Oh, Those Mischievous Imps!

[attr="class","mon"]

[attr="class","monbody"]It was no secret to an urchin like Atom that his belongings left much to be desired. Yeah, sometimes he was able to steal coffee and stale donuts from the local cafe, sometimes he was able to scrounge around dumpsters and donation boxes for warm clothing during the colder months, and sometimes he was even able to nab half a sandwich that a child refused to eat; but he had little in the way of actual things. That's what made it so obvious when he woke up today, and found that his little hovel was just a bit lighter than usual. Most people didn't give Atom the light of day, and that was all well and good; he remembered what it was like to walk down the streets of East City openly, to visit all the shops and restaurants and ride the bus and take in the sights and smells of the city - that time was behind him, and he did not long for it as much as one might assume. But he did need his thermos. It was among the very few things that Atom had that he quite honestly needed. He reached around in the dim light of his odd home for it, and found nothing but the cold stone of the sewer's disjointed run-off box, a nearly perfectly ten-by-ten cube beneath the city where neither sewage nor rain had passed through for at least half a decade. There was nothing inside execpt an old matress he has sequestered months ago, a dim lamp (that was honestly getting too dim to be useful, he made a note to find a new one) and a few baskets that he used to fill up and gather supplies from the city around him. But his thermos? The nice silver one, with the black handle and the little plastic cup? Gone.



He shot out of bed. Perhaps he had just misplaced the thing. He had, after all, had his fair share of 'senior moments'. "Alright you wily little thing, where have you scampered off to?"Sighing, he got onto his little hands and knees and poked around beneath the matress. Nothing. In the basket from yesterday's supply hunt? Nope. Odd. A strange sound came echoing through the sewers just as he had finished this initial search, and immediately the hairs on his neck stood up. Ah, at least, they would have, if he had any. They sounded like... laughter? Like children? "This is no place for children..." He muttered to himself, rising to a height not much taller than a child. He called out, into the darkness. "You'd best leave here at once, little ones! You could get hurt running around down here!"His voice echoed, but this time the laughter was louder too. He narrowed his eyes, and slowly stepped out of the little box where he lived, dropping approximately 4 feet down to the stone of the sewer proper. Shadows danced on the far wall, something he was very glad his new eyes could catch in such a dim place, and he began to follow them.


"You know, I really don't think you should-" Then he spotted them. Three dimunitive -- imps? Is that what they were? He blinked. Indeed, the small creatures were even tinier than himself, and their vibrant skin was unmistakable. A bright pink thing, a bright blue thing, and a neon yellow critter. He was going to say more, until his powerful eyes caught the glimpse of what the pink monster was holding. "My thermos! You filthy thing, unhand that!" It did not unhand it. Instead, they danced further into the sewer system, laughing all the way.



Atom made chase.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT