Food in a Bin (private)

Akeldama ducked behind the bin, startled at someone finding her here. She would have thought anyone would be asleep at this time of night. She registered that they had asked her if she was alright, but she wasn’t sure how to deal with such a sentiment. What was the pale girl supposed to respond to that with? Akeldama dropped the chicken wing back into the trash bin. “I’m so sorry. I’ll leave right now.”

The woman was concerned, that perhaps wasn’t the right answer. But it wasn’t like Akeldama was technically not alright. She was just hungry. But at the same time she wasn’t used to charity… She had gotten it at times… But all too often those who helped her ended up hurt because of it. She didn’t want that to happen. So it’d be better if she could just leave. She started shuffling backwards and away from the trash bin.

The primary reason Akeldama had not just turned her back and fled quickly was because she was hesitant to turn her back on anyone when she was in a vulnerable state. Which in her current underfed state was pretty much always. Even though she had aged herself past adolescence, her metabolism was still higher than she was able to keep up with on scraps alone.

Her eyes lit up in surprise upon seeing that the person was a fairy. Interesting. And useful knowledge. If the stories were true about their longevity, it wouldn’t matter if her curse affected this woman or not. Given that knowledge, perhaps accepting the offer for a meal wouldn’t be too terrible. Akeldama didn’t want to put the woman in a situation that might endanger her life.

But if she was a fairy, again, it might be okay. “I’m Akeldama.” She muttered softly. “And as for your question, I suppose that would be determined by what you’d call a proper meal.” During the holidays people tended to eat and waste a lot. So she was getting more than normal. But not nearly enough. “As for the bath…” Akeldama bit her lip, looking away.

The “haunted house” she had taken up residence in didn’t have running water. And anywhere else would be too dangerous to take a bath in. At least that was her feeling. The repulsive grime on her skin was all that she felt could keep her safe. People wouldn’t hurt her if they were too disgusted to even touch her after all.

The girl flinched upon the fairy touching her cheek, unused to human contact as she was. Within her a discontent simmered.

The daemon within had pangs of pity for the simultaneously touch starved and touch fearful street urchin. But there was nothing she could do about it. Nothing she should do about it.

Food Akeldama could get behind. The bath? She wasn’t sure about that, but she could at least get the food. In taking in all of Azalea’s questions she wondered how honest she should be with the woman. Akeldama had grown well accustomed to taking advantage of more charitable people in her childhood years. She’d had little choice but to gravitate towards the helpless people who wanted to help her. And little ability to help herself as her inherent magic slowly but surely destroyed both them and everything they loved.

To tell the truth might get her more out of this woman than not. “I’m homeless.” Was Akeldama’s answer in response to the living situation question. That was a lie. She lived in the Decrepit Mansion that everyone thought was haunted. But she couldn’t go telling people that. Even if they were looking to help her, they might take away the one refuge she’d been able to get for herself that was independent of anyone else. It was a shabby, run down place with no heating, cooling, or running water. But at least it was a roof over her head. At least until her magic destroyed the house too.

There were multiple leaks in the roof. It had been in a pretty bad state before she moved in and now… Akeldama wasn’t sure how much longer it’d last.

“And I’m just human.” Now this, Akeldama did not realize was a lie. For she did not know of the daemon that had taken up residence in her body and occasionally took control of her body, leaving nothing but void memory in that span of time. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble… The food does sound nice.” She added meekly at the end. Though she was easily in her mid twenties, and six feet easily, the way she carried herself and the fearful look in her eyes did not give the impression of a full grown woman. But more, a fearful child. 

She nodded in response to the question of if she had applied to the school or not. Best not lie overly much. For all she knew this fairy either went to school there or taught there. With a fairy? Who knew. “I did apply there, yes. But I haven’t picked out what classes and the scholarship stuff is kinda… difficult.”

At least half of them were merit based, and Akeldama didn’t really have any merits to brag about.

That was just sad. Capone sighed within the confines of Akeldama’s mind. Before ending up in this dimension she had wanted to make a change, to try and nurture those lesser than her into something greater. Why did she have to end up in the one body that she couldn’t help? The fact she couldn’t help this soul, lest she cause terrible paradoxes, killed her. Not as much as it should, mind you. But it was taunting.

“What’re you going to do?” Akeldama asked with trepidation.

Capone mused for a moment to say something against this, but she opted not to. Shrinking this body down might pose a hazard in regards to the fact that it barely as it was contained her and Akeldama’s aural power. How it was even holding Capone’s in its totality she wasn’t sure. The only guess she could make was that not all of her was in this dimension, but what was was tied to this body.

This body that was about to shrink to tiny… She’d just make a little adjustment on the aura. If it couldn’t all fit within this body, she was going to have to expand it.

Akeldama nodded, heedless of all of Capone’s musings in the back of her mind.

When the fairy shrunk Akeldama down, if she was able to see Akeldama’s area she’d see the aura change and shift. In a normal circumstance Akeldama’s aura stretched to three feet radius of her, about to the tips of her fingers if she were to reach out. It was a yellow and shifting like sand.

Yet as Akeldama was shifted down in size the golden aura shifted outwards, a red, thick miasmic aura pushing it outward. At a mere inch Akeldama’s aura was now six foot in its radius. Capone was suspecting that the fairy might notice this change. Or she might not. It took touching Akeldama the first time for her to notice the warped nature of Akeldama’s magic the first time.

So so long as she made sure Akeldama avoided touching the fairy’s skin… It might be fine. Or she’d just notice the change either by seeing it, or feeling it. Capone’s aura had a distinctly different feeling to those who had the ability to do so, as much as she had had to condense it, it’d be like trying to breath in Florida’s air, times five for the humidity. It was some thicc stuff.