One Black Poppy

July 28, 2022

Cole appears in a room with a metal spiral staircase going up and boxes on shelves. It's dark with no lights and kinda smells like mildew. There's a single metal door.

Cole looks around confused "HEH?!"

Cole walks towards the metal door while sniffing the air. It also smells like pine trees. Cole stops sniffing and tries to open the door. it rattles as if there's chains on the other side keeping it shut. Cole whines and walks over to the metal spiral staircase and starts going up it. On going up it creaks alot and he steps out onto the top of a lighthouse, its slightly windy and he looks out to a sea of pine trees and the sounds of birds and bugs in a living forest. Cole recognizes where he is looking out at the horizon for any town lights or anything similar. In the distance he can see an open field of golden grass next to a large building with alot of windows. the other direction the trees eventually end as if reaching some body of water. It's mostly trees and hills. Cole's eyes fill with excitement as he leaps off of the lighthouse and starts sprinting towards the large building. 

He runs out into a golden field of grass and can see the side of a massive complex building. Cole screeches to a halt as he looks at the windows for any sign of life. From here the light doesn't reflect off the shaded windows, he can't seem to see anyone. Cole whines sadly as he looks for a front door. There's a small double metal door on this side. Cole knocks on it politely and folds his hands. The door opens rather quickly to a few nonferal silver foxes. each with regular and different clothing and orange eyes.

One of them speaks rather relaxed "Can we help you?"

Cole rocks back and forth on his heels "is visitation open today?"

"You're a bit late but im sure its no issue" he looks back at one of the others who nods. He then holds open the door as they step aside to give him space to enter "Right this way"

Cole strolls in, trying his best to keep his tail from wagging. He walks into a large decorative hall. Every inch of the walls are covered in paintings and art work alongside marble pillars and golden frames. The floors are polished marble and chandeliers line the ceiling all the way down to what looks like a main entrance of several double doors. There's the occasional silver fox walking about wearing casual to fancy clothing. It feels like it would be wrong to speak too loudly.

Cole whispers to the people that let him in "this is my first time visiting can you show me where to go?"

"Of course" Only one of them begins to walk down the hall as the others stay near the door where they were putting a new weather strip on one of the doors. Cole follows the one walking as he tries to make himself not stand out too much.

The nonferal gestures to the wall with a painting of the building from the view of standing in the field but missing a few stories "this is the manor years ago, depicted before we added more sections of the building for research"

"oh! that's neat!" Cole nods as he looks at the painting.

The nonferal turns and starts to walk again before gesturing to a group of paintings, there's also some old sofas here and there that look expensive as well. the paintings he gestures to all have silver foxes with orange eyes and a somewhat familiar ice cold stare, like they were tired of it all "And here is some notable members of the Moore family, handing down traditions from centuries to make the leaps and bounds we are able to make in medical science to this day”

Cole nods "sounds like you guys know what you're doing"

"Haven't been in business for years for nothing" he gives a genuine smile

Cole nods "i'd figure years of business teaches you something" Cole musters a fake genuine smile

"So where are you from?"

"oh ya know berwick"

"Oh really? What town?" he seems interested and tilts his head some

"Greywood" Cole nods

"What part of town???" he seems really curious

"wicket woods"

".........................yeahhh...the town is in the woods..." he sounds confused

"i live in the woods in the lighthouse"

The nonferal stares at him with a confused look "stay here a moment" he walks off

Cole is now internally panicking but stays where he is and rocks on his heels. The nonferal walks over to a group of others as he starts talking and slightly gestures towards cole and one of them glances at cole.

Cole waves at them "hi?"

The group of them stare at him a moment. Three of them start walking in his direction. One of them says "Sir- where did you say you live again?" Another one of them puts their hand to their hip

"Greywood" Cole states

"What part?"

"Mollusk Street"

"That's not-" says nonferal one

"Oh i have an aunt that lives there" says nonferal two

Nonferal three sighs and shakes his head

"Oh what's your aunt's name? i'd love to say hi to them sometime" says Cole

"No he just said, lighthouse" nonferal one gestures at Cole

"Her name's Shubert, don't talk to her sister though" nonferal two leans in and talks quieter "Shes got a few screws loose"

Nonferal three takes his hand off his hip and seems irritated.

Cole nods "that's a nice name, and what is that guy talking about i said mollusk street to him" Cole gestures at nonferal one.

Nonferal one opens his mouth and makes a face as he puts his hand on his chest in shock.

"I told you to get your ears checked" says nonferal two

"I can hear just fine" nonferal one snaps at nonferal two

"clearly you can't, anyways i'd like to be lead to visitation by someone who can actually hear what i'm saying" says Cole

"That's it im going on my break, fuck you all" nonferal one storms off with a huff.

"I can handle it from here" says nonferal two

Nonferal three rolls his eyes and heads back to the group he was helping clean a statue.

Cole smiles at nonferal two "thank you, after you"

The nonferal nods "of course, pardon what just occurred" he starts walking down the hall.

"it's fine, accidents happen all the time"

Cole follows. They are almost at the end of the hall near the main entrance. a marble statue of a sitting rabbit is by the wall as well as a painting of a lavish funeral and an unlit candelabra beside the painting. Cole notes this and keeps following them. They reach the end of the hall. Its in this moment Cole realizes the nonferal was talking the whole time various facts and statistics but it was so fucking boring that it escaped the human's, dog's, and nonferal’s average range of hearing.

"well that was really interesting" Cole says like he totally heard it

"Glad to hear it, well that concludes the tour for visitation hours, I hope you enjoyed your visit" he smiles kindly

"can you walk me home it's rather late and i'd rather not get stabbed"

"To mollusk street? Correct? I thought that street was nothing but old ladies with nothing better to do but garden"

"you never know what grandma is thinking behind that smile"

"True true. Just keep away from shuberts sister" he chuckles some as he heads to the double doors and holds it open for Cole. Cole snickers quietly as he walks out of the double doors with a polite nod. The nonferal follows as the doors close behind them. They walk down some steps onto a path that seems to lead into a parking lot, a large metal gate, and then to a street. Cole looks around for anyone that could be watching. They reach the street and walk out to the right until there's no one in sight. Cole smiles maniacally as he snaps, trying to teleport a fiber cord into his hand…but nothing happens. The nonferal looks over at Cole after the snap "hm? What was that?"

"oh nothing, just lost a idea" Cole growls to himself and waits for them look ahead again

"Had a wide smile there. Must have been some idea!"

"yup was a really good idea"

"You know my father was always one for having ideas, a very wise man too"

Cole is getting slightly impatient "i bet he was, fathers are very good at coming up with ideas"

"helped build a swingset for my daughter, such a nice fellow" he look ahead

Cole takes the hoodie string from his jacket and tries to strangle the guy with his hoodie string. The nonferal reaches his hands at his own throat trying to pull at the string as he gags and flails. 

Cole pulls it tighter as he lets out a manic giggle "shhhh shhh it will all be over soon"

The nonferal struggles more before going limp. Cole lays him down on the road and ties the hoodie string with a decent knot and reaches into his jacket and pulls out a black poppy and puts it between his neck and the hoodie string, Cole disappears.

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