[ToxicShadow]

There were really only two choices available to her. Either wait, and hope the world either fixed itself or someone else fixed it for her, or set out to do it herself. And Toxic wasn't about to sit around and wait for someone else to do it for her.

Waking up in a colorless world had nearly sent her into a panic. Sure, her eyes could be bad from time to time, but losing all color had been entirely unheard of.

[ToxicShadow]

But as she forced herself out of bed, stumbled over a handful of Stargoyle, as it tended to happen every morning when she had so many adorable cuties living with her, and found other of her estate's residents that offered more conversation, she soon came to realize that it wasn't just her or her eyes. Everyone was experiencing a horrible lack of color, as if it had been taken from the world entirely. That, or everyone's mind was messed up, and they lost their ability to perceive color.

[ToxicShadow]

One way or another, it was not very ideal, though the woman happened to wish that she had stayed up all night long, as she did often enough, to experience the exact moment that the color was lost. It would have, perhaps, given her more information. But, alas, she had gone to sleep for once, not even staying up too terribly late, since she and Z happened to have plans the coming morning. Which, needless to say, were cancelled now.

[ToxicShadow]

She was attempting to discuss matters with her housemates when one of them pointed out a message, though garbled, that came through on the television set. The broadcaster claimed that they had a way to restore the color and that volunteers were required and, upon hearing such, of course Toxic wouldn't sit around and do nothing.

After making some arrangements, she arrived at the town center, as had been called for, and stepped inside with an air of confidence.

[ToxicShadow]

In one way, it was fortunate that the woman gravitated toward outfits that at least partially, if not almost entirely, consisted of black, since her aesthetic was not entirely in shambles by the lack of color. Sure, there were no visible shocking greens or vibrant reds shining against the black, just grays replacing them, but it wasn't the worst. No, she adorned herself with a white button up and a black steel boned corset, black top hat with what had been colorful green accents, a black tulle bustle and tight, black high waisted jeans and her buckled black heeled boots.

[ToxicShadow]

Stepping into the town center was a shock, since she'd somewhat started to adjust to seeing the world in hues and shades of gray and black and white. The literal bottles of color were a bit alarming, but she found out, then, that it definitely was not just her ability to perceive color that was taken from her. At least, in theory, it was doubtful, as what would make the bottled color any different from the rest of the color in the world as far as her mind was considered?

[ToxicShadow]

This weren't questions or considerations that she could really answer, though, even if they crossed her mind, so they did her no good. Instead, she put on her brave face and said, "Sign me up to hunt for color," without even batting an eyelash.

She took what she would need for the task, what was offered to her, in the form of the strange color collection device and the stack of paperwork that held information on the locations of certain colors and set out.

[ToxicShadow]

The Slums was honestly one of her least favorite locations, but that was where Toxic found herself, when all was said and done. If she was going to hunt down colors, she thought it best to regain the colors that were... useful to her. At least those that would help with her wardrobe. Those that were her favorites.

So, as she stepped down the sidewalk of the less than appealing shopping district of the Slums, she did so with the color collection device in hand.

[ToxicShadow]

She wore it, the device, in a holster that she strapped onto her thigh, while her handgun stayed safely secured on her hip, being less conspicuous than her modified machine gun that she would often carry with her in particular situations.

But Toxic wasn't hunting down dangerous criminals within The Slums this time to collect a bounty. No, she was just seeking color, so the handgun was really only there to ward off delinquents or if she ran into someone she was better off not running into.

[ToxicShadow]

"Z, have you found anything yet?" she spoke into the communications device that was secured in one ear, speaking into it to keep in touch with one of her follow bounty hunters as she continued her steps.

She received a response across the device and she sighed. "No. No luck here, either."

After a discussion that morning, she and her follow bounty hunters that were interested in hunting down colors each split up, deciding to cover more ground in such a way.

[Color Harvested]

[ToxicShadow]

Little did Toxic know, even though she intentionally split up with everyone to cover more ground, she was not actually alone.

From a distance, colorless eyes followed after her, watching her back with each step that she took down the street. The eyes were not newly colorless, but truly colorless. Even before the color was drained from the world, the eyes lacked any traces of color.

And the owner of said eyes followed after her with each step that she took.

[ToxicShadow]

Thrash, under the circumstances, did not want to leave the woman alone.

Most of the time, the guardian was perfectly comfortable not keeping this close of an eye on Toxic. No, instead he took on the role of the information broker in her life, the one that collected information for her so that she could do her job of a bounty hunter well. He was, ultimately, her only real contact for such things, and made sure to get her any information that she required in order to be a permanent fixture in her life.

[ToxicShadow]

He thought that better than revealing himself as her guardian creature; it just made things easier that way.

But what was happening was more dangerous than the woman could possibly know. Even Thrash wasn't entirely sure what was going on, and he needed answers, too, but he could sense it. That the world wasn't actually safe now. And, if he wanted to take his task of a guardian seriously, than of course he had to do what he could to protect his charge.

[ToxicShadow]

Even if she was unaware of him.

Thrash followed behind her, not in his human form, but in that of his spirit form, his, more or less, true form, which was that of a griffin. And he was unseen, at that. A special little trait of his, which allowed him to choose if he wanted to be visible to the common eye or not. Though, of course, there were also a few exceptions to that rule. Some folks had extraordinary vision.

[ToxicShadow]

Toxic sighed again.

Here she knew that she was supposed to be able to find a shade of green out here in the city, but she wasn't sure where to even look. In theory, the color would be found somewhere that it already was, not somewhere where it... would not be. But such a shade of green was not one that appeared commonly within the natural world.

"I should probably look for... clothing or something," she thought out loud.