Back to the Begining. ((Nagrom))

[Raven Alexander]

Raven stood over the bloody corpse, he must have been here at least an hour because the blood had stopped seeping from his lifeless form. Tugging the dagger from his body she held it and inspected the engraving on the blade, it was very pretty, an ivy pattern with a set of runic symbols etched between the vines, she didnt know what they meant, "I'll have to look this one up later" she thought to herself as she wiped the blade off on a rag and wandered back through the maze of alleyways.

Spotting something out of the ordinary she stopped, a boy stood before her, he couldnt have been very old, tilting her head for a second she pondered whether this could be another demon out to surprise someone. Guardedly she tried to draw his attention "Hey, you OK? what are you doing out here alone?" she asked.

[Nagrom the Grim]

Nagrom stood in the darkness, he was still new to this world, his body that of a fifteen year old. His white hair stood out amongst the darkness tearing away the camouflage of the human form Raven could see before her.
Nagrom heard words, they were in the mortal tongue, English... He turned slowly and the light his eyes, they looked like flames in the darkness shimmering like an animals. Nagrom looked at the woman before him, considering the danger she might pose to him, and why she was disturbing the wonder he held at the red star in the sky, little did he know that only he could see it.
Nagrom spoke, trying to find the English equivalent to what he wanted to say. "Alone?" he questioned softly and added "I'm not alone, your here, are you not?"
Nagrom was dressed in tattered Grey clothing, that accustomed of the local charity shops that made donations to the local orphanage, it was clear he was an orphan child, he was even walking barefoot.

[Raven Alexander]

Raven smiled at the boy, "I suppose you're right, where are you headed?" she was puzzled by the boy being out so late, normally the orphanage would have people out searching by now and like as not he would have been found. A scary thought crossed her mind, had this boy been the one who killed the stranger and left the dagger poking out of his torn flesh? she sure hoped not.
Looking him over there was no blood on his clothing and nothing to indicate he had been in any kind of struggle so she dismissed her suspicions, probably a mugging gone wrong or something.
Having heard tales of how bad the orphans had it she contemplated a moment, "Hey, are you hungry? I can find us some food if you want?" Raven figured that if he was going to be running from the housemaster he should at least have the energy to do so. "Good luck to him if he can get away from them long enough to carve out an existence" she thought.

[Nagrom the Grim]

Nagrom looked back to the sky for a moment and then looked back over to the woman, Raven. "I thought for a moment I could find my way home, but it keeps changing. The place is never the same."

Nagrom looked to her and said, "Actually food seems to be scares this time of night, there are no shops open that will let me in" he told her "Maybe they don't like me" he mused the thought, maybe they were right not to like him he didn't know who he was or what he was.

Nagrom couldn't help but to notice there was something on her that wasn't hers, or at the very least something new she had picked up, he could smell blood on her. This was interesting indeed.

[Raven Alexander]

"Come with me, they probably won't serve you because they dont think you can pay" Raven led him to an eatery she frequented, they gave the odd pair a quizzical look but told them to be seated nonetheless. Shifting the knife so as not to stab herself in the leg as she moved to sit Raven took a seat and offered the boy a place opposite her so that they could talk while they ate. "Whats your name?" she asked, "Mines Raven" she added, remembering that in every interrogation you must give up something of yourself to learn about the other party, this was to be a friendly discussion but the same rules applied.

[Nagrom the Grim]

Nagrom looked back at the people with no emotion or even a sense of anger, his emotions were still not developed enough to form a response to someone looking at him weirdly.
Nagrom watched Raven sit down and took the seat opposite her. He looked her up and down, noticing the few differences in her appearance, she wasn't as creased as the woman at the orphanage, and he could sense she could conceive offspring, the creased woman could not, and her existence was longer than Ravens, he was understanding the development of humans even more, Age... Time moves in a straight line here, and it effects humans by slowly killing them.
He looked up at her and opened his mouth, "..." a short sound uttered before he focused on pronouncing his own name, the sound was a bit strange, his vocal cords were completely out of tune, and he didn't even sound like a child learning to talk. "My name is, Nagrom" he said to her, as he spoke his name a strange feeling encased the eatery as if the flow of time and the laws of physics began to unravel, but just for a second, then things returned to normal.
He spoke again, "It is nice to meet you Raven".

[Raven Alexander]

Keeping her thoughts on his voice to herself Raven pondered what she had stumbled upon, a little worried that he might not be all he seemed, maybe his voice was breaking and so had taken on this deeper quality, a little late though to now be breaking.
His white hair stood out even more in the light of the eatery, it wasnt garishly bright or anything but enough that she could now get a proper look at the boy. If he was a demon he certainly didnt seem to have any malice toward her-at least not yet.
Smiling at him she glanced over the menu, she always ordered the same thing but it was a useful tool to observe the kid without needing to speak too much. Appearing to ponder her choices for a moment she snuck a glance in his eyes, she had found that a lot of demons found it hard to conceal the tint of difference in them.

[Nagrom the Grim]

Nagrom looked at her quizzical, he looked down at a second menu and lifted it up looking through it, he understood some of the things on the menu but not everything, he could speak English a lot better than he could read it.

After a moment, something caught his eyes, his golden orbs of fire, and he could not help but want it, putting the menu down and pointing at it so Raven could see that he wanted the Steak, he locked eyes with her, if demons hide the tint of their eyes, or at least try to, Nagrom was openly sharing his with anyone who cared to look, Bright gold, molten gold, like the precious metal, "May I have this..." he asked.

[Raven Alexander]

Her breath caught in the back of her throat as he locked eyes with her, unable to tear her gaze from his, without registering his choice she whispered "sure thing" Catching herself staring Raven forced her gaze to his menu, "H..How do you like it done?"

Her heartbeat had begun to race, in spite of all evidence to the contrary she registered him as a threat,thumbing the hilt of the dagger absently through the cloth of her jacket she tried to allay her fears, he hadn't been violent or rude, if he was going to he would have hurt her by now but...it was hard for her to reason her way out of what he was. She knew what his kind were capable of, in that moment she realized how absurd her prejudice was, humans had committed such atrocities themselves and she wasnt afraid of them.

Forcing herself to calm down enough to stand, she took two refillable drink cups, placing one in front of him she filled her own with some lemonade, the store owner would take the order shortly. Sitting once more she asked him "So, where are you headed?" Thinking an act of kindness may one day work out in her favour she added "I think I have some of my fathers clothing that would fit you, he wasnt a tall man, you look about his size...if you'd like"

[Nagrom the Grim]

"Medium please" he said and gently sniffed the air, he could smell her fear, fear of something sudden, he didn't understand, maybe she had seem someone she used to know, or something on the menu scared her. He didn't know, nothing scared him.

Nagrom hadn't noticed her reaction as to himself and carried on as normal, he looked at the lemonade, "whats that?" he asked curiously, he had never seen water that moved so much before especially while it was not being moved.

He looked at her again, his golden eyes staring straight into hers and said, "thank you, but I think I will be getting bigger soon, and then they would be to small" Nagrom didn't know a lot, but he did understand his body, and over the last month he was experiencing pains in his joints and through his bones, it is almost the 15th week in this world, and once he lives to that point, his powers will begin to manifest themselves strongly, and the first change, like a snake, is to shed its old skin to reveal the new, in this case, the new Nagrom.

[Raven Alexander]

"Um, this is Lemonade" Passing her cup she offered him to try some, smiling at his response. His words confused her, not knowing what "normal" was for him she was unsure what he meant by growing soon.
Questioning her own sanity for entertaining this kid it passed her mind what others would say "Hey Raven what did you do today?" "Oh ya know the usual and I had dinner with a demonic child who didnt know what lemonade was, he seemed like a real nice kid though." She shook her head at the absurdity of it all.
Feeling a little rude for asking, she battled with herself before resolving to just say it and hope he wasn't offended "You seem different to the others like you that I have met, do you wish me any harm?" Really she wasn't worried about herself, it was more Joe Hunter off the street who might not think to ask the question when he saw the kids golden glare. Raven had a pang of guilt by proxy, to think that her kind would wipe out this innocent without knowing him.

[Nagrom the Grim]

Nagrom sniffed the liquid and his nose twitched, the fizzy liquid weirded him out and send shivers up his nose. He moved back a little, "No thank you" he said softly.

Nagrom attention re-focused on Raven as she spoke, He seemed ecstatic at the thought of others and that there might be help to find his way home, "There are others!" he looked at her with glee, then his mind registered the last part of what she said and his expression dropped a bit, "Harm?" he seemed to have to think, "oh you mean like that Male in the ally way?" he asked, well more said, and then added, "No, Your a lot more friendly than anyone I have ever met here..." he said, and without seeing it as an opportunity to scare her more, acting like a child more than anything, he picked up the empty cup not looking at Raven, It was like the cup was itself interesting to him. "You even have similar interests as me, your still holding my dagger..." he said after adding lemonade to his cup and trying to touch the fizz.

[Raven Alexander]

Watching him play with the lemonade was faintly amusing, like he had never seen it before. Her face drained as he told her that it was his dagger she was thumbing the hilt of absently. "Your dagger?" she asked "I thought it was the corpse's, he seemed to have a pretty firm grip on it even if that was by way of his chest" Her tone was not quite mocking but firm enough to let him know she wasnt about to give it up. Resting her chin on her left hand she regarded him for a long moment, picking her next words carefully, if she got an answer she didnt like she might well have to make a hasty exit and it could easily put everyone in this place in danger. "why did you..." closing her eyes a moment to rethink her words "was there no other way but to kill him?"

[Nagrom the Grim]

Nagrom stopped playing this the small amount of lemonade, and looked at her, "Yes, I took it and held possession of it so it is mine." He had stolen the dagger from another victim only a month ago, and used it to scribe a note under his bed back in the orphanage, and then carved a design he had seen in a dream into the handle of the blade.

"what do you mean, no other way... I suppose I could have ran away from him, but running is tiresome" he said and looked back down at the Lemonade, the fizz had dissipated, he sniffed it again and then tasted it, "bitter...but sweet" he said and looked back to her "why, what would you have done if an intoxicated being is approaching you and cursing you" he now waiting for her to say something.

[Raven Alexander]

Raven sighed, "A curse from an intoxicated being can be met by a loud enough voice, a minor amount of violence or running, you dont have to end somethings life for a minor trespass, even a broken bone is preferable to killing." She looked saddened by the thought that he didnt know better than to just kill anything that came across his path. "Please dont take my tone as disappointed or angry, I just want to understand, and if you'll let me, offer some alternatives to those you have been taught so far" Raven subconciously ensured her tone was warm.

Looking up at the owner she bade him to come and take their order. His pen scratched hurridly across the paper, saying nothing more than was absolutely necessary, as ever. "Thanks Gus" she murmered as he turned to leave. Taking a napkin from the holder next to her she started tearing it little by little as they spoke until it was no more than scraps.