Riss
Riss woke up to the sound of a rooster crowing through his open window. It was still dawn, and as Riss sat up in his bed, he could see the disgustingly beautiful sky taunting him. Its soft, pastel purples met orange that streaked from the sun as blue slowly started to take over from the horizon.
He hated waking up early. Sure, it was a useful ability to have when hunting, but not now. He'd already spent two whole days just getting to a place outside the city where he can set traps and then coming back later to actually check and take them down. Clearly, it was not something he would be able to do everyday in Liravel. He misses having a wide array of animals out and about, but a cat and a bird, currently the only things he can catch within the city, will have to do.
He got up and began his daily routine of putting on his artifact, then summoning the body of a small bird and juicing it into a flask. After that, he gives the body to his cat and grabs the hairball with the last birds' bones, placing it in the pot of a plant in need of potassium. Moving to the bathroom, he dilutes the blood in the flask with water. Being able to produce dead bodies on command is extremely convenient. Before, he would only be able to pamper his plants like this once in a great while, but now he has the luxury of adjusting the acidity of soil on a whim. When he returns, he begins watering all the plants that like the extra nitrogen blood-water provides. Already, his roses have grown their first bud. The Wisteria and Moonflower vines have started to adhere to the wall and the Begonias already have a small bloom. Truly, he was made to be a Death Mage.
A small raven flies down from its perch in the upper bowels of Riss' room and "reminds him to feed it" with distressed chirping. As if he could ever forget, when the unruly bird wakes him up every day the rooster doesn't. Soon enough the plants will grow seeds and it'll be able to feed itself, but for now Riss has to deal with it. Establishing the ecosystem is by far the hardest part of living in it.
...Just like every day, Riss finds that there's still piles of seeds in its feeder. He knows he needs to add more, but is waking him up when it already has food really necessary? Surely there's not
any other reason a lazy bird like that is bothering him.
With his daily chores done, Riss moves on to daily training. He begins with the hairball he's left in the pot of some flowers and starts to accelerate its decay. It takes some patience and concentration, which while extremely dull, was somewhat meditative in and of itself. After a good half hour or so of staring at an upchucked ball of fur slowly collapse in on itself, it settles into the soil leaving only the bones behind. Bones are a bit too difficult, but being able to deteriorate hair (even if it takes 3 minutes...) is a large step up from where he was during his first attempt. He sets those aside and moves on to part two of his training, which he does in town.
Letting his cat out for the day and locking the naughty bird in, he starts to make his way out of the orphanage and through Liravel, to the marketplace. Soon after getting his artifact, Riss landed a job as an assistant at a butcher's tent and has been making faster progress towards clearing his debt than ever before. It provides him with practice in the use of his artifact, adds to his catalogue by the grace of the butcher, teaches him about preparing animals for human consumption, and to top it all off, the pay is good. Sometimes, he even lets Riss take home some scraps. For someone as young as he, it's perhaps the best job he could ask for.
When he gets to the tent, he finds that it's stocked much more than usual. Before he can ask about it, his employer, a behemoth of a man, stands up and greets him with a weak smile. "Hey, Riss, I've got some news. Have a seat."
Riss sneaks past the table adorned with assorted meats and sits in a chair next to the man. "What's up?"
The man rubs his hands together, continuing without looking Riss in the eyes. He puts on another half-smile, giving him a nervous appearance. It looks strange, seeing the large man so anxious. "It seems that a sizable portion of our clientele is uncomfortable with meat prepared by a Death Mage. As a result, I'm afraid that as of today, I am no longer in need of yer services."
...
"Uh... Wh-" Riss stuttered a bit, scratching the back of his head, as if it would help him process what was happening better. He murmured out an acknowledgement as he began to grasp the situation, putting himself in the shoes of his boss and clients. "Um. Alright." Animal bodies generated by his artifact are 100% edible, and are actually pretty fresh, but he supposes 'selling dead bodies conjured by a Death Mage as food' sounds pretty bad.
It's lamentable, but unavoidable. His boss' hands are tied. Maybe he should just go back to selling wallets...
As Riss thought on this, the man simply sat there, blinking a few times. "Uh, good, good. Here's a little... something for yer trouble." He hands Riss an unsealed envelope. Riss takes it and finds a considerable amount of money inside. He's been payed by the hour each day, so it couldn't have been a paycheck, and yet there it was, holding more money within it than he had rightfully earned throughout all his time working with the butcher combined.
"What is this?"
The man crosses his arms. "Insurance, I expect."
Riss doesn't follow. "I don't follow."
At this the butcher raises his voice. "Do I have to spell it out for ya boy!? Don't pretend ya can't ruin me in an instant! I don't have it in me to get fightin' with a youngin' such as yer'self, so just take me money and scram. I like you, boy, but I don't want to see yer face around my tent again, capiche?"
He's a pretty rude guy. Riss stands up and hands him back the envelope. "I can't accept this." He begins to walk off and is, of course, yelled at by the butcher.
"Hey, if one of my customers gets a bite full of maggots-"
Riss sighs as he says it and cuts him off. "Yeah, I know."
Riss drags himself back home dejectedly, picking up breakfast/comfort food and eating it on his way there. Maybe he should just capture more cats and stay in his room with them all day.
Speaking of cats, when he drops by the cafeteria for the trash can, he spots a particularly naughty kitten about to harass some girl, judging by its body language.
Walking hurriedly so as not to draw undue attention, he ran over and grabbed the cat, picking it up before it did something crazy. It immediately hisses, drawing the attention of she who it was just behind. Looking at her, Riss notices that she has cat ears herself. You recognize this girl. Moira, you think her name is. "Sorry, don't mind me." Riss glances back at his cat. "I let him go wherever he likes during the day, and he seems to like you." Riss takes a few steps away and puts the cat down, only to have it immediately turn around and leap at Moira.
