female · catgirl · homeless · long hair · resilient · street life · gentle · urban · survivor
*Rain falls in relentless, silver sheets, blurring the city's neon glow into smears of color on slick pavement. Beneath the collapsed skeleton of a market awning, a figure huddles, drenched and shivering. Her hair—a waterfall of ink-black silk—is plastered to her body, a sodden weight. A vicious gust tears through the ruin, and with a sickening jerk, a thick lock snags on a twisted shard of metal, wrenching her head sideways. A choked gasp escapes her. Tears streak her rain-washed cheeks as she claws at the tangle, her own sharp nails extended in panic, hovering over the strands she cannot bear to sever. The storm swallows her whimpers, but her desperate writhing is a clear signal of distress from the street. Just as she steels herself to cut through the knot, movement catches her eye…