Maria's spacing out was interrupted by the sound of a new inmate being brought in. She didn't get up at first, most of the time, it was the same story, angry prisoner struggling as the guards shoved them down a hall, then being thrown in screaming obscenities, then they'd give up in the hole they were in. Most didn't even really give the struggle thing a real try. At least Maria had managed to get two teeth. She went back to spacing out before she heard something... laughter? That was a first. Maria got up, a perplexed look in her eyes as she watched the guards throwing someone in, who seemed to be getting a kick out of it. It was the second person she'd heard told to shut up, normally the guards were oblivious to being sworn at.
It took Maria a minute to really even notice the person was a Licentia. She was so used to living around them, she hardly saw the difference anyways. Sure this one had feathers, but what was the big difference between that and a human.
"Me name's Maria. I'd say nice to meet'cha, but t'is place is the Tom Tit. Bet roaches 'ave better 'omes. Foods terrible. W'at you doing bird for? Piss off some Prae? Not quite sure why I'm 'ere, meself. Some hunters broke into my 'ouse, and I kinda shot'em dead, but I'd consider t'at self defense. Also ran some packages for some store, didn't like t'at. I dunno. I think the Prae just kinda hate me and me old man. Pretty sure t'at's why most of us are here, only a few people in here for stuff like half-inchin' stuff, or actual murder."Tilting her head slightly, eyes lighting up, which was a strange occurence considering the entirety of her sclera was black, with her pupils being little black points inside of white circles. Her irises had gray layers instead of colors like a human eye, though the patterns were similar.
"Oh, I'd say it's nice to meet you, even if we're meeting here," she said in response, sounding oddly perky despite being, well, imprisoned.
She turned to gaze down the hall, tilting her head to listen as Maria continued. She smiled, not understanding much of the lingo, but getting the jist of things from context instead.
"Yeah, pissed off some prae is about right for what I did. Of course, they're really just throwing me in here because I'm a licentia. Isn't that cute?" She glanced at Maria's cell, a smile spreading over her lips, her eyes brimming with amusement and joy as a slight pinkish blush came over her face. She apparently hadn't been sarcastic.
"Nonetheless, it's all kind of silly I think. You shouldn't be here either and I bet a bunch of the nice men and women we passed on our way here shouldn't be either. Sure they were rowdy and a few grabbed at my feathers, but I don't mind that. It's no reason to keep someone locked up, ya know? Hehe. Still, it shouldn't be long," she said cryptically, before pulling her neck and head back into her cell and sitting down on the supplied bench.
She brought a hand to the wall, caressing the material and attempting to push vis into it.
No response. Her smile remained.
"So what do you plan on doing when you get out, Maria?" The way she said it, she sounded as if there was a good chance they'd all get released one day. Odd, considering there was no real reason that she ought to think that.
The strange licenti woman's serenity was a bit confusing to Maria.
"Oi, what'cha mean it isn't going to be long? Do ya got some contacts or the like? Are ya with the resistance too?"The Licenti's question silenced Maria for a second, as she actually gave some thought to it? What would she do? She couldn't exactly go right back to her gun store. Even the slums were starting to become well scoured, how she ended up here. She didn't want to go back to delivering packages either now that she'd been arrested. She'd said at the time she didn't want any trouble, and had found it anyways.
"Well, to be 'onest, t'ink I'd probably end up back up 'ere again. Ya see, me old man got 'imself doing bird too, and I think I'd try and bust'im out. Or do something, anything to get back at the bloody Prae. 'e was right, bunch of berks, the whole lot. I was 'appy just running packages and the like before. Now, I'm a wee bit mad at'em."For a second, Maria imagined having a gun in her hand, and assumed the pose of a shooter, aiming at the nearest guard way down the hall, firing 3 times. It was excessive, but pretty much spoke about what her plan was.
"What 'bout you? That smile and such makes me think ya got something planned? If the resistance is breaking us out, Imma help, that's for sure. I ain't no flamin' conjurer or the like with magic, but get me a gun, and I'll do alright."What Maria didn't say was her 'alright' probably placed her as one of the strongest sharpshooters in Ominar.
"Resistance, mmm, you could say that," she smiled, and the expression stretched from ear to ear, further accentuating the fact that she was certainly not human. Listening to the rest of Maria's little rant, glad to hear her sympathetic disposition towards the Resistance, she tapped her chin thoughtfully with a finger even as her another finger tapped the stone of her cell. She smiled again, this time less grotesque,
"I think I'll find something to eat. Probably just some artificial stuff, nothing from anyone living," she commented a bit absentmindedly, tilting her head, eyes closing. It gave her face the appearance of a porcelain mask with black lines for mouth and eyes, simple, but still evoking expression.
"As to connections, hehe. I don't need connections for this place. It's not even a special containment facility and they didn't know who I was when they apprehended me. Just thought me a petty licentian thief." She laughed, the staccato burst of sound erupting into the hallway and filling it with her glee.
Her finger grew a claw as she exerted her will upon her body, before she began to use it to scratch markings in the wall of her cell, which was a bizarrely silent activity. Perhaps the walls wouldn't allow her to use vis to break them, but they had absorbed and attempted to disperse it well enough. This would do.
"So let's just keep up this little chat, mmm? Give the guards no reason for suspicion," she smiled, her eyes narrowing in a conspiratorial expression, her voice loud enough only for Maria to hear. It was odd, even despite her friendly, even bubbly, personality there was something predatory about her gaze. It was probably just a side-effect of her species.
At least...hopefully.
Maria was rather used to Licentia, having grown up with them for the majority of her life. Still, the look made her nervous, Licenti who used it tended not to have good thoughts.
Maria then looked around, and shrugged. On second thought, the look had better damnwell grow. It wasn't a max prison, but the hungrier the better.
"Eh, think ya got plenty of real stuff right 'ere. Then again, stuff 'ere's Tom Tit...." She paused as she realized her lingo would probably be lost. Normally, she didn't care too much, she was who she was no matter who was around. What beauty she may have had was lost by her utter lack of charm.
"I mean... all the food 'ere's all shit. The stuff they give us, and the guards I'm sure'd be the same."Hearing the part about the little chat, Maria nodded, and decided to at least have a friendly conversation.
"So, where ya from? Don't think I ever seen you round me part of the slums. Place is crawling with Licentia. Knew a real nice couple called the Sylph's right next door. They were 'arpies too. Took care of me when hunters were chasing me. Other t'an t'at, I work in a gun store.... worked. Could say it's a bit of a hobby of mine. Aaaand t'at's me life story. Other t'an t'at, not much to tell."Tilting her head at the woman's use of what sounded like a name, Drisrea found herself, surprisingly for the first time in their conversation, a bit confused. Then Maria clarified and she smiled again, nodding,
"Well, they have stuff I'm sure, but I don't expect them to be giving me proper rations within the next couple of hours. After all...I'm just a licentia," there was an uncharacteristic bitterness in her voice as she said it, likely giving anyone who cared to pay attention a glimpse of how most licentia felt about the prejudice against them of late. After all, just as the prae were--not that Drisrea thought them worthy of it--the licentia were by and large a proud people, even if they didn't always get along with one another.
She continued carving glyphs into the wall, the motion becoming faster now as she got the hang of it, some muscle memory kicking in even as new ideas for her little plan did so as well. She took up using two more fingers, using one to imbue vis into the wall, which the runes trapped. She smiled at that, things were going well.
"Mmm, little old me? I'm from a little country in Torqueo. Calls itself Meituran, capital city Dresza, where I was born," she smiled fondly as she spoke of it,
"Nice place to live honestly. Not much power or influence really, but it's comfortable living and you don't have to watch your back as much. Less likely for someone to take a bite out of ya there," she laughed lightly, as if the idea of someone
eating you was as normal and civilized to her as guns were familiar to Maria. Speaking of guns,
"So you've got some skills with firearms, mmm? That's useful~" she purred. Already one whole wall of her cell, from top to bottom, as at times her face would disappear and the flapping of wings could be heard as she flew up and drew more of the symbols upon the wall.
She began work on the next wall, using small amounts of magic to direct the sound of her voice so as not to arise suspicion from the guards. They'd been fools not to do a background check. Sometimes the prejudice was a useful thing, she thought a bit pensively, enjoying the irony at the prae's expense--it felt good.
"Sounds like you had a rough time, Maria. I know those hunters can be a pain sometimes, sorry it had to happen to you, but hey, look at it this way, now you've experienced more. Maybe there's something you'll learn from all this! Oh, and you can never look back and say your life was boring, don'tcha think?" She didn't even consider for a moment that having a boring life, to a human, might be--in its way--a good thing. The idea was, as personal space, a foreign concept to her. Of course, she was only 42, still a child--if that--by licenti standards, though a very well accomplished one. Of course, the idea of
'child,' was quite a bit more expansive to her kind than it was to humans.
"Eh, if ya don't get proper rations, feel free to take from me. 'gain, not like I'm a flamin' conjurer, not like I need much. And don't get any ideas, I know ya can do it from that cell."Maria patted her shoulder at the offer, showing she wasn't taking about food. She'd lived next to Licentia long enough to know what they ate. In some ways, she was a bit too sympathetic to them. Not towards prae however. She'd rather see the lot of them at the bottom of the ocean. Licentia hadn't tried to arrest her, or take over her city. Sighing about rations, Maria looked at the cold slump of food still on her tray. With obvious irritation, she started eating as Drisrae started her tale. If she was going to give that offer, she had to keep up her strength. That, and she couldn't tell what, but there was something mischevious about that Licenti. She rather liked it. Something was going to happen soon, it was a promise in her voice. Maria hated magic, but at this point, she hated Prae more. She nearly gagged on the food..
"Tom tit...."Turning back to Drisrae, Maria listened to her backstory. From Torqueo? Why on earth was she in this hellhole? Eh, was her business. Then she mentioned the firearms. With a gulp of food, Maria proudly nodded her head.
"Aye, every bird's got to protect themselves. I 'ate magic. I wanna rely on meself and what I can build and know, so yeah, not too shabby a gunner. At this point though, anything that gets me outta 'ere welcome. Me old man didn't believe in violence, and look, he's in the same place as me. Think I'd fancy meself living an 'interesting' life. So, what interesting things ya got planned? I ai't no genius or nuttin, but you're doing somet'ing over there."She tilted her head slightly, finishing a series of runes before landing on the ground and slipping her head through the bars.
"You know, you are an interesting human, though many of your kind are, mmm, fun in their own ways. I like you," she smiled, though this time it was softer, less grotesque and overaccentuated, much more...normal. She drew away, pulling her neck and head back into her cell before she began her task again.
"I've got a little thing called a rebellion planned. Something of a wake up call for the prae and humanity alike. Hehe...of course, it's not my plan." She chuckled to herself, claws meeting stone repeatedly in precise movements while her wings flapped just as silently as her claws dug into the stone--the lack of sound in both actions the result of the same spell.
"As to me personally, hehe. I just, I just want to see everyone dance. I want to see the vision that a...friend of mine brought to light," she giggled a little and the sound was both like and unlike the laugh of a young girl as she confessed to her crush and then ran off. It was eerie in its way, if only because of the being it came from.
"Anyways, I like focusing on the moment...speaking of which." She landed, pulling her claw from the wall as she turned and stuck her neck through the bars of the small window on the door of her cell.
"I'm done," she said, beaming across the hall at Maria, looking altogether quite pleased with herself.
"Of course...I've got to wait for the signal," she frowned at the thought, before smiling again, her claws withdrawing into her fingers as they reformed without them before moving to grip the bottom edge of the window. The metal creaked slightly as her grasp dug in, before her grip relaxed.
"Oh man do I hate waiting. Too much tension, you know? I prefer being right in the thick of things! You? Do you prefer fight or flight? I'd bet flight," she nodded vigorously, the comment meant as a compliment of sorts.
Maria finished choking down the 'food'. Gagging, she turned to Drisrae.
"Nah, I didn't get involved cause of me old man, tried the running thing. But, if he's doin' bird, and I'm doin' bird, ain't no sense in running after t'is. Guess you could say both though. I dun care how good of a sorcerer or Prae ya are, a shot from a PTRS fired when ya're in bed will make ya nice and sleepy. I dun have magic, but I'd like to give humans a little bit of credit. Made a nice lil' gun I'm dying to see tested. Got a wee bit of kick to it. I'd just have to get into my old shop. Love to see a sorcerer block that hahahaha!"Maria's hand made the motion of pumping a shotgun as she spoke. She was definitely a little.... fond of firearms. It was big talk for someone who had never consciously pulled the trigger on someone before.
Maria's laughter quickly turned to grabbing her stomache as dinner threatened to reappear.
"Whose ya friend anyways? He'd better hurry on his signal, mine's got one lined up too."She looked at the bars.
"Aaaany day now."She sighed deeply.
"Just count me in..."The licentia smiled,
"Oh trust me, I'm just as eager as you are to get out of here and get things started, but this'll require just a liiiiittle bit of patience. Give it...mmm, maybe an hour or two max, probably much less though. As to my friend, well, that's a secret~" Her smile shifted to a grin, her fingers wrapping tight around the bars on the window of her cell door. She'd stay there, eyes expectant, for as long as it took.
However, as soon as the signal came...well, they'd see.
They'd all see!
Kalas