Kri walked into her apartment, dragging her feet behind her as she threw her bag onto her couch and let out a loud cough before beginning to shed the layers of her professional attire. She obviously looked sick, and there was no denying that she felt like crap at the moment.

"Goddamn rain...you just had to come down while I was waiting for the bus. Geh...Ah-CHOO! Ugh…I need a hot shower." Kri said with an odd tone in her voice from not being able to breathe through her nose.

Kri stripped down to her underwear and went straight to her bathroom. She slid the glass door of her shower open and ran the hot water to let it heat up. Kri then took a look at herself in the mirror over her basin; she sniffled as she looked at her tired and weary eyes. She had been staring at a computer screen all night and it took a toll on her, not to mention her boss dragging her into a 45 minute meeting that nearly made her pass out, and finally her day ended with getting caught in a sudden torrent of cold rain that gave her a nasty cold.

Kri then noticed the mirror was starting to fog up, so she shed her last couple of garments and stepped into the stream of warm water that almost immediately unclogged Kri's nose and let her breathe. She always took very good care of her body; especially since her sense of smell was extremely sensitive with her super abilities. The feeling of the soap was like washing the day away, and the hot water just added to the relief.

The next thing Kri addressed was her head. She used to have a head of long hair when she was young and under the care of her foster parents, but Kri always came under assault at school with a lot of teasing about her foreign birthplace of Saudi Arabia. They liked to pull and stick gum in her hair and Kri's foster parents were a pair of jerks that put her down even further by cutting out the gum and leaving it uneven, furthering her humiliation

So; Kri eventually took it upon herself cut her hair down to nothing but her head-fur. Of course, once her parents saw this, they locked her in her room for an entire day without feeding her for making herself look like that.

It made sense for Kri to keep her hair short as it could get stuck on something while she was out on patrol, or worse, a criminal could grab a lock and use it as leverage. However; Kri actually liked keeping her hair short. She could certainly pull off the look while still looking feminine, and it was a hairstyle common with fursons in the military.

Kri rinsed off the soap from her head and watched as the suds swirl into the drain below her. By the time she finished rinsing off, her hot water was starting to run out, so she turned off the water and shook herself off before reaching out of the shower and grabbed a towel from the nearby mounted rack. She patted herself dry with the towel and brushed out the rest of her fur into neat order before wrapping the towel around her chest so it covered her entire midsection.

Kri could already start feeling her cold veer it's ugly head again as she walked to her bedroom and picked out a new set of underwear. Kri was then surprised to hear a knock on her door, so she slipped on a pair of pajama pants and a tank-top to make herself the least bit presentable. She was already sniffling again when she reached her door and opened it to reveal the mute white wolf, Arthur Prophet, better known as the hero "Ghost". He moved his hands to speak in sign language, which Kri understood very well:

“<Hi Kri, I came to…whoa, you look like crap…>”

"Gee, thanks. I caught a cold from the damn rain and there’s no way I’m going out on patrol tonight." Kri said as she sniffled between her words.

"<No worries there, the nightlife is slow with the cold rain, so I came here to see if you wanted to...hang out...or something.>"

"Wait…Arthur, are you...asking me out? A-AH-CHOO!" Kri said with a look suggesting that she was about to pass out.

"<......Maybe...but I'll save that question for later. You look like you need a major dose of bed rest. I guess I'll take a patrol instead; besides, I need the whole team to be in good shape for our trip tomorrow.>"

"Oh right, that. Yeah, uh you can change in here if you like, just don't touch too much or you'll end up like me."

Kri let Arthur into her apartment and he took a look around at the sparse decor. The setup of the apartment was much the same as his own, except he kept his apartment as clean as a whistle at all times, a habit he picked up from his military service.

"<Nice place you got here.>" Arthur said as he got himself familiar with the room.

"Thanks Geh-AH-CHOO! I wasn't expecting a visitor, so sorry about the mess."

Arthur slipped off the backpack he was carrying and separated a hidden compartment in the back to reveal his hero costume. He made quick work of putting on the undersuit and overcoat, and finished the outfit with his mask and hood. The suit was water-resistant and had nano-tech insulation, so Arthur wouldn't have to worry about getting sick if he got caught in another wave of rain.

He left the apartment by phasing through the door and climbed his way up to the top of Kri's apartment building, sitting down on the ledge. The night was dead and Arthur had nothing to do, but he still kept careful watch over the area until he heard the audible and familiar sound of Kri’s snoring through her window just below where he was sitting.

Ethereal City was having one of its exceedingly rare calm nights. It was cold, wet, and dead; Yet Ghost kept his watchful eye over it until the night gave way to dusk. Today would be the day, Arthur would need some sleep himself before carrying out the events he had planned for the day.


An Ink commission I got from  bluwolf0