Frying Birds(Junpei)

[Darah]

Darah would never have thought that one day, the little circus trick that she had learnt from the Historian would come in handy. Other than being a distraction in fights or a signal of some kind, Darah had now found a new use for it: cooking.

On the menu that day were birds. On earth, there are all sorts of migrating birds which fly from one end of the earth to the other. Of course, they can't be flying 24-7 and need a rest at some point. And Babylos being a floating city in the sky, it was a nice pit stop for the birds to recharge, rest and recuperate. It was actually quite a beautiful sight in the park of Babylos. Artic terns, geese, ducks and albatrosses to name just a few migratory birds resting on the branches in the park. It WAS beautiful until Darah came along.

You can't blame the poor girl for being hungry. Because of the way she looked, no one would ever hire her. No work meant no money, no money meant no food. Most of the time, she relied on pity on a few kind shopkeepers in babylos to give her something light to eat but even this she would mostly give to her kid, Gekko.

On that fine Tuesday afternoon, Darah was free so she had wondered off into the city's park. Not wanting to be seen by anyone, she moved in the shadows of trees and kept her cloak tight around herself. Gekko was perched on her shoulder. She was enjoying the solitude until she saw what was probably heaven. A big, fat albatross was just sitting lazily on a branch. To Darah, it may as well have had a large sign hanging from its neck reading "eat me".

Darah wasted no time.
"Propellos, Magnificous, Stripandous." Her nimble tongue said the words quickly and a ball of fire, the size of a baseball, launched from her palm at insane velocity at the albatross. It never knew what hit it as its wings caught fire and it fell to the ground. The bird was screeching in pain and making Darah feel really guilty so she ended its pain by smashing its head in with a rock.

30 minutes later, the smell of something nice cooking wafted through the air. A large dead bird of some kind, defeathered, was roasting on a makeshift spit made out of branches. A girl dressed in a cloak and hood was sitting cross legged on the ground next beside her soon-to-be meal.

[Junpei]

Classes, Junpei wouldn't have any for another week and Phae was in one right now. He had decided to venture outside the school and explore Babylos, see what he had missed, wonder if life had been radically changed since he left. Well not a lot had changed but that didn't stop Junpei from exploring. A few merchants he knew said 'Hi'. A few shot him angry looks for making phae the way she had been, and one even refused to look at him.

Sighing to himself he tapped his magic and let his mana flow freely. His white/black wings burst forth from his shoulder blades and he flapped them twice. Almost two weeks since he used them and he was sure he would hurt later. His eyes turned green and his hair turned silver, he gained roughly two inches in height and he smiled softly. This was his combined form, the form he had formed with Harlow.

Taking to the sky a few birds scattered from below and he looked down to see a small fire going in the middle of park he was presently over. Cocking his head to the side Junpei folded his wings up and dived down until he was about twenty feet off the ground. Letting them out he flapped hard and landed without a sound.

Before him was a girl he had seen months ago, before he met Phae and before Negi left. This was the girl who was half something half human. Junpei hadn't hated her for it then and he wouldn't now.

"Long time no see heh?"

[Darah]

The sounds of feet gently crushing grass beneath them. Not something most people could pick up, but Darah could with her senses... Not something she was proud of, considering that all she wanted was to be normal.

A voice behind her which sounded familiar, but not one that she could quite place. She turned her head around to look at a taller and older boy... The hair, the eyes, the face... Yes, she had seen the boy before but she could not remember where and when.

"Have we met somewhere before?" Darah had wanted to ask the person but stopped herself because she remembered now where she had seen him. The boy was one of her 'partners' when she went off on some mission of some kind. She seemed to recall he had a brother too but apparently his sibling was not here today. Strange, she remembered that the boy had brownish hair instead of silver... maybe he had dyed it...

Darah was one of few words. Long time no see? How was she supposed to answer that question?
Scenario: Darah jumps up and shakes the boy's hand up and down saying "Ah yes, long time no see indeed. Come join me, I'm having roast albatross today."

Nope... That was never going to happen. Instead, Darah merely nodded a 'yes' while keeping her eyes on the boy, lest he try to steal her food or harm her in any way.

Pretty wings...

[Junpei]

Smiling politely Junpei looked from the roasting bird to the girl, obviously she had caught it and was now going to eat it but... why? Around Arcane academy people were pretty friendly these days, and even someone who had a 'condition' like Darah's would be welcomed. Well that' what Junpei thought anyways and he had no trouble with her, she was just unique.

"Nice to see you again... sorry I completely forgot your name, it's been a while hasn't it?"

Junpei gave her a nervous grin and folded his wings back, allowing them to shade him a bit from the sun. Deciding that standing was the best option for now Junpei put his hands in his pockets and looked up to see a few birds meander threw the sky, soon followed by a rather small lizard that Junpei knew instantly as his familiar Loish.

Loish you got a better memory than any human, you remember this girl's name?

Can't say I do Boss.

You're a lot of help.

Do what I can Boss.

Junpei mentally sighed as the Jhereg caught a fat and much slower dove and claimed possession by gnawing on it mid air. Junpei could only look up as his small companion drifted down until he was landing in the field next to the fire that Darah had prepared.

"And it appears my familiar likes cooked bird to...."

[Darah]

"It's Darah." the girl said softly as her eyes flickered between the elder boy and her albatross to make sure her meal wouldn't get burnt. Burnt food was carcinogenic... not that it would matter to Darah seeing that her cursed blood would not let her get affected by cancer. Being cursed by a demon has its upsides, one could suppose. "And you've already asked that question."

junpei said:

"Hey, my name is Junpei, this here is Negi. If there's anything you need help with, let me know and i'd be happy to help."

A flash of memory was brought into Darah's mind... Junpei... She remembered his name now.

Sensing no hostility from Junpei, Darah allowed her concentration to be brought back to the cooking bird. She rotated the stick which the bird was impaled on to make sure it was cooked evenly upon the fire.

"Feel free to sit down." Darah told Junpei without looking at him. "I may have fangs but I don't bite..."

A little winged creature landed next to the fire with some bird in its mouth. Junpei's little pet wanted his bird cooked too. Darah scanned the area, got up and picked up a stick from not too far away to use as a skewer. Sitting back down, she removed the well roasted albatross from the spit and passed it to Junpei.

"Hold that for me." She instructed. "And don't drool on it."
Darah then held her right hand/claw out to Junpei's familiar, asking it to pass her the dead bird. Funny that an animal would want its food cooked. Usually only humans bothered about this kind of things...

[Junpei]

Junpei happily accepted the stick and looked the cooking bird over, liked to be a big one now that he could really look at it, although it seemed to be a bit fatty for his taste. Almost laughing in his mind Junpei watched as Loish handed the bird over to be cooked, he had already managed to pluck it... Junpei wondered how exactly that happened but he suspected the little lizard had gnawed all the feathers off.

Taking up Darah's offer to sit down Junpei took up a eat around the fire, between Darah and Loish. Loish promptly got up and crawled into Junpei's lap for a good scratching, which he got as Junpei gave Darah back her cooking bird.

"Darah... well it's nice to meet you.. again."

Laughing a bit to himself Junpei looked down and continued to scratch under Loish's chin and behind his 'ears'. For Junpei it was just another day at Arcane Academy, back from the biggest mistake of his life, here he was sitting around catching up with old acquaintances.

"So, what have you been up to these past few months?"

[Darah]

Darah took the dead bird and with one quick jerk of her hands impaled the corpse on the stick and placed it on the spit.
"It'll take a while for it to be ready." Darah told the little creature, assuming it understood human.

Junpei took a seat near Darah, which made Darah scoot away slightly. She had a rule about being too near people. It spelled out danger and confinement. When Junpei passed her back the albatross, she examined it.

Good... no drool...

Darah wrenched out a drumstick for herself. It was big enough to be used as a stout club. With one hand, she held onto the drumstick while with the other she held the albatross out to Junpei.

"Want some?" She asked of him. "I can't eat that much and I don't have a fridge in my... dorm room to keep it in..."

"In short, I've been testing myself against a few people in the training grounds... as well as trying to gather money to buy something... And you?"