Witchlights, Kitzu and Sakora

[Kitzu]

Levi was having a Very Good Day. He wasn't prone to Very Bad Days like Greyri was, mostly because he wasn't a pessimist like Greyri was, but even he had to admit that Very Good Days were something of a rarity. Not that he minded--- his lifestyle just wasn't the comfiest, that was all.

However, today his spirits were lifted almost to the point of soaring. Through their combined efforts, Ry, Greyri, Nate and Sebi contrived to get him a book of spells for his birthday (or, well, what everyone decided was his birthday anyways; nobody knew theirs for real except for Merle and Destre). He hadn't known what to do with himself then, having been reduced to inelegant babbling instead of real words of gratitude; and he didn't know what to do with himself now, his book tucked against his chest and held tight with both arms. He hadn't dared open it yet; though it was deliciously heavy and novelesque, he had the irrational urge to save it for a more special occasion.

As he ducked and weaved amongst the people in the streets, bumping into a body here and there and murmuring a quick apology with his head held low, he reflected that his hobby wasn't particularly fitting for a street urchin. The Gang did well enough with their small array of talents--- Ry's lying and sleights of hand; Nate's honest face and his penchant for nabbing jobs; Greyri's fast talking and street smarts--- but Levi wasn't particularly useful to them. Even now, as he was bustling home after a day's performance as a street magician, he was acutely aware that he did not contribute as much as the rest. After all, what could a few paltry witch-fires and illusions do for them when they were starving in the dead of winter?

But these were not thoughts for a Very Good Day, and Levi tucked them away with the practiced ease of someone who had to keep up his smile for everyone else. He had a book, and he had wonderful friends, and at least it was evening and his day of work was over. Perhaps he would allow himself a page of the tome before bed, and that would make everything better.

[Sakora]

There was a sudden expulsion of noise.

It originated from the rooftops, specifically from a flock of pigeons that were residing there. The birds had been perched together, picking at each other’s feathers for grooming, when a figure came crashing through their little gathering. The sudden presence of something much larger than themselves made the birds scatter, leaving behind a trail of feathers and a chorus of screeching noises. This little stunt quickly gathered the attention of most people below, and several heads looked up to see what the commotion was about. Those who were quick enough with their eyes noticed a shadow move behind the chimney, but when the scene stood still for several more minutes and the birds began to reappear on their perch, many people lost interest and continued on with their tasks.

Several more minutes past, and her footing was slipping. The roof had not been designed to keep a person on it. While most roofs had shingles, this one was smooth as wax and refused to allow any grip to be made. The only reason she wasn’t falling now was because of the chimney. However, the pose she was in was not at the least bit comfortable, nor was it easy to keep. She had to be position so that the street folk could not see her from the ground, because hiding she something you have to do when you’re trying not to get caught.

There really was not much she could do at this point. The only choices now where to loose footing completely and fall, or hop off the roof in the most secretive manner possible. What even then, where would she go? Home was too far away to roof hop to, so she had to find a place to get off the rooftops and walk without being noticed.

She looked down at her pocket for a bit and smiled. At least she had her prize with her, and the poor bastards she stole it from would have to murder her before they get it back.

{340}

[Kitzu]

Levi looked up at the sudden flurry of wings, eyes wide. Was that... Was that a person? It wasn't Ry, was it? Ry was fond of roof-hopping, and next to Greyri she was probably the fastest, but the shape was all wrong even for her. He squinted, but they were gone now, whoever they were, and he didn't catch where they'd disappeared to. How odd... And he was usually so good about this sort of thing, not being near anyone dangerous as he was making his way home. There was a reason for that rule, and everyone followed it meticulously.

He might not even have noticed it but for the pigeons. He'd always liked them--- not particularly resourceful, but cute, and if he had breadcrumbs left over fron lunch he would have plenty of birdy visitors to keep him company.

He considered just continuing his walk, but decided against it straight away. On the off chance the stranger was following him (despite a total lack of reason; today hadn't even been an especially good haul), he needed to change his course, confuse them for a bit. He'd be home late, which was disappointing, but nobody was ever particularly surprised when that sort of thing happened. He spared a moment to wish that no-one worry about him, and then swerved deftly into another alley, his steps quickening. The darkness was slowly bleeding into the skies, and he wasn't the type who fared well when it was dark out.

He couldn't help glancing up occasionally though, trying to see if he could spot that strange presence again. It was probably not doing him any favors if he wanted to lose the guy, but Levi couldn't help his own curiosity.

[Sakora]

She froze. Did that kid just....look at her? No, he couldn't have. She did her best to be hidden, but it looked like he saw. She didn't know what to do. Her footing was slipping, and someone might have spotted her. To make matters worse, those stupid pigeons were started to move closer to her. She had no clue why, as there was no food she was carrying on her. Extra items would make the task of running more hard and more tiring. This had all worked out fine until now. Everything had gone according to plan until now. But what was there for her to do?

But there wasn't time to think. No time at all. She had to act, fast. The thoughts fluttered through her head for only a second before she acted. She jumped. The pigeons flew away again, and the people looked up again, but she couldn't pay attention.

Silently, she started hopping through the rooftops. She was more careful now, trying to make even less noise than before. If she was spotted last time, she needed to step up her game. She changed the positions of her landings, making them slightly more unsafe, but a hundred times more silent. It was getting dark now, but not yet dark enough to make a useful cover. She still had to be careful, but still, the possibilities started to race in her head.

But then it was decided. He had seen her.

She followed him, but even her cover wasn't good enough. Every now and then he'd turn around and look straight at her. Every. Time. She tried hiding in different positions, under different angles, and even on the other side of the roof. But no matter what she did, he would always turn around and look right at her, as if he had been watching his every move when his eyes were turned around. Whatever magic this boy was using, it was good magic.

Or...I just suck at this, she thought to herself as she crept along.

{339}

[Kitzu]

Levi became increasingly unnerved as he managed to spot the blur among the rooftops a few more times; yes, someone was definitely following him. Though he tried to fight it, the mounting tension began to get to him, and he walked faster and faster until he was almost trotting along. It was entirely conspicuous, and if he passed anyone in they alleys they would turn and stare at him for some reason or another. Levi, a shy boy of small build, made too easy a target, and here the by-standers would have no incentive to help him if things went awry...

At first he didn't dare stop. Movement gave him some scant sense of security in that at least he had something to do, something that felt like progress. But he was getting short on breath now and they still hadn't gone, so obviously that was merely an illusion. He took a deep breath, stopping abruptly--- and then had to take several more as he tried to steel himself for what he was about to do. He didn't like it one bit, but...

"U-Um, hello mister mugger person...?" he said tentatively, and then had to repeat it as he realized that the mugger on the roof probably couldn't hear him at his present volume. "I, I don't have anything valuable with me..." Well, except the book, but he was still sort of hoping to discourage them from jumping him. It was his birthday present and it was from everyone and it was selfish but he really did want to keep it. He tried not to regret not having read it earlier as he went on. "But if you really, really need money or something, um, I could leave what I have here... I just w-want to go home." Despite his best efforts, his voice still trailed off into mumbling, not to mention it went high on him as a result of his unease. Unsure of where to look, he settled for turning his baleful stare at a random chimney, and braced himself for whatever would come next.

[Sakora]

She listened to Levi's words with slight confusion. He sounded scared...really scared. Someone who sounded this scared, and who would address a suspected mugger with an offer of money would definitely not be somebody who was sent out to find her. Unless of course, those guards were more pathetic and had less resources available than she originally thought. Coming back from her thoughts, she looked at the boy's face again, and then followed his stare. He was looking at a chimney a few houses over, as if addressing it in his speech. This made her scoff silently to herself. If that's where he thought she was, this boy was no threat.

She crept along the rooftops with extra skill, watching the boy to make sure he did not see her. Luckily, his eyes were focused on that chimney, which gave her a chance to make a silent descend onto the street. She landed as silently as a cat, and started to stalk towards him without making a sound. Once she was only a few feet away, her eyes were able to see him for clearly.

In some ways, he was like her. They both looked frail, as if unable to hold in a fight. She knew that this observation could be wrong, as she was weaker physically  than the average human, yet able to defeat a skilled swordsman in a fight with her magic. But he almost shook in his standing, and when she had heard his voice tremble from the rooftops, she knew he was more scared of her than she was of him.

With a swift motion, she side-stepped in front of him, and her amber and brown eyes fixed on his. She gave him a small smirk, and a giggle, as to either calm him of her not being a threat, or catching him off his guard so she could make the first advance.

{316}

[Kitzu]

There was a long, dreadful wait before anything happened. In the intervening time, Levi attempted to master himself, with limited success--- his heart still felt like it was trying to beat a hole into his sternum, but at least he had outwardly relaxed, his shoulders no longer quite so tense and his breathing forcibly slowed to a more reasonable pace. Nevertheless, his hands were white-knuckled as they clutched the book, signaling his continuing unease.

His hearing was sharp enough to detect movement, but he was not the kind that got into scrapes (at least, not if he could help it) and therefore he wasn't fast enough to anticipate the shape that darted in front of him. It was only habit that saved him, for he was the popular target of teasing from the more boisterous members of the rag-tag group of children to which he belonged, and Ry in particular took a wicked glee in dropping in unexpectedly. His only reaction, therefore, was to seize up for a moment and relax again... except then he remembered that this wasn't Ryan. As he looked closer at the person before him, he could only think, Well, their smiles are a little similar...

She looked skinny, but he was skinny and he couldn't move like that, so he wasn't about to let his guard down. Now that she was in front of him, and no longer a phantom presence that may or may not have just been paranoia on his part, Levi was (however irrationally) a bit more confident. Anyway, a mugger would have attacked him outright by now, probably.

"I'm L-Levi," he said, the stutter not quite gone (though that was hardly a surprise; he had it around most strangers) but his stance a little firmer. Despite everything, he tried a shy, cautious smile along with the greeting. This particular stranger probably didn't care one whit; Levi knew that. It was just good manners, that was all. "Can... Can I help you?"

[Sakora]

She watched his movements and speech with particular interest, determining if he could have possibly posed a threat at this point. She had to admit she gave up on being paranoid. Nothing about him scream danger. Upon hearing his voice, her smirk turned into a smile. His voice sounded so...innocent, yet scared. There really was no threat in his boy at this moment was there? Of course, underestimation was something that she had trained out of herself, as it can be deadly when wrong. Therefor, she decided to remain one guard, just until they had more time to interact. If it was true that this boy meant no harm, she surely become a bit more friendly.

When she heard him introduce himself, she nodded her heard a few times, as if to approve of his name. “Araliss,” she plainly stated back to him in reply. There was a lot in the exchange of names. As cliche as it sounded, names were a powerful thing. Not the names themselves, but the willingness to give away your name to someone else was in a way, showing a level of trust. As he had given her his name, it was the polite thing to return the favor.

When Levi asked his question, Araliss ignored it. There wasn’t much he could help her with, and to be honest, she’d feel rather bad if the boy got into some sort of trouble helping her if she did ask for his help. It wasn’t in her interest to put his life in danger for a simple task she could do herself. Although, at this point she must have lost the guards by now.

She observed him again, this time from the front. It was clearer now to see his face, and his clothes, and that rather interesting book he was carrying in his arms. Her eyes focused on it as she tried to determine what the title was, or at the very least what kind of book. She noticed a few writings on the spine and the cover. It was just a guess, but to her it looked like a magic book. Her eyes moved back on his face and she asked with a hint of curiosity, “What’s that book you got here?”

{309}

[Kitzu]

((lol, Levi's name used to be Alis(tair) before I changed it so... I'm kind of having a private laugh at that XD))

It was somewhat encouraging that the stranger girl decided to introduce herself as well, even though Levi hadn't asked. "That's a pretty name," he said, looking a little more at ease. It was not as encouraging that she didn't answer his actual question, but he supposed she must be one of those people who didn't think too much of anyone else. The way she held herself certainly didn't invite conversation, and a part of him wondered if he ought to simply leave her to her business. She hadn't asked for his money or anything, which was terribly kind of her, and if he was just going to pester her with his company, he might as well leave...

... Except, suddenly, she asked him a question of her own. He blinked in surprise and there was a bit of a pause before he answered. "U-Um, just... It's a book of spells, I think," he said, and instantly regretted it. He shouldn't have told her the truth. He wasn't a good liar, and didn't care to tell falsehoods often, but he could have said that it was something much less valuable. He hadn't actually looked inside yet, so he didn't know its real worth, but Greyri had a good eye about this sort of thing even if he didn't know his way around a spell. Nevertheless, it wasn't precisely a lie when he added, "It's all very basic stuff; that's all I can manage right now." In fact, it was pretty much the truth. Fox-fires and illusions were hardly high-class spellcasting, and much of his routine was interspersed with more mundane novelties, such as the card tricks he'd learned from Ry.

There was a nervous, twitchy instinct gnawing at him to say more, to keep talking and fill the silence, but he made himself wait (either for a signal to leave or for her to redirect the conversation). There would certainly be no time to read or talk to anyone by the time he got home, he lamented, watching the last dregs of gold fade below the rooftops.

[Sakora]

((xD As for Araliss' familiar, think those amulets from the broken veil. I plan to have him made at some point. >_<))

The compliment definitely softened her up a bit, even though she made sure not to show it. To be fair, Levi was the first person who she exchanged names with in over half a year, so such a compliment did have a slight effect on her.

However, even she heard him explain the interesting book he had in his hands, there was some doubt that grew in her. Maybe it was his mannerism of speech that threw her off, but that could easily be because he wasn't the social type. As she contemplated her next move, a voice rang out in her head.

"If you try to take that book from that poor boy I am going to come out there and throw hellfire in your face."

Araliss' face dropped suddenly to pure annoyance. Her slight smile became a flat expression, and her eyes conveyed no emotion at all. She had forgot that her telepathy link she used on her familiar was still active. It hadn't been 12 hours yet, she just forgot because he had been rather quiet since they made their swipe.

"Try me," she taunted as she took a step forward towards Levi.

Instantly, a white and blue whisp-like thing started to come out of her chest. He shot out and materialize in the space between Araliss and Levi, looking at her in a cold stare. The emotion returned to her face in the form of a cunning smirk. She stared at the familiar with this new expression, and scoff a bit with her remark. "Calm down, I wasn't planning on taking it. How horrible of a person do you think I am?"

The familiar lightened his expression, and started to float out of the space in-between them and more towards Araliss' side. She rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head a bit in the process.

{305}

[Kitzu]

Levi shrank back uncertainly as Araliss approached, less out of any conscious fear than reactionary instinct, but promptly froze and gasped as the wisp materialized, his already large green eyes widening to baby-deer proportions. Now he was almost glad that he'd been sidetracked, even if the experience had thus far been rather frightening. If this person could do something like that, then she must know real magic! Probably she knew more than one thing too, and wasn't ashamed of her magic, unlike Greyri. He was about to ask her all sorts of questions, because he was just bursting to know more about whether she knew any interesting spells or if she'd had a lot of adventures (she looked as if she had) when he realized what she just said.

He clutched the book tighter and cringed a little.

Living as he did in this part of the city, with only other children for "family", Levi had been taught that the world was full of awful people who would take advantage of someone like him. Though at 14, he wasn't the youngest, he was treated as such by everyone else for, as they put it, being naive. He still wasn't disposed to thinking of the world as they did--- sure, bad things happened, but people were still mostly good, right? Today was not making a particularly good argument for his perspective though.

"U-Um..." He still wanted to ask about the... the creature, but he didn't know if he should, or whether to address it directly. Araliss seemed to treat it as if it was sentient, so he turned to the creature that had materialized. " 'Scuse my asking, but wh-what are you? I've never seen anything like you before..."

[Sakora]

The familiar flipped over to its belly and owl-turned its head towards Levi. He had a habit of doing this randomly when conversation was going on. It wasn't meant to frighten or surprise Levi; it was more of a habit of his. However, even though he knew the boy was trying to talk to him, the familiar had no idea what he was saying. Human speech wasn't something he understood, and the telepathy spell was the only reason he and his master could communicate with human words.

"He asked what you are," Araliss said to him while reaching down the collar of her shirt to grab the string that hung underneath it. As she pulled it out, an amulet was revealed to be hanging at the end. The stone in the center was an interesting color. It looked both red like fire and ice like ice at the same time.

The familiar nodded in understanding and circled around the amulet a few times before placing himself on Araliss' shoulders, head on one shoulder while the body wrapped across her shoulder blades and the tail resided on the other shoulder. Knowing he had no way of speaking, Araliss decided it was best to speak for him.

"This is Ender, my familiar. Rather handy when helping my spells and what not. Also a wonderful aid when I'm in a tight spot."

When she left it at that, Ender shot her a glare. She rolled her eyes in pretend annoyance and continued.

"Okay, and he's also a pretty awesome friend."

He was contented with his addition and went back to looking at Levi.

"Kinda short isn't he? He's got the same giant eyes you used to have when you were ten. And when I say giant I also mean innocent."

They exchanged glances. The teasing was normal nowadays. It was their way of bonding at this point, and Araliss didn't mind. Besides, with the amount of help he had given her day, she was going to entertain as a reward.

"Of course, if you're wondering what species of creature he is, that's a different story,"

{348}

[Kitzu]

Levi perked up, hearing a word he recognized. Familiar! He'd read about those, but that kind of thing was pretty high-end, and he'd obviously never seen one, much less acquire one himself. His fear ebbed considerably at the prospect of seeing one up close. Araliss seemed eager enough to show him off, so he hoped she wouldn't mind his gawking. Slowly he circled the two, peering with undisguised wonder at Ender. Of course, he was careful not to get too close, but that was more for fear of making them angry than any real wish to stay away.

He was about to ask some more questions when he heard footsteps behind him. Uttering a quiet self-admonishment for letting his guard down, he whirled, body tensing in an instant, a faint smattering of foxfire sparks bristling from his fingertips as he prepared to flee---

--- only to have Greyri come up from behind him, lightly buffet him upside the head and say, "Geez, Lev, is this where you've been the whole time? Everyone's been worried... If I'da known you were just chattin' up your new girlfriend here, I wouldn'ta bothered to look." Levi laughed sheepishly, his shoulders sagging in relief, and realized belatedly that it was getting quite dark out now. Greyri looked Araliss up and down. "Nice pet," he remarked. Levi elbowed him sharply, hoping his friend wouldn't say anything awful. Grey had a sharp, mocking sense of humor, and it had a tendency to make a lot of people angry; Levi was in no state or mood to go up against a real mage, and he privately doubted Greyri was either.

"This is, uh, Grey... Greyri. He's one of the people I live with," Levi piped up, hopefully quick enough to keep Araliss from blasting a hole in Grey's gut or something. She'd seemed a little on-edge when they'd first met too, so he had a feeling she hadn't taken to Grey's surprise appearance well...

[Sakora]

Araliss didn't do much when Levi started circling her. Normally she would have considered it hostile, but after being able to exchange a few words with him, it was clear he wasn't a threat. Ender however, still watched him with his eyes, never moving them from his. When Levi circled around to their back, he moved his own head to follow him, keeping an eye on him at all times. It wasn't that Ender didn't trust him; he was just being cautious for Araliss, even though she didn't seem to care what the boy was doing.

She saw a shadow approach, but didn't move. However, she did fix her eyes on it to make sure the thing wasn't a threat. The night brought lots of new and strange forces and creatures, and not all of them were harmless. But, she could tell from the way it was walking once it got closer that whatever it was, wasn't trying to sneak around.

When the figure became more clear and Levi reacted to it in such a hostile way she tensed. She was already in one fight today, and had no where near enough mana at this point to defend two people. She might be able to get a quick getaway by herself, but stopping the person from attacking Levi also would be a bit more tricky. Luckily, she didn't have to make the decision. After a few words were spoken, it was clear the two boys knew each other.

While Araliss paid no attention to the girlfriend comment, the pet comment caused a different reaction.

Her eyes changed. It was an instant transformation. At first they were normal, or, as normal as Araliss' heterochromatic eyes were going to get. But then, it looked as if a fire had exploded in them. It was as if someone could feel the burning on their skin if they looked into them for too long. Of course, if they looked long enough they might even swear to seeing fire dance across her iris.

In other words, she was mad.

Her left fist clenched tightly, and a small spark or two escaped her hand, shooting out only to fizzle away in the air before landing a few inches away from her. She didn't like- actually she absolutely hated when people referred to Ender as her "pet". The word "pet" to her meant a creature of a lesser intelligence, something that you kept and played with because it was fun. Something domesticated. He was far more intelligent than any human was capable of being, and she didn't keep him because he was soft or sought her affection. He was sentient and held just as much power as she did. They were more partners, equals. And he was definitely not her pet.

"I suggest you take that comment back," she sneered with clenched teeth.

Ender took this as an appropriate time to disappear back into his amulet. He could feel the conflict and wasn't ready nor capable to help Araliss in any fight she was willing to start. The telepathy spell took a toll on him, and quite frankly, he was just plain tired. Whatever that boy had said, Ender just prayed he apologized before the buildings on either side of them caught fire. It happened before, and the town wasn't all that thrilled to have an entire street scorched. Of course, the incident took place many years ago when Araliss was still learning to control her use of magic when she was angry.

{583}

[Kitzu]

Greyri had, thus far, emanated an air of casual ease. This was entirely thanks to Levi's presence; the two were close even among the gang, and privately Grey thought of short, scrawny Lev as something like a younger brother. Their family as a whole was protective of the one member of their ranks to still hold a sunny outlook on the world, but Greyri had always taken Levi's safety more gravely than the rest. Unbeknownst to the younger boy, Grey had been scouting for quite some time, and his calm air was as much relief at finding Levi safe and unharmed as it was put on to reassure, or to feign nonchalance. In his mind he hadn't trusted the strange girl one bit, but there was no reason to start a fight unprovoked. At least, this was what Greyri thought.

Evidently she did not agree.

Years of hard street life had made a wary creature out of Grey, and now he tensed up imperceptibly, eying Araliss with cold turquoise eyes. However, at large his stance remained languid, the taut lines of his limbs partially hidden by the loose clothing he sported or the stuff bandages that bound his lower arms. A part of him was sure that this was dangerous, but on a different level he was--- proud? annoyed? intrigued?--- and he found that he had no intention of backing down. Instead he put on a cocky half-grin, edging into a sneer.

"I think it's only fair of me to ask why you're ordering me around like that. Are you a queen, then? Shall I call you 'milady', or perhaps 'your Majesty'?" Though his expression was taunting, his tone was flat, devoid of emotion and wholly frigid. Levi looked between the two with wide eyes, his head shaking slowly, and Grey was a little sorry--- not to the girl, but to Levi; to subjecting him to this. But he wasn't quite sorry enough.

Levi was confused. One minute they'd been almost amicable in his mind; now there was a tension in the air. It wasn't just the sudden animosity either. There was the distinct feel of something stretched almost to the point of breaking, hanging tersely in the air around him, something that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He knew for a fact that Grey could sense it too. They were both, in their own ways, tied to magic, and this was one of the most basic perceptions they had in common, so he couldn't fathom why Grey was pushing her further...

"I-I'm sure he didn't mean anything," Levi began, then added under his breath, "Just apologize, Grey. Don't do anything reckless." His tone was beseeching, but Greyri's eyes only narrowed. If he had been in a calmer state, Levi might have sighed in exasperation at that. Now he could only feel his shoulders bunch up and his breath quicken, and silently he readied himself to run again.