[Ishtar] Dirt Among Dirt [Gav, Aurora]

[noisette]

How wonderful it was to be free! Oh, the joys of having no burdens or commitments! Ishtar relished in the carefree life of a street waif, with no occupation hanging over her head, no master to bark orders at her, no family to pressure her into marrying and bearing children up to her ears! The very idea disgusted her, as much as she loved children (as long as they weren't spoiled). Other than the looming danger of Magrej and his sinister allies, Ishtar had nothing to worry about except for whether or not her stomach was half-full. After all, what hobo ever has a full stomach except from rare moments of charity from the well-to-do? In fact, who needed charity? She was doing just fine on her own. Just fine... she didn't need anyone (except Loki), or anything... if she could she would live off of her art and nothing else -- food was of trivial importance.

Satisfied with this bohemian philosophy, the lanky teenager flopped onto her back, gazing at the starry sky from the safety of a narrow, hidden alleyway. Loki cawed and fluttered from his perch on a nearby awning, landing beside her, affectionately tangling a loosely curling lock of her dark mahogany hair. Her light fingers stroked his nape as she let out a sigh from her parted lips, and a rumble from her empty stomach.

How terrible it was to be hungry! Ishtar groaned and rolled over, curling up against the stone wall and hugging her knees to her relatively flat chest. The young woman traced an abstract pattern in the dirt, which also stained her raggedy ivory dress and distracted herself with her doodling. An artist must suffer. She could wait until breakfast.

Loki ruffled a little and preened carefully, placing each silken ebony feather into place. He gurgled and waddled about a foot away from Ishtar. Hearing something, he flapped his wings rapidly, as if in a panic, and tugged at Ishtar's hem. Instantly, she jerked her head up from the ground and scanned her surroundings, squinting in a futile attempt to see better. Damn myopia. Damn damn damn.

"Who goes there?" she called out, clenching a fistful of dirt should anyone jump out and attack her. "Show yourself!"

[Desperanza]

The night stretched out above and one good deed to overrule her life time of killing had Aurora standing straight, her legs pumping and her arms shifting smoothly to either side of herself. Her lungs filled and released, filled and released as she ran. The guards were after her. At least they had been. She had already laid two bodies to the ground but she did now and again still work for the King and escaping Murate prison was not exactly high up on her list. She was however confused as to how the hell they had caught wind of her and why they did not believe the fact that she indeed worked for the King. No doubt now however there would be controversy with two dead guards at their door step and the assassin on the run.

By this point however, she had managed to shake the thugs south of Ohanzee though she had now managed to shake off all but a pair on horseback. Nesfira she had earlier left within the forest and now did not bother to call her in just yet as she did not want the mare recognizable by the castle. She was her means of escape and she was indeed in the land of the blood thirsty. One other time already had she had the throat of a grey gelding slit in an attempt to keep the assassin grounded and trapped, to no avail. She knew that it had at least at one time infuriated the King that she had escaped his grasp and yet now, it was rare that she had problems as her skills were valued and some work was better than no work for him.

As the assassin darted from the walls of the courtyard and made her way into town, she darted among the alleys, managing to shake away the horse ridden guards and she paused, pressing her back to stone and holding her breath as they passed by. Her eyes were a raging wild red, piercing into the night as she gazed towards the guards with her flash of emotions, her fingers curling to the bricks before she rolled her eyes and turned completely to grasp the stone and scale the wall to the roof where she straightened and glanced after the guards as they made their way through town to catch sight of her. She gave a slight wave and grinned before she swiveled and darted along the roof top, leaping from one edge to the next before making her way to the back of the building to leap to the ground. Straightening once more, she glanced around herself for a moment as she turned to the crunch of the turf at her feet and the wind at her cheeks. She sighed, making her way along the backside of town now which gave her a solid view of a few of the shadows and slivers of the alleys that she passed, those that were not blocked by buildings that is.

As the alleys lined out to her right, the trees to her left, she relaxed once again. The chase was over and now, the excitement left the air. Her auburn tresses fluttered in a mass at her back but she left it for now and yet nor did she bother to hide the soft steps that she made, either. With her blades at her back, daggers in her boots and at her right hip and throat pins tucked into her hair, her eyes scanned the shadows, hearing the soft caw of a crow not far off, she paused, her head tilting slightly to the sound of the bird as she glanced into the shadows, making a swift rotation to press her back to the stoned wall of a building, her eyes flashing steel grey as she gazed among the shadows, her slits narrowing slightly. She remained still, holding her breath now at the call of the young woman. Defensive, alert the tone was. She huffed silently, rolling her eyes. Pulling her back from the stone, she turned to shimmy up the building to the roof with careful care to offer up silence now, making her way to the roof she crouched and narrowed forward towards the edge to glance down at the pair. The crow and the ivory dressed young woman were a strange sight to see and yet, she did not reply, her right hand fluttering upwards to the dagger at her right hip. Within moments, the young woman could be dead, that was if she happened to pose a threat so for now, she left it sheathed but showing that she was no doubt armed and at the ready. With the flick of her wrist the woman could be pinned to the ground, the dagger through her throat and as the muscles in her upper arm clenched, ready for the movement, she paused, her steely eyes scanning the woman below with a glitter of question in her eyes at the sight as she remained still, a shadow in the night with the silver peels of moon light at her back and her form staring down at the two on the ground in silence.

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[hobbit]

Night had fallen over the land. A long time ago, the town would have been lit with laughter and candle light. Now, though, the town was dark all over and Gavroche had trouble maneuvering through the streets he knew so well. The child did not enjoy being out when night fell; he did not feel secure in the open streets, for this was when bad people roamed about. Gavroche had heard of the bad people plenty of times; they took children (boys or girls, didn’t matter) and they used them for things that no one wanted them to be used for. He did feel a bit more confident with Pup trotting alongside him, but compared to some of the dogs other boys (granted, these boys had homes) had, Pup was nothing. The hound could bark loud, and mean, if he wanted to, but Pup was still a hound; small and not known for being vicious.

In the dark of the night, Gavroche had removed the cap from his head, and his hair threatened to block his sight as he ran through the streets. The sound of his feet pounding against the pavement was remarkably loud. The nine year old began to feel fear build up inside of him; what if there were monsters outside? Course there aren’t! No monsters out here! Gavroche thought to himself as he neared the alley in which he had been sheltering.

Normally, there were no other people in the alley when he came, and so the boy saw no reason to slow. That was why the sound of a bird caught him off guard. Skidding to a halt, the small child stood a quarter down the narrow lane, his small chest heaving beneath the mass of clothes he wore. The bird was merely flapping its wings, from the sound of things, but Gavroche had never really liked birds. They were weird. The sound of a human voice caused Gavroche’s eyes to widen and he hesitated before removing something from his pocket: a match and a candle. The child had swiped them from the candle maker earlier that day, intending to use the light to try and learn his letters, but now he lit the candle to see farther down in the alley.

Gavroche took a few cautious steps forward, towards a shape at the end, the shape of a woman. He could not make out the face, but he could tell that much. Before Gavroche could speak, the hound at his feet suddenly ran forward, baying, intent on getting the bird. Gavroche let out a yelp of surprise before running forward, “I’m sorry! Don’t hurt him! I’m sorry!”

[noisette]

Ishtar heard something above her, and she glanced upward towards the roof in front of her. She saw nothing; only shadowy blobs and the blurry glow of the stars above. For a fleeting moment, she thought she saw a metallic glint where the blob was, but decided it was her tired, nearsighted eyes tricking her again. It wasn't uncommon for her to see or hear things that weren't really there. Loki's beady eyes remained fixated on the rooftop, however.

Loki was Ishtar's second pair of eyes, as his vision was much keener than hers, and was usually around to warn her of danger or simply keep her company. In return, Ishtar made sure he was properly fed, often sacrificing morsels of her meals for him, and taught him how to speak. He wasn't quite as vocal as a parrot, but was very intelligent and learned quickly. They had been familiar for three wonderful years and had a strong bond that would probably last their entire lives.

But given the company (which Ishtar was wholly unaware of), that could end any minute. Noticing that her precious raven kept eying the roof, Ishtar stood up and squinted as hard as she could. Still, she saw nothing. "Silly Loki," she said, smirking with blissful ignorance, "there's no one up there. We've nothing to be afraid of --"

Her words of reassurance were rather abruptly interrupted by a flash of flickering light. The girl's head whipped around to see a small boy holding a candle, with a blob at his feet. Before either of them could say a word, the blob started baying and charged at Loki. Ishtar heard the dog's claws scraping against the dirt as he ran. Loki let out a shrill "KRAAAAAAA" and fluttered onto Ishtar's shoulder, his gray claws pinching the exposed light ochre flesh. His wings flapped noisily as he scolded the excited canine with throaty caws. "I'm sorry! Don't hurt him! I'm sorry!" cried the boy as he ran towards them.

The young woman stifled a giggle and beamed at the little boy. "I won't, it's alright," she told him, reaching her hand out almost blindly for him to shake. "I'm Ishtar. Is that your dog?"

[Desperanza]

The assassin remained on the roof, aware of the woman below seeking sight of her on the roof and her body pressed closer to the ledge, her limbs stretching as her form flattened further and her crouch extended but as the woman below sought the sight of something on the roof that her pesky bird happened to be attempting to alert her to, Aurora began to grow aware that the woman was failing to spot her. She smiled at the fact, a slight and steely smile that stuck upon her face as she narrowed her emerald eyes to slits and eyed the pair steadily still. She felt like hissing at the bird and briefly, she could imagine the cawing creature speared on a stick and roasting over a fire and the thought made her roll her eyes, and the breath to leave her lungs. Crows weren’t that tasty as far as she knew. She rocked back towards her heels and extended a hand at her back to slide a poison tipped arrow from the quiver at her back, releasing the bow from across her chest and knocking the arrow to the string before she slowly pulled back, lowering her forehand to angle the bow as well as the arrow, the tip dipped in neurotoxins that would stop the girl’s heart in minutes and the bird no doubt in seconds though the pierce of her arrow with such velocity would kill the bird on impact in the first place and at first, she aimed at the bird, all too ready to let her arrow fly but slowly, she shifted the arrow to aim at the woman’s back as she sat up and stood, her eyes squinting to seek out the spot she would need, that is if she decided to kill her. She waited, watching as the woman stood and turned to inspect the roof once more and Aurora took the defensive as she arched and stiffened her back and her eyes piercingly gazed upon the sight of her, the arrow now aimed at her chest and as the bird cawed once again, Aurora rolled her eyes and took aim with a hiss, the tip now headed for the black bird if she released the tension.

She waited, biding her time for the pair had yet to offer her any harm or alarm and so she did not immediately set to release the arrow and instead, she cast a glance across the roof, already pondering other places to go to spend her night when suddenly, the bird let out a rather sharp flare of sound and her fingers clenched, the arrow sailing as her head whipped around to cast a glance back to the pair once again. The arrow whistled through the air as the bird leaped up to the shoulder of the young woman and the poisoned arrow sailed to lodge itself solidly into the ground inches behind the woman’s ankles. Sighing, Aurora rolled her eyes. People and their strange pets. She hopped lithely to the edge of the roof before swinging out and catching her fingers to the edge of the roof before she let go and slid sharply down the side of the building to hit the ground in a crouch, her hand dropping to catch her balance while her right hand swung out to the side still clenching her bow. As she straightened, she quickly swiveled to face the bray in the alley as she shouldered her bow once again and she strode forward to tug the arrow from the ground, testing the tip briefly before she dropped it back into the quiver with a huff, her eyes flashing with a faint tint of crimson now as she gazed down the alley, her eyes studying the back of the woman for a moment as she approached before she paused, a familiar voice reaching her and she furrowed her brow, the boy? The boy whom she had been watching for a little while? She arched an eyebrow and paused, half bathed in the pale glimmers of the crescent moon as she gazed past the woman towards the hound that darted forward as well as the boy that darted in afterwards, pleading with the woman not to harm his dog. At that moment, Aurora thought to leave. This situation was something she didn’t want to get involved in. This weird and awkward introduction of fellow human beings. She wrinkled her nose at it and turned on her heel, pressing her back to the wall as she began to inch off to the side.

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