When we suffer, we do it in silence... |
His footsteps went completely unnoticed until it was already too late. Grabbing a candle, and several other items, the stranger invited himself to helping her pick up several of her personal items. At first, Kira felt the hairs on her nape prickle at the thought of someone touching her things, tainting them with his own energy. It took all she had not to shoo him away but the damage had already been done and he was only trying to help. With a quiet sigh, she placed the rest of the items in the cauldron and quickly stood up and pulled a loose hair behind her ear. "Thanks," she said simply. For a moment, there was a bit of an awkward silence until the stranger asked her, rather abruptly, if she was a witch. Kira stared with eyes wide open and mouth agape. Memories of her hometown came flooding back in an instant. Growing up in a small village where going to church every Sunday was expected, she had never had many friends. The parents of the village children wouldn't allow them to hang out with the "creepy witch girl". Everyone avoided their quiet home on the edge of town and tried their best to pretend they didn't exist. All her life, Kira avoided telling people what she really was, but they always found out eventually. She had hoped her identity would have been hidden for longer than a few hours from the people of Sacrosanct. So much for that. "Y-yeah, I'm a witch, but I don't practice the 'dark arts', as you call them," she said, gazing at the various items in her pot. "My family practices more natural magic. I guess you could say I'm a... healer of sorts." If it weren't for her jacket, the boy would see exactly what kind of a healer she was. Riddled with scars, very few of which were her own, she hide her talent away just like her heritage. Another awkward silence passed. Kira thought about darting up the stairs and bolting into her home to escape the meeting, but she didn't want to seem rude. Clearing her throat, she hitched the cauldron onto her hip and stretched out a hand in the hopes of shaking his. "I'm Kira, by the way. Kira Whitmore. I just moved in today so I guess that makes us neighbors." Deep down, she pleaded with the boy not to shun her simply because of who she was. Perhaps he could be her first friend in this huge city. Or he could slap her hand away and yell at her just like the people from her home town. At the moment, it could go either way and Kira was really only prepared for the later. After all, that's how it always had been. Still, one could hope. |
...and the world likes it that way |