Chapter Text
The night is dark and the sky is tinted a breathtaking deep blue, clouds are few and far between allowing thousands of glittering stars to shine on to the trees. The ground is damp and pools of water sit on the ground, in certain spaces the night sky peeks through the trees and the light of the stars are visible in the puddles. A man walks through the forest. His dark curly hair frames his face nicely, despite the tangles the curls seem to be in. A tuft of white hair sticks out on the front contrasting the dark of his curls, the light of his hair seems to seep down his skin leaving a patch of light skin almost painting a picture against the chocolate of his skin.
His eyes are heavy and half-lidded and purple bags are forming on his under eye giving his eyes a deep set look, yet the brown almost black of his irises made him all the more strangely alluring.
The puddles shimmering with the flickering light of the stars, momentarily disrupted by ripples, a direct cause of leather boots pounding against it. The boots were tattered and probably needed to be replaced, but they still looked presentable enough and so they were kept. The splash of the water flicked droplets on to the ankle area of his pants and heavied the pant leg making the dragging of feet that much more noticeable. The pants were originally black but the wear made them seem more of a dark grey. They were plain and the doctor wearing them, if prompted, could only describe them as, 'I don't know, they're just pants.'
To keep his appearance somewhat presentable a black and silver belt was hooked around his hips and kept them from falling off his relatively small figure, even though in reality they probably didn't do much. He wore a knitted turtle neck that seemed to be the most well kept article of clothing he wore, despite the fact that he seemed to wear it everyday. Lastly a pristine white lab coat, so clean that it seemed suspicious, almost like it was significantly younger than the rest of the clothing.
The silence of the woods was interrupted by the crisp of a lighter flame started, and the silence after was filled with the soft crackling of the flame. In one swift concise movement the man took out of his pocket and opened a pack of Marlboro reds and placed one neatly between his lips. In the same amount of time it took to open the pack, it was back neatly in the pocket of his lab coat.
He moved the small flame to the end of the cigarette, and held it there until the soft cracking of the tobacco slightly smoldering was heard, and the lighter back inside his pocket before the crows watching from the trees could blink. One breath. Two. In. Out. The smoke rose and he watched as the lines it created danced around the stars.
He scoffed
He straightened his view and looked ahead. The walk back to work was almost done, he just needed to cool off so he didn't do something stupid.
The smoke still stung in his throat and dried the area, when he breathed in the walls of his esophagus stuck together a little longer than they should've and made breathing feel more like a chore, but the slight static in his brain that coated his anxiety seemed worth it.
His vision was hazy from his bad eyesight, and the prints on his glasses didn't really help. He hesitated for a moment, then took them off to wipe them on his coat. When he lifted them once more and held them to the light they seemed even dirtier and putting them on confirmed that guess.
When his eyes adjusted again he could see the familiar colorful factory drifting in and out of his view, he took notice of the entire outside being coated with the familiar primary colors all children are taught to love, and silently thanks Lieth that his office is not in an area accessible to the public, and isn't covered in the tacky colors to please visitors.
His mind races to avoid the door but a hand reaches out to the handle and it's too late. He walks in and is greeted with an ear grating, "Hello Dr. Sawyer" There's no evidence that the neurons in his brain were firing in that exact moment to hear what he had said but even though no changes in his demeanor would reflect it, he heard the man call out to him.