His years of getting up on call at any time of the day or night are long over, so it takes James a bit longer than he liked to get ready to depart. Grateful that his wife, Annette, managed to get back to sleep, after he explained to her that Marie – a good friend of Annette, too – is in some sort of a pinch and asked for his assistance. Donning warm clothes and a thick jacket, he exits his home as silently as possible.
Now in the transport tube toward the destination given to him by Marie, he tries to shake off the last of his tiredness by ingesting a large amount of coffee from his thermo-mug. Unfortunately, thanks to his habit of drinking a lot of the real thing at work, his wife asked him to reduce his intake of caffeine, so his mind needs to do all the convincing that a decaffeinated one does the trick just as well.
Looking at the time, James gets a little worried that he might have taken too long, but, since Marie didn't urge him to hurry, he assumes that his package to transport will be stashed in the Flyer, safe and sound. Though..costume, she said. She was with that CEO, so is it her? In a costume? Why are they suddenly here in City in the first place? A little more information couldn't have hurt, Marie. How about elaborating on what problem you have? Yes, yes, you had no time...no time to ease your friend's worry. With a sigh, he gets up from his seat, as the tube arrived at its destination. During the night, the lack of traffic allows that the cabins in the tube could be instructed to stop at a certain station, without any stopover, so James is grateful that he could at least save a little bit of time like that.
Exiting into the still slightly damp night, he walks along the brightly illuminated sidewalk. At this time of the day, the streets are completely empty. Neither is it the time for anyone to get up to a shift at work, nor for those who were at the Entertainment District to return home, if they were still able to find it. The first occasional persons, usually sleeping in a shaded corner of a building, will turn up in about two hours time, or so James remembers from his days on the streets. It's been a while. But I doubt that changed.
When he rounds the corner onto the street where Marie gave him as his destination, he immediately spots police, rescue and construction vehicles, parked in a neat half-circle around one of the residential buildings. From his position, he can only tell that this specific building appears to be quite a bit shorter than the others. Getting closer, he can finally tell that a large part of it collapsed and that the machinery going about is already clearing the debris away.
Even closer, he can see three people in suits standing around a large workstation and when one of them points up the building, James line of sight follows and finds four small drones circling the structure. They're analyzing the integrity of the structure, even though it already fell apart? What more proof do they need that the thing is unstable? Being a bit slow on the uptake since he's still tired – the coffee, of course, didn't work – only now it occurs to him now that Marie was here. Oh geez.. he huffs. What did you get yourself into here, Castaneda?
Now rather worried, even though Marie assured him that she is fine, seeing how this is the building in which Lunastra has her apartment – a fact he realized immediately when Marie told him this adress, but didn't comment on – his mind begins to imagine scenarios that led to this outcome, none of which he likes. Don't be getting ahead of yourself, man. You know she's well enough to call and go..somewhere. Still, he can't stop his mind from providing many unpleasant pictures, so he hurries his step.
He finds it prudent to inform himself of the situation at the scene where the cleanup appears to be finished soon, so he squeezes through the rows of onlookers, up to one of the officers. The man is surprised to see James here, mentioning that a short while ago Marie took a police car, heading to brief her Commander. So she's well enough to drive, too. Good. After listening to a short report of the situation, James thanks the officer and leaves without commenting on the reason for his presence. The officer didn't ask, otherwise he would have told him, but James is somewhat grateful for the fact.
Only after he steps out of the bright spot created by the floodlights illuminating the building, he notices that the entire block is without lighting. Once his eyes got used to the darker surroundings, he easily spots the single vehicle, the Flyer, out on the streets around. That's got to be the one, then. The closer he gets, the more impressed he is by the sleek, seemingly state of the art vehicle. Standing right next to it, he is, at first, surprised to find out that it is a model that doesn't exist on the open market yet, but rumors had spread the last month or so about it coming soon. The connections of the CEO of a multi-planet conglomerate, huh? Or is the manufacturer part of her company?
Getting slightly excited to be able to pilot the thing, he opens the hatch to get inside. The high quality exterior is easily surpassed by the luxurious appearance of the interior, where the finest synthetic leather decently covers most of the surfaces. James expects to find a person in need of help, so, first, his awed look roams over the rear compartment of the Flyer, which features plenty of room to comfortably lay down a person. Finding no one, he steps further into the vehicle, turning to the cockpit.
Though he can clearly see that something, or rather someone, is sitting in the co-pilot seat, the first thing he notices is protruding from between the backrest and seat. An ever so slightly twitching, thinning, long and leathery object, hanging down to the floor. The word tail comes to his mind, considering the rest of the form in the seat, but he doesn't yet make the connection to Marie's comment about a costume, as his surprise and growing fascination seemingly override that impulse. What is that? He thinks about the complete form, half visible from his position. Getting even closer, the form distinguishes as, indeed, a person, but apparently wrapped in a strange, blueish blanket, lighter in color, but matching material of the thing hanging to the floor.
A filament of lines, like blood vessels, covering the thin material, and rough, thick edges forming a sort of frame. An equally colored ridge looks out over the top of the seat and hair with a slightly greener hue flows over the side of both the person and their chair. Costume... Just when James finally makes the connection, the person stirs, unfolds their "blanket" in artificiality disproving organic movements and lifts their head, complete with the sturdy ridge, that turns out much larger than it looked from where he stands. He immediately spots unmistakable rusty red of dried blood, gluing a few thick strands together beneath the top of the ridge, confirming his assumption that it is a living being, as well as raising worry.
Obviously strained, the person manages to stands up fully and James' head rises with hers. It's Lunastra... Clearly a woman and also one whose features James immediately recognizes from investigating her, though they are slightly obscured in the strange appearance she is wearing now. This is Lunastra? His mind supplies unhelpful Looked a bit different in the pictures... Standing face to face with each other, James realizes he actually has to look up to meet striking gold eyes that scrutinize him without revealing a hint of what the woman might be thinking.
"Good morning." Lunastra greets, her voice rough with tiredness and, James simply assumes, by nature. Askew clothing, covering enough for decency, and the fact that those definitely non-human extremities are moving, seemingly by Lunastra's will, have James at a loss for words and thoughts. "You must be James, Marie's colleague?" she cocks her head slightly and James could swear he sees a small smile, maybe even a smirk on the full lips.
"Yeah. Right, yes, I am." shaking himself out of his daze, clearing his throat, he looks over the woman in front of him again and remembers the way Marie phrased her warning. "Think of it as a costume, she said..." he mumbles, unawares loud enough for even a normal person to hear it. "So it isn't one?"
"That is correct." Lunastra agrees, moving the wings to prove it.
"Right." He says, disbelieving, but takes two steps closer. "Of course...Alright, what...are you then?" despite his disbelief clearly audible, he makes the effort to understand, since Marie seemed to be fine with this person. And I bet she didn't react much different. Then again, her spacing out in the office... He clears his throat again "Pardon my..directness."
"It is fine." this time she smiles genuinely, though the stress on her body clearly shows, slightly even in her expression. "You do deserve an explanation, coming here on such short notice and help someone you do not know, without knowing why." Admirably graceful, but with a quiet groan, she sits back down, half turned so she still faces James. "Perhaps it would be best when I explain on the way? I assume you will want to return home quickly."
"Right. As if I'm going to be able to sleep again tonight." he mumbles, staring at Lunastra "Or any time soon." Geez, Marie. This is... "Alright." he agrees, but still hesitates to get himself to the pilot seat. "May I?" he asks, pointing to it. Lunastra nods, still smiling, and turns to sit more comfortably. James takes a deep breath – "Oh-kay.." – and gets into the pilot seat, setting up the Flyer for departure.