had to nudge it at one specific angle only he knew.
He carefully sat down, placing Adobe next to him, who was still in energy-saving mode.
"Not really. Why would I?"
Nebular illuminated even brighter, shining through his pocket.
"You know why. Nox, you can run away from threats, from big bad wolves, but you cannot run away from your feelings."
Nox froze like an ice block, the wind brushing through his fur. His tail dangled behind him with unease, unsure how to respond.
He clenched the bridge of his nose with his fingers.
"I know, Nebular, I know. It's just… I don't want to endanger her with my troubles. I need to get that out of the way first."
He glanced around the cityscape. From his perch, the view was fractured.
Metal walkways crisscrossed the air between buildings like a spiderweb, some flickering with rust-orange hazard lights, others glowing greenish like a venomous snake.
Below, a delivery drone zipped past a broken billboard that still looped a half-functioning ad for synthetic noodles.
Nebular was now glowing in a bright sunbeam-like orange.
"This is very selfless of you, Nox."
She dimmed a little, her glow pulsing in sync with the howl of the winds.
"But waiting for the 'right moment' is just another way to run."
Across the street, another residential block stood just as worn as his own, with laundry lines strung between windows.
Down by the lower levels, a tram hissed through its track, its headlights blinking as it curved around a forgotten station.
"What am I supposed to do? Commit to something that might just be in my head? Something I don't have the time or resources to live up to?"
He let out a whisper.
"Broken tools can't fix each other."
He saw the edge of a rooftop, where someone had set up a makeshift tent under a satellite dish. A faint trail of smoke rose from a small heater, lighting up the tarp in dancing shadows.
Nebular's light flickered gently, almost like a heartbeat.
"Nox, broken tools can understand the trouble they went through. A broken tool is just overused."
"There's just so much going on. I can't pay my rent; I basically live day by day. I'm endangering my friends more every moment. Yet I can't seem to stop, like it's a force of habit."
In the distance, someone laughed, a soft, muffled sound. It was followed by the faint clatter of bottles rolling on concrete. "Well, we are working on cutting you out of it at the moment… but I fear, in order to get out, you first have to take one last step in."
"You know, Neb... I can control what I show people. The way I act, how I talk. It's all part of the game. That's the easy part."He paused, his gaze distant."But how I feel? I can't control that. And if someone sees that... they don't just see what I want them to see. They see me."He exhaled softly.
"And once they know who I am… they can walk away with it."
Nox shook his head standing up, stretching his back.
"Argh, okay, Neb. Enough of this therapy session. Tomorrow is a big day."
Nebular replied, glowing White again. "Assessment understood, initiating back to the normal Nebular now." A chuckle, from both of them as Nox grabbed Adobe and reached out to his window. Nox climbed through into his apartment.
The familiar scent of old coffee filled his lungs. He took a deep inhale.
"Ahhhhh, my favorite scent. Old socks and coffee!"
Nebular let out a robotic but eerily real sigh.
"Well, a fox is a fox, going through windows is a personality trait of yours at that point."
Nox put Adobe to rest on his desk, plugging him in.
"Sleep tight, buddy."
Then he slid under his blanket, stripping off his clothes.
"Maybe I'll come back to that offer if I really need it. For now, I want to concentrate on getting these mutts out of my life, once and for all."
Nebular let out a deep groan as she connected back to the mask on Nox's floor.
"Finally home. I don't want to complain, Nox, but your phone isn't the best place for my processors."
Nox glanced over at the mask, watching Nebular's glow stabilize as she reconnected.
"Think of it like sitting in an overpopulated bus, barely able to breathe or move."
He closed his eyes, preparing for the night.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Princess Nebular. Next time I'll carry you around in a silk-lined briefcase."
Nebular flickered smugly.
"Finally, some respect."
Nox muttered, half a sleep already. "Finally, some peace."
His vision turned black.
Sinking deep into his bed, falling down — but different this time.
It was a gentle fall, a comforting fall.
Warmth settled in from all sides, like a hug.
The everlasting tension in his chest began to ease.
The black shifted, slowly merging into a soft blue, resembling a sky.
Clouds hovered all around him — purple, lavender, plum, amethyst — various shades of violet and pink.
They swirled like cotton candy spun too fast, breaking apart and reforming endlessly.
The falling shifted into a flawless gliding.
A refreshing breeze carried him.
The wind grew heavier with every second, slowly turning into a storm.
The cotton clouds began to ripple.
Purple turned to red.
A distant sound… sharp… hungry...
Rain emerged, accompanied by thunder.
A bark.
Then another.
Closer. Louder.
Nox twitched in his sleep. His ear flicked.
Somewhere deep in Coreline, the wolves remembered his scent.
Their grasp still around his throat.
Their breath still warm and chilling.
Their barks remained in the back of his head...