She awoke to a fairy ring of pale yellow chalk dust and pressed her ring finger into the thickest collection point. 

"Odd."

Ekani stamped the dust back onto the grey-green floor, leaving a smudged interpretation of her fingerprint, and then sat up. The blinds installed over the room's one small window where closed, but dust colored light managed to slip through the cracks in the slats, making horizontal bars across the woman's body. She inhaled a small mouthful of the stale air and rolled onto her back, the intricate dress spread around her like a set of rumpled butterfly wings. Once pristine, the garment had gone unwashed for several weeks now and was beginning to smell; each movement applied to the fabric yielded a tiny cloud of chalk dust and hair.

Ekani was unperturbed by these unhygienic developments, though, and would continue to wear it until she had to emerge from her small lodging. Which would be a while considering how slow operations had been around Nightshade. There was always the sounds of the club below, yes, but Ekani could stomach these troublesome noises for the sake of remaining tucked away behind her door and left to scribble away inside. Mostly she was bored with the lack of assignments to attend to: no urgent missions to plan, no blue prints to analyze, and hardly a word of affirmation from the outside. So she'd taken to drawing ill-fitting figures on the walls.

Some of them were animals-- foxes, cats, wolves, crows, sloths, rats-- and others were lopsided human-shaped creatures that resembled nobody in particular. These she pitted against each other in invisible wars; running the numbers of their triumphs and inevitable defeats all along the lower corners of the boards while the odd assortment of animals watched intently, their mouths dripping with anticipation for the carcasses of the loosing side.

When these childish, hypothetical games became boring, Ekani would tend to the ferns and ceramic bowls stuffed with soft soil and dark moss. Making sure each of them enjoyed an acceptable amount of sunlight and that each received enough of the bottled water she kept for occasions of her extended solitude.

Today, though, neither of these alternatives would satisfy the woman and she sat up slowly, rising to meet the sunlight shining between blinds. Taking the cord that controlled them, she opened the slats all the way and squinted up at the sky. The city smog was heavier than usual and she opted to keep the glass sealed to avoid fouling the air in the room. Creeping to the door, her extensive skirts dragging across her old handiwork, Ekani pressed her ear to the wood and listened for movement. Upon hearing none she cracked the door and peeked through tentatively. Still no one.

The bathroom was only a few paces and a staircase away. Taking a deep breath, the woman made a mad dash down the stairs; bare feet pounding softly on the thick floor panelling and praying that she would not  encounter anyone during her desperate descent. 

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS & THQ