#excuse the rhymes lex is a poet but im a lyricist

[befuddled-calico-whump]

Window Shopping (Tower: Day 212)

for Angstpril, Day 15: Lost in My Mind

cw: imprisonment, manhandling, dehumanization

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Out on the horizon, the skyline sits like jagged teeth

A city waiting to devour you, spit your bones into the street

And the wolves in the towers are watching in wait—

Hm. Bait, fate, gate, grate, hate…

Lex's poems had gotten shorter lately. Sharper. He'd been finding it more and more difficult to compose verses about the things he missed, and couldn't tell if it was because it hurt too much, or because he was forgetting them.

The latter didn't seem possible. How could he forget something like the sun? The maple trees in the city park? The little coffee shop that was run by a woman he knew recognized him, but never said anything to the cops?

But every poem he tried came out flat.

'the sun above is shining gold'

Yeah, no shit. But it wasn't shining on him anymore, and that detail overshadowed anything lovely he could come up with.

The sun was bright, leaves danced when they fell, fall trees burned brighter than his fire, and the coffee lady's name was Sophie. Didn't matter. He'd never see any of them again.

To his right, Lex heard the mechanical click of the door being unlocked, and tried to breathe through the fear that suddenly seized him. It had only been four meals since wash day, ten left until the next one, and aside from that, the door only opened for something bad. 

Usually that something was the guard, Wade. Coming in at random to 'take care of him', or drag him up the stairs to the cold tile room where he'd be left in the hands of violent strangers.

Grabbing and tearing and laughing at cries

The hand that bruises the hope that dies

Which would it be today? Wade's administrations were unwanted, demeaning at best, but he'd take that over the uncertainty of the room upstairs. 

When the door opened, it was a pair of guards Lex didn't recognize. They pulled the door closed after them, but not before he caught a glimpse of a suit-clad gaggle of people waiting in the hall.

Was it another tour? That he could bear, endure the humiliation of being put on display to avoid what would happen if he didn't. But they'd made a big show of cleaning up the cell right before the council's visit, so that couldn't be it, could it?

"Get up." The guards moved to either side of him, forcing him to his feet when he didn't move fast enough.

The question of what was going on rose in his throat, but he swallowed it down. If they wanted to tell him, they'd tell him. If not, he'd only be wasting his breath.

A cuff was locked around his ankle, and he felt it activate. The trickling heat of his power, the part that hadn't been silenced by the cuff he already wore, went cold, sending a chill through him. Hands moved roughly across his torso, down his legs, as if searching him for weapons or contraband he had no way of accessing. Lex stared at the stone wall across from him, and waited for it to end.

Things that reach out in the dark

Snuff and smother any spark

"He's clear." The guard who spoke went to open the cell door, leaving her partner to stand next to Lex.

He didn't even turn his head as more people stepped into the cell, only able to see them out of his peripheral. There were six or seven of them, all talking at once in light, conversational tones.

"Smells like shit. Couldn't they have cleaned up before our arrival?"

"Is it always so dark? Guess it saves on the electrical bill."

"Yikes. This one's scrawny and damaged."

"I'm sure someone could find a use for him. Terrence?"

"You know I don't go for brunettes." Laughter.

Lex tried to tune them out, eyes locking onto a crack in the wall and following its path.

A fracture in an old foundation 

Lightning-patterned stone damnation 

"What's the deal here?" A question directed at the guards.

"Alexei Wilder. He was an assassin. Cinder. He's the one Overkast 'killed'." The answer was met with sounds of recognition from the group, rising like a hum.

"I'm not sure any of us is in the market for an assassin that's been… disarmed." That one got a chuckle from everyone.

"Shall we move on?" prompted another voice. The response was shuffling of shoes on stone, moving away. Lex felt a little of the tension ease out of him.

Moving on. Leaving him alone. Alone in the dark was better than unpredictable hands.

But the guard beside him didn't move, piping up a small "Sir?" as a gray suit stepped in front of Lex, obscuring the cracks in the wall.

Not alone, not yet.

He stared past the figure, finding a new imperfection in the stone to follow, by now so familiar with it he knew each jagged turn.

Chase the road, and taste the sky

The gravel sings your lullaby

Hands stretched out from the gray suit, pushing back his hair, knuckles brushing his cheekbone with a foreign gentleness that almost scared him more than violence could.

Autumn comes to burn the trees

And winter trails to snatch the leaves

"See something you like, Mr. Fox?" the remaining guard said.

"Unfortunately not something suited for my needs at this moment." A smile, scant light reflecting off white teeth. "But I'm sure that will be remedied with time."

And then the hands were gone and the door was closing and all the cracks in the wall could be seen again. Lex closed his eyes, willing himself to breathe slow. When he opened them, it was like no one else had even been there.

Out on the horizon, the skyline sits like jagged teeth

A city waiting to devour you, spit your bones into the street

And the wolf in the tower is watching in wait

Once his jaws snap shut there will be no escape.

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