The Tritone Disappearance of Paprika Blues

The plastic-rubber saddle jostles me as I watch the cars in the opposite lane roll on by.
Seeing the business of people making their way through the thoroughfares of this city fills me with a sense of nostalgia. Not sure why, or what for.
Some kid at the front of the bus is playing with one of the windows, opening it by a crack and sticking her sucker outside. She freaks out when, understandably, she drops it, and it falls onto the road.

I try not to laugh at the child's self-inflicted misfortune and pop my earbuds in to block out the screaming. I pull out my shitty little thirty dollar MP3 player. Nothing like a bit of The Seatbelts to help drown out a screaming foal. I consider what else I could do today. The City was my oyster at this point.

I had already tacked up that flyer for Felicia's therian support group at the Burbank library. Checked out a few books on piano practice techniques. Turns out the city library is a lot more lenient than I thought. They just needed a name and address. It was then I realized that I didn't know my own last name, what with Felicia handling most everything for me. So, after a quick glance at the librarian's water bottle, I picked the name "Chelsea Bay".
Probably fine. Either way, it's free book, as long as I turn 'em in on time. They even gave me a free bookbag.

My thoughts return to the now, and I realize we're getting near the stop that's close to my old employer.
I clamber off the bus at the stop and walk my way to the restaurant.
Nnnope. Shady Sadie's Chick'n and Gravy is still closed. I passively observe the "condemned - stay out" sign. I can hear the frogs she let loose inside still croaking.

They might be spawning faster than they can be caught. I move on, continuing to walk down the street. I eventually end up at an electronics store, the kind that have TVs in the aisles playing the news.
In fact, there was the news, right there.

"..members of the energy board have reported a surge of radioactivity in Burbank, near Bob Hope Airport. Citizens are advised to stay away from the area, and are encouraged to redirect any flight plans. Airlines are offering refunds or compensated tickets for all customers inconvenienced by this development. The Director of the Los Angeles Energy Department had this to say:"

It cuts to some guy. He's blabbering on about something vaguely related to the story - until he says something weird.
"The reason this happened is because there was an incident in transferring a sample of a potential new source of nuclear energy - one that burns clean and leaves little to no radioactive waste. I am not at liberty, at this time, to specify the materials properties, as they are classified, but I have been given authorization to disclose the previous statement to the public. I believe that with this new material, Los Angeles' citizens - and potentially many other customers across the nation - will pay little to nothing for air conditioning, helping to offset HVAC costs that have been brought on by the yearly wildfires. We hope the people of LA understand, and support our future endeavors. Thank you."

Weird. How does -
No, that doesn't make sense. How does a nuclear material not produce some form of nuclear waste?
I look around the cluttered interface design of the news - all the banners and ticker tapes get in the way of what I'm looking for.
The time. I don't carry a watch on me - I should. I sure as Tartarus can't afford a phone, but I can probably snag a cheap ass watch from a flea market or thrift store. My MP3 player is one that doesn't have any display, so that's no good.

It's about 4:30. If I snag another bus, I can head up Glenoaks and stop near Woodbury, and it's a quick jog to the airport from there. There might be cops, but they typically ignore the alleyways of the warehouses in favor of watching for speedsters along the main roads.
Yeah. Yeah I gotta see this. I'm gonna go look.

The bus was on time, for once. I trot down Cohasset until I reach San Fernando Boulevard. I hop through the fencing construction - apparently the city is trying to prevent people from walking on the train tracks - wander through all the pre-fabbed commerce buildings, and end up at the fencing that surrounds the airport.

Holy sun and sea. There's a big ass crater in the runway. Big enough to see from at least a mile away, maybe more, but I don't even have to entertain the thought of breaking in. Even if I wanted to, the fence was too tall for me to jump without being seen. Sometimes I wish I could just fly. Sheesh, some days it even feels like I forgot how to do it.

Weird thoughts lately. Anyways, I see a construction crew filling in the hole. They're all wearing radioactive protective gear under their construction uniforms, and it's way too hot to be in those things. I mentally give them my respects - I sure as Tartarus wouldn't be able to do it. Maybe they get water breaks.

I think I've seen what I wanted to see. Whatever they're cooking up, it's.. probably good? All energy sources are kinda volatile right? I turn to leave, look over my shoulder, and see something I definitely should not have seen.

They lift something out of the hole. It's some kind of.. skeleton. Bones bleached pure white, as if whatever caused that explosion also caused the creature to lose all its flesh in one fell swoop - no time to even feel the pain. But that's not even the wildest part.
The wildest part was the horn on top of it's head. I stop, get low, and try to get a better look.

I squint. It almost looks like the horn on its head is glowing. It's a long skull, some kind of herbivore, given the flat teeth. That's a horse skull, right? Why would a horse.. have.... a horn.

"HEY!" Someone shouts from the construction site, towards me. "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!"
Damn right, I'm not. I scramble to my feet, and run. It takes about thirty seconds before I hear sirens blaring in the distance. Faster response time than average, and I hurry back towards the streets. I jaywalk San Fernando, again, as a police car turns the corner about half a mile away.

If I just saw something deeply secret, I'm fucked six ways from Sunday. They're gonna bring out the helicopters, real soon. I turn back down Cohasset, and dart between the buildings. There's a small part of me that delights in having a good reason to run fast - and my heart is beating steady despite the panic. I see a parkway that has a nice, thick tree, which honestly pretty rare in this city, and jump into the leaves. I hide, and see the cop car whoosh past. I wait.

Could be a few minutes, maybe only a few seconds, but I hear a chopper above me scanning the area. I look up, and hope the leaves are enough cover.
Anxiety begins to settle nicely into the couch of my stomach. Did they see my face? My clothes? They gotta have some form of descriptor.

I wish I could fly.

Why do I keep thinking that?! Focus, dammit!!

Okay. Think. Best way outta this general area would be to take the bike route near Buena Vista. They saw me when I was wearing my coat. I take it off.
It's more of a windbreaker, really. Just something to cover my skin from the sun.
I scratch the back of my neck. I shove the coat in the bookbag under my piano books. Man. This all started out as a trip to kill time until Felicia got off work.

Felicia. I gotta get to Felicia. She'd know what to do!
Right. I try to look as casual as possible. Look normal. Don't look like a scared prey animal. I am NOT a scared prey animal.
I take the small streets away from San Fernando Blvd. It's later in the day, so there's a lot of places with no people nearby. When I reach Buena Vista, I try to stay under the cover of the bridge. I reach the bike route and start trekking it.

It's a bit of a walk, but the bike route makes for a pretty good shortcut. I make it to another crosswalk under the freeway and make my way to North Hollywood. Her bar is some ways along the road, but I make it. Sturges. Made it to Sturges. Felicia's Dive Bar, Sturges.

I open the door, and there's a few guys chilling out. I feel myself settle down at the sight of the "We don't serve pigs here" sign, shaped like a highway sign with the numeral label 1312. It's a primo gay bar, and all the folks know it.

Felicia takes one look at me, and turns her head towards the other guy that helps her run the place. "Yggy, hon, I'm gonna take lunch. You think you can hold down the fort?"

Ignacia- Fuck, no, right- Ygnacia (I have no idea why he spells it like that), looks over to her, then me, and I shudder. He always intimidated me. He looks like. Well he has the stoic face of a Yakuza protagonist. I think they set one in Hawaii recently, right? They could totally set one in L.A., and he'd be either the protagonist, or a secretly powerful side character.

He shrugs. "Eh, sure, hermana. Just don't do anything that leaves a mess, ¿verdad?" His thick hispanic accent helps solidify that whole Yakuza thought. She snaps him some finger guns and a lecherous grin. She then grabs me, pulls me aside to the back room slash manager's office, and sits me down on the comfier chair.
"What happened, honey?"

I guess I looked worse for wear than I thought. I take a slow, shuddering breath. "I .. I was.." Another deep breath. "Did you see the news?"
"No, what happened?" She tilts her head.
"There was some like.. radioactive explosion at the airport in Burbank. I.. went to go look, and I got spotted, and the cops chased me. They sent a helicopter after me too."
"Did they see your face?"
"Not really."
"Your clothes?"
"Probably..?"
"How'd you get out?"
"I hid in a really dense tree."
She leans back and looks out the door.

"Pigs wouldn't chase you for nothing." She muses, and then leans forward again, close to me, gently cupping my cheek in one of her big hands. Her comforting touch is like water in the desert right now. "You can talk to me, honey. What did you see?"

I have to take a moment to process what I saw. I blink and shake my head and try to recontextualize and logic out the entire thing. But I saw what I saw. It couldn't have been anything else, what with the reaction the cops had. I look back up at her, directly into her eyes.
"I think I saw the body of a unicorn."