It had been a long day. Daciana was on her way home, walking as quickly as she could with her cane back to her cheap studio apartment on the outskirts of New York City. Well, it was relatively cheap, in comparison to the prices of the other apartments nearby and especially those that lay deeper inside the city limits. Still, $1500 was a lot of money and it didn't make itself, so Dacia had been out and about making her rounds, providing the locals and tourists alike with affordable.... err, prescriptions. She had taken the time to collect on a few debts as well, since she was currently in need of a few extra household items, and she would also have to figure something out in terms of dinner. Since she didn't have a car, Dacia was used to having to do a lot of walking. She was grateful for the pretty excellent physical shape that she was in for it (and also due to the fact that she worked out often, in case she ever needed to handle some 'business matters' or discrepancies), but it was still exhausting, and she definitely felt one hell of a migraine coming on.
By the time that Dacia had nearly reached her apartment, her head was pounding, and she knew that as soon as she got inside, she was going to administer herself a bit of her own medicine. These were the only thoughts that she usually had, really: thoughts of making money, thoughts of keeping herself housed and fed and clean, and thoughts of suffering/pain. She couldn't shake it. In fact, she even tried to physically shake her head back and forth, hoping that the spots in her vision would clear up this way. However, this only seemed to make matters worse. Dacia blinked hard, but the image before her did not dissipate, and she figured she must be hallucinating. Maybe she was dehydrated from being out in the sun all day. Whatever it was, it was concerning, because before her stood a large, stoic grey wolf.
A wolf? Alone on the streets of New York? Impossible. Daciana knew she was mentally ill, but surely she wasn't this crazy? But throughout all of these thoughts and attempts to grasp at a possible explanation, the wolf remained, standing tall but complacent, and making no effort to move toward her or harm her. Then, suddenly, the wolf made a high-pitched whining noise; was it a whimper? Dacia looked at the wolf with narrowed eyes, but as it continued to whine, she approached it cautiously. She had her cane, and a somewhat large knife in the back pocket of the black jean skirt she was wearing, but she didn't know if that would be enough to fend the wolf off were it to attack... As Dacia neared the beast, though, she noticed that it was bleeding, wounded deeply in its left side. Forgetting all thoughts of her own safety, she moved quickly to the creature's side and examined it. When she touched the grey fur, the animal made another sound, but did not move. Dacia met its crystal blue eyes and saw that the animal was afraid, but not aggressive.
When Dacia looked back to the wolf's side is when she became truly flabbergasted. For there where the deep gash and blood had once been remained nothing but perfectly intact, soft fur. There was no sign of the previous mark Dacia had seen, and to her amazement, the wolf gave her one last look and then seemingly disappeared into the background. Stumbling into her apartment, Dacia lit a candle, set up her rig, and took a few hits, making certain her blinds were all closed. Eventually, she passed out, perhaps due to shock, or because she had succumbed to the terrible headache that plagued her that afternoon.