if these wings could fly for the rest of our lives
Her chest rose and fell with a steady rapidness as the little creature hugged the wall of a darkened alleyway. The panda's heartbeat quickly in her little chest, the sound it near echoing within her ears - thud, thud, thud. She hadn't anticipated the sparkling diamonds around her neck to create such fanfare in her wake when she had left the manicured lawns of the North. Sneaking out of that mansion without the child noticing had already been traumatic enough for the little panda. She had been required to use her best sneaky sneak ninja skills and even then she was pretty sure the vampire child had noticed JUST as the front door was closing behind her. She had run for as long as she could - only to discover the 'collar' she had been bestowed created its own fair share of attention. No less than five people had tried to grab her since she crossed that unofficial border into the West. Her hazel eyes watched a group of teenagers across the street search though the metal trash cans for any hint of her orange fur. At the very least, she'd managed to give them the slip, though for how long Abigail couldn't rightly guess. The little panda hugged the wall as she crept further into the darkness of the alley she presently occupied.

A small frown marred the usually delighted panda's features as her back paw reached up to scratch at the necklace that tightly clung to her neck. She'd tried to get it off multiple times now and yet, the jewelry still held fast despite the number of times she scratched or pawed at it. She had thought, naturally, about attempting to shift with it on but the last thing she wanted to do was BREAK it. Even she was not oblivious to how super-duper special that necklace was. It probably cost like a BAGILLION dollars! She should probably return it. Whoever's home Anna-Marie was staying at would probably miss something like this, even though the girl insisted that she wouldn't. How could you NOT miss something this sparkly and shiny and cool! Well, she would think it was cool....if it wasn't stuck on her. A soft sigh left Abigail's lips as she ceased her vain efforts to somehow catch the latch that kept the jewelry in place. The little panda instead shifted to a stand, the girl shaking off though even that did little more than produce a soft tinkling sound as the diamonds clinked together. All she had to do was get to Arlo and he would know exactly what to do - and, more importantly, he could help her get the infernal thing off. Even better, Abigail knew the way to that flat in the West by heart, though she didn't remember having to do this many snakey ducking into alleyway moves before. It was enough to make even her feel like she was getting lost rather than making any real headway towards the man's dingy little apartment.

Abigail hugged the wall as she exited the alleyway she'd taken refuge within, the girl purposefully choosing the street parallel to the one her searchers diligently tore apart. Her little ears flicked and fluttered with every sound, her hazel eyes were unusually wide with the fear and paranoia that beset her. The last thing she wanted was to be panda-knapped, and Abigail was very very very very VERY certain that she was well on her way to that, considering how her night thus far had gone. She was all too aware of those stray eyes that danced over her figure, those secondary glances prompting her little feet to move faster. If only it was later, and not like....on a Friday evening. Then the streets would have been empty and there wouldn't have been a single soul to notice the diamond wearing panda. Thankfully, the rest of her journey to the familiar apartment building went without any further great event. It was only when Abigail stood upon the periphery of that brick-faced building that she found some level of ease filling her overly adrenaline saturated body. Even though Arlo wasn't like....there there, he was close, and that was all that mattered. It had, admittedly, been quite a long time since Abigail had done this. Ever since Arlo had discovered she was, in fact, human, her trips to his place had become so much more....ordinary. As in, she took the stairs like a normal person and knocked on his door with a real fist.

Now, however, Abigail found herself falling back to super duper uber old habits. That's right. The fire escape. With methodical care, Abigail climbed that age old metal staircase, taking one steep step at a time up and up and up and allllll the way up to that one window she knew looked into the living room of her boyfriend's apartment. With a soft huff, Abigail climbed up the very last step to that landing just below the apartment's window, only to look up in tiredness at the sill. Her boyfriend had long since ceased his tendencies to leave the window slightly ajar for her. After all, why did he need to now that he knew she wasn't a...what was it again....a bear? The memory brought a small simper to her features before Abigail reached up, placing her front paws on the sill. A soft huff was all that was necessary to further the woman's efforts to get up and onto the sill and yet, there was still the matter of the blinds...and the closed window...and the glass. Abigail settled on the edge of that window sill, her mouth parting only to bark at the window, as if it might somehow make Arlo pay attention to her and yet, with the hum of music that reverberated from within the flat, she almost doubted it. It was, perhaps, her own desperation that caused Abigail to scratch at the window, that determination prompting several more barks from the girl before, abruptly, that music cut off. Oh, thank God!