Welcome to Gaia! ::

Such a nice afternoon, a light breeze rustling through the trees, simply perfect for reading. A leg clad in black dangled down from one of the larger tree branches, shoes readily discarded at the trunk. The uniform was a little mussed from the climb, and the book bag was neatly hung from an upper branch as the girl with gold-spun pale auburn hair sat in a tree with a worn looking volume of some book series. Eyes colored like pale rubies skimmed over the pages, periodically her head tilting up in thought perhaps, her mouth in a thin line as she looked back to the book in her hands to turn another page. It was a day like most passed with not a single soul around. It was meant to be this way, though her mind wandered to her younger sisters now and then, thoughts on how it is going while she's gone, but she brushed them aside as she looked deeply into her book, the words becoming a picturesque fantasy in her mind.

As her imagination took form, the ideas of what the male lead looked like made her frown. She wasn't keen on his strong chin, or his overly muscle bound shoulders. So she altered him to look more like a very slim, but well muscled boy, who had long hair. That was more her ideal.

She liked them to be pretty. Not manly. Manly was simply gag worthy...her mouth seemed to disappear into a thinner line than before, apparently that's why she liked them pretty, because her father was manly. Well that makes sense now. She shook her head silently and continued to read on, adventure, monster slaying....she felt a little sorry for the monster, and then saving a damsel...who was... Illystria stared at the page, and reread the sentence again. She blinked, and read it a third time. The damsel had just unceremoniously disrobed and offered up her virgin body in payment for the hero rescuing her. She then continued down the page as the hero was tempted, but then distracted by the strong female companion who was deeply in love with the hero. Apparently the women around him were all interested to varying degrees and he was oblivious but willing to satisfy them all.

Illystria decided that book needed to be read somewhere other than up in a tree as it seemed the culmination of that sequence was going to end in a threesome as the hero was incapable of making up his mind. Romance was something she seriously did not understand, so reading it just confused her more, as she thought it was ridiculous to react to the person you loved by stripping and begging them to...well, that was something to investigate later. She stuffed the book in her bag, and pulled out another one, a bit more adventure and nothing mushy. Much better, and less confusing. Her toes twitched as the fights started to get more and more exciting.

:~:

If the eye was busily reading what she was, it would find the page dripping with words of gore, pain, and a hero slowly dieing as the battle was fought. She was enjoying the read as it was more...sensible in her mind.

She was oblivious to his presence until he spoke, then her skin prickled with goosebumps. Lady? Did he just...call her a lady? Instinctively she glanced around before looking at him, her head tilting to one side in confusion. Apparently he was referring to her. That was a first. Perhaps it was the uniform that made her look that way. She then noticed the eye that was floating around her shoulder. An odd smile on her face, as she thought the eyeball was adorable. Best to not mention that.

Turning her head back to the speaker she stared at him a bit, noting the skull on his face, which was interesting, somewhat like the witch doctor who'd resided in her village, but that wasn't something quite so pretty. The speaker was most likely the prettiest thing she'd seen in her time here. He looked like some kind of lord...maybe it was just how he held himself. Pale ruby eyes took in all the features that were visible. Very Regal looking. Definitively someone who needed to be set straight on her not being a lady. How long had she been silent?

Grumbling at herself, she put away her book, snatched up her book bag and contemplated the best way to get out of the tree. She frowned deeply, climbing down was annoying, so she opted to simply jump down. Swinging her legs to one side of the branch, the one closest to him, she pushed off the branch, and landed lightly on her feet. A small prideful smile crossed her face and faded soon after as she turned to face the first person she'd met in this new place. Facing him now, a rather long scar marred the somewhat pretty face she had, it seemed to start under her hair somewhere near her ear and stopped only millimeters from her mouth. She fidgeted, her nails painted, but chipped, and hands scarred badly from years of working with them. Standing straight after her fidgeting, she started to speak and found her voice sounded a bit rusted from lack of use. She cleared her throat, "I think...you may have mistaken me for something I'm really not." Her voice wasn't high in pitch, it rasped, fairly low for a woman's voice, but not mistakable for a man's either. The statement was to her as plain as day and in an almost defiant manner now, she stood there, she was no lady, he should come to that conclusion rather swiftly.

Without a thought to the man standing there, she turned and picked up the shoes she'd discarded earlier, she did not like the shoes they'd insisted on her having to wear. She didn't like the design, or the color. But beggars couldn't be choosers, and they'd last her quite a while if she didn't wear them all the time. Turning back she looked at the man curiously, "What sort of witch are you?. She did not know much of witches. Didn't actually care to know about them as she wasn't there to focus on it, but she figured it was...polite conversation. She wasn't quite ready to let things just drop and wander back into her solitary world, not yet.

:~:

She would have laughed at his comment of her being a man, wouldn't that make life ever so much easier? No worries about who or what she was, and definitively she'd be able to beat the living tar out of her father. The word hit her like the hard winds on the mountains, and she nearly snarled at him. Beautiful was a taboo word to her. She loathed it since it was one that was often used to mock her. She did not however, respond in the usual manner. The man didn't know her, so it wouldn't do to see if she could take is other eye out of his head.

For all intensive purposes, she simply let the comment slide by, he was perhaps trying to be rude, but that was...expected. To his answer of what kind of witch he was she snorted, then chuckled, "Dangerous? Isn't supposedly every witch in this city a danger of one kind or another? Some more than others granted, but you could simply be a danger to the intelligence of those around you. Perhaps a black hole of stupidity?" She shrugged, "Or perhaps you are a real danger, not that it matters. If you were more interested in me being dead, you'd have done it before I noticed you." Simple, cold fact in her mind. That's what she'd been taught. If her father wanted her dead, he could have killed her long ago, instead he tortured her for her mother's absence.

Stuffing her shoes in her bag, she shifted it and gave the man a measuring look, "Granted I'm no expert on witches, as it wasn't exactly needed, but with what you're wearing and how you look, and the smell that surrounds you...I'd say likely death is your key magic type. Granted I could be wrong, but with the skull and the floating eye, that is likely yours...it makes a bit of sense." She did have a good eye for observation, which had given her an edge now and then, particularly in her classes.

:~:

Food? So she was food. Well, if he really felt that way, she'd make sure to give him one hell of a broken nose, and several nights of indigestion for it.

There was a defiant smirk, as he spoke, "Never even remotely mentioned me being intelligent." Which was true, she'd spouted random observation, but made no allusion to her own intelligence, "If I was smart, I wouldn't have gotten nearly so many scars." She turned her head that defiant look still lingering as she ran a finger under the scar that ran across the left side of her face, "And if I feared death like a sane person, well then sure I'd hightail it right outta here. But seeing as we all die sooner or later, and the grim reaper's been gunning for me for awhile, I don't see a point in running off.

Figuring no matter where she stood, she could get hit, she stepped forward, a wry look, " And giving your food a chance to talk is not necessarily the best way to go. Even if you enjoy playing with it." He was hiding something, and that was beginning to make her ears twitch, "Though what are you that you'd eat a witchling? A cannibal? Or something else?" It was curiosity showing through as she steadily came closer. If he offed her, well, the insurance on her would be more than enough to set her sisters for life.

Stupidly, and ridiculously fearless, as well as dreadfully curious, oh what her mouth and actions could get her into, not that she cared too much.

:~:

Eating hearts...real...or..? Her hand flew into her bag and as he continued to speak she was flipping pages like mad, They're real? It was a not about something called Majin, witch eaters were what they became when they ingested a witch's heart. Magical and the physical. Life force. Putting away the book, she took another step towards him, still no fear, only curiosity.

Her brow quirked as he spoke of her darkness, and tasting her, "How exactly does a witch eater taste a witch?" She frowned, "I haven't met any Majin before, what can you teach a human?" Knowledge. That was something she had a hunger for, personal, worldly, everything she could get her hands on so she could better support her siblings, and take them away from that father of hers. She noticed his gaze, not feeling the usual human response of wanting to flee from that which would eat them, she put out her hand, "If you have things to teach me, I will gladly accept." The smirk on her face seemed to be somewhat feral in a sense, though it was only a glimpse beneath her well built walls.

Illystria wasn't thinking that perhaps he wouldn't teach her, perhaps he'd simply laugh at teaching some human whelp what he knew. Her father's voice echoed annoyingly in her mind, screaming obscenities about her mother, and herself, and how she'd be exactly like the no good woman, deserting her family and forgetting about them. She'd prove him wrong, take her sisters and leave that horrid cottage in flames.

The pale eyed man before her had an agenda. So did she, if he could be useful in it, why not take him up on the offer? She was not one to back down from a challenge and the way he looked her over, he seemed to have judged her one way already. She would be herself, and if he became her...outside of school tutor, he'd get to know exactly how dark her world really was.

:~:

O.o The perversion!! This is what I get for having a dirty mind.

His hand was cold, almost as cold as snow, but it wasn't something that disturbed her, intriguing her a little, but she dismissed it, for now. "There's only one heart I would remotely want to take from someone." The tone was venomous, the sentence dripping with a special kind of hatred that surfaced for a moment, then disappeared.

He explained a bit more, an odd sort of contemplation passing over her face, he understood that she was not one for romance, that was good, he hadn't jumped to the conclusion she was in need of romancing, "Morals are flexible. Everyone's morals." There was a wry smile on her face, Yes, if the moral compass of my home town was more strict they would have taken my sisters and I...instead they left us with our drunkard father.

Looking up at him when he chuckled, she smiled a bit reflexively, his next words causing a curious look from her. She had a choice, follow willingly or decline and risk losing this chance. She could survive much more than most humans, and she was sure with his previous commentary he wouldn't be interested in her body, "Then lead on to wherever this more private place is." She gave a lopsided smirk, "Since being this near to the academy you might get in trouble."

Illystria wondered if he would release her hand or hold onto it as he guided her to this more private place. Not that she'd actually seen much of anyone outside of class, particularly not back in this area. The more she thought about holding his hand the more she didn't want to let go. Perhaps it was just her lack of contact with sentient beings that was causing it, but her fingers tightened for a moment as she thought.

:~:

Pfffft, creeeeeeeeper Kian. *giggles* bad brain, bad!

His silence was odd, but understandable, his small noise at her fingers tightening puzzled her, but she did not ask anything of that, though she did feel a bit odd when he let go of her hand. She brushed aside that odd feeling concentrating on marking out the path as to not get lost on her return to the academy, if she was to return.

Following him through the foliage the thick black tights that she wore gained a few new holes, not that it couldn't be fixed, but it did add a rather interesting quirk as she rolled up her sleeves while they walked. Her head tilted to one side as he asked if she wanted to play a game, no hiding things, a question for a question...

She moved to sit in front of him, a long thought as to what her question would be, what made her the most curious about this witch eater? What would be worth asking, that she could not find in books, "What does it feel like to take a witch's heart? From your end of things." The question simply burst from her, an odd sort of excitement as well at this game. In some ways she was sure she would gain information to assist her later on, and anything he asked her wasn't going to change anything. If he asked about her past, she'd tell, she had nothing to hide.

:~:

She listened intently, not speaking as she took all the information he spoke of, even as he touched her in a familiar way, she was never distracted from his words. There was an odd feeling that built up in her body, a need of sorts that she hadn't experienced before. However as he asked his question of her, she looked puzzled.

"As curiosity goes, I would not be adverse to such an experience. But why a mere witchling? I have very little power for you to feed off of...Though perhaps if I get used to it as time goes on and I gain more power you will be able to feed longer without taking the actual heart, yes?" She blinked a little, "Was that your question? or are you planning on asking something else?

She had never taken something that was mind altering, nor had she felt anything but minor pleasure in reading. It was mostly pain she understood, so the opposite side of the spectrum was a mystery to her, but it was something that with the right teacher she could learn very well, and use to her advantage.