Closed A Student's Student (Leith)

[Kaska Villahotes]

Kaska gritted his teeth, looking over at the girl next to him. He knew her babbling was going to attract attention, and in Sunberth it was better to keep quiet and keep your head down than loudly babble about. "A whore is someone who petches for money. I let him petch me, I suck him off, I do whatever he wants me to do. At the end of the night, coins are given to me or thrown at my head, and I scurry out of their homes or whatever alley they've pulled me into. Understand?" he snapped at her a bit harsher than he meant to. He was the last person to be sensitive about his occupation, but explaining it made it all the more real. Reality was something Kaska wasn't comfortable with, there was a reason many of his gold coins went to drinking gutter whiskey. He watched her duck into another alley and followed her. He eyed the ladder. "It's owned by someone, and with the roofs around here as unstable as they are, I wouldn't chance it. They get set afire so often people have started just throwing thatch on as a patch...and you'll go through that so easily you won't notice until you're on someone's floor getting screamed at." he told her. "If you don't like it, too bad. This is a city. This is opportunity." he nodded back to the streets. "Come with me and watch closely." He made sure she stuck close, his deft fingers wandering into unguarded pockets and stealing small things. He never stole large daggers or things the owners might miss. A few coppers here, a biscuit there. He swept by a food stall and quite swiftly took an apple from the stand, eyes forward and never even indicating he might have done something. Kaska knew what he had to do to survive, and pickpocketing while less profitable than whoring was one of those traits. They were headed toward the outskirts of the city, out of his territory. It made him nervous, gangs roved the area and other whores wouldn't take kindly to him wandering around. They all had to eat, and streetwalkers had an unsteady alliance with one another about their haunts. If none of them stole from the others, they would all get enough to eat. "Keep close." Kaska muttered to her. "Don't look anyone in the eye."

[Leith]

He might notice she only seemed more confused when he had explained what he did, she didn’t understand. Now if he had said ‘breeding’ ‘mating’ or even simply ‘sex’ these terms she understood, but hadn’t encountered any other ways to describe it. She had a lot to learn about humans, when he spoke about the ladder she was disappointed, but heeded his wisdom. He knew about these things because he knew human things and because he didn’t have wings. She kept close just as he instructed, looking no one in the eye, but also not blatantly watching him either, she watched him out of the corners of her eyes. She was impressed with how fast he was, she knew humans kept things in their pockets, but never realized what variety of possessions might lay hidden in them. “I don’t really get what it is you do, I’ve never heard that word before, can you explain more? You don’t sound like you like what you do, why do it? I certainly won’t do things I don’t like, they get boring and I hate doing things that are boring.”

This new skill would prove to be highly interesting, she even made sure to keep in mind just what he took. She wondered why he took nothing shiny, but decided it was best to ask when they got out of the city. She didn’t talk nearly as much now that she had something else to do, what he was doing was much more interesting and required a lot of her focus. A couple ravens flew overhead calling down to her, mocking her for running on two feet instead of playing in the air. She smirked at them, her cousins were so simple, but then they were birds and she was more than a bird. They would forget her when things caught their attention elsewhere, they didn’t keep memories like she did. In a way it made her lonely, but that was how things were.
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[Kaska Villahotes]

Kaska scowled at her darkly. "Because it's easy, requires very little work for the things I get out of it barring the clients getting abusive. I hate it, you're right, but there are a lot of worse occupations in this city. I could be blitzed out of my mind on some nameless drug or piss drunk in a ditch." he said. When she asked for more explanation he grabbed her shoulder and pushed her into a nearby alley. "What the hell is it about what I do do you not fucking get?" he snarled in her face. "If you really want to know, I get down on my knees and suck cock for a living. Or worse, when they require it. It's sex, you bloody fool. Painful, evil bloody thing that it is and I put up with it because when they're done they give me money for it. Do you understand and can you shut the hell up about it now?!" he hissed, his eyes blazing in fury. He released her shoulder. "Just...shut up. We're almost out of the city." he muttered, turning back to the streets. It didn't take them long to get to the gates, and with a short word to the guards Kaska led her outside. He folded his arms, still displeased about the way he'd had to open up about his profession. "Go catch us something to eat. I'll wait here for you." he muttered, running his fingers through his long red hair. She was exhausting, this little bird.

[Leith]

She stared up at him shocked that he’d shoved her against a wall, she hadn’t meant to upset him at all. In fact she was so ruffled she said not a word about it, she looked down at the ground as they had walked feeling rather guilty. Not only had she stolen his money by accident, but she had caused him a lot of pain. When they were at the forest she looked up at him “I’m sorry for hurting you, I didn’t know that it caused you pain and I didn’t know that you were forced to breed just to eat.”

She started sheading her clothes and when she was done she looked over her shoulder at him grinning. “Keep an eye on my clothes and I’ll return with some food.”

Light enveloped her form as the shining mist then resolved in to a raven, her mismatched eyes regarding him glittering with mischief. She opened one glossy black wing regarding him with her blue eye preening. She was letting him take it all in, then she launched herself in to the air fluttering around his head coughing a raven’s raucous laughter before gaining height over the very trees. A few from the flock joined her their cries making a lot of noise, she was free! There was no sensation that could beat flying, the wind licking along her body, air rushing over and under her wings. Truly she was amazing, if she said so herself, no one looking up at her could help being jealous of her wings. She wondered if he’d take her clothing and the few coins she had, then decided what did she care if he did? He could make use of it better than she could after all, she could understand need driving one to desperation.

Her eyes scanned the forest below, she wanted a quick kill to bring back to him. It took some time, but eventually as she circled back she saw her prey eating a patch of clover. She dived her claws gripping its ears as her beak plunged in to its eyes, its neck, it thrashed screaming, but under her assault it soon died. She labored in to the air carrying her first catch, dropping it at his feet to land on a nearby branch panting from the effort, she cleaned her beak and claws catching her breath. It was hard work carrying rabbits, but eventually she took wing again taking just a bit longer before doing the same with the first. She fluttered on to a rock turning back and hopping off licking her fingers and cleaning the blood off her face. She eyed him quietly watching him, her clothing momentarily forgotten, the warm air and sun kissing her bare skin.
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[Kaska Villahotes]

Kaska frowned as he watched her change. A shapeshifter, he should have known by her association with the animals. At least it was easy to pick her out due to the heterochromia. He settled down on a stone to wait for her return, taking up a palm-sized stone and beginning to sharpen the three prongs of the mace. He rarely had to use it, and the points were kept razor-sharp. He believed in being prepared. He would rather have the weapon deadly when he needed it as opposed to being dulled from abuse. He sharpened quietly as he waited for her, thinking about what he would teach her. He heard the soft flutter of wings and saw the rabbit drop at his feet. He picked it up, looking at the peck marks across the eyes and throat. It wasn't a clean kill, but it had been quick. Ravens were known for their ferocity. He picked up her clothing and flung it at her with one arm. "Cover yourself. You don't want to advertise around here. You're not in my line of work." he told her. He dug through his pack and picked out his razor, skinning the rabbit and laying the reddened fur aside to bleach in the sun. He would scrape it later. He buried the entrails of the rabbit, beheading it and cleaning the carcass. "Start a fire." he told her as he did so, eyes on his work. "Tomorrow we work on your pickpocketing. Tonight, I work, and you will sleep wherever it is you do."

[Leith]

She laughed taking her clothes “There ain’t no humans about to be worried and besides, I’m just gunna take them off again anyways. Work?” She eyed him with concern “I hunted for us both, you don’t have to lift your tail to no one now that you’ll have a meal, okay? You can sleep under my flock’s tree, the branches cover the ground around the base of it and its shaded and warm, come with me? I could sleep on the ground tonight if you want, this way you’ll be extra warm.”

She walked over and watched what he was doing “Fire? Ohh, I don’t have my flint with me, but I’ll go fetch it!”

She dumped her clothes on the ground and a short time later her flying off would be all he heard. There and back didn’t take nearly as long as it had when she was hunting, she knew just where what she wanted was. She dropped it on to the ground changing back grinning at him as she started to make a fire. She dug up the insides cleaning as much of the dirt as she could before giving a loud sharp call. One of the flock launched from the trees to perch on her head shuffling about making soft cries. She grinned standing carrying the entrails off and setting them down, the bird fluttered to them eating greedily. “Just toss them, they won’t go to waste.”

The one bird was soon joined by a few more and soon enough a dozen were fighting and calling over every scrap. That was what they loved the most, her sharing after each kill when she gutted the animals for when she planned on going in to town. “So stay and I’ll hunt for breakfast, this way you won’t have to do anything that hurts you, okay? It’s the least I can do…”
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[Kaska Villahotes]

"I don't want you providing for me. You live your way and I'll live mine." Kaska said sharply as he watched the fire flower into life. He waited until it was a blaze of coals before he picked up a stick from the ground and shoved the rabbit onto it. He made sure the corpse stayed, and settled it over the flames. He watched the flesh crackle and start to cook, thinking quietly to himself. "One meal doesn't change anything, in the long scheme of things." he told her. He turned the rabbit over, sighing and remembering that morning. It had been calm and peaceful, warm. "I'll find a place to sleep. I always do. I prefer the city. The forest is far too quiet, and there are a lot of dangers that can't be reasoned with. At least with the gangs, all I know they want is a free bout of sex or to take my things, and that predictability takes out a lot of the fear." Kaska explained. "I'll meet you tomorrow, here if you like." Once the rabbit was cooked he took it in his hands and ripped the cooked flesh in half. He handed her the upper half, sinking his teeth into the greasy meat. It was better than anything he'd tasted in weeks. He devoured it, his teeth ripping into the haunches and stripping off every scrap of meat he could get. Once that was done he took the bones between his teeth and cracked them, sucking out the marrow noisily. He chewed some of the smaller, more delicate ribs between his teeth, crushing them to powder. Only when he was sure he had pulled everything of nutritional value out of the bones did he throw them to the birds. "Tomorrow." he told her, wiping his face free of grease with a sleeve.

[Leith]

She snorted “Pff, beasts know not to come to my tree and there is enough of us to make even stupid deer a worthy feast. If you sleep near my tree I’ll teach you to hunt, its easier on me as I have to carry my pack and bow and quiver and frankly if you are sleeping nearby it means I don’t have to walk too far, okay? On top of it all its easier to start near home and I get to show you how to get to where I live. I’ll even teach you how to not stomp and scare prey as we go, oh and how not to leave a trail even a fledgling can follow.”

She took her own meal cleaning everything of worth herself, the grease running trails down her face. She licked her hands cleaning the trails off watching him closely “I get wanting to not rely on someone, but you said I first had to teach you and I’m gunna do exactly that, first. This way even if you lied to me you get a useful skill and more chances to feed your belly and me? Eh, I’ll live. You need more than I do when you get down to it and I have the means to teach you, but…afterwards you have to buy your own bow, I only have one. Steal it and I’ll make your life hell, got it?”

She stretched, even though she was naked she hardly noticed, feathered or no she was comfortable in her own skin. “I’ve never taken a mate at all, I don’t get how humans like breeding, but I’m not gunna make you stay if you don’t want. If you’d prefer a dubious bed over assured safety and stuff what does it matter to me? Though I learned a long time ago that safety with a flock is better than nothing and I’m offering you a warm safe roost for however long you wish it.”
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[Kaska Villahotes]

Kaska hesitated. He wasn't so sure about sleeping under the stars outside of his normal comfort zone, but he had asked her to teach him. The question was, was he going to be robbed blind by an extremely clever thief or would he simply fall out of the tree and break his neck? Neither option sounded appealing, but then again neither did laying under a client and getting himself dirty again. "If you rob me it will be the last thing you do." he muttered, assenting. "Very well then, teach me." He knelt and picked up her clothes, throwing them at her again. "But not naked. And don't ever presume you're giving me charity. I don't need it, I don't want it. I can survive without your pity. As far as I'm concerned this is just a mutually beneficial arrangement." he told her. He looked at her expectantly, waiting to be led to the roost. It would be an interesting experience from his viewpoint. He'd slept in beds all of his life and if not that, an alleyway. Sleeping in a tree was a rather foreign concept, and at the back of his mind he was convinced he would have to lash himself to the branches to keep from falling and breaking his face. This shapeshifter certainly was having an odd effect on his life. When he awoke this morning he had assumed it would be business as usual; getting a drink, perhaps liquid lunch and a few clients. Attempting perhaps to hook some of the richer drug dealers with his clean visage. Certainly not playing in the woods with a girl who could speak to and turn into a raven...and insisted on being naked half the time. It frightened him that he felt nothing when he saw a naked body. For him, images of suffering and pain had always been associated with the nude form. It was either being cruelly entered, or beaten and abused. He had no desire to see it. He ran a hand down his face, tired. He was in some way rather glad to avoid clients. Falling asleep while in the middle of a job was a very bad thing; he'd narrowly avoided a fire poker to the face last time.

[Leith]

She laughed at him her mismatched eyes flashing with humor “Oh very well, clothed it is, since you are being silly.” She dressed running her fingers through her hair “There’s a lot of room on the ground underneath the branches and a comfy scoop to sleep in, I sometimes sleep on the ground so I made sure the scoop was sleepinable. You won’t have to sleep in the branches, don’t think my cousins will appreciate you going that far, as is I have to make sure they get my accepting you near.”

She started walking, sometimes she skipped ahead lightly or fell back to stand beside him, she moved easily through the green like a forest spirit almost. The forest was her home, she knew it as much as he knew the city, he’d see in time that under the trees it was more busy than even his city. “When you move, try and take care to break things as little as possible. If you cannot see a way past, move around it. It’s easier than fighting the green and the Goddess of the Forest might take offence if you lay waste to too much of her children. Try to walk lightly, you are gunna break leaves and twigs anyways, but if you feel it under your feet try not putting too much weight down. It takes practice and your legs’ll hurt a bit, but in time that goes away, it helps thinking you are on thin ice if you prefer to do it that way.”

She couldn’t help thinking of him as her pet human, training him and till he could care for himself feeding and sheltering him. He was a fledgling without parents to her, strange fledgling that he was, but for now he was in her care and she’d keep her promise. “Under the tree I dug a fire hole, I’ll show you how to make it as smokeless as possible so as not to unsettle my cousins, that is if you don’t know how already. There is a stream a short walk away, its cold, but you can bathe in it. Good fish there too, big and not smart yet about traps. Fish and rodents are gunna be the most easy to catch, fish especially in winter for they are kinda slow and are hungry. I like apples by the way the best, but the orchard nearby is guarded by a kid with a sling, I dislike him, his dog and those damn barn cats.”

She knelt down a short time later and showed him several different tracks. “Deer, raccoon, rabbit and squirrel. Don’t bother with squirrels, but mark their stashes if you see them hoarding. Raccoons are vicious, but tasty, sometimes they play stunned when hit, don’t be fooled and poke them with a long stick. Rabbits scream like baby humans when they die, their back claws are nasty. Deer run for a long time before they fall over if hit wrong, bring a knife to slit their throats. Oh, leave hearts sometimes if you get a really good kill, She will look favorably upon you sometimes. Most of the time though something else eats the offerings, but whether you feed Her or the forest these things please her.”

Then stood up and followed a trail, they would seem to be wandering, but always in the same direction. She pointed out plants that he’d want to stay away from and some that she thought tasted good, even bugs. If she thought up something new she told him, if she spotted something useful she showed him, she watched him constantly.
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