The White Wolf Of London

Tale One: The Awakening

The streets of London echoed with the footsteps of other pedestrians as the moon stepped into the sky. Work hours were shutting down as the silent traffic of both people and cars alike attempted their next passage home. Police officers directed the crowd as the light rain quickly pattered its way across nearby drains and roads. The fellow officer ordered mobs of men, women and children to go in one direction, which was south. He did the usual. Let the mob walk, stop the mob, let the cars go, then over again.

Semis, cars and delivery vans drove into the streets, until the sudden buzzing of a walk light stopped the traffic in its wake. Cars and motorcycles alike collided into one another, as horns barked in anger and fury. Startled, the police officer flew his head around to see what the chaos was about. Behind him, a woman in a plaid flannel shirt and denim jeans walked casually across the walkway. Her blonde rustic hair moved gracefully with the wind, and waved its goodbye to the stunned police officer.

The officer muttered under his breathe, "That stupid crook, people these days!" He paused to take a breath, then glared at the passerby which had passed his walkway.

She still swayed in the distance, her rustic jeans reflecting the lights of the city.

The woman who had passed the officer walked to the great Animade building that stood between a couple of small businesses. Animade is one of London's most prized animation studios, as it had received many awards and prizes for, well, whatever reason. Animade was on the southern side of Big Ben, the huge clock that chimed every hour of London's time. The woman checked her watch anyway, even though Big Ben was clearly in view.

It was currently eleven o' clock at night when the woman got to the Animade office entrance. She used her key card to open the locked doors, which clicked and whirled with glee, its multiple brass locks and part releasing the tension of the previous day. She entered the cold, empty facility as her footsteps echoed inside the massive pristine lobby. She arrived at the administrator's desk, but no one was working but Charlie, the Animade janitor.

The woman clicked on the intercom button to try to gain entrance into the office complex. The intercom buzzed, the battery needing a good replacement, as the intercom screeched its deafening noise throughout the building's echoing halls. They were still as empty as ever.

"Yes, who is this?", said Charlie.

His thick French accent can still be heard over the screeching intercom.

The woman paused for a moment, and then answered, "This is Fionna. Fionna Madesto."

Charlie's snicker echoed throughout the abandoned halls of the facility.

"My friend, shouldn't you have been here earlier!", said Charlie.

"I had a business trip, hope you didn't miss me too much.", said Fionna. She waited, then said, "Well, are you gonna let me in or not? I don't have a lifetime to wait you know."

Without any response, one of the hall's metal gates opened, shouting its buzzing joy.

"I still think you should have gotten the newer room, eh?" Charlie remarked. He continued, "Ah well, you is you, now au revior!"

With that, Charlie's voice faded, and the intercom was to remain mute until morning. Fionna proceeded to her office, as her jeans reflected the glowing lights once more.

Fionna arrived to her office, having it been placed at the top floor of the company. Her office is one of the oldest rooms of the building, as Animade was founded upon a building from the eighteen hundreds. The brick was hidden poorly by several painting and animation reels that Fionna made up herself, but somehow Fionna still kept the room, no matter what the employees said about it. It had a nice antique feel to it. Besides, she wasn't going to climb up twenty flights of stairs for shit. Fionna took it upon herself to sit in her recliner chair, which she salvaged from a dumpster. It wasn't actually in the dumpster, just nearby. Besides, it was from the 1800's, why pass that up? After adjusting herself several times in her seat, she started working at her computer, checking files and animation reels as usual.