[Alleys Of Syliras] Eating Crow (Danika)

[Gereth]

Timestamp Time: Winter 10 510 A.V. Evening Location: A dark deserted alley in Syliras around a makeshift firepit

Today was a lucky day for Gereth. He hummed happily to himself as he piled what bits of wood and tinder he could find as refuse on the city streets and made a storm drain into a makeshift bonfire. Even in the dim of the night he could make out his hands clearly as they set to work starting a fire for himself. The goal wasn’t to keep warm though. Glancing over his shoulder Gereth beamed at his prize, it was a wounded crow that had fallen into the streets. He’d killed it and dragged it off quickly before anything had a chance to even nibble on it! Gereth had to physically restrain his excitement. Occasionally he’d sniff at the air and ensure that no one would be coming around to steal his meal. Once he was satisfied with his pit’s construction the coyote begin working on setting a fire. Winter was always the best time to find food really. In Syliras where the winters were mild and relatively short, the season change affected the patterns of all sorts of tasty bits in new and exciting ways. In the woods you could find rabbits abound as new watering holes appeared for the duration of the seasons and in the streets? Well sometimes you found crows. Gereth practically giggled, a low contented rumble rising in the back of his throat as he laughed. The art of plucking a crow of feathers was one that was still mostly lost on him. After he had managed to finally get a fire going and found a good sized stick to act as the routesserie he still had another ten minutes or so of work de-feathering the bird. He had nearly choked on one a few years before and his master had beat him soundly making him repeat the phrase ‘Feathers are bad you dumb dumb animal.’ Sure his master wasn’t the most verbose guy in Mizahar but he had a point... and Gereth liked living. He had seen the butchers doing this to chickens and they had a special technique and a tool to go with it. Gereth had no such tool or training. A mess of hastily plucked, by hand feathers soon rested at his feet in a pile of black fluff and mutilated bird. He was about halfway through the work and humming happily, content with the state of things as only a wild animal really can ever be when he laughed again. Life was good.

[Danika]

Danika was wandering, a word she only used when lost. Atlas was no help cleaning his whiskers, comfortable on his human transport.
As she randomly chose an alley she caught a glimpse of a fire to her surprised the rat killer was happily plucking a bird, crow because of the clumps of black feathers around the fire.
He was a happy, very happy he even laughed, Danika could almost feel touched by his mirth, almost.

She moved Atlas from his lofty perch to her inside pocket and walked towards the man a rather cold wind making her shiver slightly and messing up her black hair. Her face locked in an inscrutable smile she came forward.

“Well well…what are we planning to do with the remnants of the crow then?” Her tone was relaxed an excuse to talk to the illusive man who sees too much. Hoping he had forgotten most of the things she had said."And rest assured I'm not here to steal your meal..."

[Gereth]

Gereth heard Danika approach before she spoke but for whatever reason his mind simply refused to process it as he was far too captured in what he was doing. It was the woman from the market. He recognized her smell, the rat she carried and tried to hide from him, as if he would eat rat tonight! There was crow, and that was an opportunity too great to ignore. At first he seemed uncertain, an unreadable look crossing his face but when he was relatively certain she was telling the truth he nodded and grabbed the bird. Retrieving a cobbled stone, slightly sharp on one end he began to use it to separate the crow’s feet and head from its body. “That’s simple,” the coyote stated matter-of-factly, “I’m going to eat it.” He drove the rock down on the neck and legs of the crow with sickening wet crunching sounds issuing forth from it’s body as he continued his grisly meal preparation. When he was satisfied with the job he’d done he shoved the crow onto his makeshift rotisserie. The fire was warm and he was still happy and almost happy to have company. He glanced up at Danika, yellow eyes sparkling in the fire light and smiled. “Have a seat.” he offered, sliding down his perch a bit. “It’s a little uncomfortable to be standing and it’s slightly unnerving to boot.” All the while the fire crackled offering a homely sense of familiarity to the damp alleyway. Gereth, for his part, was jovial.

[Danika]

She sat down beside him not paying head to the bloody mess. Danika was least of all things squeamish. She noted his happiness with a slight smile and said “Events didn’t let me introduce myself…” She looked into the fire, yellow just like his eyes “I’m Danika”

Atlas squirmed in her pocket and she let him out settling on the shoulder farthest away from Gereth. “Far away from the rat killer eh?” She murmured to the grey rat. An odd pet she had to admit, he wasn’t a cute or small rat he was a true sewer rat.

She watched the bloody bird roast oddly content in the warmth, she shifted in her seat moving her two whips into more comfortable positions the fire casting shadows on her face which underlined her cheekbones and icy blue eyes.

[Gereth]

Listening to the sounds of a popping cooking crow Gereth couldn’t help but smile. His master used to tell him that he’d never amount to anything but now he was amounting to a lot more than that. The winter had been good to him so far and now, a hot meal with a woman? Couldn’t get a lot better than that, not for this dumb dog. Gereth offered a slight nod as she spoke. He remembered their entire encounter from before and truthfully he was wondering why she didn’t seem as angry as she did before but he didn’t let that show. He remembered a time when his master taught him how to play cards. “The most important rule to remember in this game.” His master had said, “Is to never show your hand until the game is done.” Gereth couldn’t help but remember the old thief’s words and the way he said them. For a guy who was always in some kind of gambling debt he pretended to know an awful lot about the games. He was a wealth of knowledge on all things criminal and below the radar. He was a schemer and a plotter but the master just wasn’t that good at putting any of his staggering amount of knowledge to use. At least it was staggering to Gereth who had nearly worshipped the man. The sound of storm drains slowly leaking and the rats could be heard in the darkened corners. He did steal a glance at Danika’s pet who was obviously aware enough to recognize the coyote too. He smirked slightly. “Sometimes events can get complicated I guess. So why is it that you aren’t angry at me now?” He arched an eyebrow, rugged features visible on his face as he smiled at her. The shadows had begun to creep in as the evening was now fully underway. The streetlights couldn’t penetrate the murk of the alley but Gereth’s makeshift fire was now cooking his crow at a slow and steady pace. It was going to be an interesting evening for sure. To Gereth, those were the only kinds of evenings worth having.

[Danika]

She was slightly amused by his question letting it hang in the cool night air.
She let some seconds tick by and then answered “Because you haven’t given me a reason to be so…yet” Thus was Danika’s mind: give her a reason she will get angry but she wouldn’t hold grudges or not for trivial things. “And lets speak honestly you didn’t give me much reason anyway to be angry” She shrugged “Annoyed, yes. Prone to violence, yes” She smirked at the fire it was like in a fight when you had to start on a clean blackboard swiping all else feelings including from your mind you just had to have control.You had to be able to go from angry to blank.
The darkness crept in, it’s swirling fingers of night surrounding them and Atlas made himself comfortable on her shoulder.

[Gereth]

Gereth nodded as Danika let the question hang. He didn’t really mind whatever answer was coming one way or the other. Unlike the woman he was sitting with Gereth had never fought calm a day in his life. Everytime he fought it had been out of desperation or a burning desire to just keep on surviving. The coyote watched the flames for a moment as he took in Danika’s scent more closely. She wouldn’t ever be able to change it so much that he couldn’t recognize her but still it was good to know. She smelled of the road and of distance, not from here for sure. The part of him that cared was still thinking abut spring. Sometimes he though f getting away from Syliras but between the city and the wilds the coyote had everything his little black heart desired. Well everything but one thing and he kept that one buried pretty deep. He reached over and retrieved his waterskin which was still mostly full of wine. “My name is Gereth. I didn’t mean to seem rude but I don’t usally hand out my name to people who look like they want to beat me. Maybe if I could fight better I wouldn’t need to do it as often.” He chuckled a little, taking a drink before offering it to Danika.

[Danika]

She nodded and accepting the drink but only taking a very small sip, she handed it back. Danika didn’t drink as a rule, as a person keen on athleticism she veered away from drink, salty foods etc…
“Fighting is the only thing I can do…the only thing I can be” She said it with a matter of fact tone, it might seem sad for others but she was happy this way.

She stretched her arms her muscles rippling under her skin, Danika was everything but delicate, she was a solid presence, bones and muscle. “If you want I could help you with that…the beating I mean” She pocked the fire with her boot absent mindedly smiling in a knowing way.

He would probably get hurt though, especially at the beginning when movements were clumsy and too instinctive. It was surprising how instincts could be wrong when fighting and how you’re opponent would use them against you. Take unarmed combat or wrestling when you’re opponent exerts force you instinctively oppose him or her and he will use that against you.

[Gereth]

Gereth didn’t know what she meant exactly but people who didn’t drink kind of put him off. The only time he didn’t drink was when he was plotting and for someone as mistrustful and keen as the coyote the offered drink was a good test of intent. Danika seemed to not have any ill intent, she trusted his drink well enough to share and she didn’t mind at least playing along. Gereth wasn’t much of a planet but age had granted him a fair degree of paranoia and people-testing skills that not a lot of people took advantage of. She seemed like a nice enough girl. Harsh maybe but who was he to judge? “You wish to teach me to fight?” Gereth didn’t bother to hide the bemusement in his voice. “But I am more than aware that nothing in life comes for free. What would I have to do for you to receive that kind of instruction?” He smiled at her, a carefree twinkle in his eye that vaguely masked cold calculation.

[Danika]

“The pleasure of seeing you bashed up and aching tomorrow morning not to mention bruised.” She chuckled “The pleasure of teaching the most beautiful thing that can be…” The longing in her eyes showed for a moment. She thought of a price, but actually she didn’t care much even though she asked all the same “Do you have a skill that could come useful to me?” He surely had nothing of material value to give “Information?”

She eyed him up and down evaluating his strength and nodded at the roasting crow “When are you going to eat that?”
But there was another reason deep down, she was longing for a fight, even a mock one, even a demonstration but since she had left home she missed the every day training. She missed the fights that occupied her everyday life. She scratched Atlas on the back her mind suddenly far away.